Wednesday WOW : ELL in Kindergarten

 

Currently, I am on February break in the snowy tundra known as Massachusetts. Last week at school was a whirl of activity... snow--early release, 100 day, snow delay, and Valentine's Day ! If I wasn't observing closely, I would have missed one of the best gifts of the week.

One of my Kinder Kids, Carlos** entered my room in November with very little expressive Spanish or English Language. His parents do not speak any English. He qualified score wise to be in reading intervention. He knew only 1 alphabet letter. I wasn't sure what he would get out of his 4 days a week, 30 minutes a day with me. However, I was a kindergarten teacher in the past so I knew at least he would get additional vocabulary with me, skills at his level, and frequent repetition.

Glide forward to the week before Feb break, Carlos is looking at me when we are playing Alphabet Go Fish and he is grinning from ear to ear. He is beginning to ask all of us for the card by the actual letter name. In addition, I notice he is paying attention to which ones I share and don't have matches for. Midway through the game, he has 8-10 sets of uppercase with lowercase letters and he is giggling now. I think back to where we were in November and I am so proud of him !

**Anonymous name change

 Enjoy your week !

Loving Literacy Blog Hop --Stop # 22

Welcome to...

When I was young, I learned to love books as they could always take me to a different time and place and introduce me to new friends.  I has asthma in early childhood which often left me in bed or in an isolation tent undertaking breathing treatments. As an only child, my company was mostly adults and although they played with me and entertained me -- I missed the company of other children. Even when children were around, I was often on the sidelines when they were playing active games as I could not run as fast or keep up with them. Books were a comfort to me as they took me to places and I was able to meet characters who soon became friends such as Bread and Jam for Francis by Russell Hoban.

I was lucky enough to have many strong mentors in the literacy field. Three mentors that stand out for me were  Dr.Irene Fountas, Marie McKenzie, and Meryl Kaye. At Lesley University, I enjoyed working with the Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative Office as a grad assistant. One of my favorite tasks was organizing Irene's library of books. I always told her that was a dangerous task for me as I would often get swept away reading one of the books I was looking at. In addition, I got to talk with her and they were always engaging conversations. I enjoyed her joyful wit and ability to give me interesting tasks. After graduating, I began teaching reading in a district in suburban Boston. I was very luck to be part of a team of seasoned reading teachers and learned a lot from them. My steps were tentative in those first few years learning the expectations of teachers I work with, making gradual changes, learning additional theories, and becoming confident in my abilities. I was blessed to have a director, Marie McKenzie, who was a seasoned teacher and reading director. She gently challenged my opinions, gave me advice on the most struggling readers, and gave me articles to shape my understanding of reading at different grade levels.  When I began literacy coaching, one of my greatest allies and friends was Meryl Kaye, a seasoned colleague. As I began coaching at her school, she was willing to share her knowledge and perspective with me. She was my go-to person for the trickiest of students, a warm smile on a rough day, and a colleague I admired and learned from. Although both of these mentors have retired, I am still grateful for the time and resources that they wove into my life.



Cynthia Rylant

 I really enjoy teaching her books to my students because she writes with a diverse range of topics.  When modeling Writer's Workshop, I like to use her book, When the Relatives Came for primary students to jump start their ideas. For the older students, I like to read a part of her book, Every Living Thing, to work on narrowing down a topic or elaborating on a single topic. Click on the book cover below to see my free unit for you today ! 

The book unit I am sharing with you today is The Case of the Climbing Cat. It is one of the books in the series, High Rise Private Eye by Cynthia Rylant. It is a Level K and is an appropriate for even third grade struggling readers. I chose this book to share with you because it is a good choice to teach the genre of a mystery to struggling readers including English Language Learners. If the students like this book, there are additional ones written in this series as well.  This unit is available for free this weekend only and exclusively in my TpT store.  It will convert to a paid product after February 2nd.  I appreciate you dropping by today, and if you are new to my blog and love literacy, I hope you'll take a moment to follow my posts on Bloglovin !

Loving Literacy,

Wendy D.

