Instructional Inquiry

Julianne BatelliHayley Hilgenberg Livonia, NY

The Community and Demographics

Description:population of about 7,800 made up of six hamlets, including Lakeville,

Livonia Center, Hemlock, South Livonia, South Lima and the Village of Livonia

The town is bordered by two lakes, Conesus Lake (on the west) and Hemlock Lake on (the east)

The estimated median household income for 2009 was $57,796 as opposed to $49, 688 that was seen in 2000. This is higher than the New York average of

$54,659. Livonia is a predominately white area

with 32% Irish ancestry, 29.3% German, 19.2% English, 12.1% Italian and 5 % French ancestry.

Education93.7% received a high school diploma or higher.

26.6% have received a Bachelor’s degree or higher. 10.3% have received a Graduate or professional degree. Only 5.5% of this portion of the population is

unemployed.

Jobs Driver, in sales and as truck drivers make up 5% construction trade workers except carpenters, electricians,

painters, plumbers, and construction laborers make up another 5%. sales representatives, or in services, wholesale and manufacturing

make up 5% . Other management occupations except farmers and farm

managers make up 4%. Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers,

engineers, material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and distributing workers make up another 4%

7.6% of the population is unemployed The New York average is 8.8%.

All of these

statistics are as of

August, 2012

Colleges

Livonia is also in close proximity to colleges and universities that contain over 2000 students. SUNY Geneseo, which is 8 miles away and has 5,454

students enrolled full time. Rochester Institute of Technology, which is 19 miles away

and has 13,372 students enrolled full time. Monroe Community College is 20 miles away with 12,159

full time students. Nazareth College is 21 miles away with 2,555 full time

students. University of Rochester hold 7,898 full time students and is

located 22 miles from Livonia. Finger Lakes Community College Saint John Fisher College are also located 22 miles away and

hold 3,750 and 3,202 full time students respectively.

Livonia Public Library located on 2 Washington Street. This library

contains is a valuable resource to the community and contains: 22,639 books1,671 audio materials1,235 video materials14 state licensed databases5 other licensed databases129 print serial subscriptions

Public Library

The Library holds Children’s Story Time for various ages.

Toddler time is available for children 12 months to 3 years old.

Small Fry Fun is available for ages 3-5 years old. Story time is held every Thursday from 10:30 am

to 11:00 am. It is encouraged to pre-register by calling their number.

The Livonia Public Library also has what is called Kid’s Korner Blog. This is a feature on the Library’s website.

Here you can find book lists for teens, easy readers, kids books, kids fiction, chapter books, graphic novels, kids non-fiction, and picture books.

Here you can also find information about their summer reading program. The most recent summer program to be listed is the 2012 program named Dream Big!

The Dream Big Read! Livonia Library’s 2012 had 153 registered students.

The Community speaks for the love of their library!

Livonia Central Schools

Public Schools LIVONIA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLLivonia Senior High School contains 709 students and is located on 2 Bulldog Boulevard in Livonia. It has grades 9-12 and is ranted number 60th.  LIVONIA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL Livonia Junior High School houses 354 students grades 7-8 and is located on 20 Memorial drive. The Junior High is ranked 38th.  

LIVONIA PRIMARY SCHOOLLivonia Primary contains 534 students grades PreK-3. The school is located at 6 Puppy Lane and is ranked 65th.  LIVONIA INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL The Intermediate schools houses 455 students in grades 4-6. It is located at 40 Spring Street and is ranked 60th

The Livonia Central School District provides a comprehensive program for its 1800 students.

There is an Elementary school, Intermediate school and High school. These three schools contain organizes instructional services and are located within a 180 acre campus.

It is located within Livingston County.

Livonia Intermediate School

• located at 2 School Street. • Total enrollment of 455 students.

• 158 students in 4th grade• 154 students in 5th grade• 143 students in 6th grade

• The school offers courses in mathematics, English, science and technology, social studies, language arts, health education, computer science, arts and crafts, music and physical education

• Extracurricular activities are cross-country, soccer, football, volleyball, swimming and other athletics

Livonia Junior High SchoolThe Livonia Middle School houses over 400 students who are in grades 6-8.

It is located in the complex. This is part of the team approach for transitioning students from elementary school to high school, with help of two full time counselors.

R.J. Davis Senior High School

The contains over 700 students in grades 9-12.

It is also located within the 6-12 complex.

The curriculum contains college preparatory classes as well as classes in technical areas and trade. There nine sequences from which students can chose. The advanced placement courses as well. 86% of gradates continue on to higher education.

Academic teams as well as sports teams have earned high honors at county, regional and state levels.  

TechnologyThe Livonia Jr. High School was

recognized for its use of the SMART Board technology.

Within the school district you will find:computer labswireless laptop cartsand labs for digital photography technology that is used for pre-

engineering courses, business course and library and computer classes.

Livonia Primary SchoolOur Focus!

