Jessica Thoppil

Spring 2018- Dr. Sullivan

Exit Slips for READ 436

#1 Describe the assessments you will use for instructional level readers, define the
levels (independent, instructional, frustration), and explain the factors that will
influence your grouping for instruction.

The instructional reading level is a level that is challenging but still manageable for
readers. This is a reading level that involves guidance and support. For instructional level
readers there are a few assessments I would use. I would first use a Running Record
Assessment where I would select a book appropriate to the student’s reading level and have
them read aloud as I score. When students read aloud, teachers should be keeping track of
time and errors. Errors include substitution, omission, and insertion. I would score for
accuracy by subtracting their number of total errors from total words read. Then I would
divide by the total words read and multiply by 100. Students that score between 94-97% in
accuracy are reading at instructional level. Another assessment teachers could use is
calculating the reading rate. (Words in passage/seconds to read) x 60 = Words per minute.
Teachers can also use the IRI assessment to determine students’ reading level. The IRI
(Informal Reading Inventory) assessment measures grade level reading, fluency,
comprehension, vocabulary, and oral reading accuracy. The IRI is an on-going assessment
that should be done throughout the school year and includes the WRI and WRC scores. The
WRI (Words Read in Isolation) score is the best predictor of a child’s reading level. The
WRI assessment is computerized and flashes a word on the screen for the student to read
quickly. The WRC (Words Read Correctly) assessment involves words recognized in
context, which is a very important aspect for determining reading level.
An independent reading level is the level of reading you want students to bring home and
read on their own. Independent reading involves the student reading comfortably and easily
with an accuracy reading score of 98% or above and a comprehension score of 90% or
above. Students reading on an independent level will have good oral reading speed and
expression and do not need support from the teacher or a buddy.
A frustration reading level for students is something teachers want to stay away from.
Frustration levels involve poor comprehension (less than 50%) and slow, disfluent reading
with less than 90% accuracy. Frustration level reading causes students to be unmotivated
while reading and does not help them to improve.
Some factors that would influence my grouping for instruction are reading level, topic
interest, and child personality. Reading level is important because you want students to be
able to enjoy reading but also want them to be challenged to learn more so picking an
appropriate text and putting students in groups together based on reading level is important.
Students’ topic interest is also very important. If one student in the group does not like the
topic of book they will not want to read and will not learn so picking books that interest
students is a big part of grouping. Lastly, knowing your students and their personalities is
important as well. If you know some students wouldn’t work well together it would save
time and would be most effective not to place them in the same group.
#2 Define fluency and describe how you will teach it, including examples and resources
from class.

Fluency is reading at an appropriate pace for the given reading. The goal of fluency is to
read with expression and at a steady pace. Fluent reading means automatic recognition of
words and using appropriate phrasing and expression. Fluency is important because it allows
students to focus on the meaning of an activity or enjoyment of an activity.
I would teach students fluency mainly through repeated reading. Familiar texts help
students to read with expression. For students to work on fluency, texts must be easy for
them, in other words, texts should at an independent reading level. This way, students can
focus on their tone, expression, and speed instead of struggling to decode words.
Also to teach fluency I would model fluency to students. Modeling fluency to students
through read alouds helps them to understand how to read with fluency as well. When adults
model fluency to students with expression, dictation, and with appropriate speed, students
can try to replicate these actions when they read their own independent level readings out
loud.
In class we did another strategy for fluency called readers’ theater. Readers’ theater
involves a script with expressive text where there are multiple characters/parts to read. For
this activity in our class, we read the script a couple times to ourselves before reading it out
loud. Then we read it out loud again to use get familiar with the pace and expression for the
text. This is a fun way to teach fluency because we improved our fluency throughout the
readers’ theater.
Fluency resources we talked about in class include: a website with celebrities reading
aloud picture books on video (www.storylineonline.net). This is a good resource to play to
get students settled while the teacher does something else. It is also another great way to
model fluency without the teacher having to read aloud. Teachers can also teach fluency
through poetry. A good children’s poetry website is www.gigglepoetry.com. Poetry contains
rhyme and/or rhythm which helps students improve their fluency especially with repeated
readings.

