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The classroom library consisted of a small bookshelf that was eye-level with the students and different bins that were sorted. Every book in her classroom was sorted by themes whether it be on the bookshelf, in the bins, or in a cupboard she had above the cubbies. Some of the themes were animals, numbers, ABC's, colors, etc. When we were there the bookshelf started as a fall/Halloween theme and ended up switching to a winter/holiday theme before we left. This was an easy way for children to pick out books that were of interest to them. She also had colored and labeled bins that held the pre-leveled books.

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The main resource other than books used in the classroom for literacy were the several computers they had and a few class tablets. The children used these to go onto A-Z readers online where they would get extra practice with literacy. Here they get about an extra 10 minutes or so of listening to a book being read to them. There are also small interactive literacy activities for the students to complete online if they wish to do so.

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Livonia Elementary has recently made the switch to using The Independent Reading Level Assessment Framework known as IRLA. This framework is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and is made by the American Reading Company.

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The students are leveled by IRLA so they are given a color and number that specifies the reading level they are currently at. This helps the teacher to place the students in guided reading groups that are starting to be used in the classroom. It has a minimal overall impact on the classroom as the children are so young and most of them are currently at the same beginning levels.

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A template for students to practice their letters

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Literacy is a major area that is taught in the classroom. In her classroom specifically, Mrs. Minnehan said the breakdown of what she teaches is about 50% literacy and 50% math. She works on literacy from about 8:45-10:45 then goes onto math which usually incorporates at least a book or two. In the afternoon there is typically a classroom read-aloud and then journal writing. Most of the reading is done as a whole group, but she does have guided reading groups as well.

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As they are in kindergarten, the students were not aware of the standards. Thus, there were no learning targets displayed anywhere in the room nor were they talked about with the students.

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Doreen Fasoldt is the reading interventionist in Mrs. Minnehan's classroom. Her official title is called the reading teacher. She currently pushes in to the classroom, but in November she starts to pull out children as she has gathered enough data on their reading abilities.

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Mrs. Minnehan's kindergarten classroom had 19 students and up to 3 teachers in the room at any given time. She was the head teacher but at times the reading specialist or other teacher's aides were in the room helping her.

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An example of letters that were placed around the room

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Each student has a folder where their literacy assessments and progress goes

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School book room leveled using IRLA

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Classroom Library bookshelf

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Literacy Assessments

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"Power" words, which are what they call sight words.

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Classroom library bins sorted by theme

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Creative summative assessment timeline of a book read aloud in class

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Part of the IRLA program that students are given books to bring home daily and are awarded ribbons the more they read and advance

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In kindergarten, after the switch to IRLA many changes happened. Our teacher in specific did not like these changes as they wanted to use assessments that were too difficult for the students to comprehend. Therefore, the teachers are starting to use their own assessments again to gather data on their students. Below I have several pictures of what some of her different literacy assessments looked like. She has some for checking letters, voice-print match, phonics, and more. She also said they have 5-week or 10-week check-ups, as well as their own reading assessments too.

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Due to the implementation of IRLA, sight words are now referred to as "power" words. She also used the words assessment and guided reading groups when speaking with us. Other than that, not too many literacy words were used in the classroom as the students were still learning the basics of letters and words.