BCS Elementary Ed Newsletter

Our elementary school teachers and staff are busy this month. We are in the process of MOY (middle of year) assessments for DIBELS 8 and iReady as well as NCCIs (NC Check-Ins). As teachers assess students individually or as a whole group, following the assessment directions, data review begins. Teachers, interventionists, Elem ICs, and administrators prepare and review data by following data protocols. Individual student, grade level and school celebrations are shouted out to acknowledge the growth and proficiency made by the student as well as the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Progress toward goals are documented. Goals may be updated, revised or written based on individual student needs. And, teachers and teams collaborate to identify next steps for instructional strategies for the whole group as well as for small groups of students or individual students. There is a lot of time invested in planning for the logistics of implementation to continue to grow our students.

I appreciate ALL you are doing this month for MOY assessments, data reviews and instructional planning. The time you invest in this process is what moves our students to success. Thank you for all you do for our Brunswick County students!

Reader's theater is a strategy for developing reading fluency. It involves children in oral reading through reading parts in scripts. In using this strategy, students do not need to memorize their part; they need only to reread it several times, thus developing their fluency skills. The best reader's theater scripts include lots of dialogue.

Why use reader's theater?

• It promotes fluency.
• It helps readers learn to read aloud with expression.
• It helps build reading confidence.

How to use reader's theater

1. Choose a story that can be divided into parts, or character. Tips on choosing scripts >
2. Assign reading parts to each child.
3. Ask students to read their scripts orally for practice.
4. Have students read assigned parts to the audience.

Collect resources

Language Arts

Reader's theater lesson plans (with scripts):

• AFT's Share My Lesson
• ReadWriteThink
• Scholastic Teachers

Reader's theater scripts:

• Reading A-Z
• Teaching Heart

Math

Teachers can use reader's theater as an instructional technique for mathematical word problems. This example could be used for a reader's theater about 100's day and the concept of 100.

Social Studies

Here are reader's theater scripts about America in varying reading levels.

Differentiated instruction

For second language learners, students of varying reading skill, students with learning disabilities, and younger learners

• Use easier scripts with fewer words for younger or struggling readers.
• Write the script (or the student's part of the script) with print that is easy to read i.e. larger or in preferred font. Supply Braille scripts when needed.
• Give the student their part in advance. Encourage them to practice at home with their parents
• Have students read parts together.
• Allow advanced students to write parts of the script.
• When assigning roles, be sensitive to students' individual needs. Assign roles accordingly; provide extra, individual practice if needed.

Reading Rockets, 2023

February 3rd - Report Cards Released

February 24 - Required Workday

March 20 - Required Workday

March 24 - End of 3rd Quarter

April 6 - Report Cards Released

April 7 - Holiday-Good Friday

April 10-14 - Annual Leave

May 8 - Required Workday

May 29 - Holiday-Memorial Day

June 1 - Last Day of School

June 2 - Required Workday

June 5-8 - Required Workdays

June 9 - Non-Required Workday

Science of Reading: The Podcast delivers the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Further your professional development with each episode by subscribing and downloading them now.

Science of Reading: The Community is built for those committed to fostering conversation around the Science of Reading and implementing best practices in the classroom (including the virtual classroom).

What does classroom instruction look like when it is based on Science of Reading practices? We’ve outlined a Science of Reading action plan to guide your evaluation in our new FREE ebook, Science of Reading: Making the shift.

The Simple View of Reading demonstrates how word recognition and language comprehension are necessary for reading comprehension. It is necessary for early learners to take part in literacy instruction that includes phonological awareness and phonics. Decodable texts are an integral part of early literacy instruction. When choosing decodable text, ensure that words in the text feature the same sound patterns that have been taught in phonics lessons. Coach students to use what they have learned about the code when reading text. LETRS highlights that strategies such as using picture clues to guess a word and trying to “fit” a word in a sentence to make sense are not evidence-based practices to teach reading. Decodable texts are opportunities to help students build foundational reading skills. While there may be an assumption that decodable readers are not interesting and do not include authentic language, the skills in decodable texts are part of the initial foundational building blocks in sequential reading instruction that meet learners where they are developmentally with how the brain learns to read. This resource from The Reading League details the history of decodable texts (3:30), why decodable text is the best tool for teaching foundational literacy skills (10:11), how to match a lesson to text (23:35), and how to use decodable text (34:30).

The image below shows the multiplicative relationship that will result in comprehension. In order for students to achieve proficiency, equal and explicit instruction in both word recognition and language comprehension is the key to student reading success.

“Mathematical discourse includes the purposeful exchange of ideas through classroom discussion, as well as through other forms of verbal, visual, and written communication. The discourse in the mathematics classroom gives students opportunities to share ideas and clarify understandings, construct convincing arguments regarding why and how things work, develop a language for expressing mathematical ideas, and learn to see things from other perspectives (NCTM 1991, 2000).”

Source: Principles to Action, NCTM, 2014.

Click here to learn more

Recently Discovery Education has added Mystery Science as a resource which is located in Clever. It features lessons K-5, which include standards, read alouds, hands-on activities, and lesson plans.

Click here to learn more

The NCDPI Social Studies team provides on-demand professional learning sessions including Integrating Inquiry and the Skills Indicators into your Classroom Instruction. This recorded PD will help you better understand what Inquiry is and the purpose of the Inquiry Indicators in the Social Studies Standards. Those participating in this training module will gain a better understanding of how to integrate the NC Inquiry Indicators into instruction effectively.

Webinar Recording: Integrating Inquiry and the Skills Indicators into your Classroom Instruction

• Password: Socialstudies!1 (case sensitive)

The NC SS Standards are organized around five disciplinary strands and a skill strand designed to promote inquiry. Inquiry based learning is an excellent way to garner student questions and ideas and use them as a starting point for deeper learning. Check out this resource to help you build a culture of inquiry, curiosity, and engagement in your classroom.

4 Powerful and Purposeful Inquiry Questions for Teaching Black History

Katie Bunn, Denotra Franks, Lori Hummel, Holly Jackson, Jennifer Lentz, Shelly Mongelli, Michele Taylor, Crystal Walker, Jen Damin (Executive Director)