Those below-A readers should be in books, but they also need phonemic awareness (learning how to put together & take apart sounds, hearing sounds in different parts of words, rhyming, and other manipulation of sounds away from the text). That would be the best group to start with every day, and then send them back to their seats with work to do that is separate from the rest of the class. You might want to have them do the listening center for text that is grade level, but they should be doing independent work & reading for their own instructional level. Tara
On Sep 28, 2006, at 6:24 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > HI > > I wrote earlier this summer about being very excited to start readers > workshop this year (first grade). No one else in my school does > it and my classroom > is supposed to be a "model classroom" for the school. I know it > takes a > while to get things running smoothly but I'm having a little more > trouble than I > anticipated and I need some help. > > First of all, my class is extremely chatty and fidgety. They have > a very > tough time paying attention and staying on task. I know thats not > very unusual > for first graders but they are definitely one of the chattiest > classes I have > had. Last year, I was very lucky to have a great class of kids > that were > very excited about learning. This year, the kids really don't seem too > interested. I'm having a very tough time holding their attention > during read-alouds > and mini-lessons. I try to use all that great Debbie Miller talk > to get > them excited about their thinking but it's just not happening. > Also, many > children are not staying on task during independent reading time. > I have done > many lessons on rules and routines and rituals but it's still a > real challenge. > > Also, I have 4 kids who are not reading at all (below A on the > DRA). They > are the ones who are having the most trouble staying focused. I > have provided > them with books at their level and have confered with them about > using the > illustrations to read their books but they aren't getting it. I > know I need to > do small group work or guided reading with them but how much time > should I be > doing that. Should they still be doing independent reading? > Should I have > them using the listening center instead? I can't meet with them > all the > time because I obviously need to confer with other students as well. > > I was so sad the other day because a parent told me that her son > was crying > about coming to school because of readers workshop. He says > independent > reading is so boring because he doesn't know how to read. He's > really a very nice > , sweet boy who is very well behaved. I felt so bad. That's > exactly the > opposite of what was supposed to happen. I was ready for readers > workshop to > be exciting and motivating. > > One more thing, I'm having trouble figuring out the balance between > decoding > minilessons and comprehension minilessons. So far we've spent most > of our time > on comprehension (schema and t-s connections) We have just > touched upon > decoding strategies. I'm wondering if I should be spending more > time on > decoding. > > I know I'm asking for a loot but would appreciate any feedback. > > Thanks, > Cami > _______________________________________________ > 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.
