Click here to view my Prezi

Thematic Unit

Here is my Thematic Unit

Read-alouds

Read-alouds are a great classroom activity. Teachers read aloud a text, and students can either listen or follow along. All students will benefit from this, whether they read or not. Young students or any struggling readers will love to listen to stories or information being read to them. All students will hear their teacher modeling proper, fluent reading. Students can focus on good intonation, exclamation, as well as reading comprehension.
Teachers can read a story aloud and discuss it with the students. They can learn how to predict, ask questions, comments, and so on. Students can learn story sequence and creative writing from stories, with the teacher guiding the students to noticing these ideas.
Here is a lesson plan which includes a read-aloud activity.
Here is an article on read-alouds.
Here is an article on the benefits of read-alouds on vocabulary development.

Unit Lesson Plan

Here is my Unit Lesson Plan

Strategies for Struggling Readers

Here are some strategies that are helpful for struggling readers. These strategies will be great for the subject of my case study.

ELL Case Study

ELL Case Study

Week 9

Candidate’s Name: Chavee Fink

Grade Level:1-3

Title of the lesson: Post-Its

Length of the lesson:1 hour

Central focus Reading literature and foundational skills- comprehension strategies.

Knowledge of students to inform teaching Students need to know which type questions they would ask themselves when they read and how to predict.

Common Core State Standards CCSS.RF. 4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. a. Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding. c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. CCSS. RL. 1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Support literacy development through language Students will comprehend what they read through predictions and thoughts and checking their post-its.

Learning objectives Students will use comprehension strategies to properly read a book. Sample: Will know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs. Will decode regularly spelled one-syllable words. Will recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Formal and informal assessment Walk around the classroom during partner time. Collect each groups’ post-it notes in their book.

Instructional procedure: Introduce the students to post-its. Tell them that they are supposed to write their thoughts down on these post-it notes. If they have a question, a thought, and idea, or comment, they can write it down. Give out exciting looking post-its to the students. (Colorful, shapes, etc.) Show a book to the class. Start with a post-it note on the cover. “What do I think this cover is telling me? Title?” Ask for suggestions of post-it notes from the students. They may want to fill a post-it note with their predictions(explain), or assumptions or guess, and look back later to check if they got it right. Continue to read the first little bit of the book. Help the students practice using post-it notes together, be it a thought, question, or hard word. Then, divide up the class into partners. Have them read a book together and write post-its together. Pair up weaker student with stronger ones. Walk around the classroom and comment to students on their good work and give suggestions for improvement. Afterwards, have the students discuss how they used post-its, and if they answered any questions, etc.

Instructional resources and materials Post-its books

Reflection The instruction addressed all students in the class, as weaker students will benefit from the teacher discussion, partners, and teacher aid during partner work. Students will get themselves used to thinking critically about their reading, and will properly comprehend their reading material.

Running Record

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-8l5rhQSbMIbVlpQXQxcG83S3c/view?usp=sharing

Week 7

: Assignment #1- Fluency
Fluency Questions:

*I do not teach now. This is based on personal experience or observations, or what I would do if I were to be teaching.

1.       Text and Materials: Readers (literature books), short books, workbooks, worksheets, words games, songs, poems, short stories.

2.       Vocabulary is selected by appropriate grade level (or slightly above grade level words). In subjects other than ELA, words a chosen based on the topic and lesson they will be learning at that point.

3.       Word Study: I’m not sure exactly-not a lot of time for independent study.  Most of the studying time should be done at home. Obviously, they will practice with these words in school, using word games, flash cards, songs,etc.

4.       Word Study Routines: sight words, songs

5.       Differentiate Instruction: different reading groups, one on one help, modified tests.

Fluency Chart: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-8l5rhQSbMINkJseDlVaWlXQ0E/view?usp=sharing

Assignment 2: Video Segment #1

• How can you ensure that your struggling readers have access to texts they can easily read?

Use books that are familiar to the student. Classroom should have libraries get different books instead all of the same-so many books on diff topics. Make sure that the students’ books are on their own level

• How can you foster a learning environment in which students have many opportunities to practice reading?

