I hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm sure people are counting the days until vacation. We continue to stay busy in 6F.
I went to a conference on Friday with Dr. Richard Allington. He is a leader in the area of struggling readers and writers. Currently, he is a professor in Tennessee. After a lot of research, his message was clear: the one thing that will help struggling readers become better readers is TIME to read. That being said, I collected reading logs this morning and cut a deal with my sixth graders. They will need to do another reading log for this week, however, I am going to give them the time in class to do this. I am excusing of the vocabulary section but will give them 60 minutes of uninterrupted reading time tomorrow morning. They may log this time. I will do the same for them on Wednesday. This will allow them 45 more minutes to read. That's my end of the bargain. Their ends of the bargain consists of this: they must come with reading material, having gone to the bathroom and gotten drinks prior to the time I start my class. The 60 minutes tomorrow will be just that....60 minutes of pure reading time. I will be pulling students to confer with them. My goal is to sit and check in with each child between Tuesday and Wednesday. If there is misbehavior (off task behavior) during this reading time, students will owe me time at recess. I'm really looking forward to how this will turn out. If it is successful, then I may consider it in the future. I know that students are busy in the spring with activities and would like to allot them time for reading in class.
The time spent in reading will not be a "read-a-thon". They will be required to read appropriate material for independent reading. The students have all been prepped knowing that they must choose their books ahead of class time and come with enough reading material to last one hour. Choosing "just right" books is a very important skill that we've worked on all year long. I'm hoping this work will pay off for them.
In writing today, we worked on a Helping Verb sheet, some vocabulary development as well as a practice picture prompt. Students revised based on what a peer gave them for feedback. All of this work supports our work with word choice.
In science, we read a book called Why You Look Like You Whereas I Tend to Look Like Me. This sparked much discussion about the topic of genetics. I fielded questions as best I could and then we went over the Heredity Scavenger Hunt. We did not finish with this activity. Genetics is a complicated subject and we will only scratch the surface over the next few weeks. It is my favorite science unit to teach!
Please remember to send in the permission slips for HMS and the movie. Both require no money!
