Tough Puzzle!

My class, my assistants and I have dubbed this the "hardest puzzle in the world."  It's not, of course.  But it IS a very challenge 750 piece puzzle.

I like to have a puzzle table with an ongoing puzzle set up in my room.  It's a nice anchor activity for my students when they finish work and it also lets me integrate some team building and cooperation conversations throughout the day.  It's also nice to hear the students start to compliment each other when they find pieces and the picture starts to some together.

This particular puzzle was intended to be finished by December.  We finished it the first of May!  There was a period of time when they students really weren't motivated or interested in going back to it because it was so hard.

I was stuck.  Do I take it down and start a new one or push through it?

Luckily, I have the most wonderful paraprofessionals in the world! One day one of them encouraged a student to go over and put one piece in "the hardest puzzle in the world."   He did and then was congratulated for helping us with the "hardest puzzle in the world."  That threw down the challenge and regained the kids' interest in the puzzle.  They started talking about finishing the "hardest puzzle in the world" and actually started to enjoy the challenge of it again.  The crazy thing had been up for so long in the classroom all kinds of pieces were now missing (which made it even harder!)

I'm glad we finished it (to the best of our ability with all those missing pieces.)  It gave them a sense of accomplishment and pride.  They even asked if I would take their picture by "the hardest puzzle in the world."  It also gave us some funny conversation and teasing....they asked me to "Please, never buy another puzzle from Goodwill."  :-)

My heart is breaking......

My heart is breaking for my students.  We received our FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) scores back today.  In my self-contained class of thirteen third grade students with special needs, one student participated in the alternate assessment, two students passed the FCAT (yay!) and the other ten failed the FCAT reading portion. 

My heart is breaking for them because they have worked so hard this year.  My assistants and I spent the entire year talking to them about their:

• gains in our SuccessMaker Computer Lab
• successes in being able to take AR tests independently
• sight words they knew at the beginning of the year versus the number of sight words they know now
• gains in their oral reading fluency probes and how many words correct per minute they can read
• reading selection tests and how they have improved
• robust vocabulary grades and how they have improved 
• ability to read by themselves for twenty minutes without any help

I have all of this data that shows their growth and their progress towards IEP goals, but none of it is reflected or documented on FCAT.   In my heart I know it matters.  I know that data is important and it keeps my students and me going.  It gives us the proof that they are learning and moving forward.  But as it relates to FCAT, it feels as if it doesn't matter.

Tomorrow I have to sit down with ten students and tell them they failed. Six of those ten students now face a mandatory retention in third grade.  (Of course I won't use the word failed, keep reading to see how I plan to explain this to the kids.)  The other four who don't face mandatory retention had already been retained once and have intensive instruction in reading, so they meet the eligibility criteria to waive the mandatory retention and can move on to fourth grade.

This is such a frustration for me!  All of my students have been through a comprehensive, individualized series of standardized assessments to show their academic levels and their processing strengths and challenges.  Many of the students in my self-contained class are significantly below grade level norms.  If they were not, they would probably not need my setting.  Since I have a whole year of classroom data and a whole stack of individualized, standardized  assessments that document their current levels of performance, why do we continue to force them to take grade level standardized tests?

I do not have a problem with FCAT.  I think it gathers an important piece of information for us.  And to be perfectly honest, if I had a choice, I would have recommended six of my students take the FCAT because these students were systematically moving through and showing success on below level third grade materials.  I thought they deserved a shot at it (and of those six, two passed and the other four who failed, actually came pretty close to the cut score for passing.  They might be able to pass the Stanford 10 when they get a chance at that next week.)

However, I do have a problem repetitively administering a test that continues to document failure rather than success.  I had six other students who just do not yet have the skills to pass a third grade level skills test.  I don't have the answer to this problem.  If we never give them the opportunity to test in the actual testing situation, we seem to be tracking them for a special diploma. 

