Reading Intervention Lessons and Reflections

Tutor: _Renee___ Tutee: _Sonjia____ Grade Level: _ 4 _ Reading Level: _2-3__ Lesson #: 1_

Evaluation/Reflection from last lesson:

According to student’s Attitude Assessment, she likes to read and is excited about reading. However, according to her QSI and CRI Assessments, she is far behind her grade level and does not comprehend what she is reading.

Goals: To develop fluency and

comprehension skills. To implement strategies for short and

long vowel sounds. To implement strategies for

consonants and inflected endings. To foster a true love for reading

which includes understanding what is being read.

Rationale:These goals are the main goals I want to accomplish with this student throughout the lessons. She is far below her grade level and these goals represent skills she needs in order to catch up to her peers in reading and writing.

Familiar Reading (5 min): We will talk about the cover of the

book and I will ask if she knows anything about this book.

I will have her read Once Upon a Time as I guide her if needed.

Rationale & Selection:I am unsure as to what the student has previously read due to lack of school records, so I decided to choose a book I thought she could read easily. The book is a second grade level book and she should be able to read it fluently. I also think the book is one she can relate to which will engage her and make her want to work through the lesson.

This book is about a South African girl named Sarie who struggles with reading in school and is often made fun of for struggling in school. She starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel when she finds a book and her Auntie Anna helps her learn to read.

Once Upon a Time by Niki Daly.

Guided Reading (25 min): Goals:

To help this student develop comprehension skills and strategies while reading.

Model fluent reading. Motivate this student to read

independently by reading together. Provide literature that will help this

student work on comprehension.

Selection: Charlie Anderson by: Barbara

Abercrombie

This book is about Charlie, a gray striped cat. He spends his nights with Sarah and Elizabeth at their mother's house, but every morning he leaves. This goes on every night except on the weekends, when the girls stay with their father. One stormy night when Charlie fails to show up, Sarah and Elizabeth go and search for him and discover his special secret.

Before Reading Activity:Word Predictions:

Preview the text by quickly looking at the cover and pictures/illustrations.

Have the student close the book and write down some words she thinks

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy will help the student activate prior knowledge about the topic of the story and pull forward the academic vocabulary that will assist her in navigating the passage.

she will see while reading the story. Make sure she states WHY she thinks

these words will appear in the story. Ask: Based on what you saw and the

words you wrote down, what is this story going to be about?

*Revisit, Reflect, Retell by: Linda Hoyt pg. 172

During Reading Activity:Reciprocal Teaching (Step One):

Start by reading the book with the student helping her when she needs help.

Stop after a few pages and ask her “Based on what you have read so far, what do you think will happen next?”

Also while reading, stop and ask the student: “What did the author mean when she said___?” and “What does the word____ mean on page___?”

By asking the student these questions, you are able to see whether she comprehends what she is reading or if she needs more direction.

*Remind student to keep an eye out for the words she predicted in the pre-reading so she does not forget about them.

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy helps the teacher assess different components of comprehension. The questions being asked help the teacher to see if the student can predict events and clarify the meaning of the text as she is reading.

*Revisit, Reflect, Retell by: Linda Hoyt pg. 202-203

Post-Reading Activity:Putting it all together:

After reading, have the student orally summarize what she has read. Then write a few sentences in her reading journal of her oral summary.

Then, have the student point out any important ideas she found while reading the story.

Next, have the student refer back to the word list she did in the pre-reading. Go back through the story and see which words on her list actually appeared in the story.

Finally, have the student create a simple RAFT (role, audience, format, and topic) chart.

Rationale/PurposeBy having the student refer back to the strategies used in the pre-reading and during reading, this will allow her to see how all the strategies are connected and aiding in her comprehension. This will also help her to see that every activity is related to the book and there was a purpose for doing it all.

The RAFT chart is a good strategy to use to help the student reflect on the basics of the book as well as test her comprehension even further.

*Literacy in the Middle Grades-Teaching Reading and Writing to Fourth through Eighth Graders by: Gail E. Tompkins pg.367

Writing (10 min):Student will use the written summary and RAFT chart as her writing for this lesson

Rationale/Purpose:See above.

Word Study (10 min)*Sound Sorts:

We will be using a set of pictures associated with the vowel sounds (a, e,i,o,u).

Hold up the pictures for the student, then have the student name what the picture is (you may help if needed).

