Mrs. Spohn's First Grade Page for Title I             2009-2010

click here to access Houghton Mifflin High Frequency and Sight words are presented in a list to help young students with automatic recognition.  These are often words that DO NOT lend themselves to phonics rules so students need to be able to know them automatically (within three seconds!)   Others are selected because of the high frequency of use in the materials students will be reading.

We suggest these be used with a bit of fun.  Have your child control the mouse and see how rapidly they can run through the words.  Rather than asking him/her to 'sound it out' say the word for them after a three second pause.  With more frequent exposures in the theme, and ESPECIALLY through reading, these words will become as automatic as can be.  Your child will know them 'by heart' and you can both celebrate! 

Dolch Sight Words - with illustrations by Jan Brett

The  Dolch Phrases are here as a reminder that we hope to have words read  in "chunks".  Frequently this happens for many readers by mid-first grade. 

 (This is a list of 140 phrases.  Please use your discretion in using them with apprentice readers!)

Colleagues and Friends Sharing- Sight Word Games from M. Schwoebel- Bradford Woods

http://teachers.northallegheny.org/mschwoebel/Sight%20Words/Sight%20Words%201.htm

Pebble Go- Animals
Sight word manipulative sentences.

From International Reading Association -  Writing Activities for Young Writers brochure:

http://www.reading.org/Libraries/Parents/pb1072_activities.sflb.ashx

From Scholastic- a nice article - Your Emerging Reader

                       Compound Word game:   http://www.greenville.k12.oh.us/East/EETT/1

What's in the Bag?

Literacy Related Gifts

Scholastic Spelling Practice - use your own word list to make a scramble or online game.

spelling out those sight words

ONLINE sight word work- Frye Sight Word lists

LOTS and LOTS of Frye sight word pages and activities.

High Frequency Words - Drag and drop the correct word to complete the sentences.

Seaside Circle Game - Spell the CVC word that you hear.

It's a Goal! - Choose the correct vowel to spell the CVC word.

Alien Scavenger Hunt - Click on the letters that make up the CVC word.

Word Wheels 2 - Stop the wheels to make the correct word.  4 letter words with beginning digraphs

High Frequency Words - Drag and drop the correct word to complete the sentences.

Word Wizard

                                       http://readwritethink.org/materials/wordwizard/

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Notes from 2009- 10 from Mrs. Spohn    Reading Specialist

These lists have been developed for two reasons: for parents who have requested help in finding books at their child's reading level. for teachers who have requested a leveled book list or have asked for help in their effort to build a leveled library in their classrooms.

March 2010

I hope you have take advantage of the Sylvan Dell ebooks grant to enjoy some of the wonderful online titles.  They  just recently added 5 new books to our grant. 

3-12-10  It is time again for March 'reading check-ups'!  I will do an individual assessment with your child and share the results with you this next week.  Please remember that the daily re-reading at home helps develop fluency, accuracy and strong expression.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you should have any questions after your receive the summary sheet.  I would be glad to discuss your child's progress with you!

12-09

Wow, the months have flown by!  Here we are in December!  Recognizing that this is a very busy time of year, I do want to encourage you to help your child set aside a few minutes (15 or so) a day for independent reading.  Research suggests that it takes at least 6 weeks to establish a new habit and the reading habit is no different.  Granted  we have been in school for three solid months our reading habits are tenacious and without consistent use will quickly fade.  Daily reading stamina is developed and maintained by keeping this going.  DO COUNT the minutes your child is reading the recipe to you as you bake holiday goodies together,  the time spent checking out the lyrics of holiday songs.  Add in the minutes that are spent reading or writing holiday greetings or checking the schedule for flights together, or times for seasonal celebrations.   ALL READING COUNTS!

As we settle into hustle and bustle season, let me give you a gentle reminder that gifts of literacy are always wise choices!   Check with your local bookseller for suggestions on what books might be good ideas for budding readers.  There is a wealth of early series  books that truly appeal to young readers.  Meeting the same character with a fresh problem or additional characters supplies the support young readers need.  I also have compiled a list of :

Literacy Related Gifts

Happy Holiday Season!    Jan

P.S.  Here are some great review videos from Between the Lions for recently learned phonic sequences:

Shush (sh)

Double e, ee

It's a p-h!

