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Skill-based Fluency Instruction

Fluency Overview

In the past, fluency was defined as the ability to read smoothly and effortlessly, at a quick, automatic rate (Harris & Hodges, 1995; Logan, 1997). A student’s reading rate and accuracy are very important because less time spent on decoding leaves more time for the brain to focus on comprehension. However, after recent research, fluency has come to encompass much more. It now includes prosodic elements such as expression, volume, phrasing, pacing, and smoothness. When students read with prosody, they are able to capture the meaning of the story or script. Current research supports phrasing, pacing, and smoothness as elements that help develop fluency in students. (Clark, Morrison, & Wilcox, 2009)

Students who do not read fluently segment the text and read it word by word. However, students who read smoothly with appropriate expression, pacing, and phrasing make reading sound like natural language (Zutell & Rasinski, 1991). Fluent reading develops when students are able to make their reading sound like individuals speaking as they do in daily life.

Although fluency is a large part of reading curricula, it is often neglected in reading instruction (Reutzel & Hollingsworth, 1993; Zutell & Rasinski, 1991). Many teachers refer to traditional methods of measuring fluency. This is usually comprised of giving students an unfamiliar passage and timing their reading while keeping track of errors. Research has shown that varying the fluency practice is beneficial in the classroom in order to motivate those students who are not motivated by competition (Tyler & Chard, 2000; Worthy & Prater, 2002). Repeated readings of familiar texts are necessary in order for fluency, and therefore prosody, to increase.

Fluency in My Classroom
            If you teach primary grades, then I’m sure you are used to the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) Assessments or something of the sort. These are short stories that we ask students to read while we time them and note any mistakes. Last year, I had very high first graders who already read fluently, so our ORFs were easy to administer. I didn’t stress about them. I simply tested my kids, plugged in their scores, and clicked submit.
            Fast forward to this past fall. During the first half of the school year, I taught in a private school. One of the small groups that I worked with consisted of first graders who were struggling readers. Fluency was….not quite their strong point.
            Fast forward to January. I transferred back to the public school I was at previously. I now work with third graders, many of whom are at a lower level than the first graders I had last year. So I began to ask myself….What are they missing?
            After attending a training in Orton-Gillingham, {LOVE! If you ever have the chance to go, GO! Run! I recommend it over any conference I have ever been to!} I was convinced that students (or at least the ones I have worked with) were lacking basic instruction in phonics skills. If I could teach them the skills that they were lacking, would they then be fluent? Could they then comprehend?
 
Skill-Based Fluency
            I love the idea of fluency practice every day, especially in the primary grades. I have seen the benefits of repeated readings, and the smiles and giggles from successful readers. BUT I have always thought that fluency passages were sort of…random. I’m not saying that they are ineffective. I am not telling you not to use them as part of your curriculum. In fact, many curriculums require them.
Let me just explain my reasoning…
If I am teaching silent E, wouldn’t it be great to immerse the kids in silent E? Letting them SEE silent E everywhere they look or read will help them to identify silent E in the future. Right? So, why not include that skill in your fluency instruction?
I began doing this with two different groups of struggling readers, and have seen the positive effects already! We use LOTS of hands-on activities to drive this concept home. The following pictures are from two groups of students – first graders and second graders.
One activity that my students love is this silent E set from the talented Lavinia Pop.
Use sound chips when saying each sound.
Add the silent E with a dry erase marker and use the sound chips to read the word again, changing the vowel sound.
I then ask students to change the onset of the word while keeping the rime the same. Once they have written the word, they cover the onset so that they see the pattern in the rime. They come up with as many words as possible.
            Another day during the same week, we read these Rhyming Poems which are WONDERFUL because they have Elkonin boxes for the rhyme sounds. We use sound chips again here. The students would put a sound chip in the box each time they heard a long vowel and saw a silent E. Then, they would underline the silent E words. In pairs, they would face each other and take turns reading the poem as I listened in and gave advice on pausing and pronunciation of words.
            During the same week, I introduce fluency sentences. Jen Jones {my literacy hero} created these amazing fluency sentences that are organized by skill. AHHHHH! Can you hear the hallelujah chorus?! Perfect for RtI and intervention groups!
Students read each sentence and underline and silent E words that they read. I then have them check with their partner to see if any have been missed. Then, they add any underlines that they missed.
I have the kids whisper read to themselves as I listen in to them one at a time. Then, we read together. Finally, they read to a buddy.
You will see here that this sweetie underlined “the” in the second sentence above. This was a GREAT teachable moment to discuss the fact that “Not every E at the end of a word is a silent E.” Use these mistakes to help students understand the reasoning behind the skill.
This student needed more chunking. The text was too overwhelming. I drew lines between sentences and had him only focus on three sentences at a time. He then wrote down all of the silent E words and read them from his white board before continuing to the next few sentences.
            At this time, I am currently working with struggling second graders for my final practicum project. These short vowel fluency passages from Miss DeCarbo are a savior! The kids seriously love spinners, so that’s a plus! This set requires students to hunt for words and participate in repeated readings of the text. And guess what!?! They are ALL based on a phonics skill!
This page focused on “ack”. The kids were SO excited that the word backpack had TWO “ack” sounds in it!
After completing all of the steps and reading the passage together as a group a few times, students buddy read. They listen for changes in their partner’s voice each time there is punctuation.