How would they be able to pass the high school test if they never experience it in elementary or middle school?  But, if all of a student's experiences with a test result in failure, how confident will s/he be going into the high school test?  What are those failing experiences teaching?  Are they really preparing a student to pass?

It just seems to me that we should be able to match the standardized testing environment, format and language to a test that is based on the skills a child was actually able to systematically learn and master throughout the year. 

By this I mean, I wish my third graders who are reading at a mid-first grade reading level could take a standardized test that is off-level normed.  I wish they could be assessed on the first grade reading skills.  Over time, this would actually show their growth, rather than continue to show that they have failed a grade level test.  I know, it's a big wish.

So now I'm gearing up for tomorrow.  It's our Reading Celebration Day at school (how ironic!) and at one point during the day, I need to have individual conferences with all of my students to discuss their FCAT results. 

My plan is to show them their developmental score and explain this to them. 

• I'll remind them that tests give teachers more information about what we need to teach.  
• I'll remind them that this was their first time taking FCAT and now next year we will really be able to see how their developmental score improves.  Just like we saw how their SM score improved throughout the year and their mastered sight words improved throughout the year.  
• I'll remind them how proud I am of their hard work and all of the goals they have mastered this year.  
• I'll remind them that they are readers!  

But, my heart will be breaking just a little bit with each student conference.........



photo courtesy of MicroSoft Clip Art

Silent Reading Procedures

I like having my students practice sustained silent reading.  So often in special education classes we are so focused on providing direct instruction and therapies, managing interventions or collecting data; it seems like we forget that students need to be able to choose their own literature and read on their own!

My goal for my students this year was for them to be able to choose their own book and read silently (or at least quietly in a whisper) and independently for 20 minutes.  Since three of my third grade students started the school year with reading levels below beginning first grade, we obviously had to provide some structure and scaffolding to help them reach this goal.

The first thing you see labeled in this picture is the "book bucket."  It is a simple plastic box purchased at Big Lots for about $2.  Each student in my room has their own personal book bucket.  Within this book bucket we store the child's whisper phone, their sight word rings and Reading A-Z books at their individual levels.

I chose to start our sustained silent reading with book buckets because it was an organizational system that we had previously taught the students in my class.  They all had their book buckets and had spent individual reading time with my assistants and me reading the material within.  I knew that every child could independently read more than 90% of the material in their book bucket.

The first day I introduced silent reading time, I didn't give them many choices.  I asked them all to get their book buckets out on their desks.  They were allowed to read anything that was in their book bucket.  I then set a screen timer for 5 minutes on the Active Board.  We use a free download like this.  I challenged them to see if the entire class could read silently until the timer beeped and cut this grid so that it showed only 10 squares and glued it to a piece of green construction paper with the phrase "We can read silently for 5 minutes."  They were all required to read for 5 minutes out of their book buckets.  When they successfully read for 5 minutes, we put a sticker towards the class goal.  After they reached that goal of reading silently for 5 minutes on ten different opportunities, we congratulated them and told them how proud we were of them and that they were ready for a new goal.

After we met that goal, I made another simple grid and set the screen timer for 7 minutes.  When we met that goal, I bumped them progressively to 10 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes and then finally 20 minutes.

As they showed they could manage the silent reading, I loosened up on the control a little bit.  I would let them choose three books from our classroom library or their library books.  (Remember while some of my students are reading chapter books, I still have a group reading first grade level books.  I needed them to have enough material that would keep them reading for the full 20 minutes.)

A little bit after that, I loosened up the control even more and allowed them to find personal space in the classroom with a laundry basket, a throw pillow or a throw blanket.

Through each little step, I wanted them to maintain their sustained reading but gradually have it become something that they enjoyed and got to choose rather than something I imposed on them.  I'm hoping that this will help them to view themselves as readers and ultimately read for leisure rather than just for work.

