Shared Reading - Taking on primary reading in a new way for our students

My former principal and literacy coach, Dr. Anthony Craig, repeatedly told me that it was incredibly necessary to engage my students in shared reading every single day. Trusting him with my life and knowing how knowledgeable he is about literacy, I engaged my students in shared reading without fail. Through this daily routine, I realized just how important shared reading was. My students were taking on reading in a whole new way. They were owning their thinking, talking about books, getting excited about reading and creating their own identity as readers.

I recently attended a conference with Kathy Collins and Matt Glover, authors of the new book I am Reading. The first agenda item was defining the difference between a "nudge" and a "push." They defined a nudge as "honoring what the student can already do"..."and asking yourself, "what is the next small step for this learner?"" This is exactly what I believe shared reading can do for our primary learners. We, as teachers, can use shared reading to "nudge" them further into the reading world.

For many teachers in kindergarten and first grade at the beginning of the year, a common question I have been receiving is: "how do I teach reading right now?" Their questions stem from wanting to respond to the needs of their learners and the curriculum starts in a place that is developmentally inappropriate. By definition, shared reading is "an instructional technique in which the teacher involves a group of students in the reading of a particular big book in order to introduce aspects of literacy, develop reading strategies, and teach vocabulary" (2007, Fountas and Pinnell.) Teachers share the same text over a 3-4 day period of time with a different foci each day. Teachers can intentionally choose the text and purposefully plan the instruction to meet the needs of his/her diverse learners.


The one resource I continue to return to is: Read It Again! by Brenda Parkes. This books guides teachers through the shared reading process. The overarching purpose of shared reading in the classroom is first and foremost to engage students in a text for the love and joy of reading (Park, 1982). Then, it is to introduce students to a variety of texts, authors, illustrators, craft moves, and finally amongst many more reasons, to lure students into becoming a reader themselves (Parkes, 2000). Through this shared reading approach, teachers explicitly teach students how to see themselves as readers; thus, becoming readers. Shared reading is also a platform for rich discussion, which provides opportunities for oral language development.

Because I hope to inspire some of you to engage your students in shared reading, I have video examples of what shared reading can look like in kindergarten, first grade and second grade.

These videos feature myself in a 3-day shared reading cycle in kindergarten. I highlight comprehension, decoding strategies and fluency.

Cami Burfeind is a first grade teacher who is engaging her students in making connections to the text and characters' feelings with the overall purpose of relating those feelings to the author's message (1st video). In the 2nd two videos, students are transferring key details and their "wonders" from an informational text to their reader's response journals using shared reading as a vehicle for that learning.

Shannon Pries is using the book, Roller Coaster, by Marla Frazee to engage her students to use their schema to make connections, notice sound words and use intonation to enhance their fluency.

I cannot express my gratitude to Dr. Anthony Craig.  He changed my literacy practice for the better so that my students could engage in reading at a developmentally appropriate level and develop a love of reading. I can only try to emulate and carry with me the wisdom and knowledge he shared with me about shared reading. This love for sharing authentic texts with students is why I write this blog for teachers. It's practitioners, like us, who can help to build our students' identities as readers through this interactive strategy of shared reading.

Resources:

Collins, K., & Glover, M. (2015). I am reading. Portsmouth, NE: Heinemann Press.

Fountas, I., & Pinnell, G. (2007). The continuum of literacy learning, Grades preK-8, Second edition: A guide to teaching. Portsmouh, NE: Heinemann Press.


Parkes, B. (2000). Shared reading: Revising shared reading. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

What can we teach without a name tag?

When I graduated from Western and entered my first teaching job in the Marysville School District at Tulalip Elementary (a school I hold near and dear to my heart) I had a very clear vision of what I thought my classroom and students should look like. I had a hippy dippy idea that my students would be able to come into my first grade classroom and choose a spot, any spot to sit down to learn. There was no teaching on my part but an assumption that all students would exhibit the same behavior. As my classroom quickly fell apart, I slapped name tags on the tables and watched the chaos finally calm down to the level of learning I envisioned. Each child had a desk, their supplies and their name tag nicely laminated and taped to their space.