Focusing on a skill while practicing fluency has been SUCH a blessing for my second graders. They are not at grade level and cannot handle second grade fluency passages. Using these passages with the same phonics skill repeated over and over again helps the students to read a full paragraph without stopping to “sound out” any words. They know the phonics skill and are able to apply it throughout the passage. After one day, I had these kiddos giggling and reading with expression in their voices. Why? Because the text was predictable and they had confidence in their skill.

As you go off into your classroom this week, think about including your skills into your fluency practice. There are oh so many ways that you can do this. Just keep practicing in a variety of ways, and make fluency fun! As they say, “Practice Makes Permanent!”

Testing Mania

As I look back on this week, I feel like my fun teacher spirit was dumped off in Timbuktu. We have tested EVERY day this week during our reading block. No small group. No center activities. No hands-on learning.

You see, the official countdown to THE BIG TEST began a few weeks ago. Our state test (Florida Standards Assessment, FSA) is in 22 days. So you may ask, “Why in the world are you testing now?”

In third grade, students are retained if they do not pass the FSA assessment. There are many other ways to promote to fourth grade, so it’s not black and white. Still, we have to follow the protocol. One important piece of the protocol is the Portfolio testing. This test consists of a series of passages and questions. We assess students on one passage each day. Then after like 2-3 weeks of testing all the different passages, we basically do an item analysis of each standard to see which ones they passed. If the student has “Mastered” all the standards with 70% accuracy, they can be promoted. If they don’t, we continue the process that the county provides (Summer School, alternative testing, etc.).

It is sad, really, to think about the amount of time the kids are staring at passages that are extremely too high for our struggling readers. They use all the strategies we’ve taught them. They reread, underline, number paragraphs, and show their evidence. But, let’s face it, some students do not pass.

Testing is not a horrible thing. It definitely gives me data that is valuable to my day to day life as a teacher. Testing shows me what my students are retaining and what needs to be retaught. But testing for so many days is another story.

I know there is nothing I can do to switch the system around immediately. Testing is not going to disappear. But, I do feel that there are many teachers out there who feel the same way. How are we suppose to teach and remediate skills when we have to test, test, test? Shouldn’t there be a happy medium?

…For now, I will keep plugging away. I will expose students to engaging activities that align with our standards. I will help them to master concepts and skills. And in 22 days, I will hand them a pack of paper, and urge them to do their best.

Because at the end of the day, they are 8 and 9 years old, and I will remember that each and every day.


Literacy Centers & Student Achievement

Recently, I gave a professional development to the teachers who are new to my school as a requirement for the last semester practicum of my Master’s (yippee!). The PD was focused on how to teach in and through literacy centers. But, not just any literacy centers. Real, data driven, standards based literacy centers. 