How to Eat Fried Worms

My class is currently reading the book, "How to Eat Fried Worms" by Thomas Rockwell.  This is such a fun book that captures the students' interest and imagination.  My students are really connecting to the interactions the four main characters have throughout the book.  Tomorrow, we will be wrapping up our lessons focusing on the book.

I've decided that I and the children who choose to, will get a chance to eat a "fried worm."  While I could probably be convinced to try most anything; and I have eaten snails and haggis, I don't think I could be convinced to eat a real fried worm.  We will be dining on hot dogs with ketchup and mustard!

I took a package of hot dogs and sliced each hot dog in sixths.  I found it easiest to cut them in half first and then cut each half into three parts.  Then I put them in a non-stick skillet for a few minutes to fry them up.  Tomorrow I will heat them up in the microwave I have in the classroom.  My husband and I were laughing tonight at the pile on the cutting board.  I think it really does look like a pile of worms!  :-)

This will be a choice activity.  I have some students who absolutely will not want to eat one of our "fried worms."  However, I suspect those kids will be groaning, giggling and laughing right along with the others who do.  I plan on bringing in some paper plates, ketchup and mustard to serve with our "fried worms."   One of the main characters, Tom, chants a poem to his friend Billy as he eats the worms.  I am going to post that poem on our ActiveBoard.  We can chant it and throw in a little bit of fluency reading work while we are having fun.

As always, whenever we do a choice activity like this, we will vote about whether or not we liked the worms.  I still like to vote with post-it notes (even though I have older students now).  It keeps the students actively engaged and it ensures that they only vote once.  Since we have also had ongoing lessons about graphs and data collection, we will also create a graph of our results.

I have a few more sites and lesson resources that we have done that correlate with this book.  Look for them in a future post!

Place Value Games

My class continues to need lots of practice with place value.  We're trying to hit it in small bits and pieces several times a week.  Here are a few free interactive games we are using to keep them motivated to practice the same skill!

Tank Game: http://www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err=503&engine=15

Haunted House: http://www.funbrain.com/cgi-bin/ofm.cgi?A1=s&A3=0&A2=0

Base Ten Blocks: http://www.learningbox.com/Base10/BaseTen.html

Seashell Rounding: http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/rounding.htm#quiz

Catch Ten: http://www.learningbox.com/Base10/CatchTen.html

(You can find all of these games and a few more at http://gamequarium.com/placevalue.html.  I've separated out the ones that my class is using just so my students can find them easier!)

Football Place Value: http://www.math-play.com/football-math-place-value-game/football-math-place-value.html

Interactive Worm Sites

Last week and this week we are reading the chapter book "How to Eat Fried Worms" by Thomas Rockwell.

Here are two interactive sites that students can navigate through independently for more information about worms.

Vermi the Worm

Herman the Worm

Sight Word Strategy

I love strategies that are "quick and dirty" and cheap!  This is a simple strategy to have children practice one or two sight words that are giving them trouble.

Simply get a washable marker and write the word on the child's hand.  Make sure to write it so that the word faces the child when the child looks down at her hand. Now remind the child that every time she looks at her hand, she needs to read the word. 

This simple strategy gives the child numerous opportunities to target that word throughout the day.  She can practice it on her own.  She can read it in line to specials, she can read it in line from specials, she can read it in line to lunch, etc., etc., etc.  The beauty of it is that it not only prompts the child to remember her sight word, but it also quickly prompts staff to ask her to read the word.   It offers lots and lots of repetition within just one day!

And I have to tell you, it works.  For the life of me, I could not remember my PIN to check out books from the library and our school librarian forever had to look up my number.  The little girl whose hands are pictured here heard us go through it one day and she told me "If you can't remember it, you need to write it on your hand!"  Since I do it for my students, I figured, I'd better be willing to do it for myself, especially since she called me out and it was a situation that mirrored when I use the strategy for them!  Do you know, since then, I have remembered that crazy PIN?

