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If your 1st grader comes home with a poem this week, ask them to read it to you and point out the two vowels that are going walking together! We'll be adding more vowels onto this chart soon,
![]() ...the first one does the talking! If your 1st grader comes home with a poem this week, ask them to read it to you and point out the two vowels that are going walking together! We'll be adding more vowels onto this chart soon,
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Want to know the details of what your kid has been learning in RTI? For this last quarter of the school year, I'll be posting on here every other week to detail what skills have been covered in RTI! As always, feel free to email me if you'd ever like more information about resources or ways to practice reading skills at home.
Here's the weekly roundup for RTI for this week and next week: 1st grade: we've begun enrichment lessons on words that have trickly long vowels. They have already learned this in class, but RTI is for catching them up to speed so I like to go back and review these skills with them in a small group setting. This week and next week, we'll go over words with -ai/-ay, -ea. 2nd grade: we're doing a lot of comprehension work! (main idea, sequencing, fact/opinion) Ask your child what an onomatopoeia is, or next week quiz them about facts they've learned about Australia. **note: skills covered will vary based upon the reading level of each class** Reading can often get boring for boys... especially if they are not reading something that they are interested in! For those of you who struggle to get your boys to read, here are a few suggestions: LEGO Magazine ![]() Did you know that you can get a free subscription to the LEGO club magazine? If your boys are even slightly into LEGOs, they will love this magazine! It does advertise for several LEGO products throughout the magazine, but many of my boy students enjoy flipping through the magazine and reading the graphic novel/cartoon stories. There are even follow-up activities on their website! And if you have a girl who is interested in LEGOs, fear not: there is an option for a girl LEGO mag as well! To sign up, go here: http://club.lego.com/en-us/ Wonderopolis If you have curious boys, this is the website for your family! Young readers will need help reading the articles on this site, but it is a marvelous way to talk about what they are reading and increase comprehension. Check it out, it's really neat!:
http://wonderopolis.org/ ![]() Practicing sight words can get a little boring if you don't "spice it up" every once in a while! Here in RTI, I try to keep the learning fun and exciting by using different games to practice sight words. One that we have used a lot recently is the coin toss game! In this game, I place different sight words in a 3x3 grid on the floor. Students take turns dropping coins in the grid in hopes that a coin will land on a word. If it does, they tell me what the word is. If they get it right, they get to keep the card! We have had a lot of fun using this grid to practice all kinds of skills. You can whip one up in a flash! It can be tough for a 1st grader to distinguish between short vowels! Every once in a while in RTI, we brush up on short vowel skills and practice reading all kinds of words with different sounds. This week, we had a little fun being "Animal Detectives" as we searched for vowels and beginning/end sounds! We wrote all kinds of animal names as we searched for the correct spelling with our magnifying glasses. Once we finished, we wrapped it all up with a writing activity. I think this one was pretty creative, right? (That's chasing, in case you couldn't figure it out) Practicing short vowels can be fun! Check out links on my Resources page for some fun online activities to practice short vowels:
http://pottergrayesl.weebly.com/resources.html Did you know that comprehension of a text is just as important as being able to read the words? We work a lot on phonics activities in RTI, but comprehension is also extremely important for our little readers to succeed in the classroom. So, what can you be doing at home to help improve comprehension? I stumbled upon a GREAT free packet from the First Grade Wow blog, which gives tips to parents of 1st & 2nd graders for things to say/do after reading a book/magazine/online article at home. Here are a few questions to ask: Before & During Reading-Is this book fiction or nonfiction? How do you know? -How do you feel about the main character? Would you do things differently if you were them? -How do you think the story will end? After Reading-Does the story remind you of another story? -What was your favorite part? -Were there any parts that surprised you? For the full packet, click on the file below to download. As always, if you ever have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me. I love helping your little reader! ![]()
In 1st grade RTI, we've been working on recognizing our b's and d's. Reversals are rather common in kindergarten and first grade, but it can hinder reading ability. So we've come up with a strategy or two to remember which way to write the b's and d's: I found this on the Wild About Teaching blog, and I love it! Bat and Ball both start with b, so it reminds us that "the bat comes before the ball" when we are writing our b's. It should suffice to remember this one trick (and anything else is a "d"), but just in case: When you approach a door, the doorknob always comes before the door. So that's a way to remember how to write our d's! To remember this strategy, we sing this song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell": If your child has difficulty remembering these reversals, practice this strategy! We've had some fun in RTI practicing:
Who Says sight word practice Has to be Boring?![]() We work hard in RTI, but we keep it fun! Remember that sight word practice doesn't have to be hard or boring; get creative in practicing. Before Fall Break, we practiced our sight words by playing a game of Four-in-a-Row. Roll the game cube, say a sight word, and put fill that spot on your board. Once you've got four in a row, you've won AND you've said a lot of sight words! Keep it fun-- we want reading to be something your child enjoys! First grade has had a great time refreshing their skills with short vowels! Last week, we practiced reading and writing words with the short "o" sound... and what better way to do that than with lOllipOps! Ask your child to point out some things around the house that have the short "o."
![]() In ESL and RTI, we've been learning how to tell stories in the order that they happen. We can use words such as First, Then, Next, and Last to sequence our story. This week, after reading a story with your child, ask them to tell the story in the order that it happened... and don't forget to use the key words!! |
Emily DahlI teach ESL for K-5 and RTI for grades 1-2. Come see what's happening in our classroom! Archives
April 2014
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