Jeane, I am a reading specialist in a K-5 building and I work with the classroom teachers, the more intensive RTI kids and the RTI teachers. The kdg. teachers in my school start small group instruction about the 3rd week of school. They keep the times to 10 minutes per group and spend lots of time in the first 2 weeks training the kiddos in how to participate appropriately in center time. We have only 1/2 day kdg. (next year we finally go full day!) and the teachers have become very adept at getting lots of great instruction into their short day. Small group instruction for these little guys at the beginning of the year may be letter recognition, phonemic awareness - whatever they kids need to get ready to learn to read. October is the districts target day for beginning reading groups. We also have RTI teachers coming into the classrooms to help with the struggling kids, and this happens during center time for them. Basically, one rotation of centers is snack (for some reason the district says they must have snack time in their 3 hour school day) - they handle this center very well, and then the strugglers will usually be with an RTI teacher for one center, and the classroom teacher for one center. That's 30 minutes of the 60 minute reading block they have. They then have about 15 minutes of phonics and 15 minutes of read aloud/shared reading time. This is the second year for Animated Literacy phonics. I know we have great teachers (we only have 2, with 1/2 day - 4 classes), but I think the Animated Literacy has been awesome. The kids will gesture with their hands while sounding out, I can cue them with the character's names and they make connections to the sounds. Out of the 83 students in kdg. last year, we had only 2 who were below a level 3 on the DRA2 at the end of the year(which differs from the DRA in that independent level is determined rather than instructional level). We began RTI in January of last year and served 8-10 of these kids, all of them tested out of RTI by the end of the year (that doesn't mean they won't be back, it just means that, with the support, they were able to meet the goals for kdg.)I am anxious to watch this group of kids - having had the foundation of teachers who really individualized their reading instruction as such an early stage is exciting to watch!
That may have gotten off track a bit from the original post, but I believe reading groups in early kdg. are possible. The teachers have to be committed and willing to devote the time to teaching the structure. So back on topic, we also have several first and second grade teachers who are using the Daily 5 this year. I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but they have reported that they are so excited to get away from the management nightmare of centers and have been pleased with the first week of teaching the plan/structure. It might be something your teachers want to check out. Hope that helps. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Renee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2008 3:05:07 PM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Small Group Instruction This was my reaction, too. :-) Renee On Aug 30, 2008, at 12:45 PM, Beverlee Paul wrote: > I don't think I'd be of much help because, for the life of me, I can't > imagine with all the wonderful things in the world and what we know > about literacy development, we'd want to put kindergartners in reading > groups by October of their first year of school. > >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]> Date: Sat, 30 >> Aug 2008 17:54:42 +0000> Subject: [MOSAIC] Small Group Instruction> > >> I am a reading specialist who is helping K, 1st and 2nd grade >> teachers set up small groups that will rotate> and work at centers >> independently. I have done this with intermediate students and middle >> grade students,> but not with primary students.> > What is a >> realistic time that K, 1st and 2nd grade teachers should be given to >> develop independence so that they can meet with reading groups? They >> are saying 8 weeks which I can see for the K students.> What about >> 1st and 2nd graders? I was thinking of 4-6 weeks depending on the >> degree of independence> that they already have. > > Any help from >> your own experiences will be appreciated.> > Thanks,> > Jeanne >> Coherd> DE> > > _______________________________________________> >> 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. > > _________________________________________________________________ > See what people are saying about Windows Live. Check out featured > posts. > http://www.windowslive.com/connect?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_connect2_082008 > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > "Holding a grudge is like eating rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die." ~ Anne Lamott _______________________________________________ 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.