If you are going to use this strategy, you will want to check with parents first to make sure they are okay with you writing on their child's hand.  You also want to make sure to ask the child's permission.  After all, you are writing on THEIR body and it IS pretty blatant. I would never want to use a  strategy that embarrasses a child.  Most of my students this year are okay with it, however, I have 2 students who tell me "no" they don't want me to write on their hands and I respect that.  For those students we don't use this strategy.

Individual Instruction

Do you ever have a chance for individual instruction with your students?  I've always tried to "fit" it in somewhere, but was more worried about systematically scheduling my groups and seeing every instructional group every day.

This year a block of time for individual instruction evolved during the time that our speech pathologist comes in to do "push in" language therapy groups.  I started off trying to have a group opposite her group, but for a variety of reasons that just didn't work out.  Over the first month of school, we tried a few different things during this time and finally settled into a pattern.

We have 4 adults in the room during this time: the SLP, my two assistants and me.  Here's how we organize the time now:

11:45-12:30 Speech/Language Therapy and Individual Instruction

The students come back into the room from specials, get drinks, go to the bathroom and then get their journals out. 

If the students are not working with one of the adults in the room, they are expected to be writing in their journals.  At the beginning of the month, I create a journal prompt menu.  The students tape this to the inside of their journals and "x" out the prompts as they write about them.  I use the word walls from www.ABCTeach.com and an individual word bank to help them with their writing too.  I do this so that the students who are at their desks writing have the support of materials when they don't have the support of the classroom staff.  This helps them to be more independent.  (In fact, if one the students calls my name while I am working with another student during this time, you'll probably hear a peer saying "You know she's going to ignore you because it's not your turn."  It took us a long time to get to this point, but they know what they are supposed to do and they know that they have strategies to be able to do it on their own.)

At the beginning of this time, one assistant takes a student to the clinic for meds and the other assistant takes her break.  I get the students transitioned and started on their journals and the SLP calls the students she needs for the day.  Once we get going here's how we are organized:

1) Students not with an adult write in journals at desks.

2) Students scheduled for speech/language go to group work.

3) Assistant #1: Helps students with AR tests.  I have 7 students who can read and take AR tests independently.  However, that leaves 6 who still need support.  This assistant pulls students 1:1.  They read her an AR book and then she helps them log on and complete the test.  We have a laminated folder for each student and tape a quarterly AR goal inside.  With the AR goal is a sticker chart so they can record their progress towards the goal.  I've also included guidelines for the adult helping (so that it's clear to the person not to help too much!)

4) Assistant #2: Has students read individually to her from their book buckets or chapter books.  In the "book buckets" students have a reading log with leveled readers from www.readinga-z.com.  Some of my students have started chapter books, but still need some support with them.  This is a perfect time for them to read  a chapter to my assistant.

5: Teacher: Students read their sight words to me and I record data towards mastery. (I'm fussy about the data recording so I don't like others to do this.)  This is also a time for me to read their journals and have a mini-writer's conference.  On some days I have also used this time to record Oral Reading Fluency scores.  If someone is stuck on a particular skill, I can pull that child during this time and work on it too.  (Again, just like with the reading block organization, I like to have systems set for my assistants and the students, so that I can think about how my time is best spent during this block of time.  My activities change the most, but I always fall back to sight word practice and mastery when there is not something else that needs to be addressed.)

I've enjoyed this individual time this year and I think the students have too (except for the journal writing, most of them still don't like that.)  They enjoy seeing their progress and their skills improve.  Each station has a progress monitoring piece embedded into it.  At the AR station, they see their stickers tracking progress towards their quarterly goal.  At the book buckets station, they see their reading log fill up and the level of their leveled readers go up too.  At my station the see their mastery of the sight words turning into "star words" and then speed words.  At the SLP's station she always tells them how many they got correct in their previous session and encourages them to go for more correct this time.

