Progress is not as fast as I would like. You as the teacher can see what Reading Level the child could make it to if the child did not have,
- Poor school attendance
- Poor group attendance because of: sport, other events,
- Difficult behaviour
Of course there are other factors involved but the above are the main three. When you are faced with these issues (as I have been- with many of my Magenta readers) I then need to look at what else I could possibly do, with these students in a school day -that I may have not thought of.
I then decided to organise a reading pack for the families concerned. The packs consisted of sight words, alphabet cards (for letter and sound knowledge) and I explained to the Mum, Dad or Auntie what the cards were for. (I must admit though that the parent/teacher interviews allowed me to introduce the idea of these at home support cards for their tamariki) especially the children that I observed with "high absenteeism".
I now tend to start my school day at 8.30, with getting these children to read in the mornings to me and go through their alphabet letters and sounds After the morning roll I play an engage game focusing on oral language or play "other" games that have a emphasis on oral language. I tend to do this in the mornings and afternoons. I have altered my class timetable to my children's needs.
There has been movement of 14 of my children. These children have moved up at least one Reading level and at least 5 of the 14 have moved significantly. But the idea is that we want momentum and we can only get this through routine.
I enjoyed reading your post and totally agree that many factors like the ones you stated do hinder children’s progress. I like the idea of sending packs with sight words home and chatting to parents and getting them on board with their child’s learning. Great to see that they have made progress in reading. You doing an awesome job. Keep it up and look forward to hear what happens next.
ReplyDeleteThank you Khismira for your positive comment!
ReplyDeleteI think if the kids are not going to come to school, whatever the reason, school can go to them. They can have some work at home & whanau are happy with this!