#3 Compare word study to the method used when you learned to spell.

I actually did not have traditional spelling in elementary school and used word study to
learn to spell. I remember specifically in third grade having word sorts to cut out and sort
based on features of the words. We were placed into groups of about five students and each
group had a different sort based on reading and spelling level. Each week we had a different
sort and each day we did something different with the sorts. For example, Monday we would
sort them, Tuesday we would glue them in our notebooks, Wednesday we would use the
words in a sentence, etc. and Friday we would have our spelling test. I loved this way to
spell and I definitely think it helped me to see patterns and hear patterns in different words.
Throughout elementary, middle, and high school I was a pretty good speller and had a wide
vocabulary and after studying word study this year in my elementary education literacy
course I believe I have word study to thank for my spelling abilities throughout school.
 Word study involves students grouping words in a given sort by sound, pattern, and
meaning. Due to the fact that children are inclined to compare and contrast, students will
learn better with small amounts of comparing and contrasting the patterns given in the
groups. It helps students to understand prefixes, suffixes, and helps them to see word
patterns without having students rely on memorization. Word study is a more conceptual
spelling approach as students manipulate words based on different features and provides
more practice and exposure than a traditional phonics program.

#4 Why do we use before, during, and after activities for comprehension? Name at
least one comprehension activity for each (before, during, and after) with resources
from class.

For comprehension we use before, during, and after activities to encourage active reading
where students are thinking while reading and are approaching reading with a purpose.
Before reading activities, also called pre-reading activities help students to think about
predictions and what they think the story will be about. These activities engage the students
before the story is being read. Some pre-reading activities and strategies include: brainstorming,
where students list and group what they already know about the topic, asking questions before
reading to engage students and to get them thinking, and the story impressions method or “story
words”, where a teacher chooses a narrative story and creates a prediction wordlist of about 10-
15 words and the students make think of a book title and predictions about the story from the
wordlist. With the story words method, students can also create their own short story using the
words as a guide as a pre-reading activity to then see if their story was close to the actual story.
Another pre-reading activity is an anticipation guide, where students answer true or false
statements related to the story to see how well they know the topic. This gets students curious
about the topic and then makes them excited to listen to the story to hear the answer.
Another pre-reading activity could be done through a K-W-L chart. This chart is divided
into three sections where students write what they Know about the topic, what they Want to
know, and what they Learned after reading. The K and W sections could be completed before
reading. Lastly, as a pre-reading strategy, teachers can use a DRTA. DRTA stands for Directed
Reading-Thinking Activity and is intended to develop a student’s ability to read critically and
reflexively. This strategy helps readers acquire the ability to: determine purposes for reading,
extract, comprehend, and assimilate information from the text, examine reading material based
on predictions, and alter predications based on information gained from the reading. To
accomplish this, DRTAs focus on predicting, reading and proving.
During reading activities include a contrast chart, a K-W-L chart, and a character/story
map for students to keep track of characters and their traits and to keep track of places and
sequence of events in stories. Students can also use a timeline or summary notes to break down
the story and write down main events. This will help them lay out what happened and will help
them to remember what happened, especially if the book is a little longer. Lastly, for a during-
reading strategy, a response log can be used. Response logs help students to think about their
own reactions to a reading while also having them think deeply about an event from the story.
An important aspect of comprehension is the after-reading activities. After reading
strategies used by teachers encourage students to reflect on what was read and help students to
remember what was read. Some post-reading strategies include a response paper/learning log, a
think-pair-share discussion where students share their thoughts with another student, answering
questions that were also asked before the text to see if answers have changed, an anticipation
guide to check answers, opinion/hypothesis, venn diagrams for comparison, and plot
organizers/timelines to lay out events from the story and to work on sequential order. A few
other strategies include a Somebody Wanted But So story mapping chart where students have to
think about the essentials of most stories and historical events, and a QAR chart which stands for
Question Answer Relationships, where students have to think about right there (stated in the
text), author and you (answer is not in the story), think and search (put it together), and on my
own (don’t have to read the story). These charts help students to analyze texts to see what
answers can be found in a reading and what conclusions they have to come up with on their own
and to help them understand why both types of conclusions are important.

