Embedded Files
Working with C.
Working with C.
Jessica L. Ring 03-04-2018
The following reading project was completed with C., a first grade student that is having difficulty reading
Administering my reading attitude survey and reading interest survey was an excellent opportunity to get to know C. I had a great time interviewing him and hearing his responses. He made me laugh several times, and made me feel old more than once.
At the beginning of the hour I listened to C. read the book Wacky Wednesday. This gave him the opportunity to begin the day as he usually would. It also gave us the opportunity to reacquainted so that he would feel comfortable answering the questions that I was going to ask him. After he finished reading the book we stated on The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey. I started this process by explaining that I would be asking him questions about how he feels about reading. I explained to him what each of the Garfield’s meant, then we completed the first question together. This allowed me to make sure that he understood what we were doing and how he was to answer each of the questions. We read each of the how do you feel about questions together, and then he circled the appropriate cartoon to match his feelings. As we worked our way through the pages I became a little disappointed at how much C. seemed to dislike reading. This was more apparent later in the day when I scored his survey using the included scoring sheet (see attached). His recreational reading category had a raw score of 24, which put him into the 27th percentile. His academic reading category was a little harder to score because my computer did not download one of the pages. While completing the survey with C. I noticed that I was missing questions 13-16. I also found that question 19 was not applicable because C. did not know what a dictionary was. To adjust for only having half of the questions in the academic reading area I averaged out the score using the half of the answers that I did have. This gave him an adjusted raw score of 18 for the academic reading area, which places him in the 23rd percentile. His full scale raw score was 42, which placed him in the 59th percentile overall.
Although C.’s reading attitude survey showed that he has a clear dislike for reading, I have observed him read with enthusiasm. This is especially true when someone is available to listen to him read. I am a little concerned with the validity of this test. Having to average out the academic reading score may have influenced the overall score more than I had originally thought that it would. I also found that the questions were not worded in a manner that C. immediately understood them. I attempted to counter this by explaining the questions, but I’m not sure that helped. Taking a more detail orientated look at C.’s scores makes me wonder if he was not just circling whichever Garfield called to him.
I had better luck with my reading interest inventory. Although, I did find that the way I worded a couple of the questions was not developmentally appropriate for C. For example, my second question originally stated, “how much time do you spend reading?” When talking with C. about how much he reads every day, it became apparent that he has no concept of time, or how much time he spends doing anything. So, I ended up adjusting the question on the fly. The question that I posed to him was, “how many books do you think you read every day?” This question seemed easier for him to comprehend. The inventory was competed in an interview fashion, with me asking the questions and C. answering. As he answered the questions he walked around the table that we were seated at. This did not seem to interfere with the interview process, and allowed him the movement that he needed. I was surprised with the answers that C. gave when talking about his interest. He talked about being interested in demons, God, and other religious subjects often. In fact, he answered in this manner on four of the questions (see attachment for completed inventory).
Another disturbing pattern uncovered during the reading interest inventory was a lack of interest in reading at home. I sometimes forget that not everyone reads for enjoyment. This lack of interest extended beyond C. He indicated that he likes to be read to, when I pressed further about who reads to him he stated his cousins and Mrs. Hammond. When I asked about his parents or other adults he stated that they do not like to read. He did not know that there was a library outside of school, and stated that his family does not go there. He also stated that the only family members that like reading are his cousins, and they read chapter books. This lack of reading interest at home may partially explain C.’s overall lack of reading interest.
On a happier note, C. made me laugh several times during our interview. One of those times occurred when talking about things that he would like to learn more about. I asked if he was interested in history. He asked what history was, and I told him history was things that happened in the past. At which point he replied, “like in the 1990’s?” I stated laughing and told him he was right. I also laughed when he responded to the question about what he would buy if he won lots of money. He responded, “I have lots of money.” Then after a few moments he stated, “buy a whole bunch of gum.” This caught me off guard because I expected the answer to reflect his interest in video games or other pursuits.
Although the inventory did not go as I thought it would, I was able to gain some valuable insight into C.’s interests. He is interested in dinosaurs, animals, history, mystery, cowboys, funny stories, sports, ocean life, science, monsters, scary stories, and magic. He prefers nonfiction books over fiction books. The only subject that he indicated that he did not want to read about is food.
