In my job as a teacher coach and consultant, I have had the opportunity to work with amazing teachers. I worked in a school this past fall modeling the ReadyGEN program from Pearson Education for over 6 weeks. Many teachers ask if they can continue to use what they have learned from "The Sisters" Daily 5 & CAFE program with the adoption of ReadyGEN. I say, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." Why would you stop doing what works for your students. Let me show you how one teacher integrated both programs.
Along with a team that consisted of the principal, reading coaches, support staff and myself, we witnessed a first grade teacher that flawlessly modeled the integration of ReadyGEN and Daily 5. This is a testament to the strength and validity of both programs. The complete script of Unit 1B, Lesson 6 can be accessed HERE.
From the beginning to the end of the lesson the teacher kept stating or referring back to the Enduring Understanding: Readers identify information from pictures and words and the CAFE skill, "Good readers brains make connections to stories."
8:45 - 9:05 WORD WORK
The first 20 minutes, students worked on Foundational Skills Instruction/Word Work. The Daily Oral Language (DOL) format was used to review the ReadyGEN conventions of matching nouns and verbs and students worked at their desks that faced the front the classroom. Students moved flawlessly to the carpet for Phonemic Awareness practice and back to their desks for Handwriting practice of the letter Rr on a half sheet. Students were asked to self-evaluate by circling the best sample. Finally, students were asked to put their office up, and the teacher dictated 5 high-frequency words and students wrote them. See the photo below of a student's office.
9:06 - 9:45 WHOLE GROUP READING INSTRUCTION
Whole Group Reading Instruction with ReadyGEN always starts with a Read Aloud. This lesson was no different but first she brought students to the carpet and she referred to the CAFE wall and said, "Good readers' brains make connections to stories." The Read Aloud was the Text Collection poem, The Elephant" followed by students partner reading the same poem in their little text collection books. This connects with the Daily 5, Read to Someone. Students were reminded that they were making connections today. Students and teacher did a Shared Reading of the Dolphin and Duck from Time to Sleep. Students worked in pairs to do a Close Reading and answer the DOK questions. During Reading Analysis, teacher and students collaborated to complete a 2 column chart to record how dolphins and ducks are alike and different. Students worked in pairs to search for evidence in the text. Before leaving the carpet students were asked, "What did the author do so you would connect?"
For the last 15 minutes, students returned to their desks for WORD WORK/Benchmark Vocabulary instruction. The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model is an integral part of the ReadyGEN program. Four vocabulary words were taught one at a time in the context of the story. The students were asked to hunt for the words in Time to Sleep. A half sheet from the ReadyGEN Readers Writers Journal was distributed. Students were encourage to choose 2 vocabulary words and to use each word in a sentence with matching nouns and verbs which brought students back to the Conventions skill of the day.
9:46-10:15 SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTION
Students were directed to Listen to Reading on the Pearson Realize site or to Read to Self using the ReadyGEN leveled texts for Unit 1. The teachers met with three groups:
Small Group #1: Worked on blend skills with a group of at-risk students.
Small Group #2: Worked with a small group with the ReadyGEN leveled texts.
Small Group #3: Listened to an individual student read. During CAFE Conferring with the student, the student said, "These just right books are really working!"
10:45 - 11:20 WHOLE GROUP WRITING
The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model provided the framework for the whole group writing lesson. Question words and questions were modeled by the teacher and she brought it back to the main idea that readers identify information in pictures and words.
During guided practice, students practiced changing a fact to a questions. Students took out their writers notebook and wrote two questions based on the facts about the Dolphins and the Ducks from the book, Time to Sleep. It was amazing to see students check their own work by reading it out loud to themselves at their desks.
The lesson was closed with a connection to the leveled texts and the Reading Analysis skill when the teacher asked the question, "What is the same/different about the animal you read about compared to the dolphin and the duck?" This lesson was so powerful because everything was connected to the Enduring Understandings, the Essential Questions and the Goals of both the module and the lesson.
The entire ReadyGEN lesson that includes a Foundational Skills instruction, Read Aloud, Close Read, Benchmark Vocabulary instruction, Reading Analysis, Independent Reading, Small Group Instruction and Writing Instruction took 2 hours and 5 minutes plus a 30 minute recess and bathroom break. So, it can be done in 3 hours a day with plenty of time to teach everything else that needs to be taught.
I would like to share 2 more documents from this school that were created by this first grade teacher and a second grade teacher. I simply put their ideas on paper and I am sharing them with you.