RIGOR is an important word these days with our new Florida Standards (as with Common Core). The goal of this presentation was to give teachers a deeper look into providing center activities that required students to do more than move task cards, match cards together, or order magnetic letters. I am not against the former. Yes, there is a time and place for both. However, the teachers that were in this PD were interested in how to create activities that would promote the thinking and writing that we are pushing for with our new standards.
After many requests, I’ve decided to share some of the slides with you below. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Before we start, I know many people cannot call daily academic activities “centers” anymore, because administration and some researchers associate centers with play. “Stations” is becoming the popular term because it seems more work-based. However, my school still uses “centers”. Please think in this mindset as you read. 🙂

Why should you teach through literacy centers?
Literacy centers allow us to gradually release students throughout the year. We teach them directly in small group when they are just beginning, and then as they become more knowledgable, we allow them to work on their own. This gives students a turn to practice and reinforce the strategies that we teach them.

When students are at centers, it is easy to differentiate their work. Differentiation is also not as obvious to other students when it is done in centers. I can have completely different activities going on, but students do not realize it because they are around the room working in groups. Integrating content is SO simple when you teach in a classroom that is full of centers. Students can connect material throughout the day in reading, math, social studies, and science.

And of course, you can plan centers to align directly with your standards.

Finally, literacy centers should include the 7 main components of reading: comprehension, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, writing, speaking & listening, and vocabulary. Jen Jones, from Hello Literacy, calls these the Big 7 Rocks of Literacy.

If you do not have centers up and running in your classroom, the first thing you will need to do is figure out a layout for your furniture. Furniture should be placed in a way that will promote movement. In primary classrooms, it is convenient to have activities rotating around the perimeter of the room. In the picture above, you will see my first grade classroom last year. I placed my small group table in the back corner (with the ball chairs). My centers were then placed around the perimeter of the room so that I could “keep an eye on” everyone. Students who were reading would sit on the carpet in the center of the room. I liked this set up because the groups of students were separated just enough so that each group was able to stay on their assigned task.

Centers do not have to be at tables that are separate from desks. Frequently, I would set a center bin at a group of desks. Students would sit at that group of desks to complete the center. We also use the floor a lot. Students LOVE reading and completing sorting activities on the floor!

Is your school in love with data?
Mine is! There are state assessments, county assessments, school-wide assessments, grade level assessments, in class assessments, and observations. Whew! It can make a teacher crazy. However, we can use the important data to help us create center groupings.

In my classroom, I use summative assessments to determine reading groups at the beginning of the year. At this point, I do not know much about my students or their strengths and weaknesses. As reading groups are used throughout the first few weeks/months, I use the subsequent summative assessments to regroup students.

Formative assessment is perfect for taking note of how students are reading. While in small group, I use black return address labels to write little notes or observations that I see. At the end of the week, I simply peel each label off and place it on the inside flap of the specific student’s folder. These notes are wonderful during conference time. I am just beginning to use the app Confer to do this same thing. See my previous post about this data tracking app here. Formative assessment helps teachers to differentiate center work. Don’t wait for a formal test to change a student’s assignment! If you see something that they need, go for it!

Mini-lessons are the first part of my day.
I teach a short 10-15 minute mini-lesson to introduce our topic of the week or review something that we need to practice. I always love using literature, a short movie clip, or a song to grab the students’ attention! As teachers, we often teach too long in the beginning of a lesson because we are excited about the material. When we think about it, we are talking and students are “listening”. It is important that we let the students do the talking. When you keep a mini-lesson short, it leaves time for students to show their independence on that particular skill.

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Literacy Centers
When you begin forming your literacy centers, you should think about the centers that you want to include in your classroom. Everyone has different preferences here. I had 6 different centers in my first grade classroom: read to self, spelling, word work, computers, content area, and work on writing.

How do you rotate?
Above is my rotation chart. I had three reading groups that I met with daily (horizontal across the top). These were homogeneous groupings. Vertically on the left, I had “center partners”. These were heterogeneous groupings. One child from each of the reading groups was placed together as “center partners”. So, at the end of the day, each student went to two centers and my small group.

When I asked students to find their first center, they would all go to the center in the first column. Three students would be at each center. Then, I would call my first reading group “Cardinals”. One child from each center would come to me, leaving two kids at the center. This continued during reading group two and three. After about two weeks, I didn’t need to send students to their centers first. They learn quickly and know to just skip the center during their reading group time!