Place the picture in the correct set

Rationale/Purpose:The student is middle within word pattern stage. This picture sort using vowels will help this student prepare for long vowels and consonants by recognizing the difference between vowel sounds.

*Words Their Way-Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction by:

according to the vowel sound while saying the word and emphasizing the vowel sound as you sort.

Have the student continue the process while you monitor.

At the end of the sorting, have the student give reasons for their sorting (can do this while sorting as well.)

Bear, Invernizzi, Johnston, and Templeton pg. 55

Shared Reading (10 min) I will read aloud to my student,

modeling for her fluent reading. The student will follow my finger as I

read. She will have opportunities to predict

what she thinks will happen next in the text as I read.

Rationale & Selection Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

by: Judi and Ron Barrett

This strategy will show the student how a fluent reader reads through a text. I will share this book with the students because I feel it is one she may enjoy and want to actually try and read on her own.

This book is about a town called Chewandswallow where meals rain from the sky at different times of the day. However, a change in the weather brings massive problems to this little town. The reader needs to read the book in order to find out what happens to this town and how they fix the problem.

*optional



The first lesson I did with this student, Sonjia, started out pretty well. She really enjoyed the Once Upon a Time book by Niki Daly. She stated that she could relate to the character and enjoyed the cultural side of the book. Unfortunately, I had to switch the book I was going to use for the guided reading portion of the lesson because no library had it! I did find a book from the same author that I used instead called Michael and the Cats by Barbara Abercrombie that seemed to work for the strategies I chose. Sonjia didn’t seem to understand the word predicting strategy during the pre-reading that I had her carry out. She thought I wanted her to write a prediction of what she thought the book was going to be about but instead I wanted her to predict words she might see in the book as we read. Eventually she understood what I meant and wrote a few words and did a great job explaining to me why she chose those words. The strategy seemed to meet its purpose and she was able to see how predicting those words helped her pay attention to the story better.

The during reading strategy of reciprocal teaching and having Sonjia predict what was going to happen, was hard to do with the book I had to resort to using. However, I was able to point out difficult words within the text and had Sonjia predict what the words meant and how they helped her understand the story. In the post-reading, I had to omit the RAFT journal entry I had originally planned on due to time, but I did have the student go back to her word list and find how many words she had predicted were actually in the story then I had her write a summary of what the book was about. She seemed to get a few key points of the book but still struggled comprehending the entire story.

Sonjia also struggled with the sound sort using pictures to sort initial vowel sounds. I set up the sort where she was to match the pictures with the vowel sounds they made. She made many mistakes when sorting the pictures. I decided to have her explain her sorting as

she sorted so I could see where her misconceptions were and I figured out she didn’t really know the actual sounds the vowels make. I then went through each picture and had her say the picture name for me and I said it back emphasizing the vowel sound. She was able to correct some mistakes but not all. Then, I had her match the actual words with the pictures. Seeing the spelling of the words and saying the words, helped her correct her mistakes and correctly sort the pictures with the vowel sounds. I realized this student needs more help with specifically short vowel sounds. This is where I am going to focus my word sorting with her so that I can help her reach a level of mastery with sort vowel sounds. The shared reading portion didn’t go as well as I had planned. Sonjia wanted to read the book so I let her until I realized the text was too difficult and she was becoming frustrated. I was glad to see her wanting to read to me but I hope in the second lesson I can choose texts to share that she can actually read and not become frustrated with for the rest of the books introduced or used in the remaining lessons.


comprehension skills. To implement strategies for short

vowel sounds. To foster a true love for reading




book and if she remembers reading a book similar to this one in class or on her own sometime before.

Ask if she can predict anything about the book. Then, talk about what she predicts for a quick minute.

I will have her read the book as I guide her if needed.

Rationale & Selection:This student’s general education teacher gave me a copy of her AR Test scores on different leveled books she has read thus far in the school year. I decided to choose books this student is familiar with and passed the AR Tests with high scores. I was also given this student’s Lexile reading level which has aided in my book selection. I want to start the lesson with a book she is comfortable with reading and comprehending so she builds confidence in herself as a reader and is ready for the actual lesson I am doing with her.

This book is a short chapter book that I feel we can get through in at least two lessons. We will start reading this familiar book this lesson, then finish the book in the next lesson.

The book is about a boy named Arthur who wants to enter a jingle into a contest but is out of ideas. He hears his sister D.W singing a catchy tune. He is faced with a dilemma of weather to enter the jingle that isn’t his into the contest or enter it and win.

Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest by: Marc Brown



Model fluent reading.

Selection: The One in the Middle Is The Green

Kangaroo by: Judy Blume

This book is about a young boy named Freddy who is stuck in the middle between

Motivate this student to read independently by reading together.

Provide literature that will help this student work on comprehension.

his older brother and younger sister. He used to have his own room, but not anymore because Ellen, his little sister took it over. Freddy had to move into his older brother Mike’s room. Freddy is too young to play with Mike and his friends but too old to play with Ellen. Freddy finally finds something he can be the star of and it changes his whole perspective of being in the middle.

I chose this book by looking up the student’s Lexile level texts using the Lexile website. I was given her Lexile level from her general education teacher then used the website to find leveled books she should be able to read and comprehended with some assistance.

Before Reading Activity:Story Impressions:

The teacher will make a list of words that are key words in the story in the order they appear in the actual story.

Student will brainstorm a possible story line that connects these words.

Student makes predictions of the story using these words.

Students write their predictions down in a summary format.

*Students need to use the terms in the same order they appear in the list.

*List of words include: Two problems Middle Never Get Better School Play Green Kangaroo

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy introduces students to essential terminology and information before they actually read the story. Students also receive guidance in determining importance and summarizing.

*Strategy came from Literacy Instruction II course at NSC from a power point created by Pam Norton.

During Reading Activity:VIP (Very Important Points):

As the student is reading, have the student take sticky notes and mark the text where a ‘very important point’ is in the story.

Have the student share why they are marking that point in the book and why it is very important in understanding the story.

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy will help this student determine the important points in the story to aid with summarization and comprehension. This strategy also will help the student be reflective and develop a deeper understanding on the overall text or story.

* Revisit, Reflect, Retell by: Linda Hoyt pg. 44-45

Post-Reading Activity:Story Reflections:

The student will start by drawing a picture that summarizes what they thought or took away from the story.

Student will then fill out the Story

Rationale/PurposeThis strategy guides the student to describe the important elements of the story using detailed describing words. The strategy deepens the student’s comprehension of the text by having them think about each aspect

Reflection Pyramid using one word to describe the main character, two words to describe the setting, three words to describe the problem, four words to describe an event, and five words to describe the solution.

Have student pull descriptions from her marked VIPs from her reading.

Then, have the student look back at her prediction she made in the pre-reading and have her explain how her prediction was right or wrong know that she has read the book, marked the VIPs, and described the main events in the story.

of the story on a deeper level.

* Revisit, Reflect, Retell by: Linda Hoyt pg. 139

Writing (10 min):Student will be writing their prediction summary as well as the Story Reflection Pyramid.


Word Study (10 min)*Short Vowel Sound Picture Sort:

We will be using a set of pictures associated by their short vowel sounds focusing on a and e.

I will hold up the pictures for the student, then have the student name what the picture is (will assist if needed).

I will then have the student place the picture in the correct set according to the vowel sound while saying the word and emphasizing the vowel sound as she sorts.


Have the student give reasons for her sorting (can do this while sorting as well.)

Then, have student match the words with the pictures to correct any mistakes made while sorting the pictures.

Rationale/Purpose:The student is middle within word pattern stage. This picture sort using short vowel sounds will help this student prepare for long vowels and consonants by recognizing the difference between short vowel sounds.

Also, matching the words to the pictures will help the student make the connection with the word associated with the picture to better help her reading skills.

*Words Their Way-Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction by: Bear, Invernizzi, Johnston, and Templeton pg. 346

Shared Reading (10 min) I will start by reading aloud to the

student to model fluent reading with expression.

The student will follow my finger as I am reading.

She will then have the opportunity to read some of the book herself as I follow her finger and assist with words when needed.

Rationale & Selection Countries in the News Cuba by: Kieran

Walsh and Rourke Publishing

This strategy will show the student how a fluent reader reads through a nonfiction text using expression. I am sharing this book with the student because she expressed to me that she likes books about her culture which is Cuban. I choose an informational, nonfiction text because the student and I can both learn something from the book about Cuba and the Cuban culture. I also feel that the student may know some of the information presented in the text already

and will have the opportunity to teach me something about herself or her family.

This book is an informational, nonfiction text that has child friendly information about the people, life, schools, holidays, etc. in Cuba. The student and I will read to at least page 10 in this text if time allows. This section of the book mentions the big city of Havana which will tie into the Cuban folk tale book we will be sharing in the next lesson. The student will have the opportunity today to build background knowledge of Havana which is where the folk tale takes place in the next book.