Not only do the students like to see their progress towards their learning, I think they really enjoy the one on one time they get with an adult.  I have lots of data to show how their academic skills have improved but not very much about how this time impacts the climate of our classroom.  However, I really do believe that it makes a positive difference in the relationships that are developed between the adults and the students too.

Rube Goldberg Machine

My husband found this video on You Tube and sent it along to me.  It shows a 7 year old boy, Audri, and the Rube Goldberg Machine he created.

I think this is awesome!  It shows so much planning, creativity and problem solving.

My class (self contained third graders) have been participating in science lessons all year with a general education third grade class.  I would love to organize our classes into cooperative groups and have them create their own Rube Goldberg Machines.  We have 3 more science units that we have to complete for our instructional focus calendar, but perhaps we could do this at the end of the year during the last week.

Einstein's Definition of Insanity

Einstein's definition of insanity is one of my all time favorite quotes.  He says simply: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

How many times, as teachers or parents, do we do the same thing we have always done and end up with the same conflict, problem or lack of learning on the child's part.  I agree with Einstein.  That's insane.

We are the adults who are in the lead role.  It's up to us to change something first.  If I continue doing everything exactly as I have done it before, shouldn't expect the same thing that happened before to happen again?  And yet, what happens?  The child typically gets blamed.  We say things like "You need to listen harder." (quote from Rick Lavoie and FAT City).  Seriously??  Listen harder?  How do you do that?  Or we say you're lazy or just not trying.  Or we say you need to apply yourself.


I think Einstein's quote on insanity speaks to one of my favorite aspects of teaching students with special needs.  The kids can, in fact, learn.  We have centuries of data to prove that going all the way back to Itard, Seguin and Montessori. 

It's up to me to figure out what to change.

Perhaps I change the way the material is presented.  Some children can learn complex concepts with the support of visual cues or kinesthetic modes of processing the information.  Perhaps I change how the student has to respond.  Perhaps instead of writing his/her response, I have them orally tell it.  Perhaps I change the way the student is engaged.

I find Einstein's quote to be a challenge for me to figure how to help the students in my class learn the skills and concepts they need to learn.



photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons; the Smithsonian Institution

States of Matter: Interactive Games and Videos

My class has started a science unit focuses on the states of matter and the physical properties of matter.  After searching online for some resources to support our classroom materials, I've found quite a bit.  Have fun exploring!

Interactive Sites for Students:

Solids Liquids and Gases

Changing States of Matter 

Material Properties 

Changes in Materials

The Mixtures Lab

Short Video Clips on States of Matter

States of Matter and Physical Properties


Resources for Teachers:

Standards by grade level with links to appropriate activities.

States of Matter Unit Packet

States of Matter Article and Questions

What's the Matter: Sorting into matter categories

States of Matter Worksheets

Valentine's Activity: Hearts Everywhere

If you are in any way similar to me in how you plan lessons for activities you've seen online, you need some time to read about the idea, think about how you would use it with your group, prepare your materials and then implement it.  One of the teacher's on my team this year says he likes to let concepts have a chance to "marinate."  We've all adopted his lingo.  We like to let kids have the chance to have repeated exposure to concepts, but sometimes we also need some marinating time for ourselves. 

In an effort to give everyone some time to "marinate" the following ideas, I'm sending them out early (or really late considering I took the pictures last February!)

For my pre-schoolers that I've had in the past, this lesson focused on the positional concept "on" as well as identification of common objects.

I started with the interactive book, "Hearts Everywhere",  from the Jefferson Parish AAC link.  I would read the book to my class using the felt board and laminated hearts.  On each page, the students would take turns placing the heart "on" the object identified in the book.

After introducing the book and the vocabulary, the next day before the children came in the classroom, my assistant and I placed construction paper hearts all over the classroom.  During circle time, I would call a few students at a time to go "look for a red heart" and bring it back to the carpet.  When they brought their heart back, I would ask them where they found their heart.  Once they answered the question, we would place it on our chart and I would call the next group of children to go look. 