Phew! Problem solved, right? Yes, my adult problem was solved. Yet, it still didn't feel right. I had swung to the opposite end of the pendulum to make things easier for myself. As a type A person, it felt good to have things in order but eventually I questioned my motives and beliefs. What teaching was I missing by slapping a name tag on the desk? I realized I needed to reevaluate what I wanted my students to be able to do independently at the end of the year. I wanted them to be:

• problem solvers

• independent thinkers

• self managers

• respectful choice makers

• flexible learners

Okay, so if these are what I want my outcomes to be, then what are the ways in which I can get my students there? Surprisingly enough, it all started with that dang name tag. Let's think for a second. Is someone always there telling us where to play on the playground? Who to sit next to in the lunchroom? Where to sit in a college class? Where to stand in line at the supermarket? What parking spot to choose?  Life is full of choices that we need to make as adults. If that is the case, why are we not teaching our youngest learners, our most malleable minded students, to make positive choices  independently in our classrooms?

In my first year, I wasn't going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I didn't want to rip the bandaid off right away, I wanted to transition students into becoming problem solvers, independent thinkers, self-managers, etc. So, I conducted a few morning meetings based around name tags so that my students were "in the know" about the changes occurring in our classroom. 

I removed the name tags. Kids were able to work anywhere around the room that they felt they could learn best. I was explicit when teaching this -- because it is a strategy -- how to be able to choose a spot where you'll work best. However, they were able to work at their "table space." I did this because I noticed that there were children who needed a space to call "their own" and I wanted to meet the needs of ALL my students. However, during ANY work time, I never mandated them to work there. There were no names anywhere, just a whole class understanding that we needed to be respectful of each other and where we wanted/needed to work to do our best thinking.

 Of course, there were bumps and bruises along the way. We used classroom meeting time to figure out what to do if a student wanted to work at their own "table space," how do we ask politely to work there? We also talked about friends who were great recess friends vs. friends who were great learning partners. We learned about how loud the classroom should be at different times. Of course, this was not me barking orders and rules, but rather the students having meaningful conversations about how their classroom should run. The only "rule" I had in place was, "If you couldn't manage yourself in that moment, then it had to be my job to manage you." Students became independent learners, problem solvers, and self managers very quickly and owned the work they were doing in the room.

As the years have gone on, I feel more comfortable in this decision. It goes along with the early childhood notion: you hold out a red shirt and green shirt for Johnny and ask him to choose. He chooses the red shirt. BAM! You just got a 3 year old to wear a shirt. Your bottom line is that he wears a shirt - it doesn't matter what color it is. The same thing can go for learning.  Students can work anywhere because your bottom line is that they're learning. What power a child has if they have the freedom of choice.

Let's reflect on together on how your room looks now. Is there something that can be taught by not using a name tag?

Happy reflecting!

~ Nina

WorksheetLESS Literacy Centers

Now that school has been in progress now for a few weeks, I received a few requests for a post about literacy centers. These literacy center examples are only a few centers that teachers have sent me and want to share. To pass on other great worksheetLESS literacy ideas, post your pictures and short descriptions in the comments below.

Before posting pictures and short descriptions, I wanted to offer a few different models of different ways to implement literacy centers. Both models foster independence:

• One model provides students with a menu of choices from the teacher. For example, the teacher explicitly and intentionally teaches 4 centers (I chose 4 for the sake of this example, but ask: how many centers are developmentally appropriate for this time in the year?) Students at the beginning of kindergarten may orally plan and choose what center they will visit. Students can clean their space and move on once they are ready to move on. Later in the kindergarten year or even into 1st grade, students can write/circle/highlight their plan on a literacy planner.

Menu 

Literacy Planner

• A second model provides students with a more scheduled approach to centers. All children are grouped heterogeneously (mix em' up!) and teachers are managing where students go. Teachers make a pocket chart with pictures of the centers on one side and the 4 groups of students on the other. Teachers move the student group cards each day so that each student will visit every center each week. Like the model below, centers are taught explicitly and intentionally. In this picture, all students have a "have to" job before they make their next move.

As you may notice, these centers are not worksheet based. All of these centers are geared toward kindergarten in both literacy, language building and fine motor development.