Ms. D's Literacy Lab 

Next stop is Selma Dawani's Learning is Fundamental Blog :

 

 
 

  

Lively Leads : Hello, Bumblebee Bat

Good Evening !  Today, I am going to share a text written by Darrin Lunde and illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne that would be appropriate for Grades 1-3 and for students in grades 4-5 that need extra motivation to write !
                                                                                                 

                                         

This lively, repetitive text is full on interesting and engaging true facts about Bumblebee Bats. It makes a great read-aloud for Writer's Workshop and a wonderful nonfiction writing model for primary students. It is written in a question-answer format with attention-catching, full page illustrations and easy-to-read font. An example of the text is given below:

"Bumblebee Bat,
  when do you fly ?

 I fly before sunrise and just after dark.
 I don't like bright sun."

--Hello Bumblebee Bat by Darrin Lunde

The author has created similar texts with this pattern as well known as Hello, Baby Beluga and Hello, Humpback Whales. After working with this text, your primary writers will be ready to try one of their own.

Wonderful writing,

Winter Weather means a great time to curl up with a book.. of course...

Hi ! I thought tonight before it becomes Downton Abbey time that I would share a few of my favorites that I am reading. One is newly published and one is a new author find.

Many of my fifth graders this year are particular  about the books they read. However, they seem to all have an intense love for animals and mysteries. So I curled up with my kitty, Sophie, and read a couple of notable ones.

The Stranger Next Door by Peg Kehret and Pete the Cat

At the beginning of the story, Clifford is having to change his name and move with his parents in the middle of the night to a new town, new school and new identity. He must leave his beloved dog behind as well. After moving into Valley View Estates and meeting a new friend, strange things begin happening again. Street signs are gone and a dark figure is seen by Pete the Cat trying to set a house on fire with a can of gasoline. Does he succeed ? Pick up this novel and find out !

Intermediate students will love this quick paced novel where Pete the Cat gets to be a writer, too.It has action, the realities of moving and making new friends, dealing with bullies, and realizing that people are not always who you think they are.  It is at a Guided Reading Level U or Lexile level : 680L.This novel is great for teaching point of view, compare/contrast, sequence of events and more.

 A Dog and his Girl Mysteries: Cry Woof by Jane B. Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens

This is a new series by Scholastic which features Cassie and her retired K-9 police dog, Dodge. Her Mom is the chief of the police force in the city.  In this third mystery in the series, Dodge and Cassie set out to help the force figure out how the crazy cat lady, Madam LeFarge, died.   With many twisted and turns and dialogues from the canines and cats, this mystery finally gets solved. It is aimed at a 4th grade reading levels but I think most 4-6th graders would enjoy it. This novel is great for teaching the elements of a mystery, looking at friendship, and understanding how a mystery works.


I will be looking for more books from both of these authors !

Have a great day !

Favorite Publishers for Nonfiction

We got an unexpected surprise last week at my school. Money for the literacy closet ! So excited ! I get to purchase books and not have to pay for them ! It's this bookworm's dream !

Several years ago, I coordinated a huge Title 1 Grant for a school that has many students with multiple needs, as well as students with limited experiences and our main focus was nonfiction. I learned about what teachers loved and have used it to sculpt my buying experiences since then.

So here are a few of my favorites :

Red Rocket Readers-- a fairly new publisher of nonfiction and fiction. They add to their titles each year. I love to teach with them because of their engaging topics, clear layouts, and kid appeal. They have an intro blurb in the front with possible areas to focus on. In the back, there is a list of high frequency words which teachers can copy and use with small groups.

In addition, they publish running records and other extension materials on their webpage.

http://www.redrocketreaders.com/

Some of my favorite titles : Dogs at Work, The Chocolate Factory, and Max the Monkey.

National Geographic---another teacher favorite for primary and intermediate readers. With it's variety of layouts, appealing photos, and well developed texts, this publisher is a must for focusing on nonfiction text features !

http://www.ngsp.com/

The Theme Sets with 4 texts of varying Guided Reading Levels all on one topic are loved by intermediate teachers. They are stored in an easy travel case to take to the classroom. Topics such as  American Revolution, Rocks and Minerals, Volcanoes and more can be found in these sets.

The sets for younger students are amazing as well and begin at Level B.  From I Can Breathe Underwater to Fossils..... your students will want to read these over and over again !


