I can't say this on facebook

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain to me how you got the kid who didn’t know letters from numbers to learn how to read? I am fascinated

I start by teaching the letters and the numbers. We read lots of counting books and alphabet books. We "write" our own number books and ABC books. We do a lot of sorting of numbers and letters. Morning message, where you write a message on the board and read it each day, is a time to repeatedly go over the concepts of letters and words and the spaces between them. We do a lot of work with their own names to help them learn those letters.

We teach letter sounds while we are also teaching those concepts so hopefully, by the end of October, everyone or nearly everyone has all the sounds. Then say, 2nd quarter, we're working on sight words and CVC decoding and reading sentences with those (and writing them.) 3rd quarter its more sight words, CVC and CVCC or CCVC words, digraphs, blends, and 2-3 sentence books, and 2 sentence writing. By 4th, we're working on long vowel words, writing multiple sentences on a topic, more sight words, etc.
The students who are the most successful are those without extreme behaviors and with parents who will read to them at night. When we have kids who don't have support at home, we have two school wide TA's who pull them aside and try and read at least one book with them 1:1 at few days a week. While kids wait outside the classroom to come in at the bell, we have baskets of books for them to read. There are also books in the lunchroom so if a kid finishes lunch early, they can grab a book and read there.

We also have writing workshop each day in kindergarten where kids spend 15 minutes or so each day writing. That starts with drawing their own story, then drawing and labeling, even with just the first sound. Then drawing, labeling, and writing a word. We move onto sentences and drawing. We coordinate our writing with the sight words and the phonics skills we are teaching so they are learning to encode as well as decode. Basically, we spend a LOT of time reading and writing. I try to do at least 2 read alouds in our half day program. When we move to full day, I hope to do 3-4 read aloud books.

I do think that it helps that while our families struggle financially and many are learning English, that a good chunk of the families have enough of their basic survival needs met. This allows them to attend to school at least a little bit.

This is all in half day kindergarten btw. Next year we go to full day and plan to incorporate more play time along with additional reading and math time. I absolutely love teaching kindergarten. The amount of growth we see is really lovely. Don't get me wrong, I've been tempted to leave to do something else, just like most other teachers. But its the kids that keep me coming back.

[Anonymous]

This is wonderful, OP! Thank you for your hard work. It is appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is wonderful, OP! Thank you for your hard work. It is appreciated. [/quote
I
Of course! You are welcome. From what I see, this is par for the course in most kindergarten classes I know of. I am not unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! Can you give more info about your school/students? I'm a Title One school and we are busting our butts to get all kindergarten students to the end-of-year benchmark. Some students aren't going to make it no matter what we do.

Hi, I'm the OP. I'm in a lower income school where more than half my students are EL's. I have had MANY years where no matter how many hours I put in or how hard I worked, some kids didn't get to grade level. I think what happened this year that made a difference was a few things. Our principal made sure every class had 15-30 minutes of support during "read to self" time, so that instead of one teacher and 20 kids, it was more like 3-4 adults to 20 kids during that time. We stopped doing small groups and instead, just had kids reading. The adult who listened to a kid would offer mini-tips to that kid as they read to them.
Two, we increased the amount of time kids actually spent reading in school and the only homework we assign is reading. We also use a math program with an online fluency program that compliments it. Three, this year, the parents have really partnered with us. Not that this doesn't happen other years, but it has happened MORE this year. And truthfully, luck probably played a part too. I typically have about 80-85% of students get to level, but this year it is all of them.

Don't get discouraged. Most teachers I know are really laying it all on the line for their students' success. Keep going and even if you can't get them to grade level, you might get them awfully close to it. Thank you for what you do. I know how hard you work and how much you care!

Thanks for sharing! What about the students who aren't reading yet? Did they look at picture books during that time?

