Monday, December 15, 2008

I Love Mondays

Sine Friday is normally my DRA (Development Reading Assessment) day,  I rolled with the punches and did them today because of the storm. 

Thankfully I got five done during literacy center time as my students went to the browsing box/holiday books, journal, word search, and make-a-book centers. 

They travel with their group of four or five, in a clock-wise direction, stopping at each center for fifteen minutes. When I say rotate, they drop their work off in the predetermined spot and go to their "wait spot" and walk to their next center, where they settle in and get started.

Every teacher does it a little different. I'm about organization, so it works for me to have a little structure. To get sixteen six and seven year olds to be independent AND engaged takes precision, practice, and patience from the students and teachers alike. When centers go well, it's a thing of beauty; when it doesn't, it can get crazy.  

Happily (we've been practicing this for 71 days), the kids made good choices and were productive learners as I assessed my little readers. 

In the end, I was proud of all my DRAers.  As a result, some of my students are moving up a level and joining a new guided reading group and some are staying where they're at. It's all good because what they show me (and not show me) always guides my instruction.  

They all make progress...just at different rates. 

2 comments:

The Buck Shoots Here said...

Nice work! It's always great when the week starts on successful notes. Here's to the readers moving towards the end target!

ChiTown Girl said...

I'm sooo jealous that you only have 16 kids!! How nice. No wonder your centers work.