Benchmark Education--another favorite for reaching those upper intermediate readers who are reading at a different level than their peers. They have topic sets from The Constitution to Space which have 2 texts- same cover- 2 different guided reading levels. A possibility would be one text at a K and another at a P focusing on the same topic and have the same cover.  In addition, a teacher's guide with lesson plans and suggested activities is included as well.

In addition this publisher provides sets designed to support the English Language Learners,  Reader's Theater with fun topics and ones that relate to science and social studies, and more. I really like their Genre Workshops with different types of literature- Fables, Pour Quoi Tales, and others. It also comes in 2 different Guided Reading Levels in the same bundle.

http://www.benchmarkeducation.com/


Wishing you a wonderful evening ! Hope you find some new nonfiction favorites !

Welcome to the Gift of Reading Blog Hop-- Stop # 9

Welcome to Ms. D's Literacy Lab. You have arrived at  

At each blog stop, you will be gathering Reading Gifts and Freebies.  In each post you will find a picture of a snowman with a letter on it. Collect all of the letters to solve the mystery quote to enter the giveaway. Record all of the letters on your recording sheet and follow each blog along the way so that you can enter the amazing giveaway at the end!

The hop is set up as a loop, so you may start anywhere along the hop, but if you would like to start at the beginning you may go to A Day In The Life of A Title I Teacher's blog.  This is also where you will go after you finish the hop to enter the giveaway!!

    Open the world of books for a child...and open the door to the future ! I fully believe that the "gift" of reading starts when we are young and continues through the rest of our lifetime. Whether it is a child snuggled on a parent's lap, a preschooler laughing at the funny part of a well-loved book, a student tucked in bed with a flashlight with a book that he/she can't put down or more....learning to read is such a gift.

 

     I have been reminded of this gift in the past week when first graders are having too much fun decoding alien (nonsense) words in a short "a" bingo game. Meanwhile, second graders are making animal noises with "The Great Race". My biggest surprise was when third graders did not want to go to recess because learning to read closed syllables was way too much fun !

 

        

     My "gift" to you is a glittery one for the youngest bunch of readers. Letter identification is one of the first steps towards learning to read. Once children are able to identify and name letters, they can begin learning the sounds that they make and then can begin assembling and reading words. When teaching letter identification, include activities that help children recognize both uppercase and lowercase letters, as recognition of both sets of letters is necessary for literacy development.  Letter naming is a strong predictor of later reading success.                                                                                                                It is a glittery "Mittens and More Mittens" Alphabet Match where students match uppercase and lowercase letters on matching cards.

In addition, there is an "I Can... chart" for a center as well as an extension worksheet for informal assessment. 

 

                               Click link below :

                                http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mittens-and-More-Mittens-Alphabet-Match-uppercase-and-lowercase-989069

My secret letter is...

 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! I hope that you enjoyed your gift and learned something new. If you would like to be the first to know about new post, giveaways, and blog hops follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking the image below. 

 

Don't stop now! Hop on over to Conversations in Literacy to pick up another amazing reading gift! Happy Holidays! 

If you get lost along the way, download the Hop Map here to easily pick back up where you left off! 

Ms. D.

A Text to Accompany " A Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes

October 23, 2013

This afternoon, I was reading The Girl with 500 Middle Names by Margaret Haddix with several young girls in 5th grade. This book would make an excellent companion to A Hundred Dresses or Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.

Many students, particularly girls, are nervous about the transition from elementary to middle school. In our American culture, the cliches of who is in and who is out begin to appear rapidly in 4th and 5th grade. It can be very surprising and hurtful when friends change their minds about friendship or decide who they will be friends with based on what a friend wears, has or does.

This well-crafted chapter book written at a Guided Reading Level N or O addresses the concepts of being the new student in a school, having a parent who is on disability, and a mother working diligently to become an entrepreneur.

It is easy to have Text to Self Connections with your students while reading this one. Today, I shared how in 5th grade I moved from Alabama to Texas. When I arrived in Texas to enter 6th grade, I was taller than most of the boys. In addition, I had bright red hair and often the boys would tease me by telling me, "My hair was on fire !". Finally, the most fashionable jeans were Gloria Vanderbilt which I did not own. By sharing a bit of myself, my hope is that students can realize that even though transitions to middle school can be tricky.... they will make it and find their own place !

What are some of your favorite books to share with your students ?


It's no mystery...we have a lot of fun in store for you...