*optional



Sonjia really enjoyed the Arthur book that I shared with her during the shared reading portion of the lesson. The book was above her fluent reading level and she struggled a little bit with the actual reading of the book. However, when she asked me to take over reading, she was noticeably following the words as I read which told me she was engaged and interested in the book. The only downside of using this book during this portion of the lesson is that the reading took a lot longer than I had anticipated. I am sharing the rest of the book with her in this lesson and I have allowed more time for the reading of the Arthur book since Sonjia was excited about the book. I want to keep her engaged and excited to read so I don’t mind spending some extra time sharing this book with her.

During the guided reading portion of the lesson, Sonjia seemed to really enjoy the book and said she thinks she has read a version of the book before and was excited to see it again. During the pre-reading activity, Sonjia was able to make a valid prediction of the book using the word list I gave her. However, she didn’t seem to understand that in her written prediction, she needed to use all the words in the list in the order they appear in the list. Even though this was a key part of the pre-reading strategy, I decided not to stress about it because she was able to make a valid prediction based on the word list which was the main idea of the strategy I was using. The during-reading strategy of identifying the VIPs within the story didn’t go as well as I had thought. Sonjia only marked two points within the book that were important but not the most important. I was happy to see she marked two of the important points and justified why she had marked them with valid reasons, but I was hoping for more of a reorganization of the main points from her. I realized that this is where I need to be focusing with her. I need to find during-reading strategies that will help Sonjia identify the main points within a story with will guide her to a deeper comprehension of the story. The after-reading strategy of story reflections went better than I had anticipated based on her lack of identifying the VIPs in the story. Sonjia understood the strategy and actually liked finding words to identify the structure of the story. When we reflected on the use of the story reflection, she was able to explain to me how this strategy helps her understand the story as a whole and is a good way to summarize the story and comprehend the main ideas.

The short vowel sounds picture sort was going really well in this lesson. I was happy to see Sonjia correctly sorting the [a] and [e] short vowel pictures in the correct sorts. However, we were unable to complete the sort because Sonjia had to go to a mandatory intervention meeting with the special education teacher and my lesson was cut short. I am going to continue the sort in this lesson and extend the sort by adding the short [i] vowel sounds.

I was also unable to share the Cuba book I had planned on sharing with Sonjia so I am going to keep the shared reading portion the same in this lesson because I really want to share this Cuba book with Sonjia to show her I listened to her requests of finding and sharing books about her culture.

*Due to Sonjia struggling through the during-reading strategy in this lesson, I made the decision to use this strategy again with a different book in this lesson to see if Sonjia struggled due to time constrains and me rushing through the book, or if she really cannot recognize the VIPs in the story and use them to help reflect on the story.


comprehension skills. To implement strategies for short

vowel sounds. To foster a true love for reading



Familiar Reading (5 min): We will start buy having her briefly

tell me what has happened thus far in the book pulling from the reading we did in the last lesson (aide student if needed by reviewing key events and details from the previous section read).

Ask if she can predict anything about the next half of the book. Then, talk about what she predicts for a quick minute.


Rationale & Selection:*We are finishing this book in which we started reading in the last lesson.

This student’s general education teacher gave me a copy of her AR Test scores on different leveled books she has read thus far in the school year. I decided to choose books this student is familiar with and passed the AR Tests with high scores. I was also given this student’s Lexile reading level which has aided in my book selection. I want to start the lesson with a book she is comfortable with reading and comprehending so she builds confidence in herself as a reader and is ready for the actual lesson I am doing with her.

The book is about a boy named Arthur who wants to enter a jingle into a contest but is out of ideas. He hears his sister D.W singing a catchy tune. He is faced with a dilemma of weather to enter the jingle that isn’t his into the contest or enter it and win.

Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest by: Marc Brown






Selection: The Recess Queen by Alexis O-Neill


This book is about Mean Jean who is a recess bully who rules the playground. Mean Jean always gets her way and no one tries to stop her until one day when a new student comes to school whose name is Katie Sue. Katie Sue does the unthinkable and invites Mean

Jean to play with her and changes recess forever.

Before Reading Activity:Making Inferences:

Ask student to analyze the cover of the book and make a prediction about the main character.

Then ask the student: What do we know about queens? How would your predict a recess queen to behave?