Differentiation is my favorite part of centers. Centers make differentiation so simple! Look at the image above to see some fun ways to provide students with instruction that is at their individual levels. I love these ideas from two of my favorite teacher bloggers! The Brown Bag Teacher uses folders that are color coded to match student reading groups. These folders are placed in each center activity bin. When students go to the bin, they just grab their folder and begin working! Miss DeCarbo differentiates word work by integrating student choice and differentiated sight words. Students keep words for a short time or for a few weeks…depending on what the specific student needs.

Remember, these images are from the PD given to my school. In our county, social studies and science are NOT given separate times in the day. We must integrate social studies and science (and math!) into our reading block.

Integrating content into literacy centers allows teachers to create thematic units in the classroom. Students in my classrooms have always enjoyed learning when it is built into what they are reading. Using nonfiction texts or magazines in small group is a great way to integrate! As students begin to discuss and respond orally to what they are reading, it is easy for teachers to incorporate the new speaking and listening standards!

I compiled the following literacy block examples for different grade levels in my school in order to show teachers how to use the same topics and standards throughout many centers throughout the week. They may not work for your students or your curriculum. Please remember, these are just examples! 🙂

I also wanted to show teachers how the same six centers can be used in K-5 classrooms. I created these little charts as a way to show the progression of ideas and activities within each center from grade level to grade level. Again, these are just examples! Add or subtract anything you wish.

Small group is my favorite time of day. I love the “almost” one-on-one interaction that I get with my students. This is when I really get to know them. I love the layout that Dianna from Sassy Savvy Simple Teaching created. I printed it out and gave it to all of the teachers in the PD. It is easy to understand and perfect for planning your small group instruction! Below is an example of Dianna’s layout as well as a tweaked version that I created for our 3-5 grade teachers.

Fonts: Hello Literacy & KG Fonts. Backgrounds: Sassydesigns.net. Clipart: Melonheadz.
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed a mini version of my literacy center PD! Thank you for stopping by!

Character Report Card

I’m linking up with Miss DeCarbo for Wordless Wednesday! I know this is longer than a normal Wordless Wednesday, but I’m excited!
This month we’ve been working on identifying character traits in books and short videos. This week, we watched Ormie the Pig. It is an adorable video about a pig who is attempting to get a jar of cookies off of the top of the fridge. He puts many different ideas to use trying to knock the cookies over. The kids LOVED this video.
Before watching, students were given this handout. We (teachers only) chose specific traits, and students copied them into the boxes. As they watched the video, students graded Ormie and showed their evidence. We explain a general scale aloud to students before they begin. As you will see below, we allow students to disagree as long as they have evidence to support their opinion! It creates FANTASTIC discussion in groups. And that’s about it! Super simple. Highly engaging.
Example Grading Scale for the Character Report Card
A = OH! He is definitely _____!
B = I see that he is ______.
C = He can be _______, but _____.
D = He’s not very _________.
F = I didn’t see him being _____ at all!
Here, an on-level student accurately described Ormie’s character traits.
Here, a below-level student gave different grades, but he was able to provide accurate support from the video.
Click the image to see more pictures of classroom activities this week!

Be sure to head over to Miss DeCarbo’s blog to read more!

 

Co-teaching Reading in 3rd Grade

It’s been about a month since I began the leap from first to third grade, and I am loving it! Last year, I taught high achieving first graders who were almost (if not, just as high) as my third graders. So thankfully….the leap wasn’t too difficult. 🙂

My friend and now co-teacher last year
in my first grade classroom.

Co-teaching with one of my best friends and another energetic, hilarious, engaging teacher has been an amazing experience. We are each other’s physical, mental, and emotional help each day…which in the teacher world can be a wonderful thing! Today, I wanted to share a few of the things we have been doing…

Schedule
In our county, 18 is the maximum amount of students allowed in each classroom. Both third grade classes that I work in have about 25 students. Therefore, the school had to hire an extra teacher (me!) to work in both classrooms and provide support. I am teaching only reading. I begin each day with one teacher, and begin after lunch with the other.  The three of us have synced our schedules. This way, I am teaching the same lessons when I am in both classrooms. It is SO nice for the three of us to plan together and bounce ideas off of each other! Here’s the layout we have. Grab an editable one here!

