I regularly write articles for the Principal's newletter.
December 2002
Put Reading First
Learning to read is a very complicated activity. There are many
components and children must be able to be flexible in the choices of
strategies used.
One type of reading is that of sight words only. These are the books that
many of us learned to read with. See Dick and Jane Run These worked
because of the repetition provided. There are many words called sight
words which must be memorized and repetition is an excellent way to
add these words to our reading vocabulary. ( what, why, want, do are,
says ) Some of us with weaker visual memories my have not learned
well this way.
Another approach is the Whole Language Approach. This was having
the children exposed to vocabulary words about a topic and hoping that
the children could read these words in context. This depended on the
students being able to figure out what made sense in the sentence.
A purely phonetic approach would work for many of our words but
generalizations of unfamiliar words would also be necessary because
so many of our words originated in different countries (ballet, Jose,
sushi ) or they just are exceptions to the common sounds. (said, comb,
bread) Children also need to recognize and use rules for syllabication.
Several other word attack skills are introduced and practiced.
Some of the programs present the children with all of the exceptions to
the rule at once. (ough has six different sounds ) though, through,
rough, cough, thought, drought This is obviously too confusing for most
students. The sounds can be simplified and introduced slowly and in
an organized fashion.
It makes sense then to use a variety of approaches for reading. Many
students have weaknesses in one area or another that makes it more
difficult for them to learn. If a certain area is known to be weak then we
would review concepts through that area and concentrate on using the
students strengths to introduce new concepts.
I am not surprised when children have difficulty. When we consider how
hard students are working and thinking, it is amazing that they do learn
to read effectively. Students have to shift their strategies constantly
between those mentioned above. This is the most valuable skill we
teach in elementary school and also the most complicated.
Read a good book with your child over the holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 2003
Put Reading First
At the year comes to an end a lot of parents ask, "What should my
children do over the summer to assure their continuation of progress
made through the year?
Every teacher has different suggestions. Mine are:
1) Have your child continue to read everyday. You should as well, so
pick a time and keep it consistent. You can read together by reading
every other page and taking turns. Find a subject that interests you and
get to the library, regularly.
2) Encourage your child to keep a journal. Find a fancy notebook and
let your child express himself. (A journal doesn't need to be corrected,
but help your child, if they ask for corrections.)
3) Another thing I found very helpful for my own children was to give
each a handful of coins. They had to be responsible for keeping tract of
the ever- changing total. ( I would 'charge' them for meals, varying
amounts, and 'pay' them for chores done. After each transaction, they
had to total the amount.)
4) Have fun and spend time with each other. Happy memories last a
lifetime!
October 2003
Put Reading First
Welcome back to school. I hope that everyone had an enjoyable
summer I wanted to reintroduce myself to any new parents in our
school. I am Mary Jane Olson, the Title I Reading Specialist. I work with
some children who have been referred by their teachers for extra help in
Reading. I also go into many classrooms to help children or do
screenings for the teachers.
This year we purchased kits for a phonics program that we will be
pilotingfor the First Grade classrooms. This program was piloted last
year by Mrs. Kielly in the Kindergarten classes and is used by the
Special Needs staff. We have found that it has had great results.
If you hear your children reciting the letters, you may notice that an
important part of the program is an insertion of a key word for every
sound. (a,apple,/a/, /a/ means the sound of a or any other letter). The
other thing you may notice is what we call sound tapping. Ask your
children to share what they know with you.
We are all looking forward to a very productive year. As always, please
feel free to call, write a note, or make an appointment. I will be letting
you know when your child sees me so you can visit.
Mary Jane Olson
February 2004
Put Reading First
In the times of immediate everything, we, as parents and educators
should be concerned that the value of reading and writing will be lost. I
feel it is crucially important that we remember and teach our children the
value of the companionship of a great book.
Remember, that the book is always better than the movie. This is
because we supply the visuals in our imagination and we have a longer
experience 'living' with the characters and situation. The movie is
someone else's imagination.
Books can take you anywhere and give you the ability to feel someone
else's experience even if it is something you may never experience
personally.
Books can educate about history and situations that may help us to not
repeat the same mistakes. We can learn a lot from history.
Books can help us learn about how to best protect ourself and our
families. Be it health or wellness, we can learn a lot from the
knowledge of our scientists. We can also learn to save money by fixing
things ourselves rather than paying for someone else to do it.
As a reading teacher, I also feel that children should feel success in
reading and learning about their own interests. Many famous people
found their 'calling' in life early on. My own 'calling' came because I had
a hard time learning to read. When I discovered that I could help others
to learn, it fulfilled a need of my own.
