What is the name of your school?
Al Asalah Primary Girls School
I haven't made a specific schedule for phonics and vocab but this is what I taught the first trimester. I have done writing and spelling sporadically. I haven't touched comprehension yet. I have a class agenda: 15 minutes bell work and review, 40 minutes English, 40 minutes math, 30 minutes science, 15 minutes closing with 5 minute transition time between subjects.
I very recently got a computer in the classroom and the internet so I may be able to work out a schedule for the students to use it. There is also a very helpful librarian who has technology I would love to have in my classroom so as an "outing" I will be scheduling weekly visits to the library.
I do not have this but it is something I can arrange. I bought a tape recorder that I recorded my voice on for my blind student which really helped. That tape recorder went missing so now I have to buy a new one.
I was recently provided with an alphabet resource kit which I wish I had had at the beginning of the year. It is amazing! Each letter has numerous flashcards that are suited for differentiation. The flashcards are the vocabulary words I focus on and there are 6 reading books for each letter of the alphabet with the vocab, pictures and sight words. There are also letter books that the students can write the vocab and draw the corresponding picture. The books have the target sight words, sentences and punctuation. The library does not have many English books but we recently received big books and leveled books to do running records for sight word recognition.
I have access to a web cam at home but not in class.
My blind student Asma showed up to class maybe two weeks into school. She was brought to class by a classmate. I received no communication that I was going to have a blind student and the special ed teacher did not come until near the end of class. She had no resources but kept asking me for stuff to use with Asma...of course this is while I am also trying to manage a class of 29 sighted students who are using the lack of attention to them to act the fool. I was livid. Not for having Asma in my class but for the disregard of her as a student and me as a teacher. I did what I could with her for 3 weeks remembering scenes from the movie "The Miracle Worker". I am sad to say that some days she sat with nothing to do all class. Luckily an amazing woman came to a meeting that was finally held about a month into the trimester for teachers with special needs students. I tell you I nearly cried at that meeting when I discovered that Asma could understand some spoken English, could type in English on a brailler and could read. The woman's name is Suneetha and we have become champions for Asma's learning and close friends. At that meeting she typed out the letters of the alphabet in braille for me to use in class, braille paper, and I was given a brailler for the class. I send Suneetha the lesson plan for the week along with the materials we will use and she and her husband translate the material into braille. Now Asma's parents are very angry because she is doing well in English and not Arabic. I went to an IEP meeting last week and they really thought Asma couldn't write and read until I showed them the work she has been doing in English class.
I want more time to work with her and with the students in my class that I think are severly learning disabled, I just can't seem to get my mind around how to do this with so many students and give attention to the gaps in learning. I have a couple of students in my class that I do believe could be in third grade English classes. Their reading, comprehension, and writing is far above where the majority of the students in my class are, this includes Asma. So they are also a concern of mine.
I am on vacation at the moment so I have time to put things together and it is for this reason that I am writing to you. I remember you and your class fondly. I think I can start using some of the strategies that were discussed in class.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your quick reply. I was not expecting it. I am very grateful that you made the time to ask me such reflective questions.
Thanks A LOT!!!
Adalia
Have you given the students an oral reading fluency assessment?
I have not done this. I know that I need to. I am trying to figure out how to with so many students.Have you assessed sight word knowledge?
I have not done this either. Ditto to my answer above.How much time is scheduled for literacy each day and are all literacy skills integrated into that time (writing, phonics, spelling, vocab and comprehension)?
Can you tell me a little more about the twice weekly centers?
I have 10 centers in all. The students are in groups of 4 or 5 and mixed skill levels:
Center 1 focuses on word/picture association using vocab flashcards. The students write the word and draw the picture related to it.
Center 2 focuses on math skills. I have two dice and the students take turns rolling the die and then writing an addition equation with the answer. There are manipulatives at the table to help with adding the numbers rolled.
Center 3 focuses on math again using laminated activity sheets and dry erase markers.
Center 4 focuses on spelling. The students take turns verbally spelling words with one another.
Center 5 focuses on fine motor skills along with math and art. Using tweezers the two students try to pick up and place the most beans on their plate before a third student finishes counting backwards from 10. There is also play dough for the students to create objects with. I will be adding cutting activities in the new tri-mester.
Center 6 focuses on writing the vocabulary words and when the students are finished they play a memory game with word and picture flashcards.