Because there are two of us teaching at all times, we try to maximize our time and meet with our students. We teach completely in small group during both reading and math blocks (although I am not with co-teaching with them during math). Each class has been broken up into 6 groups of 4-6 students. There are two groups of six students (groups 1-2 above) who are below grade level in each class. There are three groups of four to five students (groups 4-6 above) who are on-level or above-level. We each keep our groups for two days. Then, we swap groups for the last two days. This gives students the ability to hear the same concept in two different ways.
We basically split the entire room in half when we are teaching. This helps to keep the noise level down and also keeps students from getting confused. This picture was taken from my small group area. If you look across the room, you will see the other teacher’s “side”. She has the lower groups and is working with a small group while the other group is working at the red pocket chart on the far side of the room. When she is ready to switch, she will simply have those two groups trade spots. My “side” of the room is to the left of this image. We have a table of computers for one group and then a reading area on the floor for the other. My students go through two centers and my small group on this side of the room.
Minilessons
Almost every day, we give a minilesson on a new topic or an important topic that needs review. Both teachers discuss with the students and plan together for these lessons. Here I am leading a minilesson on comparing and contrasting using the book Apples and Oranges: Going Bananas with Pairs. The kids were obsessed with this book! It comes HIGHLY recommended for all grade levels!
Small Group
The main teacher is always “Small Groups 1” and “Centers 1” on our plans above. Each week she begins the week with her lowest performing students and lays a foundation. She ends with her highest students. I am considered “Small Groups 2” and “Centers 2”. Each week I start with the highest performing students and end with the lowest performing students. Two small groups are running at the same time. However, we are at opposite sides of the room, so it is not too distracting. 🙂

During my first two small groups of the week (on- and above-level students), we are reading the novel, Stuart Little. Here are some of our supplies. You can grab them here. My readers are working SO hard on accountable talk and discussion. Some groups are getting really comfortable with it! One little boy even said, “Hey, you can’t talk so much! You’re suppose to be invisible!”

By the time the kids come and go, our table is a {big ole} mess! 

 Our on-level students still struggle with writing complete sentences and explaining their thoughts. We do LOTS of writing to try to fix this. Here is a prediction that one of my students made before reading chapter 3. It is not a perfect sentence, but she was working oh so hard!

Right now we are only 33 days away from our BIG state assessment that determines promotion of third graders, so our below level groups have been practicing comprehension strategies every.single.day. Yes, we know they need to do practice passages, but they also need to have fun! I introduced these sentence strips from The Teacher Talk as a way to extend our thinking after reading a test prep passage. These are the students who normally struuuuggggle with writing. However, these fun flippy prompts helped them to write quite a bit! I was one proud teacher!
When our below level groups are not doing test prep, test prep, test prep, we have lots of fun! We make inferences and find evidence in the passages. We read stories and determine character traits. We practice past skills with task card games in small group. Basically, the three of us remediate again and again until our little ones catch on!
Centers
My side of the room has two centers: Computer & Text Evidence
The main teacher’s side of the room has two centers: Skill Practice & Vocabulary/Reading
Our lowest two groups stay in small group for 30 minutes each and only go to one center per day.
Our higher three groups have 20 minutes of small group and go to two centers day day.
  • Computer – We have a program called iReady that is used throughout the school. All students take individualized reading and math lessons on the program during this center.
  • Vocabulary/Reading – My novel study groups read their novel, make annotations, and respond to their flippy prompts (blue flaps seen above). When we are not reading a novel, students complete vocabulary activities at this center. Our lower groups do not go to this center because vocabulary is taught explicitly to them in small group
  • Skill Practice – This center changes depending on our skill. It is differentiated for the two sets of groups. Sometimes, there are even two separate activities for certain students. This center usually includes writing. Sometimes it has task cards. Overall, it is based on the standard that we are teaching that week.
  • Text Evidence – This center is completed only by on and above level students. They are given books or passages and questions. We make sure that they are focusing on finding text evidence and responding in complete sentences with evidence based sentence starters. Paired text passages work very well with students in this center. 

This is a Skill Practice center focused on point of view. Students were researching an animal and then writing about the animal from the animal’s point of view. 
That’s a little look into our Reading Block! I hope you enjoyed it!

