Day 8

 

This is some data from the latest survey that the children completed. I think it is great that the children think they are good at reading and that they think their family have a positive attitude towards it. The children having these positive attitudes about their ability can only help to make them be successful in reading. I will say I do think that I need to, as a teacher, keep working on ensuring they know what I think of their reading. I actually had a child afterwards pop up and see me about what my thoughts are on their reading. Them thinking they are good readers is going to help them to have a positive attitude which can definitely help them to make progress in reading.   

Day 8

 Today was about the importance of Create in reading. I agree with the fact most children are more engaged when they are working on their create activity. 

The slide above is one that is important to keep in mind to ensure you get a variety of Create activities. There are many tools out there to help with ensuring we get a variety of Create activities happening. We discussed a little about the usage of AI and how this can help. I liked the activity we did with reading a little of the Te Marama story and creating a background image for this. Then, comparing this at the end with the one in the book. I think this could lead to some interesting discussions. I would though, be ensuring that the children put in the prompt which best represents what they saw visually in their head and not just put in the text to get them a picture. 

Above are some things you need to consider when planning for your create activities. I know that I don't do enough of the collaboration activities. I find these can be time-consuming and can lead to issues. I will endeavor to try and ensure there is a range of these activities. Along with this, I would like to try and include some non-digital create work, as giving the children the option to do drama or something not on the computer would be great. 

 

Day 7 RPI

 This week we looked at thinking and how this plays an important role in reading. The following image in my opinion is a good represenation of the importance of it. 

We looked at different types of thinking and needing to make sure you include these in your different questions or activities. 

 Analysing texts and using figurative language to help understand the text is important.

Example below

When looking at a big idea in a text, you want to look at the evidence and gather ideas from the text.  Sort of tease out with the help of the children evidence in the text. 

With your extended discussion, this could be a provocation. Here is an example. The children could take on different roles in the group, such as builder, critical and initator when having this discussion. 

Allow an oportunity for your learners to make different choices as authors or creators. For example, As the author, I want you to rewrite one of the scenes in the story so either ‘the woman’ or Pania gets to bungy jump.

Vocabulary

 

The study shown above shows something I have known for awhile regarding the amount of words heard by children and how this affects them. I agree very much with the image below.

So now that I know all this what am doing to help with this. Well, I am doing some things, but there are more things I need to do and include in my programme. I do need to get them to show me in different ways which words they may not be sure of, to guide me a bit more in what they need to work on. The traffic light approach is one I would like to try. 

Word consciousness is important and I plan to continue working on this in my reading programme. 

The following image sums up of the different aspects that should be considered. 

I think overall, I learned that there are different aspects to vocabulary and to continue working on including these.  Discussions with new vocabulary words and looking at words in different ways is important and I will need to do more of this.

Reading- Timetables

 Today we talked about timetables and had a look at some different ones. This is always interesting as to what other schools do and what gets prioritised. The new curriculum is requiring as to fit a bit more in our timetables, which does make things interesting. I feel limited as to what I can change with the timetable. We are covering a bit, however, I would still like to work on fitting in the library as that has fallen off.  The task board helps the children I teach to know what to do within the reading time slot. So I feel this is going okay. Our website is easy to use and is only three clicks to my reading task. 

Ideas I would like to work on are- including a percentage part in the mahi tracker

                                                     - adding in a collaborative task 

                                                     - using Readworks effectively

                                                     - anticipation guide ( have used something similar but might try this one)

Below are some things I need to remember when designing my independent activities. 

The skill builder on inferencing today was good. I have some resources for this so was great to see a few more. I will definitely look and see if we have the book Key into Inference. I did not realise that Readworks has some activities with this so will see what I can find that will fit in with what we are reading. 

Independent Activities-Homework activity

Recently, I have had more of an emphasis on vocabulary in independent activities. These are okay and actually for some have been a challenge to do. I have had to teach dictionary skills, which is a new one for them, and this is in the new English curriculum.  The children though are beginning to understand that it is not okay to just read over words they don't know. I look forward to finding out about new vocabulary activities that will be engaging but also teach them about the word. I wanted to include Readworks app as part of their independent work, however am having technique issues. I like how this has questions and a little work on vocabulary. 

 

Small Group Instruction

 Today we talked about small group instruction otherwise known as guided reading. We talked about the why and how to introduce a book. This was a review for me particular around background knowledge and prior knowledge. The model below on an approach you can take was good and a nice reminder of what needs to be included. 

I will say that the observation part I will try and work a bit harder on doing more of. One of the forms that can be used for this seems like I could implement it easily enough. I just need to try and remember to do this along with everything else going on. 

I would like to use the rubric with the children on fluency as this seems straight forward and would be a good reflection for them. The children filming themselves is very challenging in the hub and I will try the other app that someone suggested that might be helpful. As I can see the children benefiting from this activity. 

Day Three

Choosing Appropriate Text

• Want rich varied texts
• Look at different perspectives
• Think about the book is at the Independent/ Instructional/Frustrating  level
• Look at the different genres
• Think about the vocabulary- Tier 1,2 and 3
• Consider the different cultures you have in the group but also what you don't have - Watch  
  
  

Rudine Sims Bishop, Professor Emerita, Ohio State University

Groupings

There are different ways to do this and there are pro and cons for the different ways. Sometimes you don't have much of a choice on how this is done but when you can I think you should try the different ways. Always consider the children though. 

Summarising

This was useful as I find this can be hard for many children to do. I am grateful for some new resources in this area. I do plan to look more into Timothy Shanahan for more information on how to teach this. It was a good reminder to break it up slowly in your approach to this reading strategy. The summarising matrix will also be very handy to look at as this has been set up with the new curriculum phases. I also think the reminder to articulate as I am teaching this strategy, is helpful. I don't do this enough. This section is a good one to pass on to my colleagues who might want to improve their skills in teaching summarising. 

Text set selection

This is the start of me collecting for the text selection for possible work around monsters and mythical creatures. It would be good to read a novel around the same topic so will have to see if can do this. I generally find some topics easier than some to find reading material on. I will continue to work on ensuring the children get a range of types of books.