Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Expectations of Reading Levels at Each Grade Level


Establishing Reading Levels and Goals for Students


Most of us probably know what level our students should be reading by the end of the year, but my RTI Intervention Team uses this chart  as one factor in determining what type of  intervention our students need.  It will show you how far below or above your students are at any time of the year. On the contrary, it could also provide you will enrichment placement. :-)

It is also a great link to share with parents at the beginning of the year. It establishes expectations for each of your students, and it will allow the teachers/parents/students to know how to establish goals for their children/students. 





Goal Setting


After we have established each student's reading level, I establish mid year and end of the year goals with my students. Here is one of the goal setting sheets I use with my students. 


This link will take you to my Teachers Pay Teacher store that contains all of my goal setting sheets, graphs, and certificates. 


I hope these things give you some ideas of what you can do to establish expectations and how to get there. :-)  Happy beginning of the school year!



Thursday, July 24, 2014

Increasing your MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) scores

I have been trying to think about what resources would be the most valuable in sharing with you, and it hit me that I should share my classroom website with you. I have worked pretty hard on it, and I think it has a lot of great resources on it!  I will try to highlight a few of the links each day for the next few days.


The first link is for anyone who uses MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). I found some awesome links for students to play games to build their reading and math skills. With PGES this year, we all need our students to make progress. :-) Maybe these games could be a fun way for your students to master some of the skills they are lacking!  I hope they may be helpful to you!

Click below to see two different links:





Also I am so excited to share that I FINALLY finished my newest Teacher Pay Teacher product! A Complete A-to-Z Letter Bundle!  I have worked so hard on it!!  I think it is awesome! I have included a pre-post assessment and LOTS of activities!  



Assessment of letter knowledge -Identification, sound production, and written response.

Here are some of the activities:

2. ABC book -Provides an anchor for each letter in reading and writing; reinforces letter names, sounds, and pictures



















4. Name Activities-It is easiest for students to learn something that has meaning to them; therefore, the letters in their name will be the easiest letters for them to learn. 

5. Other Ways to Learn Letters/Names- Using magnetic letters, letter tiles, play dough, etc.

6. 2 sets of Letter Tiles-consonants are black, vowels are red. 

7. Alphabet Picture Cards-4 sets (Black/white and color) Cards can be used in lots of ways---concentration, sorting activities, Go Fish, etc.





8. Alphabet Play Dough Mats-Allows students a hands-on, tactile way to learn letter shapes.




9. Identifying and writing letters worksheet- Allows students to practice writing the alphabet as well as identifying the letters. Each letter has its own page. 




10. Hear It, Find It, Graph It worksheet-Students practice initial sounds.



11. Sorting Upper and Lowercase letters


12. Matching upper and lowercase letters
13. Bubble Gum sort of each individual letter


14. Bubble Gum sort of upper and lowercase letters.




15. Individual letter books for each letter of the alphabet-Students create their own letter book. They use their creativity to think of enough words for their books, and they illustrate the book.















16. Match and Write--Students match pictures and words and write a sentence with one of the words.
17. Sorting Cards---Students sort pictures according to letter and sound.
18. I Have, Who Has Game- Students practice identifying letters quickly.
17. Letter Bingo--Reinforces identifying the letters
18. Sorting Worksheets- Sort by letter and by sound.







19. Letter Sort Mats -Students sort letters by features---There are every type of sort you can think of. :-)


You can see the preview and purchase at:
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Complete-A-to-Z-Letter-Bundle-Great-for-the-Beginning-of-the-Year-1343936

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Two Great Resources for Leveling Books

I thought I'd post two great resources for leveling your books before school starts. I know it can take many hours to find the correct levels and LOTS of times, you can't find a level at all! So I am hoping to save you some time. :-)

As many of you probably know on the Scholastic website , you can search by title, author, or keyword, and you can find the DRA level, Fountas/Pinnell level, or the Lexile Level depending on what you use. BUT the totally cool, new thing they have released is an APP you can load to your phone or IPAD! Then all you have to do is scan the barcode on your book, and the level appears! How much time with that save!!! So exciting! You do have to sign up on the website first. Love it! Hope it helps save you some time when you aren't sure of the level of a book. :-) 




Another fantastic resource if you use Lexile Levels is simply the Lexile website. You can type in your book title, and it will search their database to find the level of the book.

BUT the totally cool thing about this site is that if you can't find a level of a book anywhere, you can actually type in part of the book, and it will give you a lexile number for the book!

Happy Leveling!!!




If you like these graphics, you can download them for free at www.mycutegraphics.com. Whimsy Clips has a TON of free graphics, and they are all so cute! :-)

Monday, July 21, 2014

Reaching Reluctant Readers Facebook Page


It's about time for the start to a new school year, so I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and start a new Facebook page to share ideas about intervention, small group instruction, and classroom organization. I have enjoyed reading everyone else's pages. They are all full of great ideas! I hope to share some ideas and freebies with you, and I would love to see and hear some of your ideas! Please visit my page at :

https://www.facebook.com/reachingeveryreadereveryday

Of course, I have to give credit to 
for her outstanding clip art!  I just LOVE all of her work. I am sure you have seen that post before. 

Here are two of her AMAZING freebies!!!  They both are perfect for BACK TO SCHOOL!

The first one is the one I used to create part of the header banner. 


The second amazing freebie she has can be found at:


It has a ton of cute graphics for back to school!

I hope you enjoy the freebies, and I would love for you to follow this blog and my new Facebook page. I will be posting some freebies of my own soon. :-) 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy Fourth of July! 20% off my entire TPT Store


Happy Fourth of July!  I hope everyone has a safe and memorable day!  In honor of our troops, I have decided to put my entire Teachers Pay Teachers store :  Reaching Reluctant Readers One Reader at a Time is on sale 20% off..even the bundles that are already on sale. I hope you enjoy spending time with your family!  




Check out these darling graphics by:


She has the cutest graphics ever! 

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Check out my new Classrroom Decor Pack!

Look at my new Dots Classroom Decor Pack!  I am in LOVE with it! I can't wait to print it and put in in my classroom!  :-)

  



Here is a sample of the Alphabet to hang. 


 Another sample of the nameplate. 


 Sample Calendar pieces





And even a Welcome banner!


2 types of incentive charts


A Word Wall



Alphabet Chart


Number Posters to 20


Shape Posters


Diagraph Posters


2 Different Schedules



I just love it because everything matches. 

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

More Blend Activities---All of the S Blends

I am so excited I just finished my S Blend Bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers. It is packed full of 19 different activities for each of the S Blends--just like my R and L Blend pack. You can see my previous post to see full size images of the activities that are included. I think you will find that they are packed full of all different types of activities that your students will love. If you download the sample, you can try some of the activities out before you purchase.


 





I hope you are having a fantastic summer!  It sure is flying by!  I can't believe it is already July!