Visible Learning with 6 Year Olds

It was a proud teacher moment today when I was put in my place by one of my 6 year old students.

This little boy finds reading tricky and is currently the only one in his reading group as they are grouped according to their reading level.

I looked over this morning to see him on his iPad, not reading his book as he was supposed to be doing. I said to him, slightly sternly, "You need to read your book before you complete the activity on your iPad."

He looked up a me with a confused expression and replied "I'm on my class site finding out which book I need to read."

He was, indeed, not only doing exactly the right thing but becoming an independent learner at the same time.

Decoding Cards

I have been using the reading cards that I posted below in several of my reading groups. I have taken it slowly so that I can teach each card and introduce new ones with time to explain what they mean. I want to ensure that we are using several cards each time they try to decode a new word so that they understand that we should be using multiple strategies when we read.

The students in one group are taking on the roles of being "word detectives" very readily. They search for little words in unknown words, look for known chunks and use their word families. They have moved from L12-L14 and now to get them from L14 to L15 I know we will need to work more on comprehension.

Decoding Strategy Cards

Over the holidays, I thought about the prompts my students need to help them to decode at about a 6year old reading age (Green, or Level 12-14). I made these cards to use in class to prompt students to use different strategies without having to remind them verbally. I haven't yet used them with my target group, but I will report back when I do.