Stay warm and curl up with a great book. Our children will learn to value
books by watching us.
Mary Jane Olson M.Ed. Title I Reading Specialist
Sept 2004
PUT READING FIRST
Welcome back to school..........
It is so nice to see everyone and catch up on news. Our open house
was well attended and my open house for Title I was also well attended.
It is nice to be able to talk about the program. There always seem to be
questions about how students can qualify for help. Also, is where the
money comes from and how we determine how to use it. These
questions and a few more are answered on my Web Site.
I will be sending a letter to parents of my second grade students to join
us in class. Even though I worked with many of these students last
year, this is the first time that I have standardized testing available on
these students. I hope it will be convenient for you to join us.
I have just taken a course on Comprehension and have the videos from
the course, if anyone is interested I can set up a series of workshops to
view and discuss these tapes. There are many of the experts on this
topic in very interesting lectures. I will be sending out an interest survey
later this month.
Its nice to be back. Reading is the most important skill we teach, here
at RES. I love seeing the new first graders and Kindergarten students
and their enthusiam for learning. Reading comes so easily to a few but
most of us have to work a little or a lot. It is well worth the
effort...........
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that's why we
call it the present.
Loretta Laroache
Mary Jane Olson
December 2004
Put Reading First
I have been pleased with the recent appeal of some old Christmas
classics which are now on DVD or VHS. It is wonderful to have these
stories told to a larger audience. I am also saddened by the fact that by
viewing a video some of the skills for imagination encouraged when
reading the book are lost.
As an adult, you know that the book is always better than the movie.
That's because there are very few pictures in our books and we must
use our imagination. The scope of a movie or video can not give the
background and context of the setting which is often crucial to the story.
The videos share the message, which is the important thing for many,
and a good thing in our current world situation. I am concerned that the
ease of a video will overshadow the value a sharing a good book. Give
books for presents and enjoy them with your youngsters. Memories
last a lifetime. Make sure the ones you make with your family will
comfort you all.
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that's why we
call it the present.
Loretta Laroache
Happy Holidays! Mary Jane Olson
ROCKPORT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Title I Needs Assessment
For 2005-2006 school year
Parent________63___________
Administrator_____1________
Teacher K-3______6________
Teacher 4-5______4________
Sped Teacher ____4________
Other______2 assistants_______
Please respond to each of the survey questions by placing a checkmark
in the
box which best describes your feelings toward the question………….
Where is Title I needed?
Most Some None
Kindergarten 22 25 8
Grade One 61 13 0
Grade Two 58 15 2
Grade Three 46 24 1
Grade Four 18 43 3
Grade Five 16 41 4
Summer Tutoring 17 32 12
Before/After school 18 29 15
MCAS preparation 19 33 10
Other: 1 1 3
What areas should Title I supplement?
Most Some None
Reading 60 10 0
Mathematics 34 33 3
MCAS support 18 38 10
Other: 3 2 2
Comments: see attached sheets
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Please respond and send to school by May 3, 2005! Thank you for your
time….
Survey Results and Analysis
The Needs Assessment Survey conducted this past week showed
some clear trends.
Respondents clearly felt that we continue with grades 1-3 for reading
with some MCAS help imbedded for 2 and 3 grades. The Title I
Reading Specialist will continue to serve on the K-12 literacy team to
assure continuity throughout the system. Mrs. Olson, as the Title I
Reading Specialist will continue to consult with the Rockport Elementary
Literacy Team.
Other areas of concern will be addressed by the following personnel
and programs:
There is to be a new reading specialist for the Elementary level. The
assignment for this person will be flexible and the expertise will be
available to all teachers and students at all grades.
All classroom and special needs teachers have been given materials
and support to provide MCAS training to their entire class with
specifically designed instruction for students on an IEP.
Summer school has been provided each year with funds from the
Special Education Department with consideration given to those
students who would lose many of their skills over the summer vacation.
Grants had been received from the state for MCAS support. These
grants were available to for Math and Language support. One was
conducted during the summer and one was held after school. These
grants have not been available the last two years although the Math
Curriculum Coordinator will continue to pursue any other grants that
become available.
Homework club for fourth and fifth graders have been available for a few
years. They are sponsored by regular education budget and are free of
cost to any students who wish to take advantage.
Occasionally, specific teachers make available science or math club
events. These are funded by the regular education budget and are
usually open to any interested students. These programs vary from year
to year.