Professional Development

Today linking up with my friend Christina from Miss DeCarbo for Wordless Wednesday! My week has been filled with meetings, sessions, and testing. It has been crazy. BUT on the positive side, I am so excited to say that my first ever Professional Development session is complete! I am so thankful for all of the teachers who provide me with my own “Virtual PD” daily. Blogs and teacher friends are a beautiful thing!

Have a great week!

What A Pair! {Using Paired Texts to Compare and Contrast}

I have be crazy busy with my new job back in the classroom {more to come on that soon}, but I wanted to share this fun set with you today! Last week, our skill was to compare and contrast two texts. In third grade, students are asked to compare and contrast the major points in two texts about the same topic. My two coworkers and I were searching for products to use, but we weren’t finding anything that worked for us…

Fast forward to the weekend. I decided to create a passage to go along with the book Officer Buckle and Gloria. We wanted the students to be engaged in the topic {dogs}, so we used a fun fiction book that they would giggle at. 🙂 In the past, I have read Officer Buckle and Gloria to kindergarteners and first graders, so I was slightly worried. I didn’t know for sure if my third graders would think it was funny. OH was I wrong! They were laughing and asking to see the flipping dog picture again and again.

Reading two texts can be time consuming, but “Just Do It!”.
With my on level groups, I read Officer Buckle and Gloria aloud and then students read the paired passage silently. With my below level groups, I read the book aloud, but the students read some of the passage and I read some of the passage. With my lower below level groups (many are already in RtI or receiving services), I read both texts aloud. In one of my classes, I read the book aloud whole group which saved a bit of time. Yes, it takes a long time, but there’s no other way to expose them to two texts before discussing and responding.

Discussing the texts
After reading, we started discussing each text separately. I asked students to retell aloud using major details, and we talked a little bit about each character. I prepped students for the questions to come by showing them similarities and differences in the structure of the text: fiction/nonfiction, text features, real pictures/illustrations, paragraphs, etc. We also looked at similarities and differences between the characters/subject in both texts.

My school is big on accountable talk right now, so we made sure to answer questions in complete sentences with sentence starters. My friend Katie from Simply Creative in KY, has a great pack that helps remind us to use accountable talk. You can check it out here.

Responding to the Text
In order to hit two standards at once, I added response questions AND compare/contrast questions to the passage. My on level groups only did the compare and contrast questions with me, because they are able to answer text-dependent questions on their own. My below level groups were guided through everything. {A picture of both handouts is shown below.}

We compared and contrasted the text structure and the topic (dogs, worms, trees, apple pies, bumblebees) in each set of paired texts. Students then explained which book they enjoyed reading most and why.

It wasn’t the easiest skill for my struggling readers, however, it did make them think. And think HARD! They were prepared for their practice assessment on Friday, and did very well. {Celebrate Small Moments!!!} Pretty soon, the service dog passage was turned into a whole pack!

Click here to grab yours or see a larger preview!
Here are the five passages included. 

These are the five books that I used to pair with the nonfiction passages. But, any fiction book on the same topic as the passage will work just fine! 🙂 They are not included in this pack, so check out your local library or head over to Amazon. {Amazon Prime is my weakness!}

At the top of each passage in the pack, you will see a Paired Text Suggestion and a line for students to write the name of the paired book (see picture above). This helps students to see that they are focusing on TWO texts not just one.
There are also two response pages included with full answer keys. Some answers may be different if you choose a different children’s book than the suggested one. Any fiction book on the same topic will do!

I hope you enjoyed this mini preview! If you are like me and focused on standards, standards, standards, then I hope this little pack helps to narrow down your planning for LAFS.RI.3.9 or CCSS.RI.3.9! Click here to see a larger preview!

Have a great week!

Confer App: a note taking and data collection app for teachers!