TIP:  If you are working with pre-school age children, be sure to write on the heart the location that you placed it.  For example, "on the fish tank."  When you have several children looking at the same time, it's easy to miss who picked one up from specific locations.  If you don't have several children looking at the same time, the waiting period gets to be too long for little ones.  And if you have students at levels similar to the students I have taught, when you ask the question, "Where was your heart?" you will inevitable get the answer "over there" a few times.  You want to be sure you can accurately prompt them to answer the question using the positional word "on" and the correct common object where it was.

I love activities that get students actively engaged.  These types of scavenger hunts always produce smiles, laughter and excitement.

Because of that I'm trying to think of a way I can adapt the activity to be appropriate for my current third graders.

I think I will connect it to our writer's workshop lessons.  We have been working on using more descriptive phrases in our paragraphs.  I am going to  place many hearts all over the room with their labels.  Have the students put their heads down with their eyes closed and give each student 10 or 15 seconds (one at a time) to go get a heart from somewhere in the room.  After they collect their hearts, they will describe where they found the heart, but they are not allowed to name the object.  Then they will read their paragraphs to their classmates who will need to guess where the heart was originally.

I'll have to let you know how it goes!  I'd love to see other ideas on how to use a scavenger hunt type activity to support academic goals for older students.  Please post your ideas in the comments section.

Strengths Based Leadership and Special Education

 My brother is in town and while we were out and about he mentioned that he read this book first within a management program at work and then again within a service group at his church.  As he was talking about it, it seemed as if there were many things that would interest me that go along with the themes in the book.  Obviously, from the title you can see that the book focuses on finding your personal strengths as a leader.  I picked it up and read the meat of it very quickly...one night.  (I haven't yet read all of the "additional resources.")   I found it to be an excellent investment of time! I have highlighter marks, post-its and pencil marks in the margins.

Right now, during our winter break, I have no other responsibilities pulling at me, so I could actually spend the time reading and thinking.  It affected me a few different ways and in in different applications, but all related to how I think about special education (since that is where I spend most of my leadership skills). 

First, a friend and I just finished running a "Christmas Camp" for girls with mild to moderate disabilities and their siblings.  If this actually turns into something that we continue with, the book would be a great discussion point for us to delineate responsibilities of running camps and activities.

Second, I'd love for my two assistants to read this book and then have the three of us talk about the classroom climate and goals.  While we typically think of teaching assistants in a "followers" role, the reality is, in the classroom to children, they are leaders.  The two ladies I work with are quite talented and compassionate so they no doubt have leadership qualities.

Third, I'd like to e-mail the author and have some discussions on creating a strengths finder for children.  The kids in my class are there based on their deficits.  At their ages, (8 and 9) they are starting to become very socially aware that they are in a "special" class.  I hate this aspect of my job.  I can tell them all of the strengths that I see, but they (much like adults and society) want "proof."  I think a strengths finder assessment for children would be beneficial! 

There is a quote in the book that struck me: "At a very basic level, it is hard to build self-confidence when we are focused on our weaknesses instead of our strengths."  When I think about this in terms of a child who is living with a learning disability or an intellectual disability, it frustrates me.  Our current special educational model is based upon what is impeding the child from learning rather than based upon building strengths of a child who is struggling.  There's another educational researcher, Torgenson (I think), who through his research has found that the single most influential factor in future reading success is prior positive reading experiences.  How do we know and understand the value of strengths based performance and positive experiences and yet we continue to operate on a deficit driven model and pounding away at weaknesses?  Crazy!

Perhaps my above rant clearly shows my own inclinations towards "includer" and "maximizer," but I do find the book to be generally valuable to people who have any type of leadership role within a family, community or work environment.  If you have a free night or weekend, be sure to check it out!

Reading Chapter Books

Yahooey!  Just before Winter Break, I introduced several of my students to reading chapter books independently.  Like anything else, we started small and built upon the skills that were already in place.

