ACE Elementary Literacy Newsletter
Elementary Literacy | SEP 2017 YEAR 3: VOL. 1
In this Edition:
Balanced Literacy Focus: Independent Reading & Tight Transitions
Instructional Resources: 2nd Six Weeks Instructional Calendars
Upcoming PD: Bernabei, ACE Writing Academy
Announcements: Classroom Contest! & ACE Website
Celebrations
Balanced Literacy Focus: Independent Reading
This month’s instructional focus in balanced literacy is independent reading.
Did you know the amount of free reading a student engages in has consistently been found to relate to growth in vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency, and general information?
Check out these ACE Independent Reading resources
Student behavior during independent reading
Independent reading will be some of the most successful and enjoyable time of the day for some learners. This is also a time to foster and grow a love for reading.
However, independent reading can be a difficult time for teachers to manage. To avoid misbehavior and instead truly engage readers, ensure that all students have a best fit book that they can read with high accuracy. Teachers must also reinforce independent reading expectations with consistency.
If you find that students are not engaged in their independent reading, go back and review your expectations. Revisit your anchor chart and discuss your expectations. Introduce a stamina chart to the class and set daily goals. Perhaps you start out with a goal of 5 minutes of everyone in the class reading. Maybe tomorrow, you'll observe 7 minutes of engaged reading. Track the students daily stamina on a class stamina chart.
Teacher moves during independent reading
This is a highly valuable time to accelerate instruction by listening to students read and providing them with targeted feedback that will help them expand their reading ability.
Not sure how to prompt the students as you listen to them read? Use the prompts at the back of this one pager. Need a cheat sheet? Use the student’s lexile level, find the appropriate level in this prompting guide (narrative, informational), and use the prompts to confer with individual students as they read.
Don’t forget to record your observations on a conferencing form.
My independent reading self assessment
- My students have access to just right books and know their level
- The expectations for independent are reading clearly posted in my classroom
- I monitor my students and ensure that 100% are authentically engaged in their book
- If I notice a student is not authentically engaged (flipping pages, swapping books, off task) I redirect the student so that no time is wasted
- The only voice that can be heard during this time is my conference with a student reading
- I keep a record of my conferences with students in a conferring binder
- My students know their reading goals and I discuss this with them
Managing Transitions
Transitions in a balanced literacy classroom
What are three transitions in your balanced literacy schedule that require explicit instruction and practice?
How will you manage these transitions so that you can maximize instructional time?
Resource Spotlight
This month we’d like to highlight planning tools to help you strengthen and accelerate instruction!
Hot off the press: 2nd Six Weeks curriculum calendars (view 1st six weeks here)
When reviewing these calendars, pay close attention to the genre for the week. Select a great mentor text in line with the genre for the week and practice the SE’s listed for each day with that model text. Each week SE’s will be spiraled in and reviewed so that students have multiple opportunities to practice a comprehension skill with multiple texts. Also- use the STAAR aligned question stems in the document to write your DOLs!
Writing Plans
Feeling stuck getting your writing workshop up and running? Or maybe you’ve heard us talk about 11 minute essays and Grammar Keepers but not sure how to plan them into instruction?
Take a look at these 2 week writing plans to get started. Put those two week plans straight to use.
Click the links below to view 4th grade writing plans for the second six weeks (These could be adapted for 3rd and 5th grade).
Upcoming PD:
ACE Writing Academy: Mastering the Writing Block
Saturday, Sep 30, 2017, 09:00 AM
J. W. Ray Learning Center, Caddo Street, Dallas, TX, United States
Bernabei Fall Writing Workshop
Monday, Oct 2, 2017, 08:30 AM
Fort Worth, TX, United States
Announcements
ACE Literacy Challenge!
Classroom Contest!
We are looking for the classroom that does the best job of supporting balanced literacy, is organized, and creatively fosters an environment that promotes readers for life!
Winner Receives: Classroom Library books, noise-canceling headphones, class supplies and so much more!
Observation Window: October 9th-13th
Winners Announced: October 16th
ACE Website: www.acedallasisd.com
Celebrations
Fantastic reading comprehension
Eager readers
Independent reading success
Accelerating Campus Excellence
Email: jhealey@dallasisd.org
Website: acedallasisd.com
Location: 408 North Haskell Avenue, Dallas, TX, United States
Phone: 972 925 3669
Twitter: @ACEDallasISD