 Today, I must cut right to the chase because I am beyond excited about this new find! I was at a conference in Jacksonville, Florida right before Thanksgiving listening to a 2nd grade teacher talk about differentiation. It was a great presentation, but to be honest, I was thinking “I do most of these things in my own classroom”. That was until I heard her mention “this new DATA COLLECTION APP”. My ears perked up! My eyes flew from my notebook to her face. We are in the age of data, data, data. This is perfection!
Really? I can just add my students into this app and log all of my annotations right on my iPhone? NO WAY. Wait what? I can take pictures of their work and add them to each student’s personalized file? This was too good to be true.
But it IS true! It’s called Confer. I may seem a little too excited about this, but let me tell you – It is worth it! It’s available in the iTunes App Store or through Google Play for Android.
There are currently two versions of Confer. Confer (regular) is the full price version. It is $24.99, which may be more than you are used to paying for an app…however, think of it as a portable, digital, never-ending, never full data binder. I don’t know about you, but I would pay lots of money for that.
The Confer lite edition is the free one that you can download quickly. Test it out for yourself! However, if you have more than 10 kids in your class (most of us) and you teach more than 2 subjects (most of us), this may not be ideal. Confer lite allows you to store two subjects with 10 students per subject. It also only allows for 5 notes per student.
Take it from me and download Confer lite. You will love it. Now for a closer look…
You can organize all of your information into three major sections: Subjects, Students, and Notes. Once you create an account, add subjects by using the + in the top right corner. Then add students to the subject. Once you add your class list once, you don’t ever have to retype their names! To take notes on each student, just click on their names and then click the + in the top right corner.
A sort feature is at the bottom of most screens in the Confer app. My absolute favorite sorting feature is the options for student sorting. Look at the middle picture in the image above. I can always sort by first or last name, but I can also sort by the date, tag, strength, teaching point, next step, level, group, and flag! CRAZY AMAZING.
I can literally add my students and their levels and simply click sort by level. Ta-da! Reading groups done. Then, if I want to teach a small group lesson on inferences, I can click sort by teaching point or next step and ta-da: focus group is chosen for me. No more flipping though pages and pages of charts! I can also flag students green, yellow, or red in certain subjects or topics, and then group them by flag color so that I can easily see where each student is. Here is a picture from Confer’s website that displays the flagged students in each topic.
Once your students are added, adding notes is a breeze!
This next feature sold me instantly! Click on a student, take a picture of their work, and it’s stamped with the date and a comment. Easy peasy and PERFECT for parent-teacher conferences, data chats with administration, and RtI meetings.
And just when you thought Confer had wow-ed you…it can export! Yes! Just click the arrow on the far right bottom of the screen to export a file from the app. There are many different options for you to choose from!
Fonts by KG Fonts & Hello Fonts, Graphics by Pretty Grafix & Ashley Hughes
I am SO excited to use this app full time in the classroom starting in January. It will help me to be efficient with my time and to keep everything in one place. I love that I can check Confer at home in my bed or while I’m talking with a concerned parent on the phone. In these data-driven times, we teachers must find ways that truly work to manage our time wisely and help our students achieve their fullest potential. I hope this little tutorial will help you this year!
Check out a more in depth tutorial on the app or website. For more information and a video from David Lowe, the creator of Confer and a NBCT, click here. Happy data collecting!

Close Reading for the Holidays

Are you in need of some low-prep activities to get your students through the holiday season? Check out my newest close reading passages! They are perfect for small group, guided reading, weekly homework, and thematic units. All you have to do is simply download and print! If you are not familiar with close reading you can read more about it in my Close Reading Mini Series.

I’m excited to be a part of The Primary Gal‘s Unwrap a Gift Linky Party. There are so many engaging gifts for you from some of my favorite teachers. Keep reading for a closer look and be sure to unwrap your gift at the end of this post! 

I have two sets of holiday close reads: European traditions (7 passages) & Asian traditions (6 passages). Each passage is written at an appropriate text complexity level for 2-3rd grade according to the Common Core State Standards. However, it totally depends on your students. I often used similar close reads with my high first graders, and I have a friend who uses them with her struggling fourth graders. There are two different versions of most handouts within each set. Instant differentiation!

Close reading is all about developing a true understanding of the text. Therefore, I make sure that students are rereading many times. One passage will last us 3 days to a full week! Students reread the passages silently, aloud, and to partners. Then, they annotate by highlighting or circling unknown words, numbering paragraphs, and underlining answers in the text. You can have students use any annotation marks that you like (although I recommend no more than about 3 at a time – see the close reading blog series above for in depth information).

