Mrs Tunelius's blog
RH Intervention Room: New Groups! February 19, 2008
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Tue, 2008-02-19 12:20.January 1, 2008 RH Intervention Group Update
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2008-01-11 14:41.Next week students will be starting new stories. Third grade will be reading Animals in Winter, as the fourth graders begin The Wonder of Wolves. Fifth graders will start the week with Sunken Treasure. As the students learn to apply their strategies, the texts are beginning to get longer and more challenging.
Ask your child which story is their favorite and why they like it.
RH Intervention Room: Winter break reading, 12-20-07
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Thu, 2007-12-20 13:42.Continued progress is our number one goal. Please encourage your child to pick up some books and read over the winter break. With your encouragement at home, your child will continue to prosper and gain confidence in their reading ability.
December 7, 2007 RH Intervention Group Update
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2007-12-07 14:31.November 2, 2007 RH Intervention Group Update
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2007-11-02 14:34.Intervention group students have been working with partners to practice their oral fluency skills. Students are becoming aware of what they are doing well as readers, as well as setting goals to become better, more fluent, readers.
Third graders are almost done reading Arturo’s Baton by Syd Hoff. Ask your third grade student why Arturo believes his world tour should be cancelled.
Fourth graders are coming to the end of Tippu by Abigail Pizer and David Day. Ask your fourth grade student what Tippu’s journey to find a safe place to live.
Fifth graders are close to finishing Antarctica by Helen Cowcher. Ask your fifth grade student about the emperor penguins, Adelie penguins, and Weddell seals. They are becoming experts on these creatures from Antarctica.
Students are also improving their sequencing skills by using the Summarizing strategy of telling about what they have read. In groups students are trying to tell the story in the order it occurred.
Four Strategies
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2007-10-26 13:16.October 26, 2007
In the Intervention Classroom we are focusing on four strategies for successful readers, as presented in Soar to Success. Â
Clarify:Â Rereading confusing sections of text and discussing words or ideas that are not clear.
Predict:Â Students engage in reading by thinking about what will happen next based off of what was read so far in the text.
Question:Â After reading, students ask questions that they can find answers for in the text by using their clarifying strategy.
Summarize:Â Students identify the important elements of the text by telling or writing about what they have read.
In class this week students have been using a Story Map to identify the essential parts of the story. This strategy is used to show comprehension and to demonstrate their understanding of the sequence of events they have read in a narrative. Students are working on identifying the following things when they are done reading:
Soar to Success
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2007-10-19 08:41.October 19, 2007Â
At Rutledge Hall small intervention groups are using the Soar to Success program to build comprehension and fluency skills. Learning to clarify, predict, question, and summarize are the main focus of the 30 minute daily intervention sessions. If your child is in the intervention program ask them if they could name the four reading strategies listed above in bold print. Challenge them to describe these strategies to you and how they are used in their group when they read.
Third grade read a funny story about a dog, named Arthur, who tries to help around the house, called Educating Arthur. Your child should be able to share with you the adventures of this entertaining dog.
Fourth graders read Potato, a story about a family trying to find a way to survive during the Great Depression. The students were quite impressed when they found out that the author of Potato was only 8 years old when she wrote this story about her grandparents.
Fifth graders read Owlbert. In this story, when the main character, Nicholas, is told that he cannot have a pet he is quite disappointed. When he finds a lonely baby owl, Nicholas becomes like a parent to the owlet. He becomes quite a responsible caregiver and impresses his parents with his dedication towards this animal.
Talking about the books read in school is a great way to interact with your child. In fact, the home connection is integral to success in reading. Share a book this weekend if you have the time.
Intervention services begin Monday!
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2007-10-12 12:31.CBM Testing
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2007-09-21 13:32.The CBM along with the MAZE test will help the staff at Rutledge make instructional decisions in a quick, objective, and efficient method. Each test provides a snapshot helping us predict student performance with reliability. Responding to our students needs and assisting them to make progress is our priority. Once all data is collected and interpreted students will be placed in appropriate programs to help them grow as learners.
MAZE testing
Submitted by Mrs Tunelius on Fri, 2007-09-14 14:02.The MAZE test is a 3 minute standardized measure that requires students to silently read a passage in which periodically they must choose 1 of 3 words that would preserve the meaning of the text for a deleted word. Â
This test will be used this year to Benchmark progress of each child and to monitor growth in comprehension. The MAZE test will be given 3 times this year to each student. Â
Most students who score well on MAZE are able to decode better, have larger sight word vocabularies, and comprehend better than students with lower scores. There is a correlation with the MAZE test and high stakes test scores like ISAT. In fact, MAZE may act as a predictor of success on tests like ISAT. Â
Students who have lower scores may have difficulty with word identification, automaticity of word recognition, or have difficulty with words staying in their working memory long enough to discern the meaning of a sentence.
