Listen to Reading

Do you do Daily 5? Do you love it? I do! It has changed the way I teach literacy and made my life so much easier. Today I am writing to you about how I do listen to reading.

Listen to reading is so important. It helps the kids learn about fluency, expression, and pacing. It doesn't do any good if you do not use mini lessons to teach what to listen for, but when done correctly it is a really great tool!

Listen to Reading is a popular choice in my classroom because I let my kids do it on the computer. I have four student computers, and I utilize them during this time. Each computer has a set of headphones so the listening is private.

This is how I do it.

Our district just adopted the Reading Wonders program. It's really nice because the kids have their logins and can access the weekly stories and small group stories online. There are audio features which make it a perfect addition to the Listen to Reading. It's user friendly, and the kids seem to like it. I'm sure that your textbook company has a similar feature!

Another free resource that you can use is National Geographic. They have past issues that are read aloud. The kids like this site because it is also user friendly and it is all nonfiction. That goes great with Common Core and supplements a lot of our science and social studies topics.

There are some great subscription sites out there that offer the chance for students to listen to reading. Some school districts are very generous with their money while others are not. Often the Parent Teacher Organizations will chip in. If you are like me you kind of take matters into your own hands and Google for passwords. Here are some great sites that you may want to try accessing.  Just click the image to be taken to their website. Again - you can find passwords if you do a little bit of digging!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Accelerated Reader and a Data Wall Freebie

 Does your school do Accelerated Reader? We do. I had not done this program until I moved to my current school. I love that there are so many resources out there for Accelerated Reader! It really is a great motivator for the younger kids. 

So the Common Core has the goal that students will become more independent and take ownership of their learning. An easy way to do this is to make their learning accountable for them. I try to find ways to track data in my classroom and this is a super easy way to do so. 

This is my AR board at the beginning of the year. There is one completed boat to give the kids an idea of what we are working for. If you are not familiar with the AR program the computer gives a diagnostic test to each student. Then I use the range to place the students in a level. From there I can assign goals or allow the computer to manually assign goals based on reading level and amount of minutes read. Each student is given their goal and then works in 25% increment in hopes to achieve their goal by a certain deadline. We work from quarter to quarter.

So here we are just past the halfway point, and I am updating their boats. As they move toward their goal they earn a flag that I have laminated. You can see Wyatt here has met 75% of his goal.

My strong readers have just about completed their goal for the nine weeks. I'll do adjusting to their goals as I learn more about them as readers. You'll notice that some of the boats have no flags. Why? Well everyone has taken an AR test or ten. My students must score 85% or higher to actually have the test count. It's a real bummer in first grade because many books only have three or four questions! If the kids miss one then they are not at the correct proficiency level. I hate it - not my rule! It will take some time but they will get it. 

Onto the freebie. If you would like to create a data wall in your own room click the picture below. It's a simple pattern for the boats and flags. I used a die cut machine to create the life preservers. I just punched out an 'o.' 

 I hope you are able to make use of this freebie in your own classroom.

Making 10 Game Freebie

Do you love using playing cards to teach math concepts? I do! I bet I have hit up the Dollar Tree at least 10 times in the last year to restock my stash. So today I bring you a FrEeBie using those lovely resources that cost a buck! This math game works to reinforce combinations to 10. I didn't include the math fact 0 + 10 because there is not a playing card that represents 0. Ace is equal to one and I simply remove the face cards!

I hope you enjoy this math game. The  Common Core standards require a lot of foundational skills be set and this is a great mental math strategy to have. As a mater of fact I still add by making 10!

I will be working a lot on updating and adding things to my blog. It's been a while and it's kind of tricky to blog, create, and care for a six week old baby. But please check back for updates!