After reading, students will respond to text-dependent questions. I ask students to go back to the text and underline or highlight their answers. They are also required to write the number of the question beside the sentence in the text. This is a wonderful skill to start early on! It works wonders on standardized tests! Each passage in my close reading sets has two different sets of response questions which is great for differentiation in class.
I hope you enjoy your holiday season! Click the image below to UNWRAP YOUR GIFT!
Head over to The Primary Gal to unwrap more gifts!

 

New Look & Giveaway!

Hey everyone! I am beyond excited to share this little blog’s brand new look! Thank you SO SO much to Bobbi at Ready to Blog Designs. She is a gem! If you need a great blog designer who is very reasonable and amazing to work with, I highly recommend Bobbi!

I started this blogging/creating/TeachersPayTeachers journey this past April during my first year of teaching. I had been *obsessed* with teaching blogs during undergrad and always thought to myself, “When I have my classroom, I am going to go broke!”. I never thought I would be so blessed by this blogging/TPT community. I am beyond thankful for all of the new support and friendships that have grown from this!
Once I started teaching, I felt myself being pulled toward certain products on TPT and certain styles of teaching on teacher blogs. You know those few that you just keep going back to? Those few teachers make you want to spend hours making adorable anchor charts and laminating all types of activities! Today, I’m sharing a few of my favorites with you! {Stick around for a fun giveaway!}
My ultimate goal is to reach each individual student. This is a tough task, and I am by no means a teacher superstar. However, I do try my best to differentiate and enrich as much as possible. I give two spelling tests each week, print two (sometimes three) separate sets of homework each night, and teach reading and math in small group. So, when I stumbled upon the blog by Miss DeCarbo back in the day, I was amazed at those little first graders and their amazing writing abilities! They blew me away! And I kept reading. Ever since that day, I have made sure that I was in tune with everything Christina had to say. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out her Wordless Wednesday Linky Party! It is one of my favorites. A few teachers at my school are loving all things DeCarbo – check out this little one’s hard work! Thank you, Christina, for being my first grade writing guru.
Sight Word Fluency Passages for Reading Intervention by Miss DeCarbo
The no prep printable queen of The Moffatt Girls, is another one of my favorite teacher authors. As I read her blog, I think “Please let me be that awesome of a mom/teacher/homeschooler/blogger/author one day!” Annie does it all! Her No Prep math and literacy packs are brilliant for Sub Tubs, independent work, and extra practice. I used her Word Work Bundle this summer while teaching deaf and hard of hearing students. It was great for the 1st and 2nd graders who need repetition by sight because they are not able to hear letter sounds. Thank you, Annie, for inspiring me by teaching your two sweet girls with such engaging activities!
Word Work Bundle by The Moffat Girls
If you know me well, you know that I am in love with {ALL} the products from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd. Let’s just say I’ve bought almost all of her new products this school year, and I am not even in a classroom full time. What does that tell you? She is amazing. Her style is so unique, I just look at a product and can tell you if it is hers. Thank you, Ashley, for being so sweet, personable, and happy to help!
Blo(r)ganizer Binder by Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd
Ever since high school, I have been a bit crazy about color coding my planner. I used to have a highlighter for each subject just for my planner. Each day, the order of the colors would rotate. When I finished an assignment, I would highlight over the listing with that specific matching color. OCD? Maybe. Organized and wonderful? Definitely! You can only imagine my excitement when I learned about the genius behind A Modern Teacher! Oh. My. Word. April creates adorable customizable planners that are updated yearly! You heard that right…updated YEARLY. That means, once you buy the planner, you have a new one each year! I just can’t get enough of mine.
Teacher Lesson Planner by A Modern Teacher
These ladies have changed my life for the better! They inspired me to put my creativity to the test to help my students stay engaged and succeed in all that they do. I am extremely grateful for the collaboration that has come about from TeacherPayTeachers. It makes me smile daily.
Today, I am pleased to announce this fun giveaway brought to you by the amazing teacher-authors listed above. Christina, Annie, Ashley, and April – I cannot thank you enough! Enter to win the amazing products listed below! Giveaway ends Monday at midnight.
Fonts by KG Fonts
Happy Teaching!