Mrs. DeNicolo's Blog

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I was so excited to see many of my familiar students today and to meet many new students! It is always exciting to begin a new school year ~ Welcome to all! Remember to introduce yourself to me sometime during the school year...Room 133.

I love teaching!

I am proud to be a member of the District #204 teaching staff! In fact, I have been teaching for 18 years including my student teaching experience...all at May Watts Elementary School! I am passionate about early literacy, and I recognize the benefits of developing life long learners at the elementary level. I love to read and more importantly, I love to provide students with the opportunity to develop their own passion for reading. Besides reading, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, taking continuing education classes, relaxing at the pool, and participating in church activities. Of course, I truly love chatting about school with my daughter, Renay Biehl, who is a wonderful first grade teacher at Fry Elementary School! What can I say...teaching is just in our genes! This is merely a glimpse of me ~ I hope to share more as the year continues.

Best Practices in Guided Reading Instruction

Guided Reading Essential Questions

1. What is the purpose of Guided Reading as part of the Balanced Literacy Framework in District 204?

2. What are the Best Practices in Guided Reading?

3. What is the Continuum of Literacy Learning as it relates to Guided Reading?

4. How are the Different Types of Assessments – both Formative and Summative - being used to inform instruction?

5. What types of management systems are available to ensure that all students are engaged in an Optimal Learning Environment?

Definitions of Guided Reading

Reading Instruction Framework by Indian Prairie District 204
Guided Reading: The teacher meets with small groups at their instructional level to explicitly teach effective reading strategies based on readers’ needs. These small groups change as the students’ reading proficiency develops. (District Framework: 1/04)

The Continuum of Literacy Learning by Fountas & Pinnell

Guided Reading: Students read a teacher-selected text in a small group; the teacher provides explicit teaching and support for reading increasingly challenging texts.

Guided reading offers small-group support and explicit teaching to help students take on more challenging texts. As they read texts that are organized along a gradient of difficulty, students expand their systems of strategic actions by meeting the demands of increasingly complex texts. They provide evidence of their thinking through oral reading, talk, and extension through writing. The guided reading continuum is related to text reading levels rather than grade levels because we envision continuous progress along these levels. (Page 3)

Mrs. DeNicolo's Blog

Welcome to Mrs. DeNicolo's Reading Blog!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

District #204 Calendar