Armed with this information I went to the library. While there I selected 9 books that I plan to read with C. over the course of the rest of the semester. These books include: Marvel Avengers the New Team by Chris Wyatt, The Day the Dinosaurs Died by Charlotte Lewis Brown, Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe by Kin Platt, Look a Ray! by Tessa Kenan, Look a Shark! by Tessa Kenan, Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley, Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg, Real Cowboys by Kate Hoefler, and the Water Hole by Graeme Base. A couple of these are personal favorites of mine, so I am really hoping that C. will enjoy them. Most of the books are beginning readers that C. will be able to read independently. A few of these books, for example: Jumanji, are above his reading level. I plan to either read this book to him, or see if he can read it to me with help and support.
I also plan to try something new with C. next week. I am finding that the greatest difficulty that C. has is sitting still long enough to read a book. As he reads he tips in his chair, stands up, sits back down, and performs all other manners of “wiggling.” As he does so, the book he is reading moves in a semi-circle pattern on the table. This coming week I am going to take a small exercise ball with me. I am going to have C. sit on the ball as he reads. I think that this will allow him to wiggle while he reads, and I will not have to worry about him tipping the chair over backwards. I am hopeful that allowing him to wiggle on the ball will increase his interest in reading because he will not have to sit still in a chair.
I am really enjoying reading with C. and I am excited about the material that we will get to explore together in the coming weeks.
Working with C. this week was a lot of fun for both of us. I arrived at McKinley Elementary school at 8 A.M. Wednesday morning. I was armed with the books that I picked up at the library, and I was excited to see how C. would like them. He was so excited as I pulled the books out of the bag. He was particularly excited about The Day the Dinosaurs Died, and Go Away Big Green Monster. I had also planned to bring an exercise ball for him to sit on, however I discovered my exercise ball had a hole in it just before leaving my house that morning. I will now be going to the store to get a new exercise ball for us both to use. I am hoping that I will be able to find one before my next reading session with C. this coming Wednesday.
We started our reading session by reading Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. This book is a little below C.’s reading level, which I had hoped would make a difference in C.’s fluency. It did, C. was able to read the book with good phrasing and expression. He had a little difficulty with the word mouth, which he initially read as monster. When he reached the end of the page I had him go back and read the word again. This time he got it quickly. He also had some difficulty with the multisyllable adjectives in the book, for example, the word squiggly. When we reached the end of the book I had him summarize the book in his own words. He could do so easily, which demonstrated to me that he had comprehended what he was reading. We next talked about his feelings towards the book. His reading attitude survey showed that he was not interested in reading, and he has told me more than once that he hates reading. I was surprised to hear that he really liked the book.
The next story that we read was The Water Hole, by Graeme Base. This is probably my most favorite children’s book. The best part of the book is the intricately hidden pictures, which C. loved. We spent more time looking for the hidden pictures than we did reading the actual text. While reading, C. used good phrasing and expression. He had some trouble with the multisyllable adjectives in this story as well. He could read sipping, meeting, and lumbering without trouble. When he read lumbering without trouble I thought that he had seen the word before however, after reading it he asked what lumbering meant. At the end of the book we talked about how he felt about the book. He told me, “It was good, I liked it.” I think the pictures were his favorite part.
We started to read The Day the Dinosaurs Died, by Charlotte Lewis Brown but we ran out of time. This book was more challenging than the other two that we had read. We decided that I would read it to him first, then he would read it to me. I made it about half way through the book when reading time ended, and it was time to move on to the next activity. I am not sure that we are going to go back to it next week because C. did not seem very interested in it.
Overall, I was impressed with C.’s reading this week. It seemed like he could read the materials with better fluency than he had previously. I also noticed that his increased interest in the materials had a positive impact on his reading. He did not get stuck as often, even on the more difficult words. When he did get stuck, he was able to break up the words and sound them out. This mainly happened with multisyllable adjectives.
Next week we are going to continue to work our way through the books that I picked up at the library. I am going to focus on the nonfiction books about ocean animals. I am hoping that his interest in the subject matter will help him to read these books as well as the books that he read last week. I plan to have him summarize what he is reading as he reaches the end of each page, with the hope of improving his reading comprehension. I am also going to get an exercise ball for C. to sit on, with the hopes that it will help him to focus on his reading. Finally, I am going to do a running record and miscue analysis with C. next week. Mrs. Hammond, C.’s teacher, is also going to have one of the running record forms that the school uses ready for me. She wanted to make sure that I am familiar with the form that the school uses.
