Note: All of the below mentioned activities
have been derived from chapter eleven of Literacy
for the 21st Century, by Gail Tompkins. There were some really great activities
I could not help but use in my letter!
I hope this letter is detailed enough for the parents of a second grade reader
who struggles with comprehending strategies. Billy has made great strides in
the academic year, yet still struggles with comprehending stories. This letter is designed to let Billy’s
parents know of a few group and individual activities provided for Billy to be
as successful in the classroom as possible.
Dear Parents,
As
we wind down the school year, I want to make you are aware of a few activities
our classroom will be engaging in for the remainder of the year. Billy’s reading and writing skills have
come a far way since the beginning of the year, and I am very proud of all the
improvement he has made! There are
a few more skills he will master in the classroom before the end of the year,
and I plan on outlining these skills in this letter. I want to make sure Billy is ready for third grade, and by
completing these tasks; I believe he will be more than ready. The following skills will be
accomplished in the following way:
The
first skill I want Billy to try and master is his comprehension
strategies. I have noticed that
Billy struggles with answering questions following a reading of a story. I plan on trying to enhance Billy’s
understanding of the stories given to him. For the remainder of the year, I plan on using guided reading strategies throughout
some of classroom time. Guided
reading allows small groups of students to work together and read at various
levels. Students, who are at about
the same reading level, will read with other students at similar levels. This allows students to read at their
desired pace and learn from their other peers. I think Billy will really benefit from learning from his
peers, because he will be able to share ideas and experiences with them. I think this would be a great way for Billy
to not only work on comprehending the story, but also with his word fluency! He will be reading out loud with his
group, and answering discussion questions along the way.
After
reading a story, which incorporates guided reading, I plan on having Billy and his
group work on writing skills using interactive
writing activities. The
writing activity will be completed within each reading group and will be
related to the story that was read during the guided reading activity. Students will take turns answering
questions and filling out a chart related to the story. The questions will involve
comprehensive questions where the students will have to go back and search for
the answers in the book. Each
student will have to fill out their own chart and recall knowledge from the
story they just read. Students
will be allowed to work together and create answers from each other’s
thoughts. Billy will really
benefit from this activity, because he will not only work on his comprehending
skills, but also his writing. I
think Billy will have a great time learning from his peers and sharing
knowledge as well.
As
the intern of the classroom, I plan on working with Billy’s group and will help
lead the group’s activities. I
want to make sure students understand what they need to complete in order to
participate to their best of abilities.
I am excited to see what Billy and his group can accomplish as a team,
and I hope his skills improve as he furthers in the year. Again, I want to stress that Billy is
doing great in the classroom and I am so proud of the work he has shown
throughout the year.
Thanks for your time,
Lindsay
In this letter, Lindsay does an excellent job of outlining the skills Billy still needs to work on, how she will get him to improve, and how long it will take to get him there. She lets the parents know the activities that she will be facilitating for Billy to help him with the skills he needs to work on such as comprehension strategies and writing. She defines and describes what the activities will entail and how exactly they will help Billy improve. As Billy's parent, I don't think I would have any other questions for Lindsay because of her detailed letter. I would feel like my child is in very good hands after reading this letter as well. She kept the letter very positive and light but also got her point across, which was that Billy still has some skills he needs help with but the fact that she kept it so positive really made me as Billy's parent feel comforted that my son will be ready for 3rd grade. Great work Lindsay!
ReplyDeleteDear Ms. Yax,
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful that Billy has such a caring and supportive teacher like you. I know my wife and I have seen Billy’s growth as well and we are proud of his accomplishments. As you said, we also understand that he has areas to work on and we want to help him in every way we can.
Billy has said he is excited about the new guided reading groups. It sounds like a great strategy. He has often said that he knows he is a slow reader and when other kids in his class read too fast, he gets frustrated and doesn’t know what is going on in the story. It will be great for him to be able to read with classmates who are reading at his pace. I am curious what type of questions Billy is having trouble answering. Are they more plot based (as in not being able to retell events of the story) or are they more themes based (not able to retell the main ideas of a text) or are they more self to text based (not being able to connect personally to the story and reflect)? Also, we will continue helping Billy read aloud and work on his fluency at home. Like you, we have seen a lot of improvement with that this year!
I look forward to hearing how Billy is improving in his writing as a result of the interactive writing activities. I know that his spelling is often sometimes very “creative,” so we appreciate the extra support with his writing. (Billy was supposed to get his spelling genes from his mother, but instead got mine. I struggled with spelling growing up, so I understand that it will take a lot of hard work and we are ready to help him in this.) Also, do you have any other books you could recommend for Billy to be reading at home? Our family wants to start having our own guided reading group at home. Billy has a younger brother who is a very good reader, so we think they could both really benefit from this.
Again Ms. Yax, thank you for taking the time to explain in such detail your plans to help Billy succeed. He talks about you constantly – all wonderful things. The other day he came home just laughing and told us about how you had them do a kinesthetic dance activity – he called it the “honey boo-boo” dance. He said it helps everyone stretch out when they have been sitting for too long. We thought it was great!
Your creativity, kindness, and passion for teaching are very clear and we are glad that Billy has had you in his class this year.
Thank you for keeping in contact with us.
Mr. Adam Clements