Tag Archives : Emergent Reader


An important lesson from my Reading Recovery days: Begin at the very beginning

Begin at the very beginning

I taught for a decade before I started my Reading Recovery training, beginning with kindergarten in a school where half of my students understood only Portuguese when they arrived. In those first ten years I moved between kindergarten, primary special education and grade one. My grade one students who struggled the most were lucky enough to have the Reading Recovery program in place, and I was astounded at the changes I saw in them in such a short time. Those teachers had some kind of magic and I was thrilled when I was able to take the position at my school. There was a mystery that surrounded what really happened in that little room.

Wait a minute – the kid learns nothing new and the teacher does everything for them?

I began my Reading Recovery training like my fellow trainees, enthusiastic, and in a hurry to get my students reading and writing! I was impatient with the ‘Roaming around the Known’ period: ‘Roaming’ being delicately consolidating (with ABSOLUTELY no teaching) around what the child already knows (the ‘known’), perhaps discovering more about what is known or stumbling upon areas of difficulty somehow missed in the testing process. It was a ten lessons, two week complete, no-stress, the-child-does-all-he’s-capable-of-and-you-do-everything-else period of (what felt like) non-structured, laziness. It drove us all nuts – at first.

But here’s what actually happened.

We had LOADS of fun. The kids, who at the beginning of grade one already knew they were ‘the worst readers in the class’ and had already been refusing to take risks and try anything new, gained confidence and trust in us, the process and themselves and started to try. They were excited to come to Reading Recovery every day, before we even started lessons.

What did we do?

  1. We read familiar books over, and over, and over again.
  2. We made our own story books, sharing the marker; the child writing the words s/he knew, the teacher writing the rest.
  3. We played games with the words and letters the child already knew. We painted (with water) on the walls of the school and the playground, in sand trays, and shaving cream.
  4. We practiced moving from left to right…and I could go on (and will in a future post)…

My point is, we learned that there is nothing wrong with EASY, especially when dealing with a child whose confidence needs a boost.

Most of the children I have worked with in recent years are these very children. For many of them, the little things are giant in their minds. Anticipation of a task can be more difficult to manage than the task itself. We need to start with success and build up one baby step at a time. You do remember Baby Steps, don’t you?


[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JPa2mvSQ4] Dr Leo Marvin TFRT

And, of course, humor keeps us all going when the going gets tough!

Here are a few links to help anyone who is starting at the very beginning of the literacy journey this year. Best wishes to you!


Fam Read Fun Th Dos & don'ts of motivating young children to write Th1 Reading Logs - rejigged!

flipbook post pic ben-of-alpha-book.png-150x150 Alpha book 350 x 350

PreEmergent Sight-Word-Stages Readers (two words per page, also available in bundles):

Th School Things half page cover Fall Things Thanksgiving Things half page cover Hall Things half p cover

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That Fun Reading Teacher’s Sight-Word-Stages Leveled Readers: Differentiate just by printing!

 

SWS intro

 

As educators, we have all kinds of fun activities and strategies for teaching and reinforcing sight words for reading and writing. Many of them involve practicing these words out of context. The point of Sight Word Recognition is to be able to recognize these words at a glance, in isolation. But all of the practice needn’t be.

I am in the early stages of creating a series of readers called ‘Sight Word Stages’ readers to help teachers differentiate for their students within the same reading level. While some of our students may struggle with putting all of the pieces of the reading puzzle together and need to work on that, there are many others who simply have difficulty remembering, and who require extra opportunities to practice using these little words in context.

Here is an example of a DRA/Reading Recovery Level 2 Reader:

Furry th

 A color PDF is included in the package, indicating the sight words of focus on the cover.

I print these on thicker paper, laminate them and keep them with other guided reading books.

Who is Furry

 Directional support is provided with the go to stop method.

 

bw Fur 3,4

 A regular black and white copy is provided. Students can color and keep these, if you wish.

 

Fur 3,4 (1)

 A trace-the-sight-word copy is provided for students requiring this level of support.

Fur 3,4

 A fill-in-the-blanks copy is also provided for each title.


Supplementary Materials:

Color and black & white sentence strips                                                                                                                                     (Tip: Print color copy onto card paper and laminate, and store with color readers for reuse)

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Color and black & white Self-Check lists                                                                                                                               (I have a laminated color one on the wall over the writing table with a dry-erase marker, but know classroom teachers who give each child their own black and white copy, one who shrinks it to half-size. Early finishers draw or practice words on the back!)

Self-Check color

Sometimes – there’s a surprise bonus activity – particularly in the bundles. Check the previews!


 Here is what is currently available in the Sight-Word-Stages Readers Series:

Please note that freebies will not contain all of the parts mentioned above.


Text box.png We are Community Helpers! Free Sight-Word-Stages Sampler

Text box.png - Copy Monst Tr th Furry th

L2 4 Book Bundle sq She is CH th He is CH th

Text box.png - Copy (2) I Like School cover In revision:At School

Text box.png Th 400 St Patrick's Day Things cover

 

 4 Book Bundle long More titles coming Summer 2015!  Save with bundles!

Are there any particular themes you would like to see covered in these early levels? Please leave a comment and let me know! (Easter and Earth Day are already started in draft!)

Have a wonderful spring day, and pop into my store for a visit sometime by clicking my button!

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