On another, slightly related, note; I was able to observe C. taking an IStation test last week. This test is required by the state of New Mexico. It tests vocabulary, spelling, and fluency. After he finished the test, I meet with Mrs. Hammond to discuss how he did on it. The test showed that C. has made improvement on his reading skills. I was happy to hear it, and I am hoping that I can help him continue to make improvement.
Running Records
There are several concepts that we have covered so far in this course that have become more concrete during my time in the classroom; running records are one of those concepts. To make this project a little easier for me, I prepared two running record forms ahead of time (see attached). I hoped that having the text of the two books would make it easier for me to focus of what C. was saying.
As we sat down and prepared for our work, I explained to C. that the reason I am there working with him is because I am learning how to be a teacher. I asked him if he would be willing to help me with that. He was very excited that he was going to help me learn this week, instead of the other way around. I showed him the form that I had made, and explained to him that I was going to use the form to record how he reads. I was planning on performing the two records that I had prepared and the one that Mrs. Hammond was going to prepare for me. Unfortunately, she did not have time during the last week to prepare one. Instead, I attempted to perform a third running record on a blank sheet of paper, using a book that C. had read before. This gave me two cold reads, and one that he had previously read.
The actual process of administering the record was interesting. At the beginning, he read and I made check marks. This soon became interesting to him. I looked up and noticed that he was not reading the book in front of him, he was reading the page I was marking, upside down. We paused for a moment, and I explained again that the page that I am writing on has the same words as the book he is reading. He was interested to know that I had typed and printed the words that were in the book. As we resumed reading, he refocused his attention to the book in front of him. When we reached the end of the book, we discussed what he had read. He summarized the book, flipping pages to show me pictures as he did so. We next talked about what he thought of the book. I pointed out to him the amount of check marks on the page, and explained what those marks mean. We also talked about some of the mistakes that I noticed, which included his use of initial sounds to guess the words. This process was repeated for the second book. When we had finished reading and discussing the book, C. selected one of the classroom books that he had read before for the third record. I found myself at a disadvantage because I did not have the text in front of me to utilize. I had to ask C. to pause his reading a couple times so that I could catch up. As a result, I am not sure that my third record is as accurate as the first two that we completed.
The first running record that we completed was on the book Look, a Shark, by Tessa Kenan. C. liked the book, but stated that he thought it was too easy. This book has 151 words, which C. read with a 91 percent accuracy rate (see attached). According to our textbook, this places it in around the frustration level (Gunning, 2016, p. 76). Most of the miscues that C. made show that he uses graphic similarities the most. Most of the time C. uses the initial letter sound and then guesses the rest of the word. The miscues analysis also shows that C. has a very low rate of self-corrections. Overall, this record shows that C. does not look for meaning when he makes errors or when he reads in general. He is happy to get the overall, big picture of the book.
The second running record that we completed was on the book Look, a Ray, by Tessa Kenan. While reading the book, C. relates it to the shark book that we had just read. This included drawing the connection between shark babies being called pups, ray babies being called pups, and his dogs babies being called puppies. When discussing the book after reading it C. said, “were these ones written by the same person, cuz they’re both so easy, easy peasy lemon squeezy.” However, C. read this book with an 86 percent accuracy level. This again, places it at the frustration level. His biggest errors in this book were related to word endings; for example, he read rays as ray, colors as color, and match as matches. He also used initial word sounds to incorrectly guess the rest of the word. C. also had a very low self-correction rate with this book. C.’s ability to draw connections between this book and the previous one shows that he is comprehending what he is reading, even if it does not make sense as he reads it.
The final book that we completed a running record on was Tiger’s Birthday, which C. had read before. As mentioned previously, I did not have the text in this book prerecorded and therefore found this record more difficult. This book contains 160 words, which C. read with a 94 percent accuracy rate. This places it between the instructional and frustration levels. There were not as clear patterns in this record. Two of the errors were added words. Most of the errors that he made while reading this book made sense in the story. For example, when the story talks about the character eating three pieces of cake, C. changed pieces to plates. However, three plates of cake also made sense in context. I believe that C. did this while reading this book because he was familiar with the story already. It was really the first time that I noted him making mistakes that made sense.