Students use tiles (or anything) with the ABC's on them and match them to the ABC mat.

Students use clothepins to match the letters to their name.

Students use the drawing card to use shapes to draw animals, people, things, etc. Students are then challenged to draw a setting around the object. Challenge: add speech bubble or writing to match the picture.

Students use a set of ABC letters and sort if the letter is in their name on a sorting mat.

Students use letter tiles to build their name and write their name. Challenge: build and write friends' names.

Students build letters using pattern blocks.

Students use push pins to poke holes in the shapes.

(Sorry for the upside down pictures!) Students colored and cut characters from The Three Little Pigs and retell the story using picture cards.

Students use tweezers to pick up small objects and place them in an egg carton.

Children use alphabet tiles to create an alphabet rainbow.

These pictures and centers are just to highlight a few fun, engaging, worksheetLESS literacy/fine motor centers students can enjoy during literacy work time. Let us not to forget that in the first 9 weeks of any new grade, it can be helpful to revert back to the previous 9 weeks of the prior grade (i,e. the first 9 weeks of kindergarten look like preschool and the first 9 weeks of 1st grade look more like the end of kindergarten.)  As we continue to build and create the culture and environment, let's ensure that we continue to focus on the social/emotional skills to foster independence, the fine motor skills to foster strength and oral language to foster a greater communication for our students.

Handwriting Workbooks: to start or not to start? That is the question!

As I have roved around from school to school at the beginning of the year, I was frantically asked by some teachers: "WHERE ARE MY HANDWRITING WORKBOOKS?!"

Let's think together for a moment to answer this question: What are those workbooks really for? What is the purpose?

If we are teaching with intention and purpose, would workbooks be the way in which we initially teach handwriting? If writing is the way that our students communicate with the greater world, is a workbook the way that we want them to engage in communication? What we are saying when we give a child a workbook in the first month of school is: Sit. Write. Quiet. Listen. Do this rote activity. This is how we learn at school.

We all know that this example is not what we want for our students. It's not something that we know to be developmentally appropriate. Let's pretend that those workbooks didn't come until November. What would you do until then? What experiences and opportunities could you provide to allow students to engage in learning at school.

In the beginning of the year, we want to create classroom culture and environment in a purposeful way. We want students to know that, in terms of handwriting, building fine motor strength and oral language skills are the building blocks for communication. We want to provide social opportunities to foster communication. We want to engage students in fine motor strengthening opportunities. Both of these foundational skills get at the greater purpose of why we teach: to prepare our students for the real world.

How can I do this? Here are some pictures of developmentally appropriate practices teachers can use at the beginning of the year to foster fine motor skills and social opportunities. These activities are letters specific.

See!? Students are engaged in a developmentally appropriate process of building social language, fine motor muscles, letter knowledge: the foundation of how they will interact with their world. No workbooks needed YET!

Thanks for being reflective,

Nina

Authentic Labeling: How to create classroom culture and environment WITH students

Upon visiting Cami Burfeind's classroom, 1st grade teacher at Sunnyland School, it dawned on me that I have been taking on a responsibility that kids could have taken on all on their own! At the beginning of each year, I spend countless hours labeling every single item in my room. I label the actual bin as well as the spot where the bin will reside for the remainder of the year. In Cami's first grade classroom, she intentionally did not label most items in her room so that she could provide an authentic experience for her students to take ownership over their classroom. She also provided them with an authentic writing experience.

 

Pointers for reading and plastic buckets are labeled here. A student chose to label the mailbox center.
Puppets used for choice time are labeled as well as the big book stand and big books.

 Lamp and headphones are labeled here.

As a previous kindergarten teacher, I may find different opportunities for students to take ownership in the classroom by labeling. Since students may not be able to recognize letters yet, I want to provide a print-rich environment for my students by providing an organized space with labels. Barb Del Wraa, kindergarten teacher at Roosevelt School, spent time labeling her classroom before the school year started but left developmentally appropriate opportunities for students to label. One unique opportunity provided was for students was to label the food found in the home area.

As you look around your room, are there authentic opportunities for your students to take ownership over their classroom? What a great way to create the classroom culture and environment by providing powerful and unique writing opportunities for students.


Happy writing!
Nina