This strategy will help the student predict the story based on the main character’s picture and the illustrations on the cover. The strategy also refers to the student’s prior knowledge of a queen and how a ‘recess queen’ may act based on their previous knowledge and cover illustrations.

*No specific resource for this strategy. Combines inferring based on illustrations as well as prior knowledge. *Got questions from a PDF file found online about this book. http://web.uvic.ca:8080/wits/pdfs/schools/books/recess-queen/therecessqueen.pdf

During Reading Activity:VIP (Very Important Points) About the Characters:

As the student is reading, have the student take sticky notes and mark the text where a ‘very important point’ about the characters is in the story.

Have the student share why they are marking that point in the book and why it is very important in understanding the characters in the story.

May help student if she is missing the important points.

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy will help this student determine the important points in the story to aid with summarization and comprehension. This strategy also will help the student be reflective and develop a deeper understanding on the overall text or story.

* Revisit, Reflect, Retell by: Linda Hoyt pg. 44-45

Post-Reading Activity:Making Inferences About Characters:

The student will start by identifying the two main characters in this book.

The student will fill in the blanks on the worksheet by identifying a word to describe the character and then explaining how this word describes the character using her prior knowledge of the word as well as the information in the book.

The student will do this for both characters in the story.

There is a description box at the bottom of the page that has words to consider when describing the characters that the student can use to guide her when filling out the worksheet.

Have the student read and explain her inferences about the two characters once she has completed the worksheet.

Rationale/PurposeThis strategy of inferring aids comprehension and is an essential building block of understanding that we must combine prior knowledge with information presented to make a connection and comprehend the characters and their actions within a story.


Writing (10 min): Rationale/Purpose:

http://web.uvic.ca:8080/wits/pdfs/schools/books/recess-queen/therecessqueen.pdf

http://web.uvic.ca:8080/wits/pdfs/schools/books/recess-queen/therecessqueen.pdf

Student will demonstrate writing by filling out the Making Inferences About Characters worksheet.

See above.


We will be using a set of pictures associated by their short vowel sounds focusing on a, e and i.






Rationale/Purpose:*We did not finish this sort from the last lesson so we will continue with this sort by adding the short [i] vowel sound.

The student is middle within word pattern stage. This picture sort using short vowel sounds will help this student prepare for long vowels and consonants by recognizing the difference between short vowel sounds.







Rationale & Selection*I was not able to share this book in the last lesson due to time constraints. I will share the book in this lesson keeping the same plan as intended.

Countries in the News Cuba by: Kieran Walsh and Rourke Publishing

This strategy will show the student how a fluent reader reads through a nonfiction text using expression. I am sharing this book with the student because she expressed to me that she likes books about her culture which is Cuban. I choose an informational, nonfiction text because the student and I can both learn something from the book about Cuba and the Cuban culture. I also feel that the student may know some of the information presented in the text already and will have the opportunity to teach me something about herself or her family.

This book is an informational, nonfiction text that has child friendly information about the people, life, schools, holidays, etc. in Cuba. The student and I will read to at least page 10 in this text if time allows. This section of the book mentions the big city of Havana

which will tie into the Cuban folk tale book we will be sharing in the next lesson. The student will have the opportunity today to build background knowledge of Havana which is where the folk tale takes place in the next book.

*optional



Lesson number three was one of the best lessons I have had with Sonjia. We again began our lesson with reading the Arthur book and she seemed to enjoy the book but got frustrated reading it and was not as engaged when I was reading. I decided based on time and her engagement level, to not completely finish the book. We read a few chapters then I decided to stop. I told Sonjia we will finish the book in our next lessons if we have time and she wants to finish it. She seemed to like this idea then we moved on. I found out that she has seen the Arthur episode that follows this book which could account for her disengagement while reading in this lesson.

Next, Sonjia and I moved into the guided reading section of the lesson where we were reading the book, The Recess Queen. She told me she has read this book before but cannot remember what happened. The fact she had read the book before seemed to aide her in the before reading activity of making inferences using only what is shown on the cover. She was able to answer each of the three questions I had asked her with thoughtful answers and explanations. This surprised me a little because she hasn’t been able to do this in the first two lessons so I was happily surprised to see her thoughtfully answer these inferential comprehension questions.