Reading groups. One on one coaching.

• Describe ways in which you can model fluent reading in your classroom throughout the day.

Teachers shouldn’t interrupt poor readers during a sentence-otherwise they get used to stopping after every word while they read. After a while, the teacher can discuss the mistake- this trains student to self regulate.

Teacher should read aloud to model fluent reading. – teachers should comment on their reading habits so that students will learn. 

Assignment #3 Video Segment #2

• Explain the three levels of words and how you can use word levels to decide which words to teach

1.     Easy words

2.     Word that are a little bit tricky but appear in every day language.

3.     Words that are learned in chemistry, biology, history,etc.

The first category is easy and the students know. The third category is for the subject teachers to teach. The 2^nd level is what we want to work on.

• How do you teach your students to "chunk" words as a strategy for decoding unfamiliar words? When do you provide this instruction?

First say each part of the word and see if you know what that is and if it can give you a clue to what it is. After a while of doing this, the student can use his 2 thumbs to cover 2 parts of the word and see if they know the uncovered part. If they don’t know that, they can slide their thumbs to uncover a different part.After they get used to that, they will do it in their minds.

• Based on Professor Allington's comments and the classroom examples, what are some ways you might foster word study in your classroom?

You can discuss words that come up in class- whether in a book, a science class or history class. The teacher can teach the students strategies on how to figure out the words themselves, both by reading further and looking at the context, or, chunking the word. 

Phonic Lesson Plan

Candidate’s Name: Chavee Fink

Grade Level: 3rd

Title of the lesson: The Vowels

Length of the lesson: 1 ½ hours

Central focus Phonics and vowel recognition

Knowledge of students to inform teaching Students need phonological awareness, and knowledge of vowels, vowel sounds, and word structure including vowels.

Common Core State Standards Sample: CCSS RF 1.3 (Reading: Foundational Skills, Phonics and Word Recognitions) 5. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. 6. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. CCSS Conventions of Standard English 2.Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. F. Use spelling patterns and generalizations in writing words.

Support literacy development through language (academic language) Students will analyze the story and recognize the importance of vowels. Students will identify the vowels that belong in each word. Students will need both oral and written language for this class, as they will be discussing the story, as well as writing with vowels.

Learning objectives Will understand the importance of vowels. Will be able to add vowels to consonants to make them into words.

Formal and informal assessment: Students will be assessed informally, during the group reading activities, class discussions, and in class work sheets. The homework sheet will give the teacher a real feel on how much each student caught on to and understands.

Instructional procedure: On a SMART board, show the story, The Vowels, {http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/ViewOnline.aspx?Is5=false&ProductID=6491} to the class. (*The Vowels is about a family, called the Vowels, who are not complete until each of their vowel children is born. Until each child is born, their words are without those vowels.) Ask the students to retell the story. Have them identify what happened when each child was born. Ask the students to recognize the importance of vowels. Go through the story again, pausing on each page to ask questions as follows: Why can’t we understand what they are saying? Which vowels do you think fit into this word. Which vowel did Alan/Ellen/Iris/Otto/Ursila/Aunt Cyndy add to the family? What vowel sounds (2 kinds) do we hear in his name? What other vowels are still missing? What happened when Otto got lost? Again, have the students identify the importance of vowels. Divide the classroom into groups of 4. Give out consonant cards, as well as vowel cards. Have one student make a word without vowels with the consonant cards. Their peers will fill out the words with vowels. Give out a sheet with the following sections: Which vowel is missing from each word? (Ex: fmily) Fill in the blanks: (Example: C_T, D_G, DR_SS, TABL_E. Extra credit: Turn these letters into a word! (Example: t, twr, ktchn) Do one example of each section on the board with the students. Give the students a similar sheet for homework to assess their comprehension.

