• Reading is a huge part of first grade!
     
    To teach reading we use a variety of resources. 

    Interactive Read Alouds by Linda Hoyt has several direct instruction models to help the children learn specific comprehension strategies. 

    During Guided Reading (created by Gay Pinnell and Irene Fountas) the children are put into flexible strategy groups based on their individual needs.  The needs of the children in the group will dictate what they will practice. 
     
    During BEAR Time (this is what we call RTI) the students will be split into ability based groups and work on a variety of things.  This is a time for each student to be met at his/her individual level to support and/or enrich reading skills.
     
    We also use IRLA (Independent Reading Level Assessment) to help target where students are reading independently.  This assessment tool also allows me to really target what each child is able to do really well and consistently in reading and what he/she is missing that is holding them back from moving foward with reading.  It will help me to target and explicitly instruct each child in his/her needs to help them be successful with reading.  From this information I will spend a great deal of time each week conferring with your child one-on-one to work on those skills needed to move forward and to create power goals so they know what they need to practice independently as well.

    Additionally, we use     The CAFÉ and The Daily 5, both created by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.  To learn more about them follow the link above.  They create authentic reading and writing activities for the children to work on while I meet with guided reading groups and students one-on-one.
     
    Furthermore, each week we will focus on different reading accuracy strategies that are listed below.  Click here for a document of tips for figuring out tricky words.
    • Check the pictures for clues
    • Get your mouth ready to say the beginning sounds
    • Chunk-It - look for a familiar chunk in the word.  Breaking down the word into chunks may make it easier to read.
    • Stretch the word out to hear all of the sounds
    • Read-Skip-Read - skip over the unfamiliar word and read on.  Then, hop back to reread the sentence and try to fill in the word you skipped.
    • Back up and Reread - sometimes rereading a sentence from the beginning can help a child make sense of the sentence.
    • Cross-Checking - does it look right, does it sound right, does it make sense?
     
    Finally, we use  Heggarty to teach the students phonemic awareness.  Phonemic awareness teaches the students how to hear, identify, move, and change sounds in spoken words.  This helps get students ready for reading and doing these tasks with written words. 
     
    For ways to help your child become a better reader and writer click here.
     
     

    "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." - Dr. Seuss