This process helped me to really understand the benefits of running records and miscue analysis. Going forward I plan to continue to have C. summarize what he is reading to work on his reading comprehension. I also plan on pointing out some of the errors that he is making, and that the miscues do not make sense in the story. I have also noticed that C. tends to rush while reading. I am going to look into strategies to help him slow down.
Works Cited
Gunning, T. G. (2016). Creating Literacy Instruction for All Students, Ninth Edition. Boston: Pearson.
Retelling with Art Response
C. was so happy to see me when I walked into the classroom. I was a little sad knowing that today would be our last official reading session. I explained to C. that I needed his help again. He thinks it is so cool that he gets to help me learn how to be a teacher. I told him that I was going to read him a story, and that he should listen carefully because after the story he is going to tell me the story in his own words. I explained to him that I was going to record him telling me the story so that I could listen to it later. Then after he was done telling me the story, we were both going to draw a picture about the story. I made sure when I arrived that I had several sheets of plain white paper, and colored pencils for us to use. I was hoping the pencils would increase his interest because the class usually uses crayons. I chose to use an oral story telling format because C. has been working on summarizing what he reads after he reads it.
For our story retelling, C. and I read the book Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe, written by Kin Platt and illustrated by Lynne Cravath. The book is about a detective named Big Max who solves mysteries. One day he is called by King Punchapillow from Ah-Ah-Ahchoo. The king is very upset because his giraffe, Jake, is missing. Big Max heads out right away, traveling by umbrella. He has a hard time, but he eventually locates Ah-Ah-Ahchoo. Once there the king explains where and when he last saw Jake the giraffe. Big Max locates a trail and eventually finds the missing giraffe, playing soccer with his friends. The king is so happy that he buys tickets to the game to pay Max for finding his giraffe. Max watches the game before heading home, once again flying by umbrella.
I read the book to C. and we interacted with the story as we always do. At the end of the story, I started the recording and reminded him that I wanted him to tell me the story in his own words. I have included a link to his retelling below, and in the attachment. C. had a difficult time starting his retelling. I asked him the name of the book, which he replied, “Big Max.” When he did not continue I said, “Big Max and.” He then provided “and the missing giraffe.” I did not correct him, even though he missed part of the title of the book. He started a little shaky, and I had to prompt him by asking questions. I was surprised that he remembered the towns unusual name, and the name of the king. While his retelling included how they found the giraffe, there was quite a bit missing. He did not include anything about how Max got to Ah-Ah-Ahchoo, or any of the steps that he took before finding Jake’s trail. His retelling of finding the trail and the steps taken after were much more specific. At this point I thought that he was going to finish the book strong, but he got shaky again at the end of the story. His focus seemed to be on the finding of the giraffe.
I think that C. has come a long way from where he was when we first started working together. While he omitted several details at the beginning of the book, and a few more details at the end; he could provide the big picture of how they found the giraffe. This tells me that C. is getting the main idea of the books that he is reading, but paying much less attention to the supporting details of the story. However, he did recall specific supporting details of the trail that Big Max and King Punchapillow followed, including the foot prints and the torn treetops. This shows me that he is able to recall the details that directly relate to the problem at hand, finding the giraffe, but not the other supporting information. I also noticed that C. is focusing better when reading and listening. I believe that this has made a huge difference in his comprehension.
I am so happy to see that C. has made an improvement during our time together. When we first started, he was unable to retell a story unless he had the pictures to use as supports. Now he is comprehending what he is reading and retelling it!
Works Cited
Platt, K. (2005). Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe. New York: HarperCollins .
Summary and Reflection
This semester I had the honor and privilege of working with C., a first-grade student at McKinley Elementary School, in Farmington, New Mexico. C. is a very active student in Mrs. Hammonds classroom, but he struggled with reading. At the beginning of the year he was reading at a kindergarten level, 0.7. He struggled to focus as he read, and often failed to make meaning from the text as he rushed through the words. Mrs. Hammond often worked with C. in a focus group in the back of the classroom. This group included several other students who also struggled with reading, or had special needs that required teacher attention. Mrs. Hammond is a very patient teacher, and does her best to make sure every student in her class gets the attention and help that they need. Even so, there were days when her focus group did not get as much attention because she was having to redirect the behavior of other students in the room.
