Elementary Practicum: Day 1: Charleston Elementary

Questions
1.What are your thoughts on Accelerated Reader?
2. How do you choose read-alouds?
3. How much time do you spend in the summer planning for the school year?

Answers
1. I feel like Accelerated Reader is a good tool to use for assessing if students are reading at home. Sometimes the prizes will turn non-readers into readers. I like to use the program as a filler, but it should not be used as a substitute for teaching reading. One of the features of accelerated reading that I find helpful is using color coded dots for the different reading levels. That can really be helpful for students trying to find books on their level.

2. I like to use the Read 20 guy's list of read-alouds...the books on that list are always crowd pleasers. Another way I choose read-alouds is by looking at the Social Studies and Science standards and finding books to go with the themes. Monthly themes and holidays are another way to find good read-alouds.

3. This year I only spent about 2 or 3 days planning during the summer, but I have found that the better notes I take (about what works and what doesn't work) throughout the school year, the less time I need during summer. I build units throughout the school year to re-use each year with different grades. This summer I will probably take 3-4 days, maybe more, because I plan to attend a grant writing seminar.

Reflection of the day

This librarian was fantastic! I found out that she was a literacy coach before she became a librarian, so maybe that is how she makes her job seem so easy! For this particular day I observed a lesson that a fifth grade teacher was delivering. The lesson was about the writing portion for the state testing, and this teacher wanted the librarian to teach the lesson to all of the grades 3-5, so she came in and demonstrated how she wanted it done, and gave the librarian the materials she would need.
Later on in the day I observed a cause and effect lesson that went with the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" and a Lego lesson utilizing educational Legos (obtained by a grant!). The gracious librarian shared many resources with me, and agreed to let me come and plan with her this summer.