Beginning Reading

I am so excited for my students this year!  I have several students who are already starting to read!  This is huge for many of my students.  Many students already know most of their letters and sounds, so they have transitioned to blending.  For those students I am starting them out with simple readers and word family words.  This is where my small groups come in.  I use my group time to differentiate my instruction for this beginning reading instruction time.  It is during this time that my struggling students can get the help that they need to push them toward proficiency.  
According to Garan, "It is common for children to vary greatly in the skills they bring to school."  This is very true.  How would my struggling students benefit if I didn't differentiate my instruction?  How would I push my advance students forward if I didn't differentiate my instruction?
 

Vocabulary

This is an area that many of my students lack!!  Most of my students are ELLs.  Many of them do not have the same experiences and background knowledge as other students would have.  I have been using higher level vocabulary words this year and have included a sign language sign to introduce it.  I have been amazed that even my struggling students are picking up the vocabulary and remembering it!!  

• "It appears the comprehensiveness of instruction coupled with use of the native language, in support text and cognates, are powerful tools for increasing the vocabulary of ELL students."  (Blachowicz, C., Fisher, P., Ogle, K., (2006)

I model a lot of everything for them because most of them do not have the vocabulary.  We were learning about the fire station this week and many students do not have the proper knowledge of words for the fire station and things that go with the fire station.  In kindergarten we do a lot of posters with labels so to help them I drew a picture of a firefighter and they helped me label the proper parts to a firefighter.  Tomorrow we are labeling a fire engine, to go along with these posters we have read many read alouds to familiarize the students with vocabulary relating to the fire station.  

This Thursday we will be walking to the fire station to take a hands on field trip.  By doing all of these things, I'm hoping it will not only increase the students vocabulary, but that this will be a unit of study they will remember.  I want my students to get excited about learning.  I don't just want them to sit in their chair and stare at me, I want them to experience it for themselves and hopefully through this fire station unit I am doing just that.

Writing

Writing is something I struggle to teach my students.  This year my students have such a wide range of abilities.  I have about 3-4 students who cannot write anything but illegible scribbles.  They do not understand the concept of letters and words yet.  They are still not even able to copy their name.  Then I have students who are already writing sentences on their own.
I am working on starting a writing workshop in my classroom.  The first few weeks I attempted it, but have not been happy with it.  I have not seen my students progressing and I feel like I could be using my time better.  I am hoping that in writing my paper for this class I can get more ideas on writing workshop.

"Implementing daily writing workshop takes a big chunk of literacy time, but it is worth it.  The children get excited about writing and that is important.  Reading and writing are connected.  When you are conducting writing workshop you are also working on reading skills." (Writing workshop in Kindergarten  Angela Behymer)  

I know that reading and writing are connected and I need to find a way to stick it out with the writing workshop.

I did have a light bulb moment last week.  We finally pulled out white boards to use whole group.  (I'm not a big fan of white boards whole group because someone is fighting over something, even though everyone should have their own materials.)  Well we were working with whiteboards and I looked over at one of my students who's writing is illegible and I could actually read it on the white board!?!  Well I'll have to keep that student working more with the white board to help with the his motor skills.

Reading Comprehension

Comprehension is a skill that many of my kindergartners struggle with.  They can answer basic questions, but when it comes to really understanding what was read it can be a real struggle.  Our district has implemented a model this year to go along with our core curriculum, it is called GLAD (guided language acquisition development).   www.projectglad.com   When I first heard about GLAD I thought it was way too advanced for my little kiddos.  It sounded great for Jr. High and High School but Kindergarten? Yeah right!!  Well I was wrong.  I have been using it conjunction with my core for a few weeks now and my students' comprehension has increased. 

Today my principal came in to observe my class.  He was amazed that my kids could sit on the carpet and listen for almost an hour.  I was telling the story The Lion and The Mouse.  I had copied pictures from a picture book and was telling the story one picture at a time.  My objective was for them to learn story structure, so we really focused on beginning, middle, and end.  (I was nervous.)  Taking the story about the way I did, my kids really understood it.  I was able to introduce academic vocabulary that they were not familiar with and by the end of the story each student knew what it meant.  Now my principal is used to Jr. High so he is easily impressed with kindergarten, but I was SO proud of my kids.  They really comprehended the story, much more then if I would have read it straight from the book. 

What more can we as teachers do to engage our students?  Instead of just reading straight from the text book how can we "spice" up our lesson?  How can we include that student who is never on task?  What is going to make it click for them instead of just using the core?  According to DeWitz, "Core programs

do not provide enough practice to ensure that any given skill will be learned, and this probably jeopardizes the weakest readers in the room."  How are we meeting the needs of every student?  Is just using the core enough, or can we be doing more?  What can you do tomorrow to increase the comprehension of your students?