Lesson 5- Closed Word Wort, Reader's Theater and Running Record

Lesson 5

Emily Bowers

April 11, 2016

Objective: Good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to sort words that have “au”, “aw” and “a”. Good readers can read with expression by using appropriate tone, rate, and volume.

Assessments: Closed word sort, reader’s theater script

Procedures:

1.      Explain to student that they will be reading a book to you. Also mention that while you are reading you are going to listen and make notes.

2.      Next introduce the new word sort to the students explaining why they are no longer working with the words they have been. After, give student the new categories to sort the words into and allow time to sort all words. Then talk about how they sorted them and why. Address any words that were put in the wrong category.

3.      Explain to student that next we are going to practice reading with expression by reading from a script and acting out characters in a story.

4.      Read through script once without expression. Read 2-3 more times, practicing better expression each time by reading with appropriate tone, rate and volume.

5.      If time is leftover, have student read from a book and practice using expression while reading a book.

Closure: “Today you moved on to sorting more challenging words that use different spelling patterns than the other words we have been working with. We worked with “au”, “aw” and “o”. This is important because good readers can use what they know about spelling patterns to identify what to use each of those vowel sets. Today we also practiced reading with expression by reading from a script and using appropriate tone, rate and volume. This is important because good readers can fluently and that includes reading with expression.”

Today was my last day working with McKenzie. We did another closed word sort today, but with different words. Today we focused on words that have "au", "aw", and "o". She was able to identify the different patterns the words had and sort them right away. After sorting them I asked her to read them for me and that is where she struggled, their were many words she did not know how to pronounce. We then talked about the sound that the vowels made with the words we were working with. Once she was able to identify the sound, she easily could put the words together by sounding out the first and last letter along with using the middle sound we talked about. Next, we did a running record. The first running record I gave her two weeks ago on a level M reading level told me that that level of text was slightly too hard for her because she only had a 90% accuracy rate. Today I went down a level and had her read a level J. She had a 90% accuracy with this one. After the running record, we read from a script because I was working with her on using expression. The first time we read through the script she did not use very good expression. We read through the script multiple times, switching parts and she improved on her expression every time. We talked about what it meant to read with expression and how she could improve.

This is the running record sheet that I did while she was reading. Like I said before, I decided to do a level down from the level she did last time because her score for the reading level M told me that was an instructional level text. Instructional level texts means that their are many words she doesn't know and would need help reading and comprehending what the text is saying. I wanted to see what her "easy" reading level would be at so I chose a level J text. This time she had a 95%  accuracy rate with only 5 errors in 100 words read. Most of the errors she made this time fit the meaning and syntax, but were not visual. This tells me that she is comprehending what is going on because she would substitute words that make sense with the story, but they did not look anything like the actual word. She was able to retell this story easily.

Today I learned the importance of explaining why. Before starting the word sort, we did not talk about the sound that the different categories made. McKenzie knew how to sort the words because she could see the "au", "aw" and "o" in the words that matched the different categories, but when asked to pronounce the words, she struggled. She knew how to pronounce some words, but would get caught up in unfamiliar words that were in the same category because she did not apply what she knew about the sound in the other words to this unfamiliar word. We talked through this, but as a teacher I would have liked to have made that more clear to her or explain it better. so that she would know any word with "aw" makes the same sound as it does in another word with "aw" in it. I also learned how important it is show good modeling. During readers theater the first time McKenzie hardly used any expression, but I did. The second time she was reading the part, she read it with expression, how I did. Students pick up on so much of what teachers do and say along with how we do and say it.