I am NOT A College Professor.
I do NOT have a MASTERS ( or above )
in ANYTHING!
I am just a teacher.
A first-grade teacher.
A first-grade reading teacher.
A Veteran (27yrs ), a first-grade teacher,
in a TITLE 1 SCHOOL!
I have seen a LOT! Done a LOT!
Hear me ROAR!!!!!
So, I repeat.
I am a teacher. I teach reading.
(Aren’t they cute????)
I have been through:
Whole Language
Environmental Print
Interactive Writing
Phonemic Awareness
Leveled Readers ( DRA, GSP, AR, Lexile)
Phonics
Words Their Way
HFW
Sight Words
High-Interest Reading Books
SIPPS
Read Naturally
And
A MULTITUDE OF PUBLISHER’S CURRICULUM!
New sets every 7 years!
Next, having said this…
1 thing most curriculum’s have in common :
READ!
READ A LOT!
And then…READ SOME MORE!
So …
My little sisters…
YES…both of my LITTLE SISTER’S are
PRIMARY TEACHERS!
We were discussing school.
Yes… we do that!
We are trying to WRAP our minds around the
“READ…READ…READ more”
and they will
“GET IT!” (way of thinking.)
Well, maybe…
I LOVE reading with kiddos!
See my post here about the
But then my concern is…
When I “release” them to read,
When I want them to become INDEPENDENT readers,
Where do they “learn” the skills to use when they “get stuck”?
Will they use strategies, when they don’t know what’s happening?
When a story isn’t making sense…do they keep reading?
If they keep reading…
Will all the skills and strategies come TOGETHER?
At a recent PD, my little sis said she understood the
READ, READ, READ philosophy.
Integrate science, social studies, math, technology
INTO literacy!
YES!
Writing and Reading
COMPLIMENT and Coexist
WITH each other!
You can’t have one without the other!
THEY NEED EACH OTHER!
BUT…
-Me SPEAKING-
There needs to be a BALANCE of:
Skills & Strategies
in conjunction with independent reading & writing!
THERE!
I said IT!
Reading & Writing SKILLS:
Blends
Vowels
Word Families
Chunks
Grammar
Punctuation
High-Frequency Words
Capitalization
Handwriting
and MORE!
Comprehension
Questioning
Summarizing
etc, etc, etc…
(I sound like my Education College Professors!)
I was listening!
ALL of these “lessons” MUST be taught
IN CONJUNCTION with
Reading & Writing!
Yes…To be a better reader…
YOU MUST READ!
BUT…to be a better reader who UNDERSTANDS…
You must have skills and strategies to use
WHEN you read and write!
NOW…CAUTION!!!
Unless you are teaching ADULTS in a COLLEGE CLASS…
A 40-minute LECTURE on diagramming sentences
IS NOT…I REPEAT…
NOT
the way to do it!
If you WANT to spend 40 minutes discussing grammar…
CHUNK IT!
Read a little.
Discuss it.
Let it soak in.
And do it again. And again. and again!
READ!
Do 2-3 MINILESSONS over a few days…
Let it SINK IN!
Show kiddos:
What it looks like.
Where to find it.
How to use it.
Why we use it.
When to ask for help.
Kinder-Grade 1-Grade 2 teachers…
UNITE!
Mini-Lessons with a WORKSHOP!
Use SMALL Groups for STRATEGY & Skill Groups!
Let kiddos have a chance to PRACTICE
what YOU have taught them!
Let it SINK IN!
And Then…
LET THEM READ!
and
READ!
and
READ!
and then
WRITE…and write, some more!
Skills, Strategies, Reading, Writing
They will become “BETTER”…
and isn’t that what we ALL want to be?
BETTER!
Need some HELP?
My friend, Alison, at
Learning at The Primary Pond
learningattheprimarypond.com
has a great post about
What Does Reading Workshop Look Like In The Primary Grades?
Here are some “HELPERS” for YOU!
Click HERE for more reading & writing products!
