Welcome First Grade!

Dubuque Community School DistrictGrade 1 In-Service Day 12:30 – 3:30

February 18, 2013 • 12:30 – 1:00 pm Lexile and Text Level Video and discussion

• 1:00 – 1:20 pm Reading Accuracy Work in LEAD 21 and Imagine It

• 1:20– 1:50 pm Small Group Instruction Text Level Activity

• • 1:50 – 2:10 pm Break • 2:10 – 3:30 pm Imagine It Routine Review with

Jennifer Freeman from LEAD 21

Post It Parking Lot Questions

Learning Targets

I can use the routines in Imagine It to deliver Phonemic awareness and phonics instruction.

I can verbalize the difference between lexile and text level measurements when using text.

I can support students reading accurately in text in my daily lesson designs.

I can use data to place students in differentiated text.

12:30 – 1:00 pm Lexile and Text Level Video and discussion

• Skim “What does the Lexile measure mean?”

• Please underline 2 or 3 sentences that are new information for you.

• Watch the video from the following link. http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-video/ .

• As you watch the video jot down any other information which is new to them about Lexile on the back of what you just read.

• Watch video

• Skim “Lexile-to-Grade Correspondence”.

• Again, please underline 2 or 3 sentences that are new information for you.

• For the next 10 minutes work with a partner and share your underlined sentences and / or new information you learned from the video.

Key LearningThis is a general overview of Lexile. I am hoping the participants leave with the understanding that Lexile marks the level of text a student can read with 75% comprehension. The 75% benchmark was used because that is considered the instructional level for text. The other key learning about Lexile I hope the participants walk away with is the 150L range every student has. From the students Lexile number, the range is calculated by going 50 up and 100 down. On the lower end of this range, the student comprehends more efficiently. This scale is consistent regardless of age, so yes, you can measure growth using this scale.

Caution – Lexile does not determine if the content of the book is appropriate for the age of the child. Teachers and parents play a very important role in this area.

On second paper, it is important to realize the Common Core State Standard Appendix A in which the concept of stretch text is derived.

1:00 – 1:20 pm Reading Accuracy Work in LEAD 21 and Imagine It

• Read through handout “Kindergarten and Grade 1 Word Accuracy Work” and mark their text with the following: – - Any part of the text for which you can make a connection– ! – Any part of the text you feel is very important– ? – Any part of the text you do not understand

• Find a partner and follow the process below. – Each partner will to share one of their stars. Verbalize the connection

made.– Next, each partner will share one of their exclamation points. Please

share why it was important.– As a final step, ask partners to try to help each other understand the

questions they had about the text. If an answer cannot be determined, write that question on paper. Please collect the papers for me to address at a later time.

Key LearningWhere and how to support accuracy work in Kind. and Grade 1. See last sheet of handout for more information. Reminder – This can be reinforced as appropriate at the small group table, but is not the primary purpose of the small group lesson design.

1:20– 1:50 pm Small Group Instruction Text Level Activity

• Find “Range of Lexile Levels per small group Instruction” paper. This document shares the levels of text used within the unit for small group instruction. The text are not used with the students in this sequential order. Wanda arranged the text in this order to help us more easily identify the range of text in any given unit.

• Keep in mind the activity we started with were we identified that a Lexile range for any child is 150. So, if a child has a Lexile of 100L, the range for the child is actually 0-150L.

• Remember that a child’s Lexile number marks the level of text a student can read with 75% comprehension. In other words, when a child with the Lexile of 100 is reading a text at that level, they are able to comprehend 75% of it. This 75% rule corresponds with the student’s instructional reading level – the level at which the student can successfully negotiate the material with the use of context clues and other comprehension strategies to fill in the gaps.

1:20– 1:50 pm Small Group Instruction Text Level Activity• Use the range in the left margin and circle any numbers in that line that

are above that range. Put a small ‘E’ (for easy read) next to any text that is below that range.

• Now focus on the theme reader levels. Put a box around any theme reader level that is above the 150 range for that unit for that group.

• Work with a partner and look at the range of text used per unit for each level of reader. Review the circled numbers. On a piece of paper, brainstorm what implications this data has for instruction within the small group when using this text.

• Now with your partner look at the numbers they have a box around for the theme readers. Write on a piece of paper what implications this has for their large group instruction and students’ independent use of this text.

• Remember the small group lesson design is a comprehension lesson design, so using Lexile as a leveling system for choosing this text was in the students’ best interest. Wanda will continue within future PD sessions as to why this comprehension focus is of great importance at our small group table based on what we are learning from our district testing data.

Key Learning•Generally speaking, most of the text at the small group table is within a 150L range. That being said, this is not text for accuracy, it is text for comprehension. Therefore, the text must be used as it was intended to be used.•Some of our students will not be able to independently use the theme readers. The purpose of this text if for teacher modeling. Again, we need to be thoughtful of the purpose of the text and be careful not to use the text beyond that purpose with students for whom the text is too high.•If a student is below the Lexile range of the Intensive reader being used in small group, teachers will use the text to model at the small group table. The small group lesson design should stay in place, but additional independent reading at the correct level and interventions will need to be implemented to help these low students close the gap.

BREAK