Name: Elizabeth Doucette Date: 2/22/2017 Grade/Subject: Grade 3/Reading Time: 9:36-10:11 Name of Observer: Nancye Flinn, Assistant Principal, Landstown Elementary School Learning Target (as discussed in post observation conference): Identify the characteristics of tall tales Identify long a and short a patterns in words Chunk words and use context clues Read accurately 9:36 The T was reading aloud from a book of tall tales. She was reading a story about Paul Bunyan as she Circulated through the room. The students had been instructed to listen for exaggerations. The T ‘occasionally stopped and called on various students in the room to identify the exaggerations they identified. She also stopped on occasion to discuss words from the text (such as autumn), to ask clarifying questions, and to show the students the illustrations. The T says, “We will stop there even though there's more to the story.” She asks, “Why is this a tall tale?” A student is called upon and says, “There's a lot of exaggeration.” The T then begins giving instructions for the activities the students will do during small group. She shows the students an activity sheet and says, “You will read the tall tale and answer the questions. | want full sentences with capital letters and punctuation.” She then shows an Exaggerating sheet. She tells the students to write an exaggeration. She gives an example with the help of a student response and then writes this on a sheet. The T puts it under the document camera in order to serve as a model for the students. The T writes a list of the activities the students are to do on the back white board. The T says, “When you finish with these, we have lots of things in your Work in Progress folder to do. If ‘you are finished with that, do independent reading and then you can go to the library.” ‘The T says, “Ready go.” The students move to their stations. 9:44 Four students come to the back table. They immediately begin a word study sorting activity with words following patterns of short a and various long a vowel patterns (Short a, ei, ai, ace).‘As the students finish sorting, the T points to the words and asks the students to read them. Then she tells the students to put them in alphabetical order. The T follows a similar procedure until all students. have sorted correctly. When one student misreads the word stale and says stall, the T points out that the pattern aCe has a long a sound. The T asks the student if she knows what the word means. When she doesn’t, the T clarifies the meeting for the student. Another student has difficulty with the word sleigh. The T clarifies for the student. 9:50 The T says, "We have been working on chunking words. What does this mean?” A student answers and the T says, “Yes, chunking is when you take apart words you don’t know.” She writes the word beautiful ona slate and shows how to break it up. The T writes the word camp and shows the students two ways to break it up into chunks. The students lean over onto the table. The T tells them to get in their seats. She shows one more word and identifies the pattern aCe and reminds them that this pattern has a long a sound. 9:53 The T hands out books to the students and says, “We will read silently; when | tap, read it aloud to me. What if you read it and you don’t know what it means? What do you use? Chunking and context clues.” A student answers. The T hands the student a minimarshmallow. The T gets out her notebook and the students begin reading. She taps in front of each student and takes anecdotal notes. After the students have all read to the T, the T says, “When you finish your sentence look up.” The T says, “She did a good job chunking this.” The T writes the word polishing on the slate. The student writes lines on the board to show how she chunked this word. The student says she put three letters in each chunk. The T affirms that this is a good strategy. The T gives a minimarshmallow treat to each student and says, “We will finish tomorrow.” 10:02 The students switch groups. Five students come over and bring their words to sort. This group sorts the vowel patterns of o (short 0, oCe, ow, oCC). As the students sort the words, the T says to the class, “Thanks to everyone in silent stations for staying silent.” As the students sort and then read the words, several students misread the word doze and say does. The T shows doze and says, “It seems like does. When we have oCe, does it make long or short sound?” A student answers, “Long.” The T affirms the answer and uses the word doze correctly in a sentence. 10:09 The T hands out the books to the students and says, “I noticed yesterday when you were reading aloud, even though you are good readers, you need to slow down. | want you to slow down to stop at periods,ay ees clearly, and make sure you are reading the exact word.” She writes the focus for the lesson on, e slate. ‘The T says, “Take the paper out of your book and have your predictions in front of you.” The students begin reading as the T listens in and takes anecdotal notes. 10:11 Reinforcements: The students participated in both whole group lessons and small group lessons with very few reminders about behavior from you. They are aware of the routines and this helped to make the transitions between activities smooth and quick. You provided excellent feedback to students, especially during the small group word study lesson. You pointed out a common mistake (doze/does), discussed their misconceptions, and reminded them of the pattern, You provided a focus for the small group reading lesson by telling students what you wanted them to concentrate on. You reinforced this focus with the word polishing and reviewed how the student had chunked the word. Refinements: Be continuously mindful of the enduring understandings you want the students to learn. Look for ways to engage all students in learning the objective during whole group lessons, perhaps by having them write the exaggerations they heard or by turning to share orally with a partner. During the small word study group, look for ways to purposefully teach and point out the focus for the lesson by asking students to explain their sorts or have them do blind sorts which force them to rely on the sounds of the words versus them looking at the word patterns as a way to sort. By doing so, you will help the students generalize the word patterns. During the small group reading, while itis good to take anecdotal notes to refer back to at the end of the small group lesson, be aware of mistakes that students are making which affect the meaning of what they are reading. When students make errors which affect meaning, consider stopping them to prompt. ‘Ask, “did that make sense?” or prompt them for self-correction.