None of our students came in reading. We taught them to look at books and enjoy them starting with 5 minute stretches, building up their stamina to 15 minute segments over time. They looked at picture books and at repetitive books with sight words. We'd start them out by reading the first two pages, then they'd "read" the rest by mimicking the pattern. We did this so they would a) feel like they were readers b) learn 1:1 correspondence meaning one spoken word for each written word and then c) they got practice reading books repeatedly because they'd keep these books in a bin and read them daily for one week. Then we'd give them new books the next week. These books also had a lot of repeated sight words in them, so they'd also be learning those through repeated readings. This is part of why having a few adults in the room helped. Each adult could get a kid started on a book, then move to another kid.

We were also teaching sight words whole group at a different time, which helped kids to be able to read the patterned books. Then, when kids could do that, we moved onto using initial consonants to read an unknown word at the end of the sentence that changed. For example, I see the cow. I see the horse. I see the pig. We stressed that while yes, they were just using the first letter and the picture now, that once they had that down, we would move them onto decoding the whole word. First letter and picture cues, in my opinion has value at the very earliest stages of Kindergarten. But then, we make sure they move on from that to full decoding all the letters in a word.

Once they can do that, we teach CVC decoding and short vowels with blends and digraphs. Then long vowels. And so on. Our curriculum is heavily sight word based in K-1, and that has its shortcomings. But we make sure to supplement that weak part with a very structured phonics component.

What phonics and reading curriculum do you use? We use Fundations and it is super slow so we don't get through the alphabet until early December. I do like that there is a lot of repetition since most of our students need it. We also use Wit and Wisdom which is awful for K-2 IMO. It takes up so much time and it's pretty dull. It's way over most students' heads too. It might work better in the upper grades where students are already able to read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain to me how you got the kid who didn’t know letters from numbers to learn how to read? I am fascinated

I start by teaching the letters and the numbers. We read lots of counting books and alphabet books. We "write" our own number books and ABC books. We do a lot of sorting of numbers and letters. Morning message, where you write a message on the board and read it each day, is a time to repeatedly go over the concepts of letters and words and the spaces between them. We do a lot of work with their own names to help them learn those letters.

We teach letter sounds while we are also teaching those concepts so hopefully, by the end of October, everyone or nearly everyone has all the sounds. Then say, 2nd quarter, we're working on sight words and CVC decoding and reading sentences with those (and writing them.) 3rd quarter its more sight words, CVC and CVCC or CCVC words, digraphs, blends, and 2-3 sentence books, and 2 sentence writing. By 4th, we're working on long vowel words, writing multiple sentences on a topic, more sight words, etc.
The students who are the most successful are those without extreme behaviors and with parents who will read to them at night. When we have kids who don't have support at home, we have two school wide TA's who pull them aside and try and read at least one book with them 1:1 at few days a week. While kids wait outside the classroom to come in at the bell, we have baskets of books for them to read. There are also books in the lunchroom so if a kid finishes lunch early, they can grab a book and read there.

We also have writing workshop each day in kindergarten where kids spend 15 minutes or so each day writing. That starts with drawing their own story, then drawing and labeling, even with just the first sound. Then drawing, labeling, and writing a word. We move onto sentences and drawing. We coordinate our writing with the sight words and the phonics skills we are teaching so they are learning to encode as well as decode. Basically, we spend a LOT of time reading and writing. I try to do at least 2 read alouds in our half day program. When we move to full day, I hope to do 3-4 read aloud books.

I do think that it helps that while our families struggle financially and many are learning English, that a good chunk of the families have enough of their basic survival needs met. This allows them to attend to school at least a little bit.

This is all in half day kindergarten btw. Next year we go to full day and plan to incorporate more play time along with additional reading and math time. I absolutely love teaching kindergarten. The amount of growth we see is really lovely. Don't get me wrong, I've been tempted to leave to do something else, just like most other teachers. But its the kids that keep me coming back.

I love this....balanced literacy at work!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations OP!! Can you tell me what "on grade level" is for Kindergarten? What should my K'er be able to read right now?

[Anonymous]

We appreciate you, way to go OP!

-- signed, a librarian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations OP!! Can you tell me what "on grade level" is for Kindergarten? What should my K'er be able to read right now?

It depends what system your school is using. If you are using F&P, then I'd say either a C or a D. But there's much more to it than just the level. What does your child's teacher say?

