Joy and all: I actually prefer the Stieglitz Reading Inventory because it contains a phonemic awareness section with subsections for PA skills developmentally (rhyme, blend, locate, segment). I got my copy used from Amazon.com for around $20.00. The Stieglitz also has lower level passages-it goes lower than the QRI, I believe, unless the QRI has been revised. These are all the Informal Reading Inventories. Another one my colleagues like is the ARI (Analytic Reading Inventory). I also found I could make my own record keeping charts on Excel and include the reading skills valued by me and the ones valued by my school district. I did it to show growth over time. I am very lucky that I work in a very small public school district. We are small enough that when we work on committees, we teachers really get to influence decisions as long as we can back up our ideas soundly. None-the-less, we have gone hook, line and sinker for the 5 Big Ideas and the new HM which I actually felt ok about. I think the implementation is key-there's a lot of room and actual recommendations in it for guided reading and reading/writing workshop as well as truly open-ended and creative center work. These are the interventions I was able to access for my program and choose to use if a student's needs warranted: Phonemic Awareness: Test with The Stieglitz, Phonemic Awareness in Young Children (Marilyn Adams-I have never had this not work with a child, even with the most challenging phonological awareness issues.) Phonics: I have several phonics series to supplement (if I need to) but I try to keep my kids reading in natural connected text as much as possible. I just attended a great workshop with Tim Rasinksi who expounded beautifully on using singing and song lyrics and poetry and chants, etc. to reinforce phonics. Vocabulary: I started using The Bridge to Vocabulary late this year and am still checking out it's usefulness. Comprehension: Mental Imagery/Visualization techniques, I asked for the Lindamood-Bell book in my budget, Visualizing and Verbalizing so I could go about it a bit more systematically. I've had good results with my own lessons and this is where many of my ideas came from. This year I had several students with profound comprehension difficulties (grade level accuracy, etc.) even in listening comprehension- I'm not sure if is a working memory problem or what. Fluency: As many ideas as possible from No More Round Robin. I also was able to purchase Read Naturally (the non-fiction version) for my partner and I to use. Our students are very motivated to read non-fiction. I now have something for each of the 5 biggies and my principal feels more secure and as I've said, it's not scripted and I am able to make choices for the kids. After years in this business I have found over and over again, that every child is different and needs to be planned for with that in mind. Another professional goal I set this year was to ask my classroom teachers to be flexible and support me in scheduling my time by instructional need rather than by "classroom". It made a huge difference. Hope this isn't too long. If it's too much for the listserv, please email me privately, if you wish. I never get tired of talking and learning about this stuff. Cathy K-1 Title I Reading
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