Enhancing General Education WIN time
Kristin Tomasevicz, 2nd Grade Teacher, 2022-2023 School Year
Description & Need:
During WIN time, we are able to be creative and use materials that help our students reach the goal of becoming fluent and accurate readers. We do have one set of district-purchased decodable readers that go with our Reading program, but I would like to have an additional set of Leveled Readers that address skills that are taught in the winter/spring of our curriculum. These decodable readers can be used at the beginning of the year during WIN to enrich our high-achieving readers who come in already reading short vowels and blends (which is what skills we are re-teaching during those beginning months of school). They can also be used during WIN in the winter/spring months when we teach these skills, as an additional and very engaging resource to use in small groups with students who are on grade level but need more appropriate practices in addition to what our Reading curriculum provides that are "decodable" to them because the phonics skills have now been taught by their teacher (me).
I also have included the wish to purchase a Q-Ball "throwable" (note: light toss will be taught) classroom microphone in the shape of a ball. I believe this will encourage active participation with even the most reluctant, quiet sharers in the classroom because it is a ball that they can catch and talk into and it magnifies their voice to be heard by the whole class, even when speaking quietly.
How project meets Instruction Goals and Mission Statement:
We are "Engaging All Learners to Achieve Success" by creating an environment where sharing your thoughts is fun! I plan to use the Qball after partner sharing, to share what their partner said, or to read a portion of their writing that they worked so hard to create. Also, to work on response chaining, where we actively listen to each other speak during class, and add on to the classmate that spoke prior.
This project of decodable readers (6 sets for small group rotations) meets instruction goals because the phonics skills that are reinforced are: r-controlled vowels, vowel teams, multisyllabic words, silent letters, diphthongs, and soft c/soft g, all of which are instructed during the year in 2nd grade.
Major Objectives:
Students will read grade-level decodable text with grade-level skills that have previously been instructed, or students with above-grade-level ability will be given the challenge to read using skills that have not been explicitly instructed while being frequently checked for accuracy.
Teaching Methods:
Small group reading/choral reading/cloze reading, partner reading, etc. For the Qball, it will be sharing in whole group and contributing to the development of the classroom community, as well as developing public speaking skills.
Grade Level Impacted:
2nd grade- shared among 2/3 classrooms (decodable books), so around 70 students. I would be happy to share the Qball as well with my teammates and their classes.
Additional Materials:
None
Project Evaluation:
As noted by the district's exit tickets, but also by my own formative assessments to discover if our accuracy improves given the extra practice in reading decodable text that applies the phonics skill we are currently working on. For the Qball, I can evaluate if my reluctant sharers are more motivated to communicate using this fun voice amplifier.