Instructional resources and materials: SMART board The Vowels book, by Sally M. Walker http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/ViewOnline.aspx?Is5=false&ProductID=6491 Letter cards Work sheet Homework Sheet

Reflection The instructional plans include the whole class. In third grade, the students are already familiar with vowels. This lesson just shows the importance of vowels and how they complete words. There is much practice done, including going through the story and filling in the vowels together, the game with cards, as well as work sheet and homework sheet. This lesson reaches all students.

As Mary had trouble with words with irregular spelling, such as through and though, I designed a lesson-plan to help her with these words. While she can use other areas of help as well, this is an easy thing to help her out with.

Candidate’s Name: Chavee Fink

Grade Level:3rd

Title of the lesson: Tricky Words

Length of the lesson:40 minutes

Central focus  Phonics and word recognitions (Grade 3)

Knowledge of students to inform teaching   Phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, letters and alphabets, letter-sound correspondence

Common Core State Standards   CCSS RF 1.3 (Reading: Foundational Skills, Phonics and Word Recognitions) 3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. c. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Support literacy development through language (academic language) ●    Students will need to identify the “tricky words”, or irregulalry spelled words that they learn. ●     Students will get a short passage, embedded with the irregularly spelled words that they will be learning. They need to identify those words. Later, they need to identify the sounds of these words. ●     Students will need to know the meanings of the words they are learning to read and spell, prior to class. Identify and read and spell

Learning objectives Students will recognize, read, and spell irregularly spelled grade-appropriate words.

Formal and informal assessment Students will be assessed during class time as they will be “called on” by the teacher to read aloud some words. During independent work time, the teacher will walk around and have different students read different words. The teacher will check the homework sheets to be sure that they have caught on, or see if they have not.

Instructional Procedures: The teacher will bring up a short passage on her smart board or projector. The teacher will ask the students what they think are tricky words in the passage. The teacher will then have each student come up to the board and write down their “tricky word” on the board. Words in the passage that are tricky are as follows: Through, though, laugh, tough, taught, naughty, bought, right, light. The teacher will ask the students to try and read these words. If a meaning is unknown (to ELL), the teacher will go over the meaning. She will then tell them which ones have silent “gh” and which ones have a sound. The teacher will put them in two separate lists on the board. The teacher will hand out a sheet with lines on it, in two separate columns: Silent “gh” and “gh” with a sound. As the teacher reads the words aloud, the students will decide which column they go in, and then write the word in that column (they can copy from the board). The students can each sit with a partner. Give out a paper with lines on it, so the students can cut cards. They will write the words on the cards, and then test their friends on the spelling. Time permitting, the students can draw pictures on the back of the cards so that they can test themselves. The teacher should give out a sheet with two columns of lines. The teacher should instruct her student to think of rhyming words. For example though-throw. Through-flew. Tough-stuff. This will help the student remember the sounds of the words. For homework, the teacher will give out a sheet with pictures of the words. The students will write the word that they learned next to the picture. Then they will match that word to its rhyming word on the other side of the page. Accommodations and modifications: Teacher will walk around and assist those struggling during independent and group time.

Instructional resources and materials used to engage students in learning. Short passage on smart board. Work sheets. Cards. Homework sheet

Reflection: As this class is rather slow-paced. Every student can follow. Additionally, in the group work time, the students can help their friends study the spelling of the words. Because of the rhyming and pictures the students will work with, the students will be able to remember the words better. With the group time and card-making, the classroom stays stimulating and exciting, rather than exclusively learning how to spell new words. This lesson addresses every students and all levels of students will be interested in this lesson and come out with the correct learning outcomes.

Running Record on Student

Here is the running record:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-8l5rhQSbMIM2FKWEFsR0tJZTQ/view?usp=sharing

I did the running record on a little girl named Ayala. Ayala is in second grade, and read the book Romona Quimby to me. She read almost every work perfectly, with the Error Rate 1:108, Accuracy Rate 99%, and Self-Correction Rate 0:1.
Ayala retold the story nicely.
So what help does she need already? Ayala may read the words nicely, but she didn't read the story nicely. The sentences ran into each other and she did not always use punctuation correctly.