[Anonymous]

This is so cool. I love your passion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! Can you give more info about your school/students? I'm a Title One school and we are busting our butts to get all kindergarten students to the end-of-year benchmark. Some students aren't going to make it no matter what we do.

Hi, I'm the OP. I'm in a lower income school where more than half my students are EL's. I have had MANY years where no matter how many hours I put in or how hard I worked, some kids didn't get to grade level. I think what happened this year that made a difference was a few things. Our principal made sure every class had 15-30 minutes of support during "read to self" time, so that instead of one teacher and 20 kids, it was more like 3-4 adults to 20 kids during that time. We stopped doing small groups and instead, just had kids reading. The adult who listened to a kid would offer mini-tips to that kid as they read to them.
Two, we increased the amount of time kids actually spent reading in school and the only homework we assign is reading. We also use a math program with an online fluency program that compliments it. Three, this year, the parents have really partnered with us. Not that this doesn't happen other years, but it has happened MORE this year. And truthfully, luck probably played a part too. I typically have about 80-85% of students get to level, but this year it is all of them.

Don't get discouraged. Most teachers I know are really laying it all on the line for their students' success. Keep going and even if you can't get them to grade level, you might get them awfully close to it. Thank you for what you do. I know how hard you work and how much you care!

Thanks for sharing! What about the students who aren't reading yet? Did they look at picture books during that time?

None of our students came in reading. We taught them to look at books and enjoy them starting with 5 minute stretches, building up their stamina to 15 minute segments over time. They looked at picture books and at repetitive books with sight words. We'd start them out by reading the first two pages, then they'd "read" the rest by mimicking the pattern. We did this so they would a) feel like they were readers b) learn 1:1 correspondence meaning one spoken word for each written word and then c) they got practice reading books repeatedly because they'd keep these books in a bin and read them daily for one week. Then we'd give them new books the next week. These books also had a lot of repeated sight words in them, so they'd also be learning those through repeated readings. This is part of why having a few adults in the room helped. Each adult could get a kid started on a book, then move to another kid.

We were also teaching sight words whole group at a different time, which helped kids to be able to read the patterned books. Then, when kids could do that, we moved onto using initial consonants to read an unknown word at the end of the sentence that changed. For example, I see the cow. I see the horse. I see the pig. We stressed that while yes, they were just using the first letter and the picture now, that once they had that down, we would move them onto decoding the whole word. First letter and picture cues, in my opinion has value at the very earliest stages of Kindergarten. But then, we make sure they move on from that to full decoding all the letters in a word.

Once they can do that, we teach CVC decoding and short vowels with blends and digraphs. Then long vowels. And so on. Our curriculum is heavily sight word based in K-1, and that has its shortcomings. But we make sure to supplement that weak part with a very structured phonics component.

What phonics and reading curriculum do you use? We use Fundations and it is super slow so we don't get through the alphabet until early December. I do like that there is a lot of repetition since most of our students need it. We also use Wit and Wisdom which is awful for K-2 IMO. It takes up so much time and it's pretty dull. It's way over most students' heads too. It might work better in the upper grades where students are already able to read.

We're actually using the ARC curriculum, which doesn't truly have a phonics component. I know, its awful and imo the entire curriculum department should be fired. WSo we teachers just supplement with our own stuff. I start teaching one letter sound a day on day one. and then we review, review, review for weeks after they have all been taught each sound. If your curriculum is bad, you might have to make your own, supplement or just use bits and pieces. It isn't fair and it isn't right, but that's what I recommend. Kids have to start blending letters into CVC sounds as soon as they know 3 letters that make a word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! Can you give more info about your school/students? I'm a Title One school and we are busting our butts to get all kindergarten students to the end-of-year benchmark. Some students aren't going to make it no matter what we do.

