A List

Read the title of the short story. What do you think this story is going to be about?

Look through the pictures and predict what might happen with each picture.Part 1: pages 1-2

Where is frog? (pg 2)

What is frog doing? (pg 1)

*What is the first thing frog wrote on his list? (pg 1)Part 2: pages 3-4

What were some things on frogs list to do? (pg 3)

What do you think toad had for breakfast? (pg 4)

What do you think will happen next?Part 3: pages 5-6

What did toad do next? (pg 5)

Where did toad go after he got dressed? (pg 6)

What did toad do when he got to frogs front door? (pg 6)

What do you think will happen next?Part 4: pages 7-10

What does toads list say frog and toad will do next? (pg 7)

What happens to Toads list? (pg 9)

Why did Toad take out his list in the first place? (pg 9)Part 5: pages 11-12

Why cant Toad run after his list? (pg 11)

What did Frog run over, to try and catch Toads list? (pg 11)Part 6: pages 13-14

What did Frog think him and Toad should do because it was getting dark? (pg 13)

What was the last thing on Toads list? (pg 13)

In the end of the story, what did Frog and Toad end up doing? (pg 14)In the end discuss what friendship means to you.

Curt is in the third grade.

2.Look at the summary of scores in the table on page 170. Notice that there are scores for the grade-level lists of words from the Word Recognition Test (Flash and Untimed) and scores for 2orally reading grade-level passages (accuracy of word reading, e.g. percentage of words read correctly and rate, expressed in number of words read per minute).

A1. What was the flash score for words at?

First-grade level?

b1. What was the accuracy score at:

1-2 level?

c1. What was the rate score at:

1-2 level?

d1. Look at the spelling scores in Table 5 on page 172: What was the percentage correct score for:

first-grade words

Consider the expected scores in the following tables, then compare those expectations to the scores Curt produced.

Curt spelled six of the ten first-grade words correctly, but misspelled all ten second grade words. He represented short vowels conventionally and showed good knowledge of consonant cluster.

a2. With the Word Recognition Test, flash scores are generally interpreted as follows:

90-100% indicates Independent Level

60-85% indicates Instruction Level

Below 50% indicates Frustration Level

a3. Which grade-level flash score is the best choice for Instruction Level?

-Grades 1-2 would be considered the best grade-level choice for instructional level.

b2. With oral reading accuracy, scores are generally interpreted as follows:

98-100% indicates Independent Level

65-97% indicates Instruction Level

Below 92% indicates Frustration Level

*Note: 92-94% accuracy is marginal; take a close look at Rate.

b3. Which grade-level accuracy score is the best choice for Instruction Level?

-Grades 1-3 are all good grade-levels that would be well suited for the instruction level in oral reading accuracy. All grades have an accuracy percentage between 65-95%.

c2. With oral reading rate, expected grade-level ranges are as follows:

Grade Words per minute

1^st 45-85

2^nd 80-120

3^rd 95-135

c3. What do Curt’s rate scores indicate about his grade-level reading?

-

D3. What do Curt’s spelling scores indicate about his Instruction Level?

Curt spelled all ten words incorrectly from the second grade-spelling list. This means that he is nowhere near Instruction Level for the second grade. However Curt spelled over 50% correct for the first grade-spelling list. This indicates he is above Instruction Level for the first grade.

Put all of these scores together, and what do they indicate Curt’s reading level to be?

- 1-2 or 2-1 reading level. By combining all of Curt’s scores it shows he is in a high first grade reading level and early second grade reading level. He knows many first grade-spelling words, but lacks knowledge of a lot of the second grade spelling words.

Look at the spelling errors that Curt makes. What stage of word knowledge is Curt in?

Curt is in the word pattern stage of word knowledge

Why do you pick this stage of development? What are the key characteristics?

You can tell Curt is in the word pattern stage because he represented short vowels conventionally and he showed good knowledge of consonant clusters.

Describe partner reading.

Partner reading is one specific form of guided reading. It begins with the tutor and the student going through the story page by page looking at the pictures. After looking at the pictures and talking about them, they begin taking turns reading pages; the tutor usually begins reading first. This is a good way to practice reading in many ways. It is good for slower readings because you are reading word by word. Students like partner reading because they are able to share the reading load with one other person. Having the tutor reading pages aloud also helps the student with word recognition. Hearing words and visually seeing them is very helpful to readers without them even knowing. Partner reading is also good to help determine a child’s reading skill and level.