Center 7 focuses on reading with me. The reading material contains the vocab and sight words.
Center 8 focuses on problem solving skills using various puzzles.
Center 9 focuses on letter recognition using alphabet flashcards. The students quiz each other on the letters.
Center 10 focuses on number recognition and counting. The students quiz each other on the numbers.
Center 1 focuses on word/picture association using vocab flashcards. The students write the word and draw the picture related to it.
Center 2 focuses on math skills. I have two dice and the students take turns rolling the die and then writing an addition equation with the answer. There are manipulatives at the table to help with adding the numbers rolled.
Center 3 focuses on math again using laminated activity sheets and dry erase markers.
Center 4 focuses on spelling. The students take turns verbally spelling words with one another.
Center 5 focuses on fine motor skills along with math and art. Using tweezers the two students try to pick up and place the most beans on their plate before a third student finishes counting backwards from 10. There is also play dough for the students to create objects with. I will be adding cutting activities in the new tri-mester.
Center 6 focuses on writing the vocabulary words and when the students are finished they play a memory game with word and picture flashcards.
Center 7 focuses on reading with me. The reading material contains the vocab and sight words.
Center 8 focuses on problem solving skills using various puzzles.
Center 9 focuses on letter recognition using alphabet flashcards. The students quiz each other on the letters.
Center 10 focuses on number recognition and counting. The students quiz each other on the numbers.
Do the students have access to technology during literacy?
Do you have a listening station with headphones?
What types of reading materials can you access? Is there a library with multiple (4 or 5) copies of titles?
Do you have access to a web cam?
Are the students well-behaved and capable of independent work?
The students are well-behaved and capable of independent work if I do proper introduction and modeling.
Background:
When I arrived on the first day of school, it was literally my first day. There was no principal, no students, the students weren't split into classes, no classroom, no books, no resources, no curriculum, no internet, and no computers. I bought alphabet and number primers and flashcards from a store in my building, printed coloring pages of letters from the internet and made copies. This is what I used the first month of school. I also found resources online using Sparkle Box, Math Worksheets, DLTK, and a few other sites for the two months that followed. LOTS of copying. In the last month I got the English resource kit and three months ago I got math books that are too advanced for my students so they are still in their boxes. Plus the books are not for ESL learners. Honestly I spent most of the first trimester on classroom management, the alphabet and numbers. I probably have one of the best behaved classes so now I am trying to figure out just how much material I need to have for 25 students to do independently so I can do things like assess sight words and literacy with 5 at a time or work with Asma.Background:
My blind student Asma showed up to class maybe two weeks into school. She was brought to class by a classmate. I received no communication that I was going to have a blind student and the special ed teacher did not come until near the end of class. She had no resources but kept asking me for stuff to use with Asma...of course this is while I am also trying to manage a class of 29 sighted students who are using the lack of attention to them to act the fool. I was livid. Not for having Asma in my class but for the disregard of her as a student and me as a teacher. I did what I could with her for 3 weeks remembering scenes from the movie "The Miracle Worker". I am sad to say that some days she sat with nothing to do all class. Luckily an amazing woman came to a meeting that was finally held about a month into the trimester for teachers with special needs students. I tell you I nearly cried at that meeting when I discovered that Asma could understand some spoken English, could type in English on a brailler and could read. The woman's name is Suneetha and we have become champions for Asma's learning and close friends. At that meeting she typed out the letters of the alphabet in braille for me to use in class, braille paper, and I was given a brailler for the class. I send Suneetha the lesson plan for the week along with the materials we will use and she and her husband translate the material into braille. Now Asma's parents are very angry because she is doing well in English and not Arabic. I went to an IEP meeting last week and they really thought Asma couldn't write and read until I showed them the work she has been doing in English class.
I want more time to work with her and with the students in my class that I think are severly learning disabled, I just can't seem to get my mind around how to do this with so many students and give attention to the gaps in learning. I have a couple of students in my class that I do believe could be in third grade English classes. Their reading, comprehension, and writing is far above where the majority of the students in my class are, this includes Asma. So they are also a concern of mine.
I am on vacation at the moment so I have time to put things together and it is for this reason that I am writing to you. I remember you and your class fondly. I think I can start using some of the strategies that were discussed in class.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your quick reply. I was not expecting it. I am very grateful that you made the time to ask me such reflective questions.
Thanks A LOT!!!
Adalia
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