David P. Deloria Primary School

Population: 534 students grades PreK-3. The school is located at 6 Puppy

Lane. There is a half-day program for Pre-K and a full day program

starting in Kindergarten and up. The Primary school also contains the Livonia Reading

ClinicThe Primary school also holds a variety of extracurricular

activities for its students including; musical productions, field trips and fitness programs.

Livonia Central Schools’ Reading Clinic:

Students who should be seeking help in the Reading Clinic usually exhibit learning

problems such as inaccurate sound/letter associations,

difficulty reading and spelling phonetically regular words, inaccurate sound blending,

reversal of letters and words, difficulty developing and

maintain a consistent sight word vocabulary, poor reading fluency, and poor written

expression and organization.

Mission Connect the most current

research in the field of literacy to reading the classroom

Location Livonia Elementary, room 24

Focus Help students with decoding

and spelling difficulties Difficulties with this interferes

with student’ abilities to read and spell accurately

Will result in slower reading pace, weak comprehension and poor written expression

Livonia Elementary School Library

The Livonia Elementary School Library contains various resources. These include:  Links for grade level unit: PK-Fifth grade Elementary Library Catalog Online Resources EBooks Young voices student projects List of Livonia Favorite books District and Livonia Calendar Resources dealing with Common Core Standards Accelerated Reader Lists Internet Safety links

A lot of these resources can be accessed at home through their website: http://bookwings.wikispaces.com/

Literacy Assessments:Livonia Primary Literacy Profile

This is a scale that measures what stage each student is from grades K-3. Each grade has three sublevels that help categorize exactly where a student is. Every student is assessed 3-4 times a year (or more often if possible) Skills are very specific to each subcategory, and will determine what level each student is

at. The assessment is given orally, individually. The assessment affects the instruction in the classroom and helps the teacher customize

exactly what skills she needs to work, whether it be for the whole class, in small groups, or individually.

The assessment results go into a portfolio for each child that follows them throughout every grade.

Kindergarten they assess: letter name fluency, letter sound fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word

fluency. First grade they asses:

letter naming fluency, letter sound fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency, and oral reading fluency.

Second grade they assess: nonsense word fluency, and oral reading fluency. third grade they test oral reading fluency.

Livonia Assessments:

AIMSWEB

A complete web-based solution for universal screening, progress monitoring, and data management for Grades K-12

Assessment in math and literacy that in line with the Common Core Standards

Puts the answers into data Gives real time reports that

help show where a student, class, grade, school, and state is performing

Aimsweb gives teachers the data to help determine RTI.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=F0fukImoaWI

What are the fluency expectations at Livonia Primary School?

The fluency expectations at Livonia Primary School vary by grade level. By the end of first grade an average student should be reading approximately 55-85 words correct per minute on grade level text.  By the end of second grade an average student should be reading approximately 95-120 words correct per minute on grade level text. By the end of third grade an average students should be reading approximately 115-145 words correct per minute on grade level text.

Samples of Fluent Readers:http://www.toolboxpro.org/classrooms/template.cfm?ID=3

603&P=104433

School-Wide Instruction Method: The Core Program

Implemented at Livonia a few years ago.CORE is a literacy (and mathematics) program that gives

support for classroom teachers, special education staff, English-language learner staff, and literacy coaches.

CORE also has specialists to give professional development and coaching for the principal to help introduce basals, materials, and assessments

The program is excellent in phonics, and the scope and sequence of the units are very easy to follow. It is also is very scripted

http://www.corelearn.com/

Interview and observation with:Mrs. Erin Marozas

We had the pleasure to observe and interview Mrs. Erin Marozas, as first grade teacher in Livonia Elementary School. Mrs. Marozas has been teaching 26 years. Within her literacy program, she follows the school-wide program, the “Open Core Program (discussed above),” though in her specific classroom she breaks off of that and makes the curriculum work for her. Mrs. Marozas incorporates her own flair by including poetry, real trade books, non-fiction texts, songs, and more. Early on in the school year, she focuses on phonemic awareness with her students. With students aged six and seven, she wants her students to be able to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes successfully. She also focuses on phonics as a whole.

Book Nook!After individual work

is finished, students can come here and practice reading by themselves, or with a friend!

Observation and Interview Narrative, cont.

Within the interview she stated that if students can understand phonics, manipulate chunks and endings, and understand the rules of the English language, then it takes care of so many questions in their understanding of literacy (E. Marozas, personal communication, March 25, 2013). With observing her classroom, most of her students were able to read successfully on their own above the average first grader. As an observer, I had little time to talk to Mrs. Marozas until after the observation. When watching the students, I was positive that the students were either high second graders or third grade students. I was shocked when I found that the students that were writing 5 sentence stories independently and read long poems. She also focuses on sight words, context clues, and read alouds.

Observation and Interview Narrative, cont.

She groups her students by homogeneously by ability for the third-quarters of the year, and the last part of the year is by choice. Her grouping is very flexible, and can even change daily. As part of her curriculum, she does not teach anything more than one day. She said she should, and used to do genre, author, and idea fluidity through multiple days, but she does not do it anymore because of time. She also discussed that her age level does not respond to a story seen multiple days, and she instead focuses on phonics. Her goals for her class in literacy is she would like to see sight words spelled correctly, all students reading at least on level, understanding phonics rules, and being able to write 5-6 sentences cohesively and focused.

