Grade One
Book Worms!
"We're literacy obsessed!"
Welcome to our classroom
About Our Learners
Our classroom is made up of a diverse group of students, each with their own strengths, passions and experiences to contribute. No two children learn in the same way and it is our responsibility as teachers to build a literacy program that will help each student reach their full potential!
In this section, you will read about some of the specific learning needs in our class and what we are doing to support those students.
English Language Learners
In our classroom we have two English language learners who have moved to Canada from Korea and Cuba. Both students speak their native language at home, and their parents are not fluent in English. Both our students receive extra support from the ESL teacher twice a week, but there are multiple accommodations in both instruction and assessment to help support their learning. Both students have good oral language but are on the lower levels for reading according to the DRA. Where these learners struggle most is with writing. In our writing workshop we offer multiple types of writing paper to differentiate learning for all students. Students who are not confident writing are also able to compliment their work with pictures to show their understanding of concepts.
In our program we offer a lunch bunch workshop two times a week where students can meet and play literacy games, and have small-group support to aid their reading and writing, for example phonics instruction and practice.
Our main goal for these students is to build confidence and teach them the skills they need to improve their reading and writing.
Students can do all of the work we send home independently, and we empower our students to inform their parents about what’s happening in our class. They are the teachers at home! We also make sure each newsletter in the home-books is multilingual and we have a translator present during parent-teachers interviews.
Reading and Writing Difficulties
In our classroom, we have one student with difficulties in Area 1: Processing Symbols that impact his ability to read and write confidently and fluently. In reading, he has poor sight word recognition and relies on guessing words (usually incorrectly) based on their initial letter and some context clues. He sometimes struggles to decode word parts that should be familiar, especially when they occur in the middle of words. His reading is slow and labored and as a result, his comprehension is poor. According to the DRA, he is currently reading at a level 6 though we are optimistic as he has moved up from a level 3 since September.
In writing, this student consistently has trouble spelling—even those word families that we have already studied. He still relies on spelling phonetically most of the time. His written work is sloppy and at a content level that is below what he can express orally.
Our main goal for this student is to move him up in DRA reading levels to around mid-grade 1 level (8-12) by the end of the year so that he does not continue to fall farther behind his peers in grade 2. In writing, we want to provide him with strategies for recalling common spelling patterns and improve his printing so that writing is no longer such an arduous task. His ideas are there—we just want to make it easier for him to express them on paper!
We support this student by ensuring that he meets with us for small group, guided reading instruction during Reading Workshop at least once a week where we focus on decoding and comprehension strategies. He is also part of the lunch bunch workshop group mentioned above and receives explicit systematic phonics instruction. This is highly motivating for him as he is able to participate in fun literacy activities with his peers
This student receives accommodations on reading and writing tasks in the form of adjusting the demands of the task (he may be required to write less than other students and support his ideas with pictures) and providing a higher level of support. For example, this student usually works with graphic organizers when writing in order to help organize his ideas and receives frequent teacher “check-ins” to make sure he understands the task and is not becoming overwhelmed or frustrated.
Behavioural Issues
We have one student who has low social-emotional development. This student has trouble regulating emotion, and gets easily frustrated. He has trouble seeing other’s perspectives, and often feels he is being mistreated or situations are “unfair”. When he feels frustrated or mistreated he reacts first by crying and arguing, and then will shut down. Other students trigger him, and sometimes when the teacher asks him to do something he does not want to do he will act out. When our student acts out it is very hard to calm him down, and he often needs time and space to process his emotions and calm down. This is why it is more effective to prevent outbursts, rather than take a reactionary approach. The “Caught ya being good” program is especially good for this student, as they motivate him to stay on task. This student also does well with roles and responsibilities; he takes pride in being given a job and feels comfort in having control. This student is also motivated by opportunities to share his work in front of the class, and likes being called on to participate. Academically this student is not struggling, but his emotional outbursts are disruptive to his learning and therefore can affect him academically.
