We LOVE reading!

Lucky me, I start each school day in a 4th grade classroom with an amazing and inspiring teacher. Together we strive to increase the reading skills of the special ed and general ed population in this class. We LOVE reading. Our students are exposed to multiple modes of practicing fluency. We use whole group and individual fast phrases, www.easycbm.com reading passages for hot and cold reads, and we just started using Whole Brain Teaching's SuperSpeed1000. The kids love it and the teachers get goose bumps watching the kids use it. If you haven't added this your list of resources for fluency practice, you are missing out! Below is a picture of the graph we use to chart team success and a picture of a team practicing their words! 

Success with Reading A to Z

    This website has a plethora of reading resources. I use A to Z leveled books as a supplement for my students. After determining a student's reading level using the benchmark assessments, each student is assigned a leveled book, the discussion questions, and the phonics and comprehension worksheets that correlate with the book. My students' reading abilities range from level F to level L. Each student takes a folder (that includes the book and  assignments) home to read aloud to an adult or read independently Monday - Thursday. Students are required to answer in complete sentences using the question in their answer. On Friday, everybody returns the folder, book, written responses, and takes the comprehension quiz for the book they read that week. If students answer the comprehension quizzes with at least 80% accuracy on 4 out of 5 weeks, they earn the privilege to move up a letter in the leveled reading system. This gives them the practice they need at the "just right" reading level and increasing the difficulty every 4-5 weeks keeps them challenged.  We graph their progress and everybody is excited to see the progress.

    My students are successful with this reading program. They are practicing phonics, reading books that interest them, being held accountable for their reading, producing higher order responses, engaging with the text, and most importantly, they are making progress.  

     Check out Mrs. H.'s Resource Room blog to see how she is using A to Z Reading in her resource room.

     Thanks Reading A to Z Reading Click here for Reading A to Z website.  Click here to follow them on twitter.

A Peach for the Teach: Task Completion FREEBIE!

Thanks, A Peach for the Teach: Task Completion FREEBIE!: In formulating behavior supports, it's pretty common for teachers to use a task-reward process. A lot of research lately is drawing teac...



This freebie is printed, laminated and ready for implementation TOMORROW. Feeling grateful to my general ed teacher staff. They support my efforts and they support my students.

Teaching My Friends!: The No Excuses List

A "No Excuses" list  is such a great idea! This is #1 on my list of things to do this week. Students write i for I, don't use capitals, and forget to use punctuation. These are things they KNOW how to do, they just don't do it. In my classroom, we talk frequently about being responsible. This will reinforce responsibility for classwork. Thanks, Teaching My Friends! blog.

Read this great post by...
Teaching My Friends!: The No Excuses List: By the time my friends reach 4th and 5th grade, there are some things that should be non-issues. There are some things I should not have to ...

Mastering goals

3 students have mastered sight word goals this week alone! The proof is in the practice and the data!

A to Z

After completing A to Z reading benchmark assessments, my students have been reading one book a week on their reading level. They are also completing the discussion questions for the book that focus on sequence, compare and contrast, fact and opinion, analyzing, and main idea to mention a few. Their books are not too hard and not too easy, but just right. After 4 weeks, 5 of the 6 students have independently passed the comprehension quiz on 4 out of 5 trials with 80%  or better accuracy!

Starting Monday, they have will have earned the right to read at the next reading level! 3 will move from F to G. 1 will move from H to I. 1 will move from K to L! 

Couldn't be prouder!

Reason to celebrate!

If there are 7 students and each student mastered an IEP goal in READING, how many goals were mastered? Answer: 7  Yahoooooo!  I absolutely love it when my students show off their academic skills. Way to go! This is more evidence that 2013-2014 is off to a great start!