Melissa and all:
Hope I'm not ranting here but this week, in particular, I have been
frustrated by the weak vocabulary and background experience of my K-1, Title I
readers. Not frustrated with the children but frustrated by the economic
divisions
that seem to parallel their success in reading to a significant degree. I
was progress monitoring my first graders using a well known, one minute, oral
reading fluency "probe". The topic was a robin's next. The children who did
well were ones I know have life experiences that support family talk about
things like birds and nests, etc. Many of my children just don't know what a
robin is. When one combines this lack of experience with overly zealous,
reading first, standards based curriculum (and we're not even a reading first
school, I have much more academic freedom than most.), I think we are leaving
out
the developmental piece of early elementary education. When I started
teaching I was a first grade classroom teacher (1980s) and I knew that my
students
needed to taste, touch and feel what we were learning about. Teachers today
tell me that they don't have "time" to do the hands on things like cooking,
exploring and making things.
NYS ELA standards, in particular, are quite well written and there is
nothing in there that would deny a child hands on, experiential learning. I
think
we are, in many schools,seriously championing our core reading sat the
expense of ignoring what our at-risk kids are not getting at home.
So...I guess this is a rant...frustrating week in hard economic times.
Cathy
In a message dated 3/27/2008 8:05:24 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Melissa
One simple way:
Before beginning to read, ask the kids to predict what the author is trying
to tell you with the article or book you are about to read. Then use the
text
and think aloud, modeling your connections as you go.Keep bringing
discussion back to what you know now after making the connection ("Wow...I
can really
understand why the character did or said that because I know from my own
experiences that....etc etc) After reading, go back to your prediction and
discuss with the kiddos what they understand now that they didn't understand
before...talk about how the connections helped you understand the author's
big
ideas or themes.
Jennifer
In a message dated 3/27/2008 5:15:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Someone noted on the "To Understand" site that a co-worker said her
students
didn't have enough background knowledge. The true problem was that the
kids
didn't see the relevance to background knowledge. I agree that it is very
difficult to get students to understand the importance of background
knowledge. How do we help children understand what background knowledge is
and why
it is so important on a deeper level?
Melissa
**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL
Home.
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom000
30000000001)
_______________________________________________
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.
**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL
Home.
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001)
_______________________________________________
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.
