I believe in differentiated instruction.

I try to differentiate instruction for my reading, spelling, and language arts students. How does this look? 

Reading and Language Arts

I give a pretest in the first week of school and administer the STAR test to determine reading levels for students.  The students are assigned a reading range and are grouped with other students of similar ability or skill level.  This is our starting point.  As we progress throughout the year, students are reassessed regularly.  Students that need additional help may receive small group instruction on a skill in addition to our whole group lesson. We take a mid-year STAR test, and an end of the year test as well. I look at AR Tops Reports when students take tests.  We discuss any problems.  Some students are given additional support to take AR tests.

Students take Accelerated Reading tests on books read on their own, with the classroom teacher, or with the class. Students set reading goals each marking period with me.  We seek parental input to make sure each child is setting a goal that can be attained, but will also be a challenge for them.  This is part of their reading grade.  They are also asked to do a book talk (oral report) on a book read on their own.  They could also do a synopsis (written book report), or a "Lunch Bunch" group discussion.  I am always looking for other creative ways for students to share their learning and love of reading with others.  This includes a new "Bliss Book Talk" video project.

We have been reading stories from our anthology.  We are not reading every story, but cover all skills.  This gives us time to do reading from trade books (novels).  Our schedule is usually to do the skill and vocabulary lesson on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday we read the story.  Thursday we review the vocabulary, take the test, use Senteo Smart Response clickers to enter answers electronically, and do a worksheet based on reading levels.  The worksheet generally is covering the skill learned in the main story, but sometimes reviews the skill and information from the supplemental reading selection following the main story. Fridays are usually spent on reading little books based on reading levels. There is a worksheet for comprehension including the reading skill for the week.

We read novels as individuals, whole class novels, or reading in literature circles.  The novels read for this count as part of the Accelerated Reading points/books needed for the reading contract. This is all in preparation for middle school, but most importantly it is to foster a love of reading.

Spelling

Students are doing a basic spelling list. Some do all of the words, 20 regular words and 8 challenge words. Others do ten words or anywhere in between. Some students may be doing a list of sight words. It is what best fits each child. Students then choose from more than 40 activities to do, based on their learning styles or what interests them for that week. Students earn 50, 75, or even 100 points on the contract. Students that struggle may do less  activity points because they need longer on each activity to learn the words. Others do above their requirement. They choose with parent support and time alloted in class to do some activities.

Worksheets are done on Tuesdays, with practice tests on Wednesdays, and final tests on Friday.  Activities are available on the spelling contract as well as on the homework section of my site to practice the spelling words.  Tests are done in handwriting or using Spellingcity.com test activity.  Scoring is based on the number of correct regular words divided by the number of words possible.  Each correct challenge word is added to the total.  Most weeks the total will be a possible 108 points (104 points for a reduced list).

MATH

See Mrs. Lewis's web page for information.  

SCIENCE, AND SOCIAL STUDIES

 Mr. Koppelman's web page for details about current work and subject matter.

Grade Scale

A  100-90 %

B  89-80%

C  79-70%

D  69-60%

F  Below 60%

Work is  evaluated using the standard Blissfield grading scale.  Students that receive a grade on an assignment that is less than 75% will need to make corrections and return the assignment for further evaluation.  Additional instruction is given to help with the necessary corrections.

Generally one progress report is sent each marking period.