This week, Marilyn and I were adventurous and read three chapters. This way we are back on track for our weekly readings. My first question was: Do we really need to assess WTW three times as chapter 2 suggests? Since the book recommends assessing three times a year, Marilyn and I consulted our school's literacy coach. Our Lit. coach, Charity, said that assessing mid-year is just a suggestion. Charity said that she's worked in schools that required WTW assessments three times a year and schools that require it twice (beginning and end). I think that an additional assessment in December might not be the most beneficial use of our time as an educator. Marilyn pointed out that we will already know our students' developmental stages and that was the primary use of the assessment. As of Charity's recommendation, our school will assess WTW at the beginning and ending of the school year, and only mid-year if time allows.
Chapter 3 is all about getting organized! We really liked how the teacher doesn't tell the students the sorting rule/pattern but instead asks open-ended questions that encourage them to look at the word for similarities or patterns. This 'open sort' is not intended to be used initially. Students must be taught during a 'closed sort' where the teacher explicitly describes the features of the words for the students. After the students know what to look for and are comfortable with sorting, then the Guess My Category or 'open sort' can be used. We stuck a Post-it on page 61 because that will be beneficial to us when we begin WTW this fall. This page clearly describes the framework for introducing a sort: demonstrate, sort and check, reflect, and extend. Marilyn had a great idea for the activities on pages 64 - 68. These activities can be used during Daily 5 in our literacy block. These will be perfect for the word work station. We both agreed to use the schedule (on page 79) as it will most easily coordinate with first grade's schedule. I wondered how hard this will be to implement and stay organized in a first grade classroom. { This will be my first year in first grade after teaching fourth grade for three years! } Marilyn reminded me that as long as I implement a routine and have clear expectations, it should run smoothly.
Chapter 4 describes word study for the Emergent Stage. I think these students would parallel most closely with the logographic stage. She and I were amazed to read that the word, "word", is specific to print, and that some languages that have no written language have no word for "word"! Marilyn and I discussed "pretend" reading and reading from memory as being an essential practice. I told her how parent have commented before (when I taught Pre-K) that their child was just "pretending" and wasn't really reading. It is comforting to know that those students were on the right track, as I thought they were. Marilyn pointed out the importance of the six main components for the emergent stage: oral language, concepts, and vocabulary, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, letter-sound knowledge, concepts about print, and concepts of word in text. The chapter called these components the "literacy diet" and if all these components were addressed then then child will inevitably be a conventional reader and writer. Because of these six important components, the book lists over 40 activities to use with students in the Emergent Stage. Marilyn and I agree that each of the six components are critical to the learner's literacy development and must be addressed
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