Since the beginning of the school year, we have spent 10-12 minutes each day with a chapter read aloud.  I don't test on it, we don't dissect the book, we don't go crazy if something happens and the chapter is put off until tomorrow.  My purpose in approaching it in this manner was to introduce books that were longer in length and to model reading a chapter book in small increments.  I wanted the kids to see enjoyment of reading a longer book.

When I felt a few kids were ready, I hand picked some beginning chapter books such as "The Fly Guy" and the "Frog and Toad" series.  This introduced the kids to the format of a chapter book but the length and the reading level was still relatively easy for them.


I finally then moved to books in series like "The Magic Treehouse" and "Cam Jansen."  In order to help the kids break up the book into manageable chunks and to also let them see their progress, I stole an idea from another teacher on my team. 

She shared that for some of her kids, she writes down which pages they have to read each night on a bookmark.  Since I am a big fan of post its and I have a lot of them, I used her idea on a post it.  I selected quite a few books and then asked the student to choose a book from my pre-selected group rather than the whole library.  After he/she selected the book, we went through the table of contents together to see how many chapters were in the book.  I then wrote each chapter number on the post it and gave it to them for their bookmark.  As they finished each chapter, they could cross of the chapter they had completed.

It has been working pretty well.  Two "bonuses" of this visual support is that it is 1) cheap, and 2) easy.  As the kids finish the books and successfully pass AR tests, their confidence is growing!  Hopefully, this will help to scaffold their "reading endurance" and help them continue to read longer passages and books successfully.

Reading Block

This past week I had a first year teacher and her mentor visit my classroom.  I've finally arrived at the point in my career where I actually enjoy this.  My assistants and I "do what we do" every day and to have some one come in to observe and ask questions often prompts further reflection on what we do and why we do it.  I had one of those moments with this observation.

I'm in a rather unique teaching situation within my district this year.  I have a self contained, varying exceptionalities (cross categorical) of all third graders.  Most of our self contained classes across the district are multi-grade.

The teacher observing teaches a class of students kindergarten to third grade.  She provides direct instruction during the reading block for the first through third graders.

Her question was "How do you expose the students to grade level content in reading but still provide direct instruction at their instructional levels?"  Great question!  We always talk about exposing kids to grade level curriculum, but the reality is that most students in self contained classes are significantly below grade level expectations in their skills.  So HOW do you do that?  How would you organize teaching them at their instructional level, but still provide them exposure to grade level materials?

For my class this year, it is actually quite easy.  All of my students are third graders, so we start reading block with a shared reading lesson from the grade level materials.  Within this time frame we introduce the listening comprehension selection, the focus skill and the robust vocabulary words.  After we complete this, we move into instructional level groups for direction instruction in strategies, phonics and comprehension skills.

However, most of the time, in a self contained class, I would need to expose the children to grade level material at three different grade levels.  For example, all of the third graders need exposure to third grade materials.  All of the second graders need exposure to second grade materials and all of the first graders need exposure to first grade materials.

After thinking and reflecting about it, the following is what I came up with as a structure for accomplishing the balance between grade level exposure and direct instruction at instructional levels for a multi-grade class.  Keep in mind, that this is where I would start.  It might need some tweaking based on student needs, assistant skill sets, school resources, etc.

I would use the two different methods (grade level, instructional level) of grouping during my reading block.

The first set of groups would be based on the child's instructional level.  So no matter what grade the child is in, all the kids that are functioning in a 1.5 grade level for reading would be in one instructional group, etc.  Within these groups we would work on decoding strategies, phonics, fluency, comprehension of passages the child reads himself, and focus skills that go with the INSTRUCTIONAL level rather than the grade level.

The second set of groups would be based on the child's grade level. Within these groups we would work on listening comprehension, robust vocabulary and exposure to grade level materials and focus skills.

I base my lessons on a two week schedule, so I typically have 10 instructional days. 

