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What is the ideal amount of time in PYP that is literacy is connected to UOI?

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How do you regularly meet with students for both guided reading and RW conferring?

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What is the actual workshop weekly time expectation?

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As a new teacher to IST, what is the reading and writing expectations for Grade 1 i.e. 5-7 or 6-8? I have student already turning 7 so shouldn't they be in 6-8 band rather than 5-7? One example of is the continuum for 5-7 is DRA 12. When I look at many Reading Level correlation charts like the one attached, I see 12 as mid 1st grade.

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How might we determine phonics expectations by grade level? Being new at IST, what are the end of year expectations, in terms of phonics, for kindergarten? And end of G1?

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In your experience, Fay, can - what is accepted as - 'grade level' expectations be the same in a school system where a majority of students come from a play-based early years/kindergarten program?

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Systematic Phonics Scope and Sequence - Keys to Literacy

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Systematic phonics instruction follows a sequential and planned set of phonics elements that gradually builds from base elements to more subtle and complex structures. Teachers follow a scope and sequence, as opposed to implicit phonics instruction that addresses phonics as it comes up in text. While there is no universally agreed upon scope and sequence, any logically ordered sequence begins with the most basic phonics concepts and progresses to more difficult concepts, with new learning building on prior knowledge (Carreker, 2011). Sequences vary somewhat among phonics programs. If teachers are using an explicit, systematic phonics program it is best to follow its sequence for the order of teaching. If this is not the case, or if the program is not systematic enough, Keys to Literacy has developed a “generic” scope and sequence.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Create a new spreadsheet and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Sheets to edit Excel files. Free from Google.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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Click on on any book cover below to begin reading, or use the Menu to navigate.

Use the book's homework button to open a downloadable homework packet.

Use the book's SMART Board button to download SMART Board files that are designed to assist you in the delivery of Flyleaf's Foundational Skill and Close Reading Guide instruction.

*Foundational Skills Guides and Close Reading Guides are sold separately and are not available as online resources. Visit flyleafpublishing.com for details about our instructional guides. **If you do not currently have access to SMART Notebook software, you can download it here: SMART Notebook.

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For Instructors - Flyleaf Publishing - Online Materials Portal

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Online Materials PortalFor Instructors Click on on any book cover below to begin reading, or use the Menu to navigate. Use the book's homework button to open a downloadable homework packet. Use the book's SMART Board button to download SMART Board files that are designed to assist you in the delivery of Flyleaf's Foundational Skill and Close Reading Guide instruction.

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The Reading GPS gives teachers information about whether students are moving toward the goal of proficient reading.

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Great teacher resources and free decodable books

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Beyond Decodables aims to support early readers in learning to apply phonics concepts in authentic contexts and in learning to love to read. We're proud to offer these texts and resources for free. If you try them out, we'd love to hear about your experience to continue to strengthen the books and resources.

frequently asked questions

Who should use Beyond Decodables?

Beyond Decodables are best for children working on applying phonics skills to decode words (K-2nd). Check the scope and sequence and the back page of each book to see if it is right for your students. Parents, you can use these books, too! Our Parent Guide is coming soon!

When during the day should I use Beyond Decodables?

Beyond Decodables are meant for small group and independent reading. Remember, the goal is for children to actively decode the words in these books, so you need to give them the chance to individually encounter and decode each word. For children who may need more support, we recommend considering using a different text or echo reading. Check out our lesson templates to see how to teach using these texts.

What do I need to change about my reading instruction to use Beyond Decodables?

There are a few ways your teaching might need to change to get the most out of these books. First, focus at least some small group reading lessons on applying phonics to read words in texts by following our templates and using Beyond Decodables. Second, change your prompting to focus on "Look at the word" and "Slide through each sound" instead of "Check the picture." Third, consider a new way of evaluating children's reading, like Drs. Nell K. Duke, Alessandra E. Ward, and Rachel Klingelhofer's Listening to Reading Protocol (available on Dr. Nell K. Duke's website).

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Beyond Decodables aims to support early readers in learning to apply phonics concepts in authentic contexts and in learning to love to read. We're proud to offer these texts and resources for free. If you try them out, we'd love to hear about your experience to continue to strengthen the books and resources.

