The Reading Wars

Hi All!  Hurricane Thursday was definitely a surprise! Thank you for regrouping and adjusting to a last minute decision that needed to be made!  

I spent the afternoon on Wednesday in an incredible PD about The Science of Reading and the shift our district is making to work smarter and not harder!  

Meaning...we are going to follow the science of how our brains learn to read!  We made this shift last year in math with the addition of our Clusters and the focus on the following:

This year is definitely crazy and we are having to adjust to so much but it is the perfect time to step back and punt!  We can dabble in The Science of Reading and REALLY get a handle on what we want this to look like in our classrooms.  

This article on The Reading Wars says it all! 

WATCH this video on The Reading Wars!!!!!  We are going to heal the wounds! 

WATCH this TOO! 

I know what you are thinking...SCHROEDER!  What does this mean for us?  Well it means we are going to make small adjustments to our instruction to get the most bang for our buck! 

First, friends we are NOT going to be leveling our readers like we have in the past.  (I know, you may need to sit down.). 

Levels are for BOOKS NOT Kids!

• We will NOT be doing Running Records to determine a level to group students. 
• We will NOT be reporting to parents a LEVEL as a grade. 
• We will NOT be having the L group come for guided reading.  

Friends~We are putting the MCLASS anvil DOWN! You are not holding this over your head all year!  Your district supports The Science of Reading!  

Well SCHROEDER, what will we be doing then? 

• We WILL be doing running records to drive our instruction. (The letter score is for the teacher!!!!!!)You can use any book or passage!!!!
• We WILL be using decodable readers connected to our Letterland lessons. 
• We WILL be presenting grade level material in LARGE GROUP! 
• We WILL spend a good amount of our 90 minute reading block focused on Letterland!

We WILL be moving to STRUCTURED Literacy in place of BALANCED Literacy.  

Wait but what if I teach 2nd or 3rd grade and my kids are reading high levels?

Aren't decodables for kiddos learning to read?  Ours are reading to learn!

NO!  Decodables are fantastic for students at high levels if the teachers connects the text to their Phonics Skills!  

• Students will work with connected texts based on our Letterland pacing. 
• They will read grade level texts in small groups and focus on the standards. 
• Students will interact with the read aloud text during small group-zooming in on certain parts fo the text.  Students will work on higher level questioning and written response. (We want them to be secure with grade level material!)

*This is just a SNEAK PEEK at the direction that MGSD is going in READING.  Remember it is going to be a work in progress this year.  

We are in this boat together!

Multi Sensory Learning

Hi All!  Thank you for an amazing week at PVES!  There were so many smiling faces and happy people...what we all have REALLY needed!

I have been dabbling in all that is out there about the Science of Reading and I LOVE that it supports multi sensory learning.  Structured Literacy supports SOR because it is systematic and cumulative!  Read more about Structured Literacy over at Sarah's Snippets!   

I am a huge advocate for teaching to different learning styles.  Check out this quick video about the multi-sensory approach!

The term multi-sensory means that when new information is presented to a students they will interact with that new material using multiple senses all at one.  In a nutshell, the more ways they interact with new material, the more pathways they create for retrieval. 

When planning your lessons, think about visual, auditory & kinesthetic approaches. When I plan my lessons,  I always have something visual like a video or image projected, a song or chant to support the learning & and hand motions! These simple additions give children something to link their learning too. 

Take a look at the Language Triangle! 

SEE HOW it is all CONNECTED!

Think about Quick Coding!  Allowing students to mark up word parts hits visual and kinesthetic learning. Take it to the next level and have your students quick code with play dough or pipe cleaners! That would make one engaging center!

Can we make comprehension multi sensory!  Sure can! Try color coding your graphic organizers & then have your students respond about the text in the corresponding colors!  Check out this JAMboard! 

Can we use the Multi-Sensory approach in math?  

Yep...we sure can! 

It takes us back to the concrete, representational and abstract! 

I love this connection for tapping out numbers.  Reminds be of tapping our letter sounds in words! 

The act of tapping out the numbers allows students to connect symbols to actual amounts.  

It is like FEELING the NUMBER!

Read about more fun ways to multi sensory your math at Understand.org!

Using multiple senses allows student to connect in more ways with new subject matter.  It helps them tap into how they learn best.  What approach they need to take when presented with new material.  

I have been thinking about our 3rd grade Letterland training this week and decided to MULTI Sensory the black line masters to be used in centers.  So SUPER easy to do!

In the first picture, you will see the reading passage for the unit.  This activity would be great for a buddy reading activity!  I used color coding and cut and paste to add the visual & kinesthetic.  The speech bubbles are where the students will be discussing the meaning of the boldface words.  I added the word mapping at the bottom.  

*Echo Microphones would be great for reading the words! 

*And perfect for ROBOT reading! 

Picture 2 is the word sort, again I added the color coding & cut and paste for the visual and kinesthetic.  This could also be put in a pocket chart with words on large cards or create the chart on a shower curtain.  

Multi Sensory learning is about thinking outside the box and upping the engagement through learning styles!  I can't wait to see what you all come up with next week! 

Positive Self Talk

Happy Fall Break!  I hope you all find a way to decompress and relax.  I am so very proud of all of your hard work and dedication to your students.  Thank you for being amazing.  Thank you for never giving up.  Thank you for being problem solvers, tech support, counselors, entertainers and so much more!

This post may seem like a bit of a hodgepodge but I have some fun things to share! 

SURPRISE...I can't keep this to myself!!!!  

WE NEEEEEED something to look forward too!

THE PEP SQUAD is making a come back!

Our goal for this resurrection is 2020!  It has been a HARD year and we all need to put some PEP back in our step!

Be prepared...after break you are in for some fun surprises thanks to our PEP Squad members.  We have been working franticly behind the scenes to spoil our Patriot Staff!

(There is still time to join the PEP Squad!) 

We will find the POSITIVE in 2020!

Speaking of positive and spoiling check out some of the simple self-care ideas that you can start right away.  

One of my favorites from above is Positive Self Talk.  This has become common language at my house over the years.  Both of my kiddos are athletes and my daughter Lily spent 4 years with a mental strength coach.  She has always stressed POSITIVE Self Talk.  

We have to treat ourselves in a positive way.  Talk kindly to and about ourselves.  

 

This is the cutest video from The Kid President! 

Did you know that positive self talk has some heath benefits too?  

• Increased Vitality 
• Greater Life Satisfaction
• Improved Immune Function
• Reduced Pain
• Improved Cardiovascular Health
• Better Physical Well-being
• Less stress and destress

Research also suggests people that practice positive self talk may have mental skills that allow them to be problem solvers, think in different ways and be able to handle stressful situations better.  This reduces STRESS!  

Check out this blogpost from Very Well Minded.  Lots of good ideas to help you reframe your thinking. 

My goal since March has been to wake and let yesterday go.  To focus on the day ahead with a positive outlook.  Is it easy?  Heck no but I sure am trying and it is making a difference for me!  

I am trying to check in with my feelings during the day and make sure I am not traveling down that negative road.  My real trick is finding the humor.  Looking for the funny and the light hearted.  

Mr. Rogers says "Look for the Helpers" in a crisis.  I totally agree but I also look for the humor as a way to break the stress level.  I think I have always been a jokester and humor is my love language! 

Why else would I say yes to doing an Instagram review of these teenager sun glasses!  Because I knew I would look hilarious and hilarious makes me happy!