My first day working with C. I remember the amazement I felt that someone could move as much as C. does and still read. To call him a wiggle worm is an understatement. What I found even more amazing was the learning that he is able to do while he wiggles. It may not look like he is listening or paying attention, but he was definitely learning. C. did not show much interest in reading when we first started working together. He has even gone as far as to tell me that he hates reading. He only reads when he must, and most of that reading is done at school. While at home, he enjoys video games and watching TV like most other students. He does not see much reading at home, and has stated that the only people who read at home are his cousins and himself. While C. is not particularly interested in reading, he has a variety of other interests; including ocean animals, dinosaurs, demons, God, sports, science, mysteries, cowboys, and monsters. The only thing that C. stated he did not want to read about was food. While working with him, another interest became apparent, art. C. is fascinated by pictures, especially hidden pictures such as the ones found in Graeme Base’s book, The Water Hole. His wide interests made it easier to find materials that C. would be interested in.
There are a few things that C. struggles with as he reads. I believe his biggest struggle is focusing. He is always moving, always going, and always paying attention to everything but reading. When he does read, he seems like he is trying to finish as quickly as he can. He uses initial word sounds to figure out words that he does not know, this often means using the initial sound and then guessing the rest of the word. Most of the time the word that C. comes up with does not make sense in the story. He rarely self-corrects these errors, which shows that he does not realize that the word he read does not make sense in the sentences or the story. This leads to C. having a difficult time comprehending what he reads. He is able to ascertain the main idea of a story, but the supporting details are fuzzy. C. is also focused on advancing, without necessarily knowing what advancing means for his reading. He is so intent on moving up levels, like it is a video game. He often states that books in the instructional and frustration ranges are too easy, and that he would prefer a more difficult book. When presented with harder materials, C. reads with a high rate of error, and measures success by his ability to make it to the end of the book, even if he fails to comprehend what he read.
I was very nervous beginning this course. I struggled to read when I was a young student, and was unsure of my abilities to help a student learn to read. This insecurity led me to put more time and effort into being prepared for my sessions with C. When preparing for the reading attitude survey and reading interest interview, I printed the reading attitude survey that was included in the module. I decided that I did not really like the reading interest interview forms that were provided, so I made my own; I pulled the questions that I liked from the provided forms and added some of my own, while eliminating the ones that I did not feel were appropriate for a first-grade student. After finishing the survey and interview, I spent a great deal of time reflecting on what his responses meant, and using those responses to select materials from the Farmington Public Library. These books include: Marvel Avengers the New Team by Chris Wyatt, The Day the Dinosaurs Died by Charlotte Lewis Brown, Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe by Kin Platt, Look a Ray! by Tessa Kenan, Look a Shark! by Tessa Kenan, Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley, Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg, Real Cowboys by Kate Hoefler, and the Water Hole by Graeme Base. This work paid off, because I was able to use these books for the rest of our sessions.
The running records were the other session that I put considerable time and energy into preparing for. I watched all the provided videos on how to perform them, as well as several others. While watching the video, I noticed that it was easier for the teacher to perform them accurately when she had the text from the book to mark. I chose two of the nonfiction books that I had gotten from the library to perform my records. I typed the book text by page number, which did in fact make those running records easier. I performed one running record on a book that I did not have the text written out, and I did find that it was harder to complete the record accurately. I also found that I had to ask C. to pause his reading more than once so that I could catch up. The extra time that I put into preparing for the sessions made them run more efficiently. I was able to focus on C.’s reading instead of focusing on completing the assignments accurately.
Now that I have completed the required sessions with C. I can see that the work I put into those sessions has really paid off. As previously mentioned, C. started the year reading at a mid-kindergarten level. I was able to observe him taking the state required Star test during our last session. Talking with Mrs. Hammond after the session, I learned that C. is now reading slightly above a second-grade level, 2.4! He has made over a year’s gain since beginning the first grade. Mrs. Hammond believes that the work that I have done with C. has made the most difference in his reading growth. As impressive as this growth is, I am more impressed with the behaviors I observed while I watched C. take the test. He was taking his time, reading for meaning, and self-correcting his reading errors. It was cool to see that work that I had done in his reading behavior. C. also made a comment during the last session that reflects how he felt about the time that we have spent working together; he said, “I wish you came here every day, cuz you give us fun stuff.” I took this to mean that he not only enjoyed the work that we had done, but that he enjoyed the reading. I mark this increased enjoyment of reading as my greatest accomplishment working with C.
