CoL Update (Term 3, Week 3)

 Paul - relating to others/participating and contributing.

Last week I tested Paul on PM Benchmark and moved him up to level 21. This week, while reading levels 19-21 with him for 'guided' reading, I noticed he didn't need me much apart from to prompt him when he came to a new word. He is getting better at sounding out words, or making connections to other words he knows (e.g. should, would, could), but often gets stuck on high-interest or topic words he has never seen before (e.g. desert foxes, thick stems).

I PROBE'd him on Tuesday as I wanted to see if his comprehension was moving at the same accelerated pace his decoding was. Firstly, I gave him the story 'SNAP'. 

He passed with 100% on comprehension.

Next I gave him 'Teeth' (which is the same age level, but non-fiction).

Again, passed with 100%. 

His reading was pretty accurate as well considering he doesn't normally read non-fiction texts.

Next I put him up one level (age bracket), and tried him on fiction.

And again, 100% comprehension.

The same age bracket, but non-fiction.

This one he struggled with. There were words he has never seen written before (e.g. sandy, spikes, plants) but he tried to sound them out or connect to other words (e.g. he said planets for plants because he knows the word planets). Although he didn't actually know what a desert was, he got most of the questions (enough to pass anyway). I thought his answer to question 8 was sweet, because he had learnt about lizards and desert foxes for the first time in this story and wanted to see them in real life. 

Although he technically passed the story 'Desert life', I felt his confidence drop and he took a lot longer to read it, and think about his answers.

Even though he got lots of words wrong, this is still useful information for me as I can see where he gets the words he did say from. 

small=smile (sm sound and shape of the word)

thought-threw (th sound at the beginning)

tired=tried (same letters but in a different order)

Mr=Mrs (not noticing the s)

onto=into (not noticing the first o?, knows the word into)

settled=sitted (noticed the 'ed' at the end of the word, both have the same shape and have 's' at the beginning and 't' in the middle, possibly didn't notice the 'l')

give=gave (confusion of tenses possibly, or maybe didn't noticed the 'i')

would=could (knows the word could, maybe didn't notice the 'w')

He could answer the first question very easily - the others.. not so much. 

I am still very impressed with this piece of evidence as it shows that his decoding and comprehension are both improving at an accelerated rate. I 100% think this is because of the group work he has been doing while still reading at his own level. 

Ryan - managing self
As I mentioned in last week's update, Ryan has a LOT going on for him in his wider circle (home life, RTLB and other agencies, family stuff, friendship stuff) and so he has really been in a darker space this week. I know that for him RIGHT NOW, being at school everyday, being safe and having an outlet for his thoughts is what he needs. Right now, he doesn't need to be pushed into reading groups and growled for not completing his work. Right now, he needs a bit of love. A lot of love. So right now, that is what he is getting. I have not been pushing him to join in discussions or anything. He is doing small amounts of work each day and right now, that is enough for him.

 Kian - managing self
Kian is continuing to learn at his own pace. He is way more confident in his reading than he was last term and enjoys being able to choose books from his own 'box'. He doesn't choose from the 'lowest' box so thinks he is really smart by getting 'hard' books.