Parent Letter About Differentiation

Dear Parent,

As you know one of my most important goals for the school year is to create a literate environment in which reading, writing, and speaking are skills all of my student’s feel adequate in.  Because our classroom is filled with such unique learners who not only learn at different paces, but also though different representations, it is impossible to reach all students with only one method of teaching.  In reaching this goal, differentiation must be a part of everyday instruction.  Differentiation simply means that I provide each student with different means of instruction that allows for them to do their best learning. 

Throughout the year Lindsay has done well identifying letter names, and has proven able to identify the letter names of all 26 letters in the alphabet.  She is also able to say almost all the letter sounds when they are shown to her individually. However, it has come to my attention that Lindsay has trouble decoding words one-syllable words, specifically words containing a consonant-vowel-consonant, which is the next step in reading literacy development.  While I am confident that she will reach her literacy goals by the end of the year, I feel in order to do this we will need to include some extra small group instruction that is focused on her specific learning objectives.   To help Lindsay become fluent in decoding one-syllable words a variety of activities will be introduced to her.  These include making words and word sorts,  spelling words with magnetic letters on a dry erase board, and matching pictures to the given one-syllable word that identifies it.  In doing this activities for 20-30 minute periods each day we hope to see improvement in Lindsay’s reading literacy development. 

Sincerely,

Caitlin Shanahan

Lesson Plan 1:

Sight Words Mini-Lesson

Lesson 1: Overview

Taylor has spent a lot of time decoding and writing CVC words throughout the year.  She is able to read and write multiple CVC words with short vowels a, e, I, o, and u, but she rarely gets practice reading and writing sight words.  For the past couple weeks she has been spending hours each day independently reading a book called, Up, Up, Away!, which features multiple sight words.  When she first started reading she had to consult a teacher at least every two words to know what it said because she has had no formal practice learning sight words.  She is enthusiastic to keep trying, but I think a minilesson on sight words would be very beneficial for her.  I will choose sight words that are found in that book as the basis of this minilesson.

Sight Words Lesson Plan

Your Name:  Caitlin Shanahan   Grade Level:  K

Date lesson was taught:  _4/16/12_____________  Number of Students: __1____

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?):

There is very little, if any, sight word instruction in this classroom.  This student in particular has spent hours each day for the past couple of weeks trying to read and copy a book called, Up, Up, and Away, which features multiple sight words that are found on the DIEBELS primer sight word list.  She has been working through the words on her own and can remember three or four of them, but I think a minilesson in which she had direct and explicit instruction of sight words would be very beneficial for her.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson (select ONE area):

-Reading Sight Words Aloud

3) Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):

The student will accurately read 6 sight words independently after five rounds of a sight word game.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

-Post with sight words written on them

-Index cards with sight words written on them

-Plastic cups

-List of sight words for teacher

-Up, Up, and Away

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN (Provide a bulleted list of ideas):

• Introduction to the lesson  (List what you will say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson?  How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences?  How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?) (3 minutes) 

“Hi Taylor.  Today we are going to practice reading some words I think you might recognize.  These words are called sight words.  We are going to learn six sight words.  We call them sight words because they are words we see all the time.  We see them in the classroom, at home, at the store, on TV, and in books! In fact, the book, Up, Up, and Away, that you have spent so much time reading has tons of sight words! After we practice with this game I think you will be able to read that whole book by yourself!

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; list how you will teach students what the strategy is, how to use the strategy, and when to use it; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) (15 minutes)

-Introduce sight words on chart (sight words should be written clearly).  We will do my turn, together, your turn to read each sight word fast.  I will point to the word and read it fast, then we will do it together, then she will read the word on her own.

-Introduce sight word game.  Show Taylor each sight word written on the index cards and have her read each word as I set the index card down on the table.  If there is a word she is stuck on do the my turn, together, your turn sequence again. 

-Tell Taylor the game is called, “I Spy the Sight Word.”  Each sight word will have a plastic cup over it and she will lift the cup and say the sight word she sees.  I will mix up the cups once she is comfortable so she has practice reading the site words in different orders.

-Look through the book, Up, Up, and Away, to find sight words together so Taylor can see them in a meaningful context.

• Closing summary for the lesson (List how you will bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences.  How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences?  What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) (3 minutes)

“You just learned six new sight words that we see in the story! Great job, Taylor!  These words are going to pop up in all kinds of places so make sure you have your eyes open and look for them.  The more you practice reading these words to more books you will be able to read all by yourself.  You might also see these words during Writers Workshop.  When Ms. Angie writes a sentence with one of these words, you will know what it says!  Have you ever seen one of these words in the Writers Workshop?”

6) Ongoing-Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective?  What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?)

-I will monitor her reading to see if she is able to identify sight words during independent reading time.  Also, during Writers Workshop I will see if she can identify any of these sight words found in the sentence templates provided, or if she is able to write the words herself.

7) Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?

The biggest challenge will be to keep this student focused throughout the lesson.  She is easily distracted so I will have to use effective teacher talk and work at a perky pace to keep her attention maintained.

Reading Lesson Reflection:

This student was really excited to learn these sight words because she recognized all of them from reading she has done before.  Because teaching sight words can be a bit boring and redundant I was happy to see that she was enthusiastic about playing this game to learn the words.  Since I have never played this type of game before, and because it was something I made up, I was nervous that it might not go over well, but this student loved it! Every time she lifted up one of the cups to see the word underneath it was exciting for her.  I also wrote numbers on the top of the cups and called out, “Choose the cup with the number 5 on it,” so she had practice with numbers as well.  Another idea would have been to write letters on the cups and say the letter sounds as a clue for which cup to choose so she would have had practice with her letter sounds as well.  I think it was good that I only introduced 6 words during this minilesson, but I think I should have started with only three and then added another, then another, then the last one.  Instead I showed all six words at one time so a few of them were confusing to her.  The mini-lesson probably would have been more successful if I would have provided her with more scaffolding.