Running Record Assessment

Comprehension Strategies

Sara Wieder     3/31/12

Comprehension: Teaching Procedures

Assignment #1:

1)    How might small-group literature discussion groups fit into an overall literacy program, designed to help students experience the pleasures of becoming effective readers of literature?                                                                                       Small group literature discussion gives students the opportunity to express their thoughts and insights freely and openly. This gives students the confidence in themselves by expressing their personal reflections to their peers and teacher they experience the pleasure of becoming an effective reader.

2)    How does informal assessment such as that demonstrated by Mr. Thompson help a teacher design effective lessons?                                                         Informal assessment is a great tool to assess students’ comprehension and understanding of the text. In this way, a teacher can evaluate what each child comprehended and what they did not understand. Then, a teacher can design effective lessons by addressing the needs of all learners.

3)    What ideas form the video would you like to try in your own classroom?                                                                                                                          I really liked the idea of response logs and “critical reader thoughts. It’s a great way to engage students in the reading by giving them the opportunity to write down and express their thoughts

Assignment #2:

1)    What are some ways this teacher helps students cope with the complexities of a new literacy text?                                                                                                      This teacher encourages the students to write down a difficulty in the text that they may not have understood and ask questions, Why did this happen, or what’s the purpose of this character? Asking questions can help students comprehend the text better.

2)    As viewers, did you think the use of students to present mini-lessons to the class was an effective strategy, why or why not?                                                                                                                                       I think that the mini-lessons are a great strategy because it builds the confidence of the students by giving the students a chance to express their thoughts to the class and helps them be better readers.

3)    Mr. Hoonan talks about the importance of considering context when assessing student performance, what example of this can you share from your own classroom?                                                                                                                 During my field observation, I have observed the teacher considering context when assessing student performance. The teacher gave a child that has difficulty reading and writing a chance to express her thought without asking her to write her thoughts on paper. This gave the student confidence and developed her reading and writing skills.

4)    What ideas from the video would you like to try in your own classroom?                I would use the idea of the post-it strategy which is a great tool that builds comprehension. Also, I like the small-group discussion and the use of web, in which everyone participated and wrote down their questions and thoughts.

Lesson Plan: The Dairy of a Fly

Grade Level:2                                                                                                                                       

  Standards:

·        Determine the meaning of unfamiliar words by using context clues, dictionaries, and other classroom resources

·        Comprehension strategies, ask questions when listening to or reading texts

·        Work cooperatively with peers to comprehend text                                             

Overview: students will read the story Dairy of a Fly written by Doreen Cronin and use comprehension strategies to understand the story. The lesson plan involves read-aloud, small- group discussions, independent writing, and response journals.            

Time: two 45 minute lessons

Day #1: Activity #1: Read Aloud- teacher will read the Dairy of a Fly to the class on the carpet. Teacher will read that the fly is nervous on the first day of a school. Ask students why do you think the fly is nervous? Were you nervous on the first day of a school and why? Write down the word “regurgitated” on the board, and ask students to use the context of the sentence and think what the word may mean. Then, write the suggestions on the board. Teacher will continue to read about the fly and that it learnt in school that you must always have a flight plan.

Activity #2: Small group discussion and building vocabulary; students will work together in groups and use dictionaries or other resources to find the meaning of the word “regurgitated”. Then, students will discuss about the need to plan ahead, why it is better to have a plan and strategy before you do something.

Activity #3: independent writing, students will write in the journals a reflection of what they learnt today from the story. Students will answer the question; imagine you were a fly and write your feelings and experiences. Also, students will write about an experience that because they planned ahead it was successful or when they didn’t plan ahead and was unsuccessful. Then, students can share their reflections to the class.

Day #2;

Activity #1: Read Aloud, first the teacher will review what they have read yesterday. Then, the teacher will continue with the story. The fly dreams of being a hero. Ask students what is a hero? And why does the fly think he is a superhero? Discuss the food chain, and the importance of all living things in a food chain. Then, conclude how the fly learnt that all people can be heroes in their own way.

Activity #2: literature groups/ small-group discussion, students will discuss the story and add an thoughts or observations they have learnt from the story

Activity #3: independent writing, students will write in their journals:

1)    What is the lesson of the story?

2)    Have you ever dreamed about being a hero, and what do you think makes a person a hero?

3)    Have you ever had a situation where you did something extraordinary and felt like a hero, explain.

