I think Lori's advice is right on. If you look at Cunningham's four block, she calls the independent reading "dirting" or something like that. It's important to establish the time for reading. Like Lori suggested, begin small with 5-10 minutes per day. Debbie Miller uses songs and etc for those who are non readers. Those songs are ones that she has previously read aloud. For those who can continue independent reading, let them read further. Meet with small groups to establish fluency, practice sight words and etc. An independent reading time in first grade sounds different than in other grades. Especially at the beginning, there is a lot of word calling, children pairing up to read. Even though I taught middle grades, when things weren't going well, I did exactly what Lori suggested. Go back, talk to the students about why we need to do this, and then take small steps. Hope some of the list's suggestions work for you. Carol
On Sep 29, 2006, at 8:10 AM, GRISTINA, KRISTIN wrote: > Although many on this listserv might disagree, I feel strongly that > decoding and fluency needs to be taught to kids before you ask them > to read independently. The population of students that Debbie works > with is not necessarily the same as the population you are working > with. We all want to do what Debbie does but I don't believe it's > possible to have kids who can't read reading in an independent > reading setting. I say, teach the decoding skills through shared > reading and guided reading and then spiral in your comprehension > strategies once you have them reading. Of course you can do the > modeling of comprehension strategies, but if they can only read "I > see a cat" at this point, you have to meet them where they are and > then get them to where they need to be. You have to learn to crawl > before you learn to walk! As you recognize, you are frustrating > your students by asking them to read text that is too difficult for > them. I say, slow down. Work in centers and literacy rich > activities during independent time. Get your kids to love reading > and then use the comprehension strategies when you feel they are > ready. > Just my thoughts. > Kristin > > ________________________________ > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > 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. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] 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.
