Module One

Cindy Summerhill
READ 5772
Dr.Swanson and Dr. Thompson
Module One
January 23, 2011

1. Three concepts I gleaned from the readings are, firstly how important family literacy nights at oue schools are. I enjoyed learning about the different programs like, FLAME (Family Literacy Aprendiendo Mejorando, Educando). This service provides literacy training to parents who don't yet know the English language so they can be more effective at home in helping their child be successful with school. Their hope is to connect mothers and make collaberative sessions where parents are taught how to help with homework, visit the library, teach the ABC's. This project is assessed by doing home visits and parent interviews. This program is showing to be a success with parents being more involved in their students education. I can really see how important it is to keep parents invovled and to give them the tools they need to insure theri chidl is not only learning at school but at home too. Another eye opener for me was the statistics of African American students to white students. You hear this at meetings and seminars but to read here it really made me think. When a Senior in high school is African American on average is reading level is that of an eighth grader where as, a white student is on level or higher. This is a scary statistic. The steps they give to reach children of diverse backgrounds are to be postiive with your students showing them how powerful and rewarding reading is, using the reading workshop, getting to know the students on their level with students life experiences, and give assessments that keep you as the teacher up to speed on all your students. Work on the weakness area in a small group setting. This is how I hope I am teaching but I know I can improve and this just made me realize how important it is to know your students. Know who they are and where they come from. The third thing I gleaned was BLT (Building Language Together). This was a new concept for me. I can see how effective this program would be. Parents coming to the school to have hands on activities so they can see what their students are learning and need to learn is wonderful! I think if parents understood what their child needed to know and had the tools to help them would be more motivated to help their student.
2. I teach kindergarten and my district has implemented Literacy First. I love this program and enjoy implementing into my room everyday. I have ten literacy workstations with two chidlren at each. They rotate through these stations every 12 to 15 minutes and during this time I have guided reading at my teacher table. One thing I want to use is buidling words from the books they are reading. I like how you find a larger word and build other words from it and then you build the original word. My students would enjoy this. It could be something done with letter tiles or using mini white boards. I would love to have a literacy night with my parents. I think they could learn so much and it would help them see what their student is learning and what they still need to be working on. I send out a weekly newsletter and a binder. I try to write in the studnets individual binder what they need to work on but an evening with me seeing first hand would surely be more successful!
3. I read the book The Little School Bus by Carol Roth to my class. Before I read it we began a KWL chart so the students told me what they knew about buses and the animals they saw on the front of the book and also what they thought they would like to learn from the book. After we read the book they told me what they had learned and we discussed the chart and all the rhyming in the book. It was an effective lesson.