4)    What did the worm mean when he said, “the world needs all kinds of hero’s” and what can we learn from this.

Activity #4: Class discussion, students will read aloud their reflections and response to journal questions. Teacher will discuss the moral of the story

Extension: students will be given the opportunity and encouraged to keep their own diary and write down their feelings and experiences every day

Assessment; teacher will assess student understanding by reading the journal response logs and informally assessing their participation in the whole-class and small-group discussions

Fluency and Word Study Chart

Week 7- Reading Fluency and Word Development

Sara Wieder     3/12/12

WEEK 7

Assignment #1

1)    What texts and materials do teachers have in their classrooms that support student’s level of fluent reading?   Classrooms have a large variety of books on different levels and topics. During independent reading, students can choose a book that is on their level and interest. In this way, by reading books students can develop their fluency. Teachers also encourage students to reread books they already read to build fluency.

2)    How do they select vocabulary to teach in all areas of your curriculum?       Teachers usually select vocabulary that is pertaining to the topic at hand or new words that students came across in book or story they are reading. Also, teachers can choose words that they feel are important for students to know.

3)    How much time do they allocate to word study? In the school that I observed, every day the teacher would introduce a new word and call on each child to read the word correctly. Then, the teacher would explain the meaning of the word and provide an example of its usage in a sentence or story. After, the teacher would place the new word on the word wall for everyone to see. In addition, vocabulary was integrated into the lessons and activities by teaching new words from stories the students were reading.

4)    What word study routines do they teach and encourage students to use?  The teacher encouraged the student to look at the context of the sentence to understand the meaning of a new and unfamiliar word. Also, with decoding words students were encouraged to break up the word in letters so they can decode it easier.

5)    How do they differentiate instruction and tasks based on their students’ needs? The teacher designed different instructional activities and groups based on students’ needs and abilities. The teacher intervened and helped the students that needed extra help reading. Also, there were books on all different levels so that every child can have an opportunity to practice their reading.

Assignment #2

1)    How can you ensure that your struggling readers have access to texts that they can easily read? By providing a wide range of books and texts on all different grade levels can give struggling readers an opportunity to read a book without experiencing difficulty.

2)    How can you foster a learning environment in which students have many opportunities to practice reading? Integrating reading activities into the lesson as much as possible and instilling a love for reading into the students can create a learning environment that encourages reading. Furthermore, independent reading or reading in small groups can be great way to give students a chance to practice reading.

3)    Describe ways in which you can model fluent reading in your classroom throughout the day? I can read stories or texts out loud to my class correctly, smoothly, and with proper expression. In this way, I can model fluent reading and all students can learn the way to read fluently.

Assignment #3

1)    Explain the 3 levels of words and how you can use word levels to decide which to teach? The 3 word levels are familiar words, words that appear often and may be unfamiliar to some students, and really difficult and technical words. The familiar words do not need to be readdressed and explained. The second level words are the words that teachers should focus on while teaching vocabulary. In particular, while reading a story the teacher comes across a word that is unfamiliar to the students, she or he should use this opportunity to teach the new word to the class. The highly technical words can be left to chemistry or biology teachers to teach.

2)    How do you teach your students to “chunk” words as a strategy for decoding unfamiliar words?  When do you provide this instruction? When students read a difficult or unfamiliar word, I will instruct my students to separate the word, read the middle; can you read this part of the word? I will encourage my students to tear the word apart while trying to decode. I will use this instruction while introducing new words or during an independent reading activity and a student gets stuck on a word.

3)    Based on Professor Allington’s comments and the classroom examples, what are some ways you might foster word study in your classroom?  I will provide access to many different texts and books on different levels so that all readers can practice reading. Also, I will model fluent reading, encourage independent reading, and encourage students to read the context of a sentence to understand unfamiliar words. Furthermore, I will integrate vocabulary into the lessons by explaining new words that students come across during reading. I will also teach my students the strategy to “chunk” words. I hope that implementing these strategies into my curriculum and designing my lessons in a way that builds word study, I will give all students a greater chance for success and promote achievement!

Fluency and Phonics lesson plan

Sara Wieder   2/26/2012                                                                                                                                       (I posted this mini lesson last week)

Building Meaning Lesson Plan

This student is a great reader at an accuracy rate of 94%. However, she does need a little practice with reading with meaning of the words. According to the running record assessment, she frequently read “most” instead of “must”. In context with the sentence it doesn’t really make sense.