Hi, I'm the OP. I'm in a lower income school where more than half my students are EL's. I have had MANY years where no matter how many hours I put in or how hard I worked, some kids didn't get to grade level. I think what happened this year that made a difference was a few things. Our principal made sure every class had 15-30 minutes of support during "read to self" time, so that instead of one teacher and 20 kids, it was more like 3-4 adults to 20 kids during that time. We stopped doing small groups and instead, just had kids reading. The adult who listened to a kid would offer mini-tips to that kid as they read to them.
Two, we increased the amount of time kids actually spent reading in school and the only homework we assign is reading. We also use a math program with an online fluency program that compliments it. Three, this year, the parents have really partnered with us. Not that this doesn't happen other years, but it has happened MORE this year. And truthfully, luck probably played a part too. I typically have about 80-85% of students get to level, but this year it is all of them.

Don't get discouraged. Most teachers I know are really laying it all on the line for their students' success. Keep going and even if you can't get them to grade level, you might get them awfully close to it. Thank you for what you do. I know how hard you work and how much you care!

Thanks for sharing! What about the students who aren't reading yet? Did they look at picture books during that time?

None of our students came in reading. We taught them to look at books and enjoy them starting with 5 minute stretches, building up their stamina to 15 minute segments over time. They looked at picture books and at repetitive books with sight words. We'd start them out by reading the first two pages, then they'd "read" the rest by mimicking the pattern. We did this so they would a) feel like they were readers b) learn 1:1 correspondence meaning one spoken word for each written word and then c) they got practice reading books repeatedly because they'd keep these books in a bin and read them daily for one week. Then we'd give them new books the next week. These books also had a lot of repeated sight words in them, so they'd also be learning those through repeated readings. This is part of why having a few adults in the room helped. Each adult could get a kid started on a book, then move to another kid.

We were also teaching sight words whole group at a different time, which helped kids to be able to read the patterned books. Then, when kids could do that, we moved onto using initial consonants to read an unknown word at the end of the sentence that changed. For example, I see the cow. I see the horse. I see the pig. We stressed that while yes, they were just using the first letter and the picture now, that once they had that down, we would move them onto decoding the whole word. First letter and picture cues, in my opinion has value at the very earliest stages of Kindergarten. But then, we make sure they move on from that to full decoding all the letters in a word.

Once they can do that, we teach CVC decoding and short vowels with blends and digraphs. Then long vowels. And so on. Our curriculum is heavily sight word based in K-1, and that has its shortcomings. But we make sure to supplement that weak part with a very structured phonics component.

What phonics and reading curriculum do you use? We use Fundations and it is super slow so we don't get through the alphabet until early December. I do like that there is a lot of repetition since most of our students need it. We also use Wit and Wisdom which is awful for K-2 IMO. It takes up so much time and it's pretty dull. It's way over most students' heads too. It might work better in the upper grades where students are already able to read.

We're actually using the ARC curriculum, which doesn't truly have a phonics component. I know, its awful and imo the entire curriculum department should be fired. WSo we teachers just supplement with our own stuff. I start teaching one letter sound a day on day one. and then we review, review, review for weeks after they have all been taught each sound. If your curriculum is bad, you might have to make your own, supplement or just use bits and pieces. It isn't fair and it isn't right, but that's what I recommend. Kids have to start blending letters into CVC sounds as soon as they know 3 letters that make a word.

We had ARC before Fundations and I refused to teach it. It was "look at the first letter and guess from the picture clue." No thanks. That's what poor readers do. I refuse to teach students how t guess. It's an awful habit to undo. We are not allowed to stray from our curriculum. We have a pacing guide and have to have unit assessments in within a few day window. We have frequent walk-throughs so not a lot of opportunity to do anything else. I do start beldjing after we get to the first vowel or two but not the Fundations tapping way. There is research to show it doesn't work for many students.

[Anonymous]

BOOM! That’s the holy grail. Congrats, OP.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations! Your students are lucky to have you. Hopefully their 1st grade teacher can build on the solid foundations you gave these kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! Can you give more info about your school/students? I'm a Title One school and we are busting our butts to get all kindergarten students to the end-of-year benchmark. Some students aren't going to make it no matter what we do.