It is important to note: My district uses StoryTown Materials.  The StoryTown materials are organized into a selection lesson for one week.  They also have a focus skill that crosses over 2 selections and practiced over two weeks. The pace of one story every week (addressing the vocabulary, focus skill, grammar and phonics rule) was too fast for my students.  I have decided to align my lessons with the focus skills and a two week period.  In short, this year, my students are only completing the even numbered selections from StoryTown.  We are not using the odd numbered lessons at all.  I am attempting to systematically teach the focus skills and third grade curriculum, but do so at a pace that my students can handle and master!  I started the year at the pace the curriculum suggests and I had students failing left and right.  Clearly something needed to change.  I wanted the kids to be exposed to all of the focus skills, so I opted for using all of the even numbered lessons instead of using every lesson at a slower pace.

On Day 1 in my reading block, I would spend the time entirely within grade level groups rotating between the teacher, an assistant and an independent center (probably the listening center.)  This would give the students a good long and repeated exposure to the grade level shared reading selection.  As the teacher, I would want to spend this time so that I know I am introducing every child to their selection at the beginning of the unit.  This also tends to be fun for my students.  We act out the vocabulary words, think of pictures that help us remember the meaning and discuss the story.

Then on days 2-9, I would break my reading block into 3 time periods.

1) 60 minutes: rotation with instructional level groups
Instructional group station 1: Teacher led
guided reading and strategy work
To be perfectly honest, this is the station where I spend the bulk of my planning time.  I need to think about what the kids are doing, make changes as necessary, push when they are ready for a push and pull back when content is too frustrating.  I like to get a program in place for my other two stations so that I can spend the majority of my "thinking" time on my direct instruction group.
Instructional group station 2: Assistant led
If you have a scripted phonics program (i.e. SRA Reading Mastery) I would use that, if not, materials such as Explode the Code are a bit more affordable than purchasing an entire scripted program.  If that is not available, I would also look to leveled readers from Science materials, media centers professional library, Scholastic News.  I try to keep this station using materials that are familiar to my assistant.  That way, I can spend less time planning for her and explaining what I want the students to work on.  Just as kids like things to be familiar, adults like things to be familiar too!
Instructional group station 3: Independent
computer programs, independent worksheets, silent reading, TEACCH task baskets, etc.  Find something that you have available that your students can do WITHOUT your help.  This is critical!  If your students cannot independently complete what you assign them, you will never get through your reading instruction with other groups.  Even if you have to decrease the level of difficulty, this center MUST be independent or you will sacrifice your instructional time.

2) 5 minutes: Poem or Choral Read
Pull all of the kids back together at their desks or a carpet and do a poem or a choral read.  This works as an instructional method working towards improving fluency, but also as a management technique.  I find that transitions are easier if the students are moving to a designated place.  And then leaving that designated place to group work.  So the idea is to pull them all together annd then send them off again to different groups.

3) 20-25 minutes: Grade Level Groups
On days 2-9 I would probably only see one grade level group a day.  The grade level groups would move through a similar rotation: teacher group, assistant group, independent group, but would differ in how many times I see them.  I see every instructional group every day.  I would not see every grade level group every day.  Over the course of the 10 days, I would see each group 2 or 3 times, my assistant would see each group 2 or 3 times and they would be independent 2 or 3 times.
The three groups would be as follows:
Teacher led: Shared reading, critical thinking skills and grade level focus skills
Assistant led: Vocabulary bingo or other related games
Independent: Listening center with the targeted selection

On the 10th day, we would rest....oops, I mean test!  I would keep the same structure as days 2-9 and complete the instructional level tests in small groups first.  Then I would figure out how to fit in the listening comprehension and robust vocabulary for the grade level groups somewhere.  I would probably have to steal from another time in the day somewhere!


I would love to hear what others are doing to address this question!  Since I've just moved back into the elementary level this year, I haven't been in on these kinds of academic conversations and troubleshooting in a while.