Dear Reading Helpers,
Thank you for volunteering your time in our classroom! Your help is extremely important, and we are so grateful to have you as a reading helper!
As a volunteer, your ‘job’ each day may vary, and I will have an activity planned for you and your group of students. Since our reading groups are differentiated and flexible, students are working on different tasks that are geared toward building a specific skill or strategy. In Kindergarten, we have a wide variance in the level of literacy readiness, ability, and interest. Students in each group are practicing skills at their level, and group members will change as needed.
The student rules for Reader’s Workshop:
The whole group portion of Reader's Workshop revolves around a text. While reading the text, we work on a mini-lesson and specific foundational skills. During the independent portion of Reader's Workshop, students practice these strategies and skills independently in a variety of ways. Students work at one station during Reader’s Workshop each day, Monday - Thursday. The stations include:
iPad listening station: students watch, listen, and/or read-along to a TumbleBooks selection and respond in writing and drawing to a prompt using information from the text.
Computer word work: students build specific skills and strategies while working with Reading Eggs (all students) or Lexia (selected students), two online reading programs. Students are given a computer-based pre-test to determine their literacy needs prior to beginning each program. Both programs include lessons and assessments, and I monitor each chid’s work through weekly reports.
Phonics or vocabulary word work: students will work on a variety of phonics and phonological awareness skills such as determining and sorting words with certain beginning sounds, ending sounds, middle sounds, or rhyming words. Vocabulary work focuses on developing vocabulary through defining and using our weekly words (from texts or ‘Word That Describes Me’).
Guided reading group or individual assessment: each small group (3-5) students works with me for 30 minutes weekly. During small group work, we will usually work with appropriate leveled texts and practice specific, targeted skills and strategies (e.g., comprehension, sight word development, decoding, etc.). At select times of the year, I administer literacy assessments to determine reading level and progress.
The following Kindergarten Common Core Standards apply to these stations (please click the links to learn more):
Reading: Literature
Reading: Informational Texts
Reading: Foundational Skills
Speaking and Listening
Language
As skills develop (usually later in the school year), I will add a writing station and an independent work station.
Here are some general guidelines for you as a volunteer in our classroom:
Your assistance helps our students in so many ways! I hope you find volunteering in our classroom enjoyable. Please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you again for sharing your time with us.
Thank you for volunteering your time in our classroom! Your help is extremely important, and we are so grateful to have you as a reading helper!
As a volunteer, your ‘job’ each day may vary, and I will have an activity planned for you and your group of students. Since our reading groups are differentiated and flexible, students are working on different tasks that are geared toward building a specific skill or strategy. In Kindergarten, we have a wide variance in the level of literacy readiness, ability, and interest. Students in each group are practicing skills at their level, and group members will change as needed.
The student rules for Reader’s Workshop:
- Work quietly and independently.
- Stay in one spot.
- Focus on your job.
- Be ready to share.
The whole group portion of Reader's Workshop revolves around a text. While reading the text, we work on a mini-lesson and specific foundational skills. During the independent portion of Reader's Workshop, students practice these strategies and skills independently in a variety of ways. Students work at one station during Reader’s Workshop each day, Monday - Thursday. The stations include:
iPad listening station: students watch, listen, and/or read-along to a TumbleBooks selection and respond in writing and drawing to a prompt using information from the text.
Computer word work: students build specific skills and strategies while working with Reading Eggs (all students) or Lexia (selected students), two online reading programs. Students are given a computer-based pre-test to determine their literacy needs prior to beginning each program. Both programs include lessons and assessments, and I monitor each chid’s work through weekly reports.
Phonics or vocabulary word work: students will work on a variety of phonics and phonological awareness skills such as determining and sorting words with certain beginning sounds, ending sounds, middle sounds, or rhyming words. Vocabulary work focuses on developing vocabulary through defining and using our weekly words (from texts or ‘Word That Describes Me’).
Guided reading group or individual assessment: each small group (3-5) students works with me for 30 minutes weekly. During small group work, we will usually work with appropriate leveled texts and practice specific, targeted skills and strategies (e.g., comprehension, sight word development, decoding, etc.). At select times of the year, I administer literacy assessments to determine reading level and progress.
The following Kindergarten Common Core Standards apply to these stations (please click the links to learn more):
Reading: Literature
Reading: Informational Texts
Reading: Foundational Skills
Speaking and Listening
Language
As skills develop (usually later in the school year), I will add a writing station and an independent work station.
Here are some general guidelines for you as a volunteer in our classroom:
- While volunteering at Lincoln School, please maintain and respect student confidentiality. This includes sharing information about reading levels, reading groups, or other information you may learn about students in our classroom or school.
- If you will be late, need to cancel your time, or plan to switch with another parent, that’s perfectly fine! Please let me know so I can make arrangements.
- There may be times when our class must change our schedule for an unexpected activity (assembly, birthday or special guest). I will let you know as soon as possible if you are not needed that day.
- Be prepared to be flexible! Sometimes things don’t go as planned in Kindergarten, and plans change. I will always arrange an activity for you to work on with the students, but if things aren’t working out or something goes awry, read-alouds are fun and a terrific way to model fluency and other literacy skills. You may always choose a book from our collection and read to the kids
- Students do the work: please encourage and support all student attempts, but do not give answers or spell words for the students. The kids know how to use the word wall and ‘use their sounds’ when writing unknown words, so please encourage them to rely on themselves. Inventive writing is great, and developmentally appropriate. A successful learning experience relies upon taking risks, taking ownership, being fully engaged, and learning how to become self-directed.
- Assist with computer and iPad mishaps, if able. I will show you how, if you need.
- There will be times when a substitute teacher is in our room. I will leave instructions for him/her.
- It is very exciting when parents come to visit our classroom, and sometimes kids get a little carried away when their own parent comes to visit. When entering or leaving the classroom, please be as unobtrusive as possible, and encourage your child to remain calm and continue instruction. Please remind your child that you will not always be working with him/her, and that they should continue with their own job during Reader’s Workshop without much interruption.
- While working with your group, please respect the other students by keeping voices quiet.
Your assistance helps our students in so many ways! I hope you find volunteering in our classroom enjoyable. Please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you again for sharing your time with us.