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Planning Across a Week - Marist Brothers

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Using decodable and levelled readers appropriately

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Using decodable and levelled readers appropriately

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SoR-What I Should Have Learned in College

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Strategies for supporting ELLs in Writers' Workshop

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Strategies for supporting ELLs in Writers' Workshop

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Serving ELLs through Reading and Writing Workshop

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Serving ELLs through Reading and Writing Workshop

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I asked Valentina Gonzalez, an education blogger specializing in elementary ELs, what advice she would give to educators working with elementary ELs. This guest post on using the reading and writing workshop is her response. You can also purchase her co-authored booked, Reading and Writing Workshop with English Learners. If you happen to purchase this book, you are helping to fund the blog at no cost to you.

When I stop to reflect on what is BEST practice for my elementary ELLs in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, the answer comes to me quite clearly...the workshop model. Why? What I know about the needs of my ELLs is that they require explicit instruction, modeling, guidance, routine, and practice. Here's how the reading and writing workshop models promote progress for ELLs in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

The reading and writing workshops follow a specific daily routine. There is a structure to the workshop that is followed in order for each component to happen daily. The routine helps all students know what to expect. This is especially great for ELLs since they are (possibly) navigating a new language, school system, and culture.

The Mini-lesson

One of the components of both the reading and writing workshop is the mini-lesson. During the mini-lesson, the teacher gives direct instruction and explicitly shares with students what will be expected of them as readers and/or writers. ELLs need to know exactly what is expected of them as readers, writers and speakers.

Since the mini-lesson is short, there is not a lot of teacher talk. One way to make the mini-lesson even more ELL friendly is to slow down speech and stop for a structured turn and talk. During this portion of workshop, ELLs are practicing listening and some speaking as well.

Anchor charts are a key piece of the mini-lesson. This is how the teacher leaves a fingerprint of the teaching. The anchor chart should be able to support students as they go into independent work. It allows the teacher to work with small groups or confer one-on-one with students without being constantly interrupted by students who need re-teaching. For this reason, the anchor chart should be comprehensible for students. Limit the text and support the text with visuals and graphics. The anchor chart should give students clear, step-by-step guidance for their work.

Independent Work

The biggest piece of the reading and writing workshops is independent reading/writing time. During this block of time, students work on their own reading and/or writing.

During reading workshop students are reading self-selected books at their reading level. Selecting books can be tricky. I don't want my ELLs to feel bad if their reading level is way below their grade level in English. It can be hard to find texts that they can read but are still relevant and interesting to them. Adapted texts and nonfiction texts are great here. I also encourage my ELLs to continue reading in their native language. The bridge between L1 (first language) and L2 (second language) can be strong if we continue to nurture it.

During writing workshop students are writing their own pieces of work. Providing students with touchstone texts, exemplars, or target texts is key here. All students need to see what their goal is in writing so they can aim to achieve it. And not everyone's goal will be the same. It certainly won't be to write like an adult author. Though I love using mentor text written by great adult authors, when it's time for students to do their own writing, I give them examples they can achieve (in their ZPD). The best examples are student written so start saving some student examples to use year after year!

Whether we are in reading or writing workshop, students are practicing what the teacher has taught during minilessons. Within independent reading and writing block the teacher is able to work with students in smaller settings to meet their specific needs. The teacher can pull a guided group, a strategy group, or work with students one-on-one.

No matter which of these methods is selected daily, students' needs lead the decision. ELLs benefit from these smaller settings where the teacher/student ratio is lowered. These smaller settings also help to lower the affective filter for ELLs. When ELLs need time to process their thinking, possibly translate language, and build courage to answer, a smaller setting provides comfort.

The anxiety level is lowered and students feel safe to respond and collaborate. In addition, the smaller setting allows for more interaction helping our students to have extra opportunities to practice the new skills they have been taught and the new language. During independent time, ELLs are practicing reading and/or writing, listening, and speaking.

Share Time

The final piece of reading and writing workshop is share time. For some ELLs, sharing in whole group can be intimidating. One strategy that has been found to alleviate stress for ELLs before they share with whole group is to allow them rehearsal time. Giving ELLs time to practice what they will share builds their confidence before they share with the class.

Some ELLs will need sentence stems or starters to help them produce sentences that are grammatically correct while others will not need this type of scaffold. During this portion of the workshop, ELLs are practicing listening and speaking (if they are sharing).

I can't end this post without mentioning read aloud. Reading aloud is not actually part of the reading workshop; however it is a critical piece of a balanced approach to literacy. Providing students with an excellent model of how readers think through the reading process is extremely important. Reading aloud with accountable talk is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful ways to create lovers of reading and critical thinkers.

