Reading Lesson

Today I taught a reading lesson in which our students were divided into two different groups of three.  During group time the students had three different centers they had to complete.  The centers for my group were:  the Ipad, a rhyming game, and individual teacher work time. Leane’s centers were:  HearBuilder computer game, “texting comprehension” game, and individual teacher work time. During each student’s individual teacher work time they worked on their individual reading goals. The students worked at each of these centers for 15 minutes (I used a timer) and then rotated to the next center. 

The centers work very well in our classroom and the individual time with the teacher allows the student’s to work on their ability level.  I felt that all of the centers today were appropriate and the students enjoyed rotating to each of them.  They did a great job of asking for help when they needed it, and staying quiet at each center.  Some of the students had a hard time with the sound on the Ipad, so I will be sure to have the volume on the appropriate level next time we use it. 

The texting comprehension game seemed like a lot of fun, but ended up be a bit too difficult for some of the students in our class.  Students were supposed to write text messages on a fake cell phone to demonstrate comprehension of a short story.  I thought it would be easy and fun for them, but it ended up being too difficult and time consuming for a short 15 minute time period.  Next time, I would only use parts of the texting comprehension game in order to make it appropriate for my student’s abilities. 

Overall I thought this was a good lesson, and the rotating centers are a great way to accomplish individual reading goals for a variety of ability levels in a short amount of time.  My coteacher did a fabulous job of teaching her group and scaffolding the lesson appropriately for each student.