Hi Jennifer, I do a lot of observing/conferencing as my modes of assessment at the beginning of the year and I'm planning on sticking to that for the most part. I may do some spelling assessment earlier than I usually do this year so that I can get my kids started on their individualized work work. I start my reading workshop in English with read to self also and move on to the other choices: read to someone, and listen to reading. I do a separate writing workshop that I introduce on the first or second day of school. I will include work work lessons here for the most part.
I plan to start with metacognition but just lots of modeling even before that as well as setting the tone of all the wonderful literature, both fiction and non fiction that is out there for us to access. I am planning to read the CAFE book before school starts to see if and how I can use any of this through my mini lessons connected to comprehension instruction. It seems like I will be able to just from reading others' comments on this but I don't want my reading workshop to become too rigid and inflexible. We'll see. 45 minutes for word work every day seems like a really long time. Everyone I've ever read on this topic advocates no more than 10 - 15 minutes/day and some even less than that. What was the thinking behind that? Just curious. Elisa Elisa Waingort Grade 2 Spanish Bilingual Dalhousie Elementary Calgary, Canada The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. —Helen Keller Visit my blog, A Teacher's Ruminations, and post a message. http://waingortgrade2spanishbilingual.blogspot.com/ Elisa You wanted to know how I am going to start strategy instruction this year? Well, first things first, I am going to do a little assessment. I am only working in grades 2 and 4 this year but for a longer period of time. We have a new Language Arts framework and the teachers will have 45 minutes of word work and then 1 hour of Comprehension Strategy Instruction (CSI). In the word work block, we can work on vocabulary, word structure, and yes, phonics skills. In CSI, we teach our not-so-voluntary Voluntary State Curriculum...so I will want to see where the kids are after the summer so I can meet their needs. I am going to use the techniques in the Daily Five Read to Self block to help kids build stamina and then use the goal setting and assessment process from The CAFE book to determine kids needs. Since I coteach and we have two teachers in one classroom, we can get a lot of mileage with our conferences...and can use them for a lot of one on one teaching. We will also pull small groups of kids with similar needs for strategy instruction. SO...I am not going in with the typical strategy routine...I used to begin with metacognition and then making connections, etc. I am going to start with setting up reading workshop and then assess and teach on more of a needs basis. Jennifer **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222846709x1201493018/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=115&bcd =JulystepsfooterNO115) _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
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