Hi, I'm the OP. I'm in a lower income school where more than half my students are EL's. I have had MANY years where no matter how many hours I put in or how hard I worked, some kids didn't get to grade level. I think what happened this year that made a difference was a few things. Our principal made sure every class had 15-30 minutes of support during "read to self" time, so that instead of one teacher and 20 kids, it was more like 3-4 adults to 20 kids during that time. We stopped doing small groups and instead, just had kids reading. The adult who listened to a kid would offer mini-tips to that kid as they read to them.
Two, we increased the amount of time kids actually spent reading in school and the only homework we assign is reading. We also use a math program with an online fluency program that compliments it. Three, this year, the parents have really partnered with us. Not that this doesn't happen other years, but it has happened MORE this year. And truthfully, luck probably played a part too. I typically have about 80-85% of students get to level, but this year it is all of them.

Don't get discouraged. Most teachers I know are really laying it all on the line for their students' success. Keep going and even if you can't get them to grade level, you might get them awfully close to it. Thank you for what you do. I know how hard you work and how much you care!

Thanks for sharing! What about the students who aren't reading yet? Did they look at picture books during that time?

None of our students came in reading. We taught them to look at books and enjoy them starting with 5 minute stretches, building up their stamina to 15 minute segments over time. They looked at picture books and at repetitive books with sight words. We'd start them out by reading the first two pages, then they'd "read" the rest by mimicking the pattern. We did this so they would a) feel like they were readers b) learn 1:1 correspondence meaning one spoken word for each written word and then c) they got practice reading books repeatedly because they'd keep these books in a bin and read them daily for one week. Then we'd give them new books the next week. These books also had a lot of repeated sight words in them, so they'd also be learning those through repeated readings. This is part of why having a few adults in the room helped. Each adult could get a kid started on a book, then move to another kid.

We were also teaching sight words whole group at a different time, which helped kids to be able to read the patterned books. Then, when kids could do that, we moved onto using initial consonants to read an unknown word at the end of the sentence that changed. For example, I see the cow. I see the horse. I see the pig. We stressed that while yes, they were just using the first letter and the picture now, that once they had that down, we would move them onto decoding the whole word. First letter and picture cues, in my opinion has value at the very earliest stages of Kindergarten. But then, we make sure they move on from that to full decoding all the letters in a word.

Once they can do that, we teach CVC decoding and short vowels with blends and digraphs. Then long vowels. And so on. Our curriculum is heavily sight word based in K-1, and that has its shortcomings. But we make sure to supplement that weak part with a very structured phonics component.

What phonics and reading curriculum do you use? We use Fundations and it is super slow so we don't get through the alphabet until early December. I do like that there is a lot of repetition since most of our students need it. We also use Wit and Wisdom which is awful for K-2 IMO. It takes up so much time and it's pretty dull. It's way over most students' heads too. It might work better in the upper grades where students are already able to read.

We're actually using the ARC curriculum, which doesn't truly have a phonics component. I know, its awful and imo the entire curriculum department should be fired. WSo we teachers just supplement with our own stuff. I start teaching one letter sound a day on day one. and then we review, review, review for weeks after they have all been taught each sound. If your curriculum is bad, you might have to make your own, supplement or just use bits and pieces. It isn't fair and it isn't right, but that's what I recommend. Kids have to start blending letters into CVC sounds as soon as they know 3 letters that make a word.

We had ARC before Fundations and I refused to teach it. It was "look at the first letter and guess from the picture clue." No thanks. That's what poor readers do. I refuse to teach students how t guess. It's an awful habit to undo. We are not allowed to stray from our curriculum. We have a pacing guide and have to have unit assessments in within a few day window. We have frequent walk-throughs so not a lot of opportunity to do anything else. I do start beldjing after we get to the first vowel or two but not the Fundations tapping way. There is research to show it doesn't work for many students.

Parent here -- I have a third grader who learned how to read this way and when the teacher above says it's an awful habit to undo, she is NOT kidding. My third grader is really, really struggling and STILL just guesses instead of trying to sound out words that she is not familiar with. I feel like kindergarten ruined reading for her and despite having an OG tutor, I don't know how long it will take for her to get there. Our school switched to Fundations this year, so my current Kindergartener is actually learning how to read the right way, it's so much better.