The during-reading strategy of marking the VIPs within the text, I decided to keep the same for this lesson. However, I decided to change it slightly to have Sonjia mark the VIPs within the text that will help her understand the characters in the story better. Sonjia did amazingly well using this strategy in this book. She marked six pages and was able to explain to me why she marked each page using examples related to the characters’ actions or thoughts. I was again surprised with Sonjia and her ability to accurately explain her VIP markings in the text due to her struggling with this exact same strategy just one lesson earlier. Marking the VIPs in the text about the characters led us into the after-reading activity of making inferences about the characters in the text. I gave Sonjia the Making Inferences About Characters worksheet and explained to her what I wanted her to do. She very quickly identified the two main characters in the story and referred back to her VIPs to help her fill out the rest of the worksheet. She came up with describing words for each character with little help from me. She was also able to explain to me why she chose those words to describe each character as well as how marking the VIPs in the book helped her come up with her words and descriptions fairly quickly. I explained to Sonjia how she can do this activity with her AR books (which her teacher puts much emphasis on in her classroom) to make sure she can answer the detailed questions on the AR tests. She said she would try and use this activity with her next AR book and see if it helps her pass the tests with higher scores.

The next portion of the lesson was the word sort. I decided to mainly keep the word sort the same due to being interrupted and not finishing the sort in the last lesson. So, in this sort, we continued with picture sorts with short vowel sounds. This time I decided to focus on [a], [e], and [i]. Sonjia made a few mistakes matching the pictures. She also got stuck on a few pictures and couldn’t figure out where they go. I decided to not help her and have to relook at the first picture in each sort to guide her in sorting the pictures she was stuck on. This helped her a lot and she even explained to me that by me telling her to use the first picture as a reference, she was able to figure out where the rest of the pictures went. She still made a few mistakes with the pictures but was able to correct her mistakes once she sorted the words to match the pictures.

The last part of the lesson was the shared reading where I shared with Sonjia a nonfiction, informational, child friendly book about Cuba. Sonjia loved this book and really opened up to me about her family and her life when she lived in Cuba. I could tell Sonjia

was excited to see a book about Cuba and be able to share her stories with me. Sonjia is really showing me that she is making some connections with our activities and comprehending the books we read as well as making sense of short vowel sounds within our word sorts.Goals:

To develop fluency and comprehension skills.

To implement strategies for short vowel sounds.

To foster a true love for reading which includes understanding what is being read.



book and if she remembers reading this book in class or on her own.

Ask if she can predict or tell you anything about the book. Then, talk about what she predicts or tells you for a quick minute.


Rationale & Selection: How King Snake Got His Pattern by:

Cheryl Blinston

This book is that appeared on Sonjia’s AR Test print out given to me by her general education teacher. It is a first grade level book which indicates that Sonjia should be able to read the book fluently as well as comprehend the book because she has seen and read the book before and actual tested on this book using the AR Testing System.

This book is about King Snake who is plain and brown. He wants to be noticed like his cousin, Coral Snake so he decides to paint his scales to match his cousins. However, his plan to scare someone backfires when this someone realizes that King Snake has painted his scales wrong, indicating he is not a threat like he had hoped to look like.

*Finish Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest if time allows.






Selection: Bear’s New Friend by: Karma Wilson

This book is about Bear who is on his way to go outside and play when he hears a clatter in a tree. He realizes that the clatter isn’t coming from the tree and with the help of his friends who join him on his way to find the clatter, he finally figures out who is making the clatter and he and his friends, all make a new friend.


Before Reading Activity:Directed Reading-Thinking Activity:

Before reading, student will be asked

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy will help the student predict what the story will be about based on the

to predict what will happen in the story.

The teacher will ask the student to skim through the book and look at the front and back covers along with the title to see what she can predict about the book.

After she has given her prediction, make sure to ask why she made that prediction and have her explain her thoughts.

covers, title, and illustrations as well as pull from the students prior knowledge of what she may know about the book as well as be able to explain her predictions.

*Diagnostic Teaching of Reading-Techniques for Instruction and Assessment by: Barbara J. Walker pg. 196-197

During Reading Activity:Directed Reading-Thinking Activity:

After the student has made their prediction about what the story is going to be about, start reading the story.

Stop at the key points in the story (basically every time Bear asks ‘Who?’) and ask the student to predict what is going to happen next.

Have the student write their predictions out on a piece of paper.

Have the student explain to you their predictions.

Keep on reading until you reach the next stopping point.

Have the student first recap what has happened in the book thus far and if her prediction has come true.

