Like Amber said, "Better late, than never!" I was late getting this book, so here goes my post from last month.
The problem that I am facing in my first grade class is that many of my students are coming into my class without the skills they should have learned in kindergarten. Because of this a large percentage of my students are reading well below grade level.
I feel really stressed, because there is a lot of pressure to get these students where they need to be by the end of the year. I also feel frustrated that I'm not able to give as much attention to the students who are on track.
The data that I have for reading is running records and EasyCBM progress monitoring.
The data is telling me that these kids need a lot of support.
I am trying to come up with as many opportunities as I can for these students to get extra support, whether it be interventions, peer tutors, or small group/ one on one time with me.
Differentiation and balancing the needs of all different levels is VERY challenging indeed! Take a step back and think about what are the things that those kids who arrived to you unprepared are missing? Was it that their parents didn't read to them? Did they have access to books? Did they not go to the library? Is it a learning disability? What can it be? And then take a step forward and say, how can I recreate some of those opportunities in the classroom or via the school. Can we create summer reading time for pre schoolers (and kids who are struggling in the lower grades)? Can we do afterschool extended time? What else can we think of collectively????
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