Reading Collaboration- our journey so far……….

We have finally started collabaration in reading.  Here are some of my initial thoughts

I feel like my security blanket had been pulled from under me.

I am not sure how this will look.  I wonder if I will lose touch with my children because I will not be seeing them every day.

How will the coaching room manage with so many children.

I figured there were 2 ways I could look at this- I could either embrace it or hate it.  I decided I was going to embrace it.  So after a discussion with Maire, our journey began.  Because I am a visual learner, I needed to contemplate how it would look for a day or two. 

I went home and played with some idea re what the planning and coaching room should look like in my head anyway.   I brought these ideas back to the team who seemed to like them and so it began.  We are working to the power of three and we have my room as an instructional reading room.  Room 7 is the coaching room with various activities for the children to do.  We were concerned about managing the number of children at these stations so we gave each child a name tag and they were allowed to put it at any station they chose- when there are 6 names, that station is full, so they need to choose another one.  The activities we are currently using are attached .   While two teachers are in the instructional room, one teacher is the coach and the coach begins each session with the big book for the week.

What I have learnt about myself:

I am a visual learner and when I can visualize how something will or should look in my head, I feel much better about things.   (I already knew this)

I enjoy working with other people and I struggle with negativity within a team. ( I also know this!)

I like my planning to be detailed and have all bases covered with learning intentions etc so that I can justify the reason for the activities we are doing.

It turns out I might like being in control of situations and taking the lead in things.  (Funnily enough, there are no surprises there either).

I am really enjoying the collaborative approach to teaching- far more than I thought I would and right there is my biggest surprise of all!

Some things that we can work on with our current practice

Our learning spaces

Some of our activities being more purposeful.

Assessment- when will this take place etc.

Reducing the number of groups and increasing the amount of teaching time for each group.

I Reading Activities for the Coaching Room

Activity	Learning Intention	Description of Activity
Buddy Reading	WALT read to a buddy so that we can practice our expression. WALT Listen to a story and talk about it with our buddy. WALT help each other with words they don’t know.	Read to a buddy from their browsing boxes and from the boos available.  Children to take turns reading to a buddy .Encourage children to talk to each other about the books and to help each other with words they are unsure of.  Encourage dialogue about the book- what was your favourite part etc.
Playdough	WALT form our letters correctly. WALT Practice making snap words. WALT make the initial sound of a word.	A variety of activities will be provided so that children have a focus.  These may include making letters of the alphabet out of playdough, making the first letter of the word in the picture,  Making simple CVC words, writing their name etc.
Writing Table	WALT Practise writing as many words as we can. WALT Write snap words. WALT Write for different purposes. WALT Edit our writing	Children can choose from a range of options eg writing a letter, make a card, write a list etc. They can practise their snap words.
Reading Games	WALT match the letters with their sounds WALT Make CVC words WALT share, take turns and follow instructions WALT practice reading our snap words.	There are several games including matching lower and upper case letters together, making CVC words, High Frequency Bingo etc.  Children can play  these games
Phonics Table	WALT know the names of the letters and the sounds they make. WALT practice letter formation.	Phonics sheets will be provided for the children to do.  There are a couple of different sheets.  They give children a chance to practice writing the letter and colouring the pictures that begin with the  particular letter.
Puppet Reading (FYI- I cannot remember what we call this)	WALT practice our reading aloud using expression and fluency. WALT	Reading mileage. Read the puppet of their choice and practice expression etc
Magnetic Letters	WALT
Writing sight Words	WALT practice writing sight words from around the room and develop speed in writing basic words.	Children use one of the clip boards provided and write their name on the top of the page. They then walk around the room and find words to write. Completed word list in put in the corresponding Room tote tray.