To address this student needs I will do a reading activity that will build meaning.

·        Choose a book that’s easy and simple to comprehend, then with guided reading help the student read with the meaning of the words.

·        After each sentence I will ask questions- what did you read?

·        I will cover some words in the story and ask the student to predict what the word is based on what makes sense- what fits in the sentence according to the meaning.

·        If the student makes an error and it does not fit with the meaning of the sentence, I will ask the student to repeat- does this word make sense in this sentence.

·        Connections of the story with real life experiences. I will ask the students has this ever happened to you? What do you think it feels like to be this character?

Fluency

1)    What did you learn about “reading fluency”?  

Reading fluently is the ability to read accurately and with proper speed and expression. Developing fluency is a difficult task and involves decoding words easily. Fluent readers decode words easily, so therefore they can concentrate on the meaning of the text. Therefore, fluency is essential in reading because there is a strong connection between fluency and comprehension.

2)    How can you apply “fluency assessment” in your classroom?

I will continuously assess my students on fluency by asking them to read a text or story and evaluate their WCPM (words correct per minute) score. Based on the assessment, I will use the data to plan my instruction. Students that have difficulty decoding and are not fluent readers will receive intervention.

3)    How will you plan your “fluency instruction”?

I will plan my fluency instruction in a way that will meet the needs of all students on their level and needs. On idea that I liked for the video was the word web as tool that builds multiple meaning of words. I will integrate the word web in my lessons to build fluency. In addition, I will also implement repeated reading and model fluent reading which are great tools to build fluency.  

PHONICS LESSON PLAN

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Standards: New York State Common Core Learning Standards – English Language Arts and Literacy:

Phonological Awareness; Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds: recognize and produce rhyming words.

Learning Objectives; students will be able to recognize and read words that rhyme. Two, forty minute lessons

·        Introduction to the lesson- video with nursery rhymes; “Humpty Dumpty” and “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” etc.  Power Point Presentation; pictures of a cat, hat, rat and bat. Ask the students- what did you notice about the words?

·        Shared Reading: Read the poem;

 Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle                                                                 The cow jumped over the moon                                                                                 The little dog laughed to see such fun                                                                       and the dish ran away with the spoon!

Ask the students which words did you notice that sounds the same? Ask students what is another word that sounds the same as cat? The teacher will write the word cat and erase the first letter and add letter to “at” like mat, rat, hat, sat, bat etc. Ask students to come up with their own examples for dog.

·        Activity #1; students will receive a chart with pictures that are rhyming words and they will fill in the words.

·        Activity #2: Matching- students will match pictures to the word –and recognize the rhyme.

·        Activity #3; independent reading; students will choose from a variety of books (like Dr. Seuss books) and write down three sets of rhyming words from the book they read.

·        Activity #4: students will receive a sheet with sentences and they will fill in the missing rhyming words

Advanced Learners can create their own nursery rhyme and present it to the class.  

Second Practice Running Record

Sara Wieder   2/26/2012

Building Meaning Lesson Plan

This student is a great reader at an accuracy rate of 96%. However, she does need a little practice with reading with meaning of the words. According to the running record assessment, she frequently read “most” instead of “must”. In context with the sentence it doesn’t really make sense.

To address this student needs I will do a reading activity that will build meaning.

·        Choose a book that’s easy and simple to comprehend, then with guided reading help the student read with the meaning of the words.

·        After each sentence I will ask questions- what did you read?

·        I will cover some words in the story and ask the student to predict what the word is based on what makes sense- what fits in the sentence according to the meaning.

·        If the student makes an error and it does not fit with the meaning of the sentence, I will ask the student to repeat- does this word make sense in this sentence.

·        Connections of the story with real life experiences. I will ask the students has this ever happened to you? What do you think it feels like to be this character?

Running Record Assessment

According to the Running Record Assessment, this second grade student has an accuracy rate of 96% and can read independently. She is a very good reader and can read fluently and accurately. She relies a lot on the structure of the word, but not the meaning. This student does need a little help with her “e” and the sound it makes at the end of a word. In addition, the student focuses on reading the words and not comprehension. After she finished reading “Whales and Fish”, I asked her to tell me about what she read and she didn’t know what to answer. Therefore, this student does need intervention to help her with comprehension of the text.