To accommodate for ELLs, teachers can use gestures when reading, annunciate words, speak clearly, and stop frequently to assess for comprehension. Intentionally pairing students with partners who can support one another during turn and talk opportunities is another way to help advance ELLs.

Conclusion

All in all, the workshop structure can be powerful for each student in a classroom if the focus is on student learning. When we focus on each student individually and meet their needs, we can help them become the best readers, writers, listeners, and speakers that they can be!

Next week

Next week we begin a new series. The last two WIDA Actions were connected by the theme of collaboration. I'd like to dive into that theme more deeply as it's becoming more and more significant for English Language Teachers (ELTs). As an ELT myself, I've found that while collaborating is a required skill, it's rarely ever taught. Expected, but unsupported. The series will cover co-planning, co-teaching, co-assessing, and co-reflecting on the collaboration process.

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#38. Serving ELLs Through Reading & Writing Workshop - TanKHuynh

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I asked Valentina Gonzalez, an education blogger specializing in elementary ELs, what advice she would give to educators working with elementary ELs. This guest post on using the reading and writing workshop is her response. You can also purchase her co-authored booked, Reading and Writing Workshop with English Learners .

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Pages 15-22

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I've heard it before, but always good hear it again. (Kendra)

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I've heard it before, but always good hear it again. (Kendra)

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Explicit teaching is necessary for reading, writing and phonics. The school’s responsibility is to provide authentic opportunities in language and literacy and to integrate into other discipline areas. It is a balance, not a finite number of units.

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How can we integrate more reading/writing units with UOI? (Kendra)

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How can we integrate more reading/writing units with UOI? (Kendra)

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Next steps: consider which reading and writing units were a strength this year to integrate into unit next year.

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How can I confer with all students? How frequently?

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How can I confer with all students? How frequently?

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Reading groups, phonics groups and individual reading conferencing

Think of a schedule over 2 weeks

Think of a focus for conferring (similar teaching points for all based on mini lessons)

Make the goal to see each child once a week in a small group or conferencing

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AISA Deep Dive notes about PYP and Workshop 

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AISA Deep Dive notes about PYP and Workshop 

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Where is the inquiry?
- in the conceptual understandings discussed and in the unit/lesson plans
- the way lessons are delivered to students (e.g. open ended questions, asking questions that provoke thinking)

Where is the agency?
- co-constructing clear learning intentions with students (e.g. I can statements)
- choice and voice in writing topics and books, paper options

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AISA Deep Dive - an international school in Japan's language and literacy teaching agreements

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AISA Deep Dive - an international school in Japan's language and literacy teaching agreements

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AISA VERSION.PYP Readers Writers Workshop _Agreements_ _1_

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Strategies for Supporting ELLs in Reader's Workshop

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Connections to the Science of Reading (SoR) - Katie

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Connections to the Science of Reading (SoR) - Katie

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Much of what Fay said about reading development reinforces what the SoR says is necessary for children to become successful readers.

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Prevention is better than intervention. - Katie

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Prevention is better than intervention. - Katie

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Building strong foundational skills for reading, including explicit and systematic phonics instruction is important in preventing the need for intervention later on.

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I really appreciated Fay posting some links to free online decodable texts. These are great resources for ELLs who are learning to read.

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The EAL part of this group inquiry - Katie

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The EAL part of this group inquiry - Katie

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My focus for this inquiry was, “How can I best support my Grade 1 ELLs in Reading and Writing Workshops?” In my research, I came across some helpful resources, including articles, infographics, professional EAL blogs and webinars. These resources provided effective differentiation strategies, some of which I already use, and some that I would like to try out with my students.

Some of the key takeaways from this inquiry for me are:

There are many effective differentiation strategies to support ELLs in Reading and Writing Workshops.

Decodable readers provide strong practice for learning early reading skills (up to ~DRA12). (See the video posted on this padlet titled "Using Decodable and Levelled Texts Appropriately".)

Prevention is better than intervention. Explicit foundational skills instruction that includes phonemic awareness and phonics is crucial for students as they are learning to read and write in English. This is not to say intervention shouldn't be provided to students who need it. Early identification of students who need intervention, and providing that intervention, is important as small deficits compound over time.

The Science of Reading provides valuable insights and research on how children around the world, in all languages and cultures, learn to read. This is useful information for supporting my ELLs in Workshop lessons, and for informing how I teach my ELLs to read in EAL pull-out lessons.

