Thoughts From The Book Diva....

While attending the Texas Library Association's annual conference a few years ago,  I came across one particular session that really peaked my interest. The ladies presenting the session explained in great detail how they were able to get their PreK and Kinder friends to do research. I was amazed! I was also extremely jealous because this school had access to the coolest database for younger elementary kids, PebbleGo by Capstone. I immediately contacted my Capstone rep and requested a quote for PebbleGo. Unfortunately, our budget had been spent by this late in the year. I decided to save the quote and make PebbleGo one of my first purchases for the next school year. Next, I very sweetly asked my kinder teachers if they would jump on board with me and try this research idea with their kiddos. Luckily, I have kinder teachers who are generally always on board with my ideas, so they agreed to collaborate with me.  Although we did not have the database access, we did have age appropriat

It is time for you to be real and to be honest.  I need your unfiltered, honest opinions on what you thought about this Book Study and what we can do to improve it for next time. Please answer the following questions for me: Did you like the format? Is there any way you can think we could improve how this is delivered? What did you think about the chosen book? Would you do this again? Would you do this again voluntarily (you are not REQUIRED to do a PLT)? Do you honestly think this was beneficial to your teaching career? Do you have another book you would like to see done in this format? What suggestions can you give ME to improve my moderating of the Book Study?

Well ladies, we made it! We finished the last section of Guided Reading AND we are about to embark on the last week of the school year. I don't know about you, but I am feeling rather accomplished. Let's discuss the last three chapters of Guided Reading and then move on to planning for next year. Chapters 13-15: In chapter thirteen I appreciate how the authors remind us of the importance of connecting reading and writing from the very beginning of a child's literacy experience. How did you feel about the authors' opinion on the role of phonics in Guided Reading? I will be honest, it goes against how I was taught to read AND how I was taught to teach reading. However, I do believe that if we can "let go" of our preconceived ideas and give this approach a try, we will probably see success. I liked how this book encourages teaching phonics, but in a more authentic and individualistic manner. I am just not able to see where studying short a and completely a r

Chapters 10-12 I think we will all agree that chapters 10-12, though very informative, were also incredibly sleep inducing! Chapter 10 delves deeper into using leveled readers. The authors spend a great deal of time explaining the increase in difficulty of each Guided Reading book level. I am assuming they spent this much time on these details so that we can eventually pick up any book and correctly place it within a Guided Reading level. Fortunately, we have our Guided Reading library set up with plenty of access to a wide range of literature. I have also noticed that book publishers and companies are including this information with the books that they sell. I am sure that you will not have to put the information in this chapter to use very often. What did you think about the charts found on pages 132 and 287? I found both of these to be very informative. I feel like either one would be an asset to add to your toolbox for Guided Reading. In chapter 11 we learn how to select and in

We are getting closer to the end, ladies! I am sure we will all agree that chapters 7-9 were not the most invigorating chapters you have read thus far. Let's break it down and talk about what you learned from this section. Chapter 7 This chapter was all about the importance of using running records as a form of assessment with Guided Reading. The author described two forms of running records, quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative records break the child's performance down to a number. This number is used to determine the child's fluency rate. The fluency rate is a solid number that will allow you to easily see how the child is progressing.  I can see this number being helpful in parent conferences. Parents may not understand the process of teaching a child to read, but they can relate to a number, especially if that number tells them where their child is currently performing and where the child needs to be by the end of the year. Qualitative records are used when lo

Now that we have background knowledge on the Guided Reading program, we can start researching the means for incorporating it into your own classroom. Chapters four through six begin detailing the implementation process. Chapter Four: While reading chapter four, I found myself thinking about the word, "purposeful". The principal at Westside, Robin Braun, used this term many times when describing the Guided Reading program. During her presentation I noticed that this word kept coming up, but I assumed that it was a word that she just liked to use.  However, as we are reading this book, I am finding that "purposeful" is the perfect word for describing each piece of the program. In this chapter we find suggestions for setting up your classroom in a purposeful manner in order to get the most out of your literacy program. While the author was describing each component of the Guided Reading classroom, I found myself envisioning the classroom that I observed at Westside.