Week 4

This week our 1st grade classes introduced Listening to Reading.  When I visited, it was day 3 of implementation.  The teacher was talking to the students about taking care of the headphones because three sets were already broken.  Getting first graders to take care of the cd players and leap pads takes a little while, but once the newness wears off and the students start to take ownership of there equipment there is less time spent on management of the materials.  During my visit, I also observed the teacher during the mini-lesson portion of the second rotation.  The teacher was completing enough rotations that day so every student had the opportunity to participate in the Listening to Reading station.  The teacher provided 8 listening centers, so every child could have a chance to try it out.  The teacher felt like this would give every child a chance to experience Listening to Reading which would allow the class to have a rich discussion about management of equipment, etc.  Below is a picture of one of the rotations.

 

Café in our 3rd grade classes focused on Fix-Up strategies.  Both teachers did mini-lessons on using fix-up strategies to help students comprehend what they are reading (this strategy goes under "C" on the menu).  Both had an emphasis on Summarizing the text.  Check out the chart below to see how they kicked it off.