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My focus was on learning about what is and what does Readers' Workshop look like in G1.
I had questions as a new teacher to IST on how reading was taught and assessed in general and more specifically the Readers' Workshop model specifically.
Most beneficial was the mini-lessons and having students practiced the skills in their independent reading time.
Sessions with Fay gave me clarity and a shift in thinking.
Most challenging - finding time to do it all, phonics, read-alouds, conferring, guided reading, assessing.

Key Takeaways from session with Fay.
- Timetabling - 1 idea - All students across 2 weeks. 1st week - 1-1 conferences, 2nd week - small groups.
- Explicit teaching has an important place. In order for students to make transfer into trans-disciplinary connections, they have to have a strong base in the disciplines (reading, writing, etc.). Explicit teaching in reading and writing, then integration to content.
- Workshop every day especially in first grade. Phonics outside of Readers/Writers Workshop.
- There is often a misconception with the play-based curriculum that phonics and phonemic awareness is not taught. However, a play-based curriculum is a rigorous curriculum that also includes Phonics and Phonemic Awareness.
- Generally speaking, by the end of Kindergarten, most children should know most letter names and sounds,  and blend and segment CVC words, many can do digraphs. If needed, early intervention happens in the second half of Kindergarten. End of 2nd grade/Beginning of 3rd grade - phonics remediation is difficult to recover.
- Measuring and tracking growth needs to be in place to justify interventions.

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Serving Multilingual Learners of All Ages

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Serving Multilingual Learners of All Ages

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Rooted Linguistics: Serving Teachers of Multilingual Learners

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Science of Reading, Balanced Literacy, and English Learners

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If you teach reading you have probably heard of the “Reading Wars”. And if you haven’t, then perhaps you don’t even need to read any further. For those that have, you might feel confused. I,…

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Using the Science of Reading to Improve Literacy Instruction for English Learners

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Using the Science of Reading to Improve Literacy Instruction for English Learners

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Learning to read and developing as a reader is more complicated in a language you are simultaneously learning to speak and understand than in a language you already know well orally. This is one of the most significant challenges faced by millions of English learners (ELs) who are not in bilingual programs, as well as by their teachers.

During this recorded webinar Dr. Claude Goldenberg shares:

What is known about promoting development in two distinct but related and complex domains: oral language and reading

How the science of reading can be applied to teaching ELs to read and write in English

The importance of English language support and English Language Development instruction to optimize ELs' literacy development

Watch this webinar to build your knowledge of how to help English learners become strong readers in their new language and have equitable opportunities for success.

Fill out the form to watch the webinar.
You will be redirected to the CORE website.

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Using the Science of Reading to Improve Literacy Instruction for English Learners - Pivot Learning

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Learning to read and developing as a reader is more complicated in a language you are simultaneously learning to speak and understand than in a language you already know well orally. This is one of the most significant challenges faced by millions of English learners (ELs) who are not in bilingual programs, as well as [...]

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PYP and Reader's/Writer's Workshop - Kendra

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PYP and Reader's/Writer's Workshop - Kendra

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My discussions with Katie and Marie and my own investigations have re-affirmed some of my previous knowledge and understanding and has also encouraged me to think more deeply about many topics in early literacy education.

The focus of my own inquiry was around how PYP and the Reader's and Writer's Workshop model can co-exist - both fulfilling their purpose and providing the greatest possible benefit to the students.

I honestly didn't learn anything new in this regard, as they can and do in many schools already.  I think my biggest 'ah ha' of how this might work at our school was a teaching experience this school year.  During our How the World Works unit of inquiry, as a team we developed/improved reading and writing units that aligned well with each other.  We identified necessary skills and strategies in reading and writing that would support their development as readers and writers, but also support their inquiries into plants.  Since the unit of inquiry was so well integrated with the reading and writing units, much of the learning happening was connected, which led to time spent wisely in the classroom, more time for practicing skills was available and, I believe, student achievement increased.

My wonderings are now on how to best integrate reading and writing units into other subject units throughout the year. Our team has worked on developing the reading and writing units to allow for more integration already this year, but more work needs to be done with planning and executing the plans. I also think our team will need to take more time to reflect not only on our reading and writing units, but also on the integration with other subject units.

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What is known about teaching ELLs to read and develop as readers in English

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What is known about teaching ELLs to read and develop as readers in English