I Love Contractions

• Two Sounds Made By C
• The Two Sounds Made by G

• Vowel Boot Camp: man/main
•                                 W Trouble

•                                 When Two Vowels Go Walking
•                                             Without an ing
•                                             Without an S
•                                             Double o, oo

Full site map for Reading Between the Lions videos.  http://www.pbs.org/parents/lions/site/map.html

EXTRA PRACTICE - two vowels (ee,ea,ai)  http://www.starfall.com/n/sorting/two-vowels/load.htm?f

10-28-09  Wrapping up October, we have also completed our second round of Title I assessments.  Please remember that these assessments are done one on one with me.  The results reflect the reading your child does without classroom distractions.  The piece selected is standardized throughout the district in Reading Support and shows your child's reading against a national measure.  In the classroom students may be reading at a wide variety of levels.  The summary sheet shows the progress your child is making so be sure to celebrate these gains with him/her. 

I will be available for conferences but am not joining the classroom teacher in their conferences.  After you get the summary sheet on 10-29-09, if you should like to schedule a conference and hadn't requested it earlier, please be sure to call or email me! 

Lots of reading work to do as we finish up the 'A sequences' in wordbuilding and get ready to move into long vowels before the end of the year.  As you re-read the little books you will notice blends, consonant digraphs and silent letters in these books.  Remember that the consistent reading is what 'locks in' this learning.  You might wish to pull a sentence from a book and have your child write it down as you read it slowly.  This helps apply the pattern and transfers it .

9-29-09

As we get ready to complete the month of September, we recognize that our First Graders have been busy reading, reading, reading!  Did you know that each time we meet we (1) build words for about 6 minutes - sometimes we do this in our reading, writing notebook sometimes we build them with letter cards, and sometimes we use the white boards.  Moving through the research based instruction sequences helps us to recognize that many words are made simply by changing one letter.  As we complete the sequence we then read the entire list together, this gets our eyes accustomed to noticing the small changes and sweeping through the word to read it accurately.  Automatic retrieval of short vowel sounds comes from lots and lots of practice!  (2)  we then read a decodable book (or two) that is an application of the sequence we have just practiced.  We sometimes squeeze in a review book  to help keep learning in practice.  We have one student decode and read the page, and then all join in to read it again as fluently as possible practicing intonation, tracking the print, and good expression. (3) at least twice a week we will do some sight word writing.  This involves getting those sight words into long term memory so they become automatic in writing.  Ask your child how they practice using the 'white board in their head' to retrieve word spelling.  (visualization) 

As your child REREADS these little decodable books to you at home, encourage them to, "read that sentence again making it a bit smoother."  Letting your child postpone bedtime for 5 extra minutes to read one of these known books to themselves is another great way to develop the reading habit, build independence and 'wind down' before sleep.

Just a brief reminder that our District Title I meeting will be at McKnight Library on October 14, 2009.  Looking forward to collaborating with you to develop our Title I building documents.

to School   8-08-09

Looking forward to soon seeing all those smiling first graders and their families! 

In early September, we will be doing a full screening of ALL of our first graders.  We check our kindergarten sight words, writing letters, dictation, and a leveled reading passage for early first grade.  We also administer a DIBELS nonsense word fluency measure to note application of letter sounds and phonics.   This information permits us to be certain that any child who may need support would be offered it.

Following this first grade screening, if your child is eligible for Title I you will hear from the classroom teacher and myself.  Title I is a federally funded service that permits us to supply additional resources such as a wonderful lending library, literacy manipulatives, and reading incentives for your child. 

Our district wide meeting for Title I will be held in early October.  More information will be coming for our Title I families.

We appreciate that our children work hard each day in school.  Do get them outside in the sunshine for active play.  Starting now in early September, you might wish to establish an 'Everybody Reads' time in your home.  Whether you are reading together, or reading individually that time spent with a nose in a book helps to build Reading Stamina.  One wise educator speaks to children about 'reading the pictures', reading the story, and the importance of "Reading to Myself" as part of what grows independent young readers.  Having a book tote of books first graders can read solo, helps this Reading to Myself habit develop.  Simply beginning with only five minutes of 'Everyone Reads to themselves' time, helps build that reading stamina while modeling that the entire family loves to read!   Combine this with some "Read to Someone time" and your child is on the way to greater book enjoyment and deeper literacy development.

        This article was influenced by

The Daily Five  Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades

                        by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.  Stenhouse, 2006.

I will be speaking to all First Graders about this important Reading Rule: 

Five Finger Rule for finding a perfect book

Here is the 5-Finger Rule we encourage students to use as they  pick out a book:
The Five Finger Rule:

• When you pick up a book, turn to a page with a lot of words

• Read the whole page

• When you come to a word you don't know, put up one finger

• If you have 5 fingers up before you reach the end of the page, the book is too hard!

It's very important to follow that rule when you choose a book.

this page updated March 17, 2010

graphics purchased at PCCrafter.com

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