Here is the mini-lesson plan on punctuation I made to help Ayala.
https://www.smore.com/v248j

Student's strengths and needs

The student did a relatively good job of reading. She knew how to read the basic words. She made a few mistakes, though. Specifically, words with the "ough" combination were very hard for the student. She got stuck on the words though and through. Based on her reading level, I assume that her other mistakes were careless: reading 'must' as 'most', and adding in 's' or 'ed' where there should not have been. Additionally, she repeated words and phrases quite a few times. However, she repeated it so as to clarify it for herself, which is a very good strategy.
The students retelling was okay. She knew the main idea- that it was about whales and fish, and their similarities and differences. However, she could recall few facts. As the students was reading, I noticed that towards the beginning of the text, she paused at the end of sentences and had the right intonation and inflection. However, at the end, her sentences ran into each other. This is both a result and cause of the lack of reading comprehension.
The student can be helped in a few ways. Firstly and most easily, going over the "ough" words with her. Secondly, she can be taught to read slower and read the whole word, so that she will not make careless reading mistakes, which can change the meaning of the text (such as must and most). Thirdly, her reading comprehension can be worked on. Her teacher can guide her to critical thinking skills, which will help her have reading comprehension. For example, the teacher can teach her to ask herself: What is the main idea? What are some examples of ________? This will teach her to make sure to understand what she is reading while she is reading. This will help her actual reading skills (sentences, intonation...) as well as her comprehension.

Running Record

I hope this is clear. I didn't have a printer on hand so I did it on the computer...

Correct words-207, Errors-9, SC-6. Error Rate-1:23, Accuracy Rate-96%, Self-Correction Rate-1:3

Looking Closer

Shared Reading

·         Shared Reading is great for all different levels. Some readers are fluent and may be able to read the text themselves. They can gain skills besides for the actual reading the words (intonation, pauses, etc.) Other readers will be able to follow along as the rest of the class is reading aloud. During shared reading, there is something for everyone to learn.

·         During shared reading, the class discusses together what they are reading. When a student gets stuck, and tries to figure out what a word says, the teacher commends him for trying, and helps him try even more. She doesn’t just give away the answer.

·         Shared reading promotes literacy in many ways. The students can all be involved in shared reading. Many times shared reading texts are harder than independent reading levels. The students get to enjoy reading something with a little more substance than their usual books. Being involved and interested motivates students to want to read more. Additionally, the phonics lesson that the teacher introduced during shared reading is helpful for them to read on their own.

Guided Reading

·         When students verbalize their strategies, they are making themselves aware of the strategies they are using, as well as teaching them to their friends. When strategies are spoken and applauded, students will want to use those strategies as well.

·         The teacher helps her students build meaning by asking them thinking questions. Questions in which they are not spoon-fed the information, but instead, have to think about them for themselves. For example: How would you fill in the blank in this sentence? Why do you think he is buying boots? Where are the boots now? Questions like these will attach meaning to the text.

Differentiated Instruction

·         The teacher arranges her classroom with different reading groups. One girl would learn spelling with a student teacher. Two students are very fluent readers, so Ms. Perez allowed them to choose what they want to read about, and then taught them how to take notes. It is important to allow each student to work on their specific needs.

·         Reading and writing are connected in Ms. Perez’s classroom in many ways. The example of the little girl and the student teacher, the student reads a word, and then needs to spell it by herself. With the fluent readers, they take notes on what they are reading.

Assessment

·         Ms. Perez uses ongoing individual assessment to base her lessons on. She sees what the students need to work on, and which students need extra help. Additionally, she learns about each reader and can divide them into groups based on their level and what they need to work on.

·         The class profile is great as you can see at a glance what levels the students are up to. Some have completed a year’s work in only a couple of months. Some aren’t advancing enough. Ms. Perez can then help these students keep up with the class, and can divide them accordingly into groups.

·         Ongoing assessment is important for every teacher to incorporate into her lessons. In my classroom, I would like to constantly assess students so that I can see what they are up to, what they need help with, and how I can change my instruction to cater to each individual student.