This project had just as much impact on me, as it did on C. I went into the project nervous; doubting my ability and thinking that I might cause more harm than good. Now, I have learned to trust in myself and my ability to teach students. Teaching is supposed to take work, and effective teaching takes a considerable amount of time and energy. This energy is an investment, and the payoff is incredible. To see a student who struggled reading succeed is more rewarding than I can put into words. C. taught me that some students enjoy reading more when they have someone to read to. He stated several times during our first sessions that he hated reading, but towards the end, I would watch him light up as I walked into the room carrying my bag of books. The person being read to also serves a much different purpose for a student like C., who often does not catch his mistakes. When C. would struggle with a book, I would take over as his pointer. He quickly learned that my finger would only move if the word was read correctly. This served to help C. notice his mistakes. He also knew that I was there to help him, and that he could always ask for help if he needed it. This helped to build his confidence, and he would attempt harder words because I was there to help if he couldn’t figure them out. The biggest thing that I learned about reading from working with C. is that like math, reading is a sport. The more you practice the better you get. A student cannot just pick up a book after a couple lessons and be a masterful reader, no different than they cannot pick up a basketball after watching a couple games and then go play for the NBA. The more C. continues to practice reading, the better he is going to get.
I found that the what made the reading project valuable to me was putting the strategies and tools that we read about into practice in the classroom. Most of the strategies and tools that the textbook talks about seem abstract, and difficult to apply. The reading project allowed me to use the tools and strategies that were presented, which made them much more concrete. The project also served to get me into the classroom. Once there, I was able to observe how Mrs. Hammond taught the concepts that were covered, and how the students responded to those concepts. Seeing the instruction in action made a lot more sense than just reading about it.
This project was the most valuable aspect of the course. I was able to learn a lot, both about myself and about teaching students to read. C. was the perfect student to work with. He gained a lot from our time together, and he was so excited to help me learn how to be a teacher. It really means a lot to me that he thinks I will be a great teacher. During our time together, we have increased his reading comprehension, his self-correction rate, and his overall reading ability.
Reading Project Notes:
01-24-2018
8:00 – 10:30
· Mrs. Hammond first grade class, 20 students, 10 boys and 10 girls.
· Classroom setup: 8 tables, 4 chairs at each table. Each table has different colored baskets on it. One basket holds glue sticks, scissors, pencils, and rulers. Other basket is a small cup holding crayons. Tables are identified by the color of the baskets: red, blue, purple, green, etc.
· Intervention time: 8-9
· Students come in and sit with a book that they choose from 6 buckets sitting on a shelf.
· Four students sit at back table with teacher. Two read out loud, one sits quietly looking at book, other wiggles around. Wiggles asks if he can read to the teacher, very quiet while he waits.
· When students ask for help with words, teacher suggests strategies for working out what word is. Example: eyelids, had student cover lids with a finger, when get eye has student cover eye to get lids.
· Listen to E read. Good pace and volume. Sounds out words gets stuck on. Identifies book as non-fiction. Likes dinos. Reading book second time, asks questions of himself as he reads. Uses pictures as clues. Gets stuck on “park” after sounding out talk about what a park is. Doesn’t get stuck on park again.
· Students read through books 3 times to improve fluency
· Teacher rotates listening to students read
· After reading book 3 times students take test on computer.
· Listen to C read “Teeth” good pace and volume, when stuck sounds out word quietly, “How Bat Learned to Fly” follows word with finger as reading, looks to pictures for clues, knows word possum by sight pauses half way down page, when resumes rereads beginning of page.
· Clean up at 855, students go to rug at front of the room
· Literacy block: 9am-1030am
· Fiction / nonfiction worksheet, gives directions to class at the rug. Review difference between fiction and nonfiction
· Asks open ended questions, “tell me something about a fiction book?”
· Uses cold calls, whole class response, and asks for hands
· Refers back to learning standard posted on the board
· Students go back to their tables, begin cutting bottom squares off worksheet
· Reminds class of instructions while cycling around room to check on progress
· Discusses students positive behavior change with the student quietly. Positive praise drive by.
· Has to pause class to address behavior or student with special needs. Rest of class stays in seat and talks quietly. Assistant helps with student so teacher can resume class.
· Reads titles and has students sort. Reminds them not to say answer out loud. This is an assessment.
