A balance reading programme
Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempseys' course today was about implementing a balanced reading programme. It was great having Glen Taylor join Panmure bridge, as we had time to collaborate and share our current literacy programmes.
It was good to be able to reflect on the components of the reading programmes and to reaffirm that we are on the right track and that our learners are being provided with a good reading programme.
I now have a few more follow up activity ideas which I will be including in my daily reading programme, which I am pleased about.I liked the Question dice which I can use for oral language as well as reading. With teacher support learners can roll dice and answer the question. We have focussed on the 5 W's and H so learners can be further extended by having specific questions on the roll dice. They will find this fun as well as challenging. The other example that I think will be valuable is the putting a quote or thought bubble as a magnet or sticky note in the big book. I like this example and think that it can be used when I introduce speech bubbles.
Independent Writing
As well as working on teacher-directed writing tasks, student need time to write for their own purpose
while engaging with topics that are significant to them. (Effective literacy Practice year 1 to 4 )
In my weekly writing program learners have an opportunity to do free writing at least once a week. Initially learners needed a lot of teacher prompting. They now however really enjoy being able to choose their own writing focus. I find this very valuable as learners are able to explore their own ideas. These writing opportunities have helped me to get to know the learners interests.
Using texts (Instructional reading)
Developing readers' processing strategies
Teachers have a crucial role in helping their students to develop a network of reading strategies and awareness of how to use them. Providing rich experiences of purposeful reading, using an expanding
range of texts, is central to their development.
I have supported my learners by using the correct prompts during an instructional reading lesson. Example
Tell me this first sound of this word?
What letter does it start with? What is the last sound in this word?
Decoding has been an important method used for learners to attend to detail in text and determine meaning. This has especially worked well with my beginning readers who are needed to give attention to every word, especially initial letters, while my fluent readers are focussing on phrases rather than words.