#5 Compare our writing activities to what you see in practicum.

In terms of writing, I have seen some similarities and differences from what we have
talked about in class to what I have seen in my fifth grade practicum classroom this semester.
For example, in class we talked about creative writing. We did an activity using Chris Van
Allsburg poster illustrations as a free-writing activity where we worked with a partner and we
each wrote our own story for the illustration of our choosing. We then read our story to our
partner and compared stories and talked about why we wrote the story that way. I love this
activity because it encourages students to think outside the box and use their imagination with
very little restrictions. Similar to this activity, my fifth grade practicum class wrote a creative
writing story about what would happen if they woke up with wings. The day I came in I edited
many papers for the students and loved how different each story was. I also liked that the
teacher gave a prompt of the students waking up with wings but gave them the freedom to come
up with their own story from there. In terms of differences in practicum, I saw many informative
short papers and persuasive papers. Students for one paper had to inform the public about a
product and for another activity had to write a paper convincing someone to buy a product or go
see a movie through persuasion. I enjoyed helping the students with these papers because they
had written their thoughts out on an organizer first and then had to sort out their thoughts with
main ideas and supporting details which made their papers more organized and easier to read.

#6 In class exit slip – write your own information sheet for parents night (for
instructional level readers, grade of your choice). Use the handouts from class as an
example.

James Madison Elementary School

Third Grade- Parents Night
Language Arts

Hello Parents and Guardians,

First of all, I would like to say that I am very excited to work with you and your child this
year. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of improvement and learning! In terms of language
arts, there are many things that we will be working on throughout the year to help improve
student reading, writing, and spelling. The reading process involves many different aspects. At
this time at the beginning of third grade, students are most likely instructional readers, which
means they are able to read silently to themselves, they can spell polysyllabic words and know
their meanings, and can write with fluency. Our goal for this year is to help your child grow into
even better instructional readers. This means that we will be working on fluency (reading with
expression and at a steady speed appropriate to the text). We will also be working on
comprehension. This year we are starting our SOLs, so students will need to practice
understanding what they are reading and reading actively with a purpose. To do this, I will be
including pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading activities to encourage students to
analyze a text and to help them to be more knowledgeable readers.
A great way to improve fluency is to model fluency. I encourage families to read to their
students when possible. I also will be reading a chapter from a book almost each day to model
fluency and to show students how to read with expression. Reading these stories will help
students with fluency, comprehension through discussions, writing activities, etc.
For writing, our goal is for students to be able to express their ideas in writing. We will
be working on persuasive and creative writing pieces with prompts. To ensure that all students
have a starting point, we will brainstorm and fill out writing organizers to organize ideas in a
way that is clear and simple so students are not lost when they begin writing their final drafts.
Lastly for writing, we will utilize word study to improve spelling by sorting words by vowel
sounds and patterns and finding words with similar beginnings and endings. Word study will
take place in groups that are appropriate for the student’s reading level. Students will compare
and contrast words and will focus on spelling patterns using word sorts.
For students to be able to gain practice at home, they need to read books that are an
instructional level. Instructional level reading involves reading books that are not too easy and
not too difficult. To help with this, at the beginning of the year I will give assessments to
students to help find their appropriate instructional reading level so they can pick books from our
school’s library that will help them to improve their reading without getting frustrated.
To help with comprehension, we will be doing literature circles. I am very excited to
place students in developmentally appropriate groups where they can discuss a book they are
reading. Groups will also be decided based on topic interest so students are reading a book they
will want to read and discuss with their classmates. Literature circles are a great way to analyze
vocabulary, to talk about characters and plot, and to enjoy a book with friends.
With these strategies and activities, and with your help as well I am confident that each
child in this class will improve their reading, spelling, and writing! Please let me know if you
have any questions. You can also contact me for book suggestions, online resources for practice,
and activities for students. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Jessica Thoppil