· Moves around room to check progress
· Special needs student repeatedly climbs under sink. Assistant removes from room. Returns few minutes later goes back under sink
· Writing time: 930-10am
· Each student has comp book teacher uses date stamp to date page as she hands them out
· Some students focused on illustrating pictures, some more focused on writing story.
· Teacher asks for topic sentence and 3 supportive details
· Students write about a topic of their choice
· Read to self time: 10-15 switch 1015-1030
· 13 students work on worksheets, 4 read to self, 1 sits and looks at wall, 1 plays w/white board eraser
· Worksheet, place words in correct order to make sentence, write sentence twice, write own sentence with word could, illustrate sentence.
· 1015 students trade activities, readers do worksheets, worksheeters get books
· C works on testing on the three books that he read to me early. Test is on computer. Each book has 5 content questions and has student rate the book on how much he liked it. C gets 100% on one book and 80% on book about whales. After test is over I talk with him about the question that he missed, encourage him to look up the correct answer in the book.
· End of hour. Students clean up and line up to head to the computer lab for specials.
01-31-2018
8:00 – 10:30
· Working with C. in Mrs. Hammond’s first grade class. Sounds out words he gets stuck on. Sometimes uses initial letter to guess rest of word. Moves on even when guessed word does not make sense in context. After reading completed reading attitude survey and reading interest survey. Talks about God and demons a lot. Does not show interest in reading outside of school. When talking about family reading only talks about cousins reading and reading to him. C. does a great job reading but cannot sit still to do it. He wiggles around in his chair, tipping and leaning. As he wiggles book also wiggles around on the table. He keeps his place even though book moves in a semi-circle on the table in front of him. Maybe have him try to sit on a ball as he reads, not next to the table.
· D. struggles with long vowels as he reads pig book.
· S. reads with great pacing and inflection. Skips end of some words. Didn’t have trouble reading appendix.
· Phonics lesson on a_e word pattern using sound boxes. Switching ending sounds of words as exit ticket activity when lining up to go to computers.
02-07-2018
8:00 – 10:30
· Big Green Monster, uses initial sounds says monster instead of mouth. Good phrasing with simpler book. Likes book a lot. Water Hole very interested in hidden pictures. Gets stuck on multisyllable adjectives, got sipping, meeting, lumbering. Asked what lumbering means. Chunks difficult words. “Good I liked it.” The Day the Dinosaurs Died, I started reading to him. Ran out of time half way through.
· Phonics lesson, soft c and soft g.
· Watch C. take state required IStation test. Wears headphones. Signs into computer independently. Listens to prompts before clicking on a picture, testing vocab. Fill in blank sentences. C. has to read fast enough to fill in the blanks. On some of them, he just gets to the blank when his time is up. For spelling gives 8 letters has to click on needed letters to spell words that are said. Test takes 19 minutes to complete. Score shows that he has made improvement.
· Lets build words with AR worksheet. Changes sounds of works to create new words; bark, dark, dart, start, part, park, shark, shard, card, cart, chart, charm, harm, farm, harp. Class looks up shard and harp after they finish worksheet.
02-14-2018
8:00 – 10:30
· Completed running records.
· Finished reading the Day the Dinosaurs Died. C. tried to read it, didn’t make it passed page 1. Decided it was too hard. Read Avengers. Pointed out he could use pictures to figure out names. Az listens to C. read with me. Really excited about Avengers book, even though did not show interest during survey. Sounded out Android. Gets difficult words but skips easy words or says wrong word that does not make sense in the story. Switches b and d sounds. Much more interested in pictures than words. Has a really hard time with teammates. Could summarize Avengers book with lots of prompting. Started to coral read Big Max when C. decided its too hard. He reads well with me. Gets stuck on multisyllable and weird words.
· Watch C. write in his journal. Suggest to C. that he try standing up to write. Gets distracted easily. Uses a pencil to space words as he writes. Puts face really close to paper as he attempts to spell. Spelling is close, uses t instead of ed, spells family famaly, spells whole hole, weekend weekin. Sometimes uses finger instead of pencil. Pauses to ask if he spelled a word correctly. Missing punctuation and proper name capitols. Writes bule, says that’s not right, corrects to blue.
· While reading Tiger’s Birthday got distracted by the checkmarks that I am making. Reads the book a second time. Makes different word substitutions when reading it the second time. Read twice then took AR test.