Which is harder for a student, partner reading or DRTA?

I believe partner reading would be harder for a student as opposed to DRTA. This gets the children more involved in the story. They don’t necessarily have to think about getting the word right when reading. They just get to make their own personal conclusions and predictions about the story. Children like stating their thoughts and therefore might enjoy the story more when they don’t have to focus on reading the words correctly.

In planning a DRTA, what is important about selecting places to stop?

It is important to stop at places that are necessary. You don’t want to stop often, and ask too many questions. Children might become bored and might talk off task when asking too many questions. You want to stop and ask questions where children would want to talk about their thoughts about the story. Children like to talk about their own predictions and therefore stopping at an appropriate time can be very beneficial.

In planning a DRTA, what is important about deciding questions to ask? What kind of questions? How many?

You want to make sure you ask questions that stay on topic with the story. You don’t want to go off topic and ask questions about a student’s personal experience and then talk about personal experiences as opposed to the actual story. You want to ask few specific questions at good stopping points. Overall you want to check the students understanding of important information of the story. Prediction questions are always good questions to ask the children. They will stay connected to the story and give their personal thoughts on what they think will happen. You never want to ask too many questions. You want two or three stopping points where you stop and ask the children questions.

Curt has a low reading level, compared to other students his age. He reads fewer words per minute, when compared to most third graders. Curt is among the lowest readers in his third-grade class. However his rate scores are normal for a first grade reader. He is instructional at a first grade level, but his scores show he is to slow for second grade and up.75% for flash and 95% for untimed (spelling 60%)
second-grade words 50% for flash and 75% for untimed (spelling 0%)65 wpm 2-1 level? 44 wpm 2-2 level? 36 wpm97% 2-1 level? 90% 2-2 level? 84%75% second-grade level? 50% third-grade level? 20%

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Fraatz refer to “paradox of collective instruction” based on the fact that first grade teachers must provide reading instruction for everyone, while simultaneously addressing individual differences among their students.

What are the three critical components of learning to read?

Beginning readers must learn to attend to individual sounds within words, decode printed words by matching letters to sounds, and automatize decoding or word-level processing.

List the four tasks that the first-grade teacher can use to assess individual children’s reading ability during the first week of school. Describe what each task is used to assess?

The Alphabet : Recognition -the child names the alphabet letter, upper and lower case, as the teacher points to them in random order.  Production – the child writes the alphabet letter as the teacher dictates the letter names in random order.  This task will tell if a student can visually and verbally recognize a letter or the alphabet.

Concept of word task: Here the child and teacher read together a four page book.  The teacher finger-point reads the sentence, and then the child finger-point reads the sentence.  After this the teacher goes back and asks the child to recall what certain words are. The child is graded on their reading ability.

Spelling Task: The teacher verbally gives an example, to the child, of sounding out a word and spelling it by the letter sounds.  Then the teacher gives a six-word spelling test, pronouncing the word clearly.

Word-recognition Task: A child attempts to read ten words as the teacher points to them one at a time.

What are some of the challenges of small-group instruction that face students and teachers?

To work in small groups a teacher must plan carefully and train children to work independently when they are away from the reading circle at their seats or at the centers.  Teachers need to be able to concentrate on the children that they are working within the reading groups, and not be worried about the other children in the class misbehaving.  Teacher-aids and parent volunteers are helpful.

How does Supported Oral Reading (SOR) differ from round robin reading in guiding children’s contextual reading?

SOR reading is different in the fact that it has multiple steps.  Round robin reading, is where a child reads a part of the book while the other students follow along.  For a higher level reader, this isn’t a problem, but for a weaker reader, reading aloud can be embarrassing. SOR reading take three steps to prepare all readers.  First they read the book with the help of their teacher, next students are paired with another student and they practice the book together, and finally they read the book, by themselves, to the teacher.

Why is appropriate leveling of books important and how has it been used in intervention and classroom settings?

