1 month to go!Specific strategies for Donaldson teachers to help master reading

eligible content.

What can really be done at this point?

•Teach what is left in the eligible content. If you don’t understand the concept, get help. •Review/drill the lower level skills i.e. identify.

•If anything could be mastered in a month, they are the lower level skills. See links below for grade level eligible content – ‘Identification’ skills highlighted.3rd grade 4th grade 5th grade

How to Practice, Practice, Practice

• Drill those lower level skills.– Quizlets– Jeopardy Labs– Teacher Sites -> 5th Grade, (4th Grade, 3rd Grade coming soon!)– List of Harcourt sites by SKILL. (For 5th, it’s in Fifth Grade web

page.)– HARCOURT Practice book pages….see back of book for skills and

page numbers.

• Use released items or another test (on PSSA Reading Resources, Buckle Down, Coach, etc) to assess daily.

Test Taking Strategies

• Eliminate choices. Teach it. Expect it on every multiple choice activity they do.

• Other• Other• Other• 1 graphic organizer to use with ALL open

ended. More on that…..

Open Ended Questions•Model, model, model.

•Use released items.•Re-discover Harcourt and write your own questions to go along with previously read stories. Look at the “Making Connections” page after the selection and they usually have 1 decent starting point.

What to know: Any eligible content with the words “explain, describe, summarize, compare, or infer” could be an open ended question. Use existing open ended question phrasing to help you write your own questions.

And now the writing problems begin……

Graphic Organizer – Pick 1 and Stick With It!

•Ever notice how some kids can ‘tell’ you the answer but can’t write it down? They are STUCK!

•You find yourself ‘pulling them up’ to your desk to discuss, restate or expand upon their answer. It could be a writing issue not a reading issue.

•Using the SAME graphic organizer WILL help them gain confidence, give them a starting point to write, and allow them to focus on the content.

•Students aren’t scored lower for missing topic sentences, but if you are going to teach it, may as well teach it right! Have them rephrase the question as their topic. Style doesn’t count!

•If you have been using a graphic organizer to teach paragraph writing, use that! (Big I explained)

Open Ended – Tips• Use the same graphic organizer EACH and

EVERY time they write an open ended.• Copy graphic organizer. (See Virginia.) BTW -

Copy on both sides.• Once they master using the copied graphic

organizer, train them to draw the same graphic organizer on paper.

Monitor and Adjust

• Administer practice/assessment daily.–1 passage with questions & open ended –

eliminate choices!– Find out what they don’t know. You can’t fix

what you don’t know is broken. (Focus on realistic stuff – lower level skills and writing skills to improve open-ended.)

(Insert Lynanne here!)–Re-teach concepts to whole class that even your

capable kids are missing. If they can’t get it…..–Address individual needs

Meeting Individual Needs – A lot easier said than done!

•Pull small groups of kids. Use the same passage and do a ‘think-aloud’.

•Instead of journaling?•Instead of silent reading?•Instead of__________?

•Send home homework.•Have a standard note to use with hard copy materials. (Discuss) 4 th grade has lots of practice; what about 3/5?•Have a standard note to use with online resources. 5th grade website (4th/3rd coming!!!!)•Ask for it back and confer with the child. Do you see progress?

•Use your resource people: Ruth, Leah, Beth S., Beth K. etc.