Expectations and ValuesHer expectations and values in the classroom is that

students need to have manners and respect each other. Students need to learn what is appropriate and how to be a good and considerate person. Active Participation is also highly valued and expected in the classroom. Mrs. Marozas, in the beginning of the year, discusses and models what is means to be actively participating in the class, what it does it mean to not participate, and how it will help them learn. While observing, students were often raising hands, putting fingers in chins when they understand the concept, and clearly focusing in class.

Calendar Wall!

Students use this often for more sight words!

MaterialsMaterials used during the literacy observation

was a CORE program basal, a “Too Big Book” full of poems, a Phonics book, an easel for the whole group instruction, and a “Book Nook” full of books for when the students were finished with their independent work.

Book read during small group

Every small group used this picture book

Students worked on the long vowel exception skill,

using the photos to infer what is

happening in the text, and fluency

Room 75’s Word Wall

Instructional TimeWith relation to instructional time split up in the classroom,

Mrs. Marozas discussed that she ideally likes to have 50 minutes of whole group and 50 minutes of small group. She also mentioned that when she can, she works one on one with students in writing. Within the observation, she had split it up as 50 minutes of whole group, 45 minutes of individual with 10-15 minutes in small groups meeting with her. Mrs. Marozas started with a whole group lesson about long vowel sound exceptions, and the students practiced it in a mini spelling exercise with the words and skill previously learned, independent work sheets continuing the skill, and then reading a poem independently and aloud for fluency that also had the long vowel sound exceptions. Each day’s literacy lesson has fluidity throughout the day. I also observed a math lesson, where they were also speaking of the same phonics rule with their mathematics vocabulary words. Mrs. Marozas discussed that she tries to, “teach every subject within every subject,” (personal communication, March 25, 2013).

Exact Timing from Observation Notes

Texts throughout an extended time

In the interview with Mrs. Erin Marozas, there was no text talked, wrote, or listened to throughout an extended time. She discussed that with the allotted time for literacy, there wasn’t enough time to make a multiple day connection, although the “Open Core Program” did ask for a book to be used for a week. She said that she previously used to do a week of the same author, same genre, or same theme, but she no longer does this.

Observation Notes

A summary of the home-to-school literacy connection

The Livonia School website provides links for Reading at Home.

The school also sends out a newsletter for parents weekly for what is happening in the school, including books read and literacy updates

Reading at Home: (From Livonia Central School

Website)

Website that will encourage at school reading:

Looney Tunes Kaboose Sight Words With Sampson Game Goo Fun Brain Website

All of these links can be found here!http://www.toolboxpro.org/classrooms/template.cfm?ID=3603&preview=1

Online Learning Sites that support student growth

and leaning.

• PBS Kids • Starfall• Kidport • Reading with Jan Brett • ABCya.com 

What Can Parents Do at Home to Help Their Child Become a

Fluent Reader?According to Livonia Central

They suggest reading a sentence or passage aloud to your child. After they suggest that you have the child math the parent’s voice when they read it aloud after the parent.

They suggest that the parent should have the child read their favorite book or poem over and over again which will help them practice getting smoother at reading and better at reading with expression. Parents should also remind their child to pause between sentences and phrases when reading aloud.

Home-School Connection with Mrs. Marozas and her class

Within Mrs. Erin Marozas’s personal classroom, she sends out her own weekly newsletter that discusses what they are reading and literacy skills they are focusing on. She also sends home 20 “decodable books” home every quarter. These are short story books that have a specific phonic skill in them that the student and parent can read together.

Suggestions and Considerations

Within the classroom, and as a coach, we do love that time is split up between individual, small group, and whole group, but we would love to see some more time in small group. In our observation, the students had small group instruction for 10-15 minutes. We would try to increase this, possibly by decreasing the amount of time in whole group. We think a great strategy that Mrs. Marozas designed the small groups have is a lot of flexibility, even changing daily if they have to.

Another suggestion we have is to have some sort of consistency of book, novel, theme, etc. over a few days. We were told no book or story was discussed or read for more than one day. We think the students would respond to some consistency in this for a few days so they can make connections and have the experience of revisiting a text.

References Aimsweb. (n.d.). aimsweb. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from http://

aimsweb.com Elementary Literacy (K-6) | CORE. (n.d.).CORE. Retrieved March 27,

2013, from http://www.corelearn.com/Services/Literacy/Elementary-Literacy-K-6-/ 

Livonia Central School District. (n.d.). Livonia Central School District. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from http://www.livoniacsd.org/ 

Livonia, New York (NY 14487) profile. (n.d.). Stats about all US cities. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from

http://www.city-data.com/city/Livonia-New-York.html#ixzz2O0ie3gvx Official Site of Town of Livonia, New York. (n.d.). Official Site of Town

of Livonia, New York. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from http://www.livoniany.org/