The level in which a book is written can determine its difficulty and can affect a child’s ability to read.  Children, who grasp the reading concept, won’t have any difficulty, but those who may be struggling, a lower level of book may help.  Color coding books in the classroom will help student realize the different levels, know which level they are on and the books they need to choose, and it will present to them a challenge of moving up a color.

Describe the developmental sequence of word study instruction. What does the continuum consist of? Why is it recommended that teachers follow such a sequence of instruction?

First, the teacher must understand the content or developmental continuum of wors-study instruction.  Second, they must be able to determine where the individual students need to be instructed along the continuum.  Thirdly, the teacher must develop a method or procedure for teaching the various letter sound relationships and spelling patterns.

The continuum consist of  proficiency in reading and spelling the short-vowel rhyming words, leading naturally into work on the five short-vowel patterns.  Mastery of the short-vowel words ensures that the child will bring important knowledge to the one-syllable vowel-pattern stage.  Thus, there is a developmental logic to a good word-recognition curriculum.

How could you assess where a beginning reader’s is at on the continuum of word recognition skill?

A good way to assess a beginning reader is to analyze the child’s invented spelling.  This will show their spelling performance and will tell what conceptual level they are on and you will know how to adjust their word-study instructions.

Describe word sorting activities to teach beginning sound consonants and short-vowel word families.

One way to teach beginning sound consonants is to have the child to sort picture cards into columns by the beginning consonant sound.  Then they attend to the sound-letter pairings.  Short-vowel word families consist of a longer process.  The children study the short vowels, one at a time, in rhyming-word format. A typical activity might involve the group sorting twelve short a words into three rhyming patterns.

What skills does word sorting help develop in beginning readers coupled with word games and spell checks?

Most beginner readers steadily develop sight vocabulary and decoding facility from word sorting.

What is instructional pacing? What factors were found by Barr (1974, 1982) to affect effective pacing?

Pacing refers to the first-grade teacher’s skill in guiding his or her students through a set of graded reading materials.  Barr found four factors that influence pacing: difficulty of the classroom reading materials, time allocated to reading instruction, number of low readers in the classroom, and the teacher’s years of experience teaching first grade.

In what ways can writing help beginning reader’s development?

Writing in the early months of first grade can help children develop phoneme awareness.  Writing also allows first graders to assume the stance of an author, it affords them continual opportunities to read and reread text, and it provides children a purposeful arena for experimenting with, practicing, and eventually internalizing letter-sounds, spelling patterns, and sight words.

What are three tasks that could be used to assess end-of-year reading achievement? Describe the tasks briefly.

Word Recognition Task: the child attempts to read a list of forty words, graded in difficulty from early first grade to mid-second grade.

Spelling Task: the child attempts to spell a list of fifteen words.

Passage Reading Task: the child reads aloud up to six passages that progress in difficulty from early first grade to second grade.

Author: Howard Binkow

Illustrator: Susan F. Cornelison

Publication: 2008

ISBN: 978-0-9715390-2-0

Read aloud: Yes

Grade Level: ALL (younger grades teacher read aloud)

The story is a motivation book for students to do what makes them happy, regardless if others make fun of you.  Now if it is something a little outrageous then it is different.  This book was discussing a little rabbit who loved to dance, but all his friends made fun of him.  When it came time for the school dance though, all the students wanted to know where he got his great moves.  The story hits on points that are important for children such as: self-esteem, inclusion, acceptance, trying different things for fun, connecting to your roots and family legacy, and also to be proud of who you are.  The family connection is due to the fact that the boys grandfather shows that the family has a line of dancers, and it is just what they do!

Author: Stephen Krensky

Publication: 1998

ISBN: 0-689-80697-3

Grade: All (if they believe in Santa)

The story tells of the journey that Santa took to become Santa Claus.  It tells the various jobs that he Santa did, but others felt he did not do well.  He was a mailman and delivered packages in the middle of the night to avoid all the traffic.  He worked at the zoo but only paid attention to the reindeer, so all the other animals were not very happy.  The story is a different take on Santa, and even though I am older and know that there is not Santa, this story was very entertaining.  The illustrations fit the story.  The backdrop is the classifieds from newspapers, which is just a soft detail that I find adds character.