How to inspire every child to be a lifelong reader ...

Ideas Worth Spreading

https://www.ted.com/talks/alvin_irby_how_to_inspire_every_child_to_be_a_lifelong_reader?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&#t-402406

These are some of the ideas that I am trying to practice in class, and
I know that these practices help motivate and change my students'
attitudes toward reading.

• Regular reading
• Regular spelling test/check
• Regular writing / summarising of the book

And these are some of the ideas that I adopt and plan to use during my reading lessons.
I am currently using them all but I think I need to spend more time on planning the
questions and prompts to use. I have a library corner in the classroom and children
are using it as they wish. Taking them to the library more often will also be a focus
for this year.

• Teaching and learning should be two ways - co-creative of knowledge
• Child friendly corner for children to read - could be done anywhere - as long as it connects children to reading
• Children looks for a book that will make them laugh - if relevant, a male models into early reading literacy

Have a listen and I hope this video inspires you!!

Will writing/forming letters correctly increases my children's ability to record their sentence quickly down without loosing the words?

Hunch
Will writing/forming letters correctly increases my children's ability to record their sentence quickly down without loosing their words?

We as teachers know how important it is to fine tune those writing skills, especially when they are young and are learning how to write their letters. Many children struggle with letter formation, where to position their pencil, and how to stabilize their piece of paper.

What exactly happened in class with my students?  

Through Quick60 program - we learn to form one letter a day
Dictation supports formation of letters correctly - through repetition
Language use for the formation of letters are simple (circle, short stick, long stick, hook etc.

How did I do it in class?

Set up fun activities before school starts - practice is the key

Any opportunity to practice letters - allow chn to do it
In writing - emphasize / encourage chn to write letters correctly and fluently
Home-Learning to practice letters

Goals
(what I’m looking for that shows I’m making a difference to student progress)

Increase students' letters and words recognition

Increase students' ability to write a story quickly

Increase students' passion and confident to write

Critique (Pros & Con) - Final Thought

After 7-8 weeks

- children needs a lot of practice - they need to practice forming letters in different ways
- holding the pencil correctly is so important
- teaching the child to sit still in a position that is going to help with the formation of
letters correctly is also improtant.
- children can also practice letters from home
- it is good to let kids practice on anything - lined papers or not, concrete or white boards etc.

Important Tips - Next Steps

- Always have your child start out writing lowercase letters. This is important because

when they start to read, most of the words are in lowercase letters.

- Remind your child to use their “helper hand,” opposite of their writing hand,

to stabilize the page and hold it down while they write.

- Help them have correct and proper pencil grip. This may take some practice,

but is key to writing letters.

- Ensure your child is sitting at the right size of table with their feet flat on the floor to

create the stability needed to move their eyes and hands with precision.

Will writing/forming letters correctly increases my children's ability to record their sentence quickly down without loosing the words?

We as teachers know how important it is to fine tune those writing skills, especially when they are young and are learning how to write their letters. Many children struggle with letter formation, where to position their pencil, and how to stabilize their piece of paper. As a result their writing is slow, hard to complete on time, and some times not understood or clear for audience to be able to read.

According to one reading I read (LINK) - effective writing depends on the development of lower-order skills, such as handwriting and spelling, and of higher-order skills, such as planning and revising.

And there is a strong relationship between handwriting automaticity (called fluency) and written composition. The ability to write quickly and effortlessly allows chn to focus on translating ideas into writing, thinking about what they want to say about the topic at hand. (I wonder what this would also impact on the writing of chn who are second language speakers of English.)


Hunch
Will writing/forming letters correctly increases my children's ability to record their sentence quickly down without loosing their words?

How am I going to do this? (LINK)

• Explicit handwriting instruction as daily practice. Must be explicitly taught (Berniger adn Amtmann 2003)

• Increase time allocated to teaching specific writing skills. Encourage daily writing (Vander Hart et al's. (2010))

• Modelling - demonstrates proper pencil grip, paper position and letter formation.

• Guided Practice - students trace, copy and use visual cues to learn how to form letters. Then they produce the letters from memory

• Use of Feedback - praise for correctly forming the letters before teaching them to avoid writing poorly.

• Indepedent Activity - allow chn time to practice on their own.

• Writing Materials - allow chn to use different types of materials for their writing.

• Teach letters along side words, even sentences sometimes rather than on its own.

• Handwriting as 'language by hand' (Berninger et al., 2006) Handwriting has been shown to be an integration or othographic codes (letter forms), phonological codes (letter names and sounds), and graphomotor codes (written shape)

 

Will using Dictation help my children's spelling?

Hunch:

Will using 'dictation' help my children's spelling?

What exactly happened in class with my students?

Through Quick60 program - dictation is done everyday
Dictate letters, words & one sentence a day

How did I do it in class?

- gives my student a chance to practice newly learned words in context
- review old spelling word / letter in a meaningful way - such as
- encouorage students to always give a go/try to write a sentence independently.

Check-Point - What I have noticed?

After 7-8 weeks

- students need more opportunities to practice newly learned words everyday
- students ability to form letters correctly are very poor and very slow to form letters
- some students are not able to hold pencil correclty
- some students are taking long time to form letters therefore, writing a sentence
also takes forever.

Things I have learned - four simple steps for dictation;
- teacher dictates a phrase or sentence
- student repeats the phrase or sentence
- student writes the phrase or sentence
- student proofreads what he wrote

Critique (Pros & Con)

- phrase / sentence dictation could provide meaningful opportunities for young children's learn of new vocabulary.

- directly teach meaning of new vocabulary using sentence / phrase.

- can develop all four skills - reading, pronounciation, forming of letters and speaking.

Final Thought

- some students may find dictation boring and difficult to do. Especially ESOL students, English language is foreign let alone the spelling.

Next Step

Students to write / form letters correctly and fluently in order for them to write their sentence quickly...

What if all teachers had high expectations for every student?

Watch this short video - it's about teachers with High Expectations,  using flexible groupings, and creating warm classroom climates.

You could use this as a focus for your inquiry.

http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/schools-departments/ldpp/ldpp-research/ldpp-research-projects/teacher-expectation.html

Classroom Rules - Post #2

Sometimes repeating rules and routines to new entrants can be a little too much, especially finding the right time to repeat & reinforce the rules. As a PB4L school, we decided to display those rules  & routines in a way that everyone (teachers, relievers and students etc.) entering the classroom follow the rules easily.

Here are  visual displays of our classroom rules & routines.

Goal: for everyone to be able to read and follow routines quickly.

Knowing The Learner - 2018 (Target Students!) - How did I gather my evidence?

My target students are 10 Year 1 students who have been at school for 1 or 2 terms. These are the oldest children in class and they have positive and some understanding towards their learning.  Five children are Maori and the rest are Pasifica. 

The chart below shows the evidence of what I have collected and gathered about each child. At the beginning of the year we tested these kids with JAM (Maths), Running Record, and Easttle Writing to identify levels of achievement per subject for each child. 

I also have done a lot of observations during classtime and outside during lunch and morning tea time. I used the information that I have observed together with the assessment data to write down strengths and gaps for each child. I believe that each child has qualities / strengths and it is important to know those before setting goals as well as the assessment data.

Gathering Information about my students