Reading Inquiry: Term 3 Update

What was the focus? 

This term I have been focused on reading for my inquiry. I have been looking at a specific target group which is my learners reading between the ages of 6.5 and 7.5 years. These students are reading from level 17-20 which is the purple and turquoise on the colour wheel. Over the term I have been reading with each of these learners and recording the areas that the need to work on and what extra assistance they need to make shift in this part of their learning. 

Reading Prompts 

As a school we have been using the Gwenneth Phillips in our reading sessions. These prompts allow the learner to be able to think about what they have read wrong and a chance to fix this on their own rather than just looking to the teacher for the answer. I have noticed that during the course of the term my learners are becoming more comfortable with the prompts that we are using. I can see that some of my learners are thinking of these as they are reading and constantly thinking about whether it looks right and sounds right in the context of the text and sentences. 

Word Work 

I have also been using the sight words for each of the colour wheel groups and giving these learners the opportunity t practice and learn the high frequency words. The presentation that I have created for each of these learners is able to be edited after each time we have read together to add in the high frequency words or words that we have come across in reading that they may have struggled with. I have added a screenshot below of what the task consists of.  

I continue to update the slides after each time I meet with a learner and try and give them 2-3 new and challenging words to work on. I have started to do this with some of our other learners who are reading at green, blue and yellow levels and they seem to enjoy being able to complete some of these tasks. 

Where to next? 

Continue to work with using these prompts in my reading lessons and giving the learners the confidence to know these prompts well. This gives them the ability to think about what they have read and and make sure that it looks right, sounds right and makes sense. I will also continue to build on the sight word slides for my learners and continue to try this with my lower readers. I will also make sure to record some of my sessions so that I can refer back to my own practice on what went well and what I could do better to help my learners make sense of what they are reading.