A class of students starting Grade One will arrive with varying levels of literacy development, comfort and confidence. Some students will begin Grade One reading at a PM Benchmark Level 15, while others will arrive unable to even recognize the letters in their own names. It is important that you start the year with a carefully prepared one-on-one diagnostic literacy assessment for each student. This assessment should include letter name and letter sound recognition, phonological awareness and phonemic awareness assessments (syllable blending/segmentation, sound blending/segmentation, rhyming words, initial/ending sounds), sight word recognition, and a levelled reading assessment such as PM Benchmarks or Alphakids.
The next question you have will be: “When will I have time to sit one-on-one with every child in my class during the first few weeks of school? It’s one of the busiest times of the year!”
You’re right, it is one of the busiest times of the year. It’s busy because we want so desperately to create a functional, positive climate for learning in our classroom. We’re focused on embedding classroom management strategies, setting up routines and setting goals and expectations. What we sometimes don’t realize is that we can do all of those things while we get a solid understanding of where each and every one of our students is in their own literacy journey.
Teachers can start one-to-one assessments while students are learning to participate in literacy centres. The first step in the development of functional literacy centres is teaching students to stay in their centre for a specific period of time. Start slowly – have students go to a specific centre where they can explore some open-ended materials (e.g. art supplies, plastic 2D shapes, various loose parts, etc.), and ask them to stay there for a short period of time (I suggest starting with 5 minutes). Gradually, you can extend the time that students are asked to stay at their centre. As they get better at staying at their centres, you can begin to introduce specific literacy centre tasks with whole-class mini-lessons. Each day as you practise literacy centres with your class, you can pull aside one or two students for assessment. At first, you may only get through part of one assessment, since your time will be very limited. Eventually, you’ll be able to get through a couple of assessments in one session. In a few weeks, you’ll have all of your diagnostic assessments completed and you’ll be ready to move on to the next step.
This process of setting up literacy centres and completing diagnostic assessments will take a long time. Be patient. If you take several weeks to set up your centres, they will run seamlessly, and you will have ample time for one-to-one assessments, reading conferences, guided reading and small group focus activities throughout the school year. By starting the year off with a detailed diagnostic assessment, you’ll also know how to make the best use of your students' time with you in order to help them reach their highest potential.
For more information about literacy centres, please see the following resources:
The Daily 5 - Gail Boushey & Joan Moser
Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work – Debbie Diller
The next question you have will be: “When will I have time to sit one-on-one with every child in my class during the first few weeks of school? It’s one of the busiest times of the year!”
You’re right, it is one of the busiest times of the year. It’s busy because we want so desperately to create a functional, positive climate for learning in our classroom. We’re focused on embedding classroom management strategies, setting up routines and setting goals and expectations. What we sometimes don’t realize is that we can do all of those things while we get a solid understanding of where each and every one of our students is in their own literacy journey.
Teachers can start one-to-one assessments while students are learning to participate in literacy centres. The first step in the development of functional literacy centres is teaching students to stay in their centre for a specific period of time. Start slowly – have students go to a specific centre where they can explore some open-ended materials (e.g. art supplies, plastic 2D shapes, various loose parts, etc.), and ask them to stay there for a short period of time (I suggest starting with 5 minutes). Gradually, you can extend the time that students are asked to stay at their centre. As they get better at staying at their centres, you can begin to introduce specific literacy centre tasks with whole-class mini-lessons. Each day as you practise literacy centres with your class, you can pull aside one or two students for assessment. At first, you may only get through part of one assessment, since your time will be very limited. Eventually, you’ll be able to get through a couple of assessments in one session. In a few weeks, you’ll have all of your diagnostic assessments completed and you’ll be ready to move on to the next step.
This process of setting up literacy centres and completing diagnostic assessments will take a long time. Be patient. If you take several weeks to set up your centres, they will run seamlessly, and you will have ample time for one-to-one assessments, reading conferences, guided reading and small group focus activities throughout the school year. By starting the year off with a detailed diagnostic assessment, you’ll also know how to make the best use of your students' time with you in order to help them reach their highest potential.
For more information about literacy centres, please see the following resources:
The Daily 5 - Gail Boushey & Joan Moser
Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work – Debbie Diller