Respectfully submitted by Mary Jane Olson/ Manny Decruz
ROCKPORT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Title I Needs Assessment
For 2006-2007 school year
Parent________32___________
Administrator_____2________
Teacher K-3______3________
Teacher 4-5______2________
Sped Teacher ____1________
Other______12_______
Please respond to each of the survey questions by placing a checkmark
in the box which best describes your feelings toward the
question………….
Where is Title I needed?
Most Some None
Kindergarten 21 15 4
Grade One 35 11 0
Grade Two 36 10 0
Grade Three 25 17 0
Grade Four 14 22 2
Grade Five 12 16 2
Summer Tutoring 10 22 5
Before/After school 8 18 8
MCAS preparation 10 18 7
Other: 1 1 1
What areas should Title I supplement?
Most Some None
Reading 46 2 0
Mathematics 28 14 0
MCAS support 9 22 5
Other: 4 1 0
Comments: see attached sheets
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Please respond and send to school by April 12, 2006! Thank you for
your time….
Survey Results and Analysis for year 2006-2007
The Needs Assessment Survey conducted this past week showed
some clear trends.
Respondents felt that we should continue with grades 1-3 for reading
with some assistance to Kindergarten. Mrs. Olson, as the Title I
Reading Specialist will continue to consult with the Rockport Elementary
Literacy Team.
Other areas of concern will be addressed by the following personnel
and programs:
There is a new reading specialist for the Elementary level. The
assignment is flexible and the expertise will be available to all teachers
and students at all grades.
All classroom and special needs teachers have been given materials
and support to provide MCAS training to their entire class with
specifically designed instruction for students on an IEP.
Summer school has been provided each year with funds from the
Special Education Department with consideration given to those
students who would lose many of their skills over the summer vacation.
A grant was available to provide math support through an experienced
teacher. The Math Curriculum Coordinator will continue to pursue any
other grants that become available.
Homework club for fourth and fifth graders has been available for a few
years. It is sponsored by regular education budget and is free of cost to
any students who wish to take advantage.
Occasionally, specific teachers make available science or math club
events. These are funded by the regular education budget and are
usually open to any interested students. These programs vary from year
to year.
Respectfully submitted by
Mary Jane Olson/ Manny Decruz
October 2006
Put Reading First
Welcome back. I hope everyone is well and rested. The new school
year is always exciting. I wanted to write a little about comprehension.
Comprehension is listed as one of the five components of reading.
(Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, and
Comprehension)
Comprehension should go hand in hand with reading but often we, as
teachers, and you, as parents, assume that this skill will come naturally.
Fortunately it does for some children but it is always important to model
and teach skills when necessary. We will be fully implementing the
Guided Reading approach soon. This involves pre reading which is
also known as a 'picture walk'. It is just looking through the book to
notice the pictures. With a higher level book, this can include the title
and sometimes an excerpt from later in the book to peak interest.
I use the 'think aloud' approach often. I talk through the story about what
might happen next, and how I would feel if the story happened to me.
Good readers do this so that they can become involved in the story.
This kind of technique can and should be used when a story is being
read to children, as well It does not mean daydreaming and not
connecting issues to the story, however, as some of us use the
opportunity to escape. Have you ever read a page and not known what it
said? I do it all the time.
Vocabulary is also a big part of comprehension. Some children come to
school with a rich oral language base others do not. There may be
many reasons for this. Almost without exception a weak oral language
will translate to reading difficulties. It is important for all of us to help
children to express themselves and encourage them to use rich
expressive language. Many children will also suffer in their writing
because they will limit themselves to words they can spell so we need
to make the effort to encourage rich language with any aides such as:
dictionary or thesaurus.
Comprehension skills are quite different according to the type of text. A
story will call for characters, plot, problem and resolution, while a non
fiction piece will be factual with main ideas, supporting details, cause
and effect. There are many aids including but not limited to story maps,
story webs, outlines and Venn diagrams.
Comprehension skills should be modeled and guided right from the
beginning. Children should always be encouraged to use the context to
determine what word would fit and make sense in the sentence. Many
children stop to phonetically analyze a word and stop the flow of the
sentence. This also makes for quesses that don't fit.
Smooth fluent reading encourages good understanding but remember
that if the subject matter or level is too hard, it may not reflect the
children's true level of comprehension. A test that involves reading to
check comprehension (e.g. group tests) is only as good as the
student's reading ability. If the student is a good reader than the test
evaluates comprehension.
Reading is a very difficult task that takes skill, patience, and the ability to
be flexible. It is the most important skill to be learned in the early
grades.
Mary Jane Olson