Week #7: September 23-September 27

We had a schedule adjustment last week, so we'll start our novel study this week and I'm so excited! I'm not giving a lot of detail because I'm planning something fun every day as we apply our knowledge of close reading through Notice and Note in the wonderful novel Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus.

Our schedule adjustment was due to adding a second measure of reading ability to better serve students. Reading benchmarks are showing that approximately 70% of my students are reading below grade level. As a teacher, this is very concerning. As a Language Arts department, we are dedicated to helping students improve their reading as reading stretches into everything we do and is the BEST thing we can do to prepare them for the future.

You might be contacted from the school to place your child in reading support; I might want to meet with your student before or after school to work with them on their reading, or they may be placed in a special reading advisory that each LA teacher will be starting at the end of the month. I am passionate about helping students improve their reading, but I need your help!

Learning to speak our language is natural--we pick it up as children with little instruction. The rules of grammar are embedded in us. Guess what? Reading is NOT natural! It's a complex mesh of sounds, letters, blends, etc. that form written text. The cool thing is that reading instruction can be constantly improved upon with practice and instruction and I am your partner in this.

Please know that your child's reading level is NOT a reflection of their intelligence. I've taught my students, and my own kids, that intelligence comes in many forms. If reading is a struggle, no worries, everyone struggles with something and reading ability CAN be improved! As we partner to help your child read better, here are some suggestions of things you can do at home to support what is happening at school:

• Please look at the two reading measures recorded in PowerSchool. I get results by a Lexile number that translates to a grade level. Their grade level (average of the two measures) will be on Powerschool. This is a lot of data entry, but my goal is to get it posted this weekend. Reading levels are shown on their grades, but do not EFFECT their grades. 
• Please encourage your child to read at home, 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week and RECORD IT ON THEIR WHITE READING LOG (this is a big part of their grade). This can happen in many different ways:
• A child can read out loud to a parent, sibling, grandparent/older neighbor or a pet
• Consider audio books (and have your student follow along)
• Read as a family, read to your child or read out loud with your child reading at the same time
• Remember that reading in school counts as well! I'll let students count in-class novel reading for 3 of their days if needed.
• Do home reading centers where they rotate between reading out loud, reading with audio, reading silently, then talking about it. This can be any possible mix of reading styles--about 10 mins. each. Those students with attention deficits might find this particularly helpful.
• Visit the Washington County Libraries, get a free library card and let you child explore.
• Encourage your child to read real-world text around us out loud: road signs, maps, menus, ads, etc. 
• Encourage them to talk about what they read. Are they understanding what they read?
• Let me know how I can help! I love matching students with books, let me try to guide them to books I think they might be interested in. 

If your child is reading above grade-level, I'll be working with them to offer challenging texts and expand their reading horizons! I'd greatly encourage them to beef-up their reading to qualify for our iRead Club.

Week 7

September 23-September 27

Monday, September 23

Genre-of-the-Week: Realistic Fiction

New Class Jobs

Chapters 1 & 2 Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

Week 6 Reading Log DUE

Tuesday, September 24

Bellwork
Class Novel: Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

Wednesday, September 25

Library Day: Meet Upstairs

Thursday, September 26

Bellwork
Class Novel: Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

Friday, September 27

Midterm READING CELEBRATION!!
Students must have read the equivalency of 4 books to participate in this fun event. If not, they'll stay in class with me.

Passcode: I AM A READER!!!  
Students: please tell me this for a FREE Robins Reward:)