· Listened to S. finish reading Madeline in London. Started Madeline and the Bad Hat. Will finish with her next week.
· Watch Az take AR test. Reads each choice before selecting answer.
· Class completes worksheet creating 2, 3, 4, and 5 letter words from the letters in valentine.
02-20-2018
8:00 – 11:00
· Listen to C. read Real Cowboys. I have him stop at the end of each page to summarize what he has read on that page. Great book to use for this. First line of every page is like a topic sentence. Also listen to C. read book from his book bag. He is excited because he moved up a level on his class reading books. Has a really hard time focusing today.
· Listen to S. finish reading Madeline and the Bad Hat. Started reading Madeline Christmas. Going to leave Madeline book with Mrs. Hammond this week so that S. can continue to read the Madeline stories she likes when I am not there.
· Class listens to Mrs. Hammond read Frog and Toad Christmas story. After they finish reading they sit down with their writing journals. This week Mrs. Hammond gives the students a writing prompt instead of letting them write about whatever they would like. Prompt is: “Toad gave Frog a clock for Christmas, what do you think Frog should give Toad?” I walk around and listen to various students’ ideas. Some tables choose to have Frog give Toad the same thing, eg. A calendar. Most students come up with unique ideas. Most students have several sentences when time is up. A couple students only have a few words. One student has drawn several presents, but has not written anything down. When I ask him what is in the presents, he tells me “I don’t know yet, that’s why there’s no words.”
· Class also reads the story of the week, another Frog and Toad story.
· Talk to Mrs. Hammond after the students have gone to PE. C. has shown a lot of growth since we have started working together. When I first started working with him, he was a few months to half a year behind where he should be. Now he is starting to read second grade books. Mrs. Hammond would like him to be reading 2.3 or 2.4 level books before the end of the year. She feels that because reading is not a priority at home he will fall back over the summer break. I informed Mrs. Hammond that next week will be my last official week working with C. for class. She did not seem happy with this information. I told her if it is okay with her, I would like to continue to come in and work with her. She says I am welcome anytime.
· I do not feel that I have helped him learn anything new. I think having someone interested in reading, both hearing him read and reading to him, is what has made the difference in his reading. Also, he gets distracted so easily, that helping him stay focused makes a difference on the amount of reading that he gets done. I’m kinda sad that my time with C. is coming to a close. He is such a cool little man. I think I am going to take Mrs. Hammond up on her offer to come in anytime I would like. I would like to see C. finish the year strong. Maybe I should plan something special for the class.
02-27-2018
8:00 – 11:00
· Story retelling with C. recorded. Read Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe. Recorded only 2 minutes. Had to really push by asking questions.
· First picture he looks at Max on the back cover of the book. Did not want to add color. Second picture traced picture out of the book. Very focused on tracing picture.
· Listen to S. read Madeline. Good fluency even on cold read. Self corrects most errors. Has trouble with word nervousness. Talks about what it means. Is able to define in her own words. Picks rhyme out of the story, fed and bed.
· C. is still working on picture. Says to me, “I wish you came here every day. Because you give us fun stuff.”
· Class is working on Star test. Testing program requires 17 points for a years growth, state requires 24.
· C. points out words on the word wall for Z. to use while writing.
· C. asks about Marbles when he finds a colored pencil that was chewed on. Very detail orientated with picture.
· C. knows how to write his name in cursive.
· I sit behind C. as he takes the Star test. He starts the test at 9:40 finishes it at 10:19. Test starts with fill in blank with missing word. Next has C. read short passages to answer multiple choice questions. Makes more self-corrections when taking the test. He notices me sitting behind him and starts to lose focus. I redirect him back to the computer and then move away from him.
· Listen to S. read Big Max. Ask her where she thinks the giraffe went. She says to the other giraffes. She reads most of the book before running out of time. I read the last five pages to her as everyone else cleans up. When she sees that the giraffe did go to the other giraffes she says “Yep, like I thought.”
· Meet with Mrs. Hammond to talk about C.’s Star test. He has gone from reading at a .7 level, below grade level to a 2.4 which is 4 months into second grade!! He is doing so much better. She credits me with a lot of the growth. She invites me to continue coming in.
I think I am going to continue to help in Mrs. Hammonds classroom. There is another student who is struggling with reading that I think I will begin working with.
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