Then have her repeat the prediction process of predicting what will happen next, writing her predictions, and then explaining her prediction.

Repeat this process throughout the entire story.

At the end of the book, have the student react to the whole story and have her explain her predictions and if any of them came true.

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy includes predicting what the author will say, reading to confirm, or revise their predictions. This strategy helps the student engage and construct meaning as they read. The student tells us what they already know to predict what will happen and then select important information from the text to justify their responses.

*Diagnostic Teaching of Reading-Techniques for Instruction and Assessment by: Barbara J. Walker pg. 196-197

Post-Reading Activity:Personal Narrative- Written Reflection:

After reading the book, the student will reflect on the book.

What happened in the story? (Bear mad a new friend).

Have the student think of a time when she met a new friend. Was she the shy one and the friend came to her or was her friend the shy one and she went to her?

Next, have the student write about the time she made the friend.

Have her read the story to you and explain the connection between her story and the story we just read.

Rationale/PurposeThis strategy allows the student to write about a time that may have been forgotten in their lives. The strategy will help the student in finding a story in their personal lives that they feel is worth telling. With having the student write about a time she made a new friend, will allow her to share a personal story as well as connect her story to the book we just read.


Writing (10 min):Student will be writing predictions as well as her personal story in this lesson.



We will be using a set of pictures associated by their short vowel sounds focusing on [o] and [u].






Rationale/Purpose:The student is middle within word pattern stage. This picture sort using short vowel sounds will help this student prepare for long vowels and consonants by recognizing the difference between short vowel sounds.







Rationale & Selection Senor Cat’s Romance and Other

Favorite Stories from Latin America retold by: Lucia M. Gonzalez

This strategy will show the student how a fluent reader reads through a nonfiction text using expression. I am sharing this book with the student because she expressed to me that she likes books about her culture which is Cuban. I found a book that includes many short stories from the Latin American culture. I decided to share the story of Senor Cat’s Romance (pages 43-46) because the story is told in a rhyme and is stated that it is known as a song. This story is very popular and this student may have heard this story and a song before. If not, I really think she will enjoy the rhyming in this book.

This story is about Senor Sir Cat who very wealthy and has been wed to a well-bred Moorish Cat. He was so excited about his wedding he climbed to the roof top and rejoiced his happy day. He got too excited and fell of the roof and broke his paw, jaw, ribs, and tail. The town thought he did not prevail and laid him to rest, however cats are said to have seven lives and Senor Sir Cat surprises the town by awakening to the smell of sweet sardines.

*optional



Sonjia continued to surprise me during this lesson. I decided to choose a book for the familiar reading portion of the lesson that I knew Sonjia could read fluently on her own with little to no guidance from me. I chose the book How King Snake Got His Pattern and I could tell Sonjia was happy to be able to read me a book that she knew she could read fluently. Sonjia did stumble across some words but this was due to her reading quickly and not paying close enough attention to the words as she was reading. I really saw her confidence rise when she was reading and I could tell she was happy to read me a story that she knew and I didn’t know, for a change.

The next part of the lesson was the guided reading portion. I chose a book for this part of the lesson that I felt Sonjia could relate to. I chose the book Bear’s New Friend which is about Bear who makes a new friend who is shy. Bear makes his new friend not shy and actually has him come out and play with Bear and his friends. Sonjia had not read this book before but seemed interested in reading it. We started out the lesson with the before reading strategy using the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. I had Sonjia predict what the book was going to be about by skimming through the book while glancing at some of the pictures. I had her write down her prediction and verbally tell me why she made this prediction. Her explanation of her prediction included her referencing the front and back cover of the book along with the illustrations within the book which told me Sonjia understood the strategy I was having her do before reading.

The Directed Reading-Thinking Activity also served as our during-reading strategy. This book really allowed me to stop frequently throughout reading to have Sonjia predict what she thinks will happen next in the story. I told Sonjia that every time I paused in the book that I wanted her to write down her predictions of what is going to happen next then verbally tell me why she thinks her prediction will happen. In the case of using this book, Sonjia was predicting what animal was making the chattering noise Bear was looking for. I noticed Sonjia writing consistently while I was reading. I do not think she fully comprehended that I only wanted her to write when I asked her to predict, however, each time I asked her to explain her predictions, she was able to tell me why she was predicting that animal while using clues from the text and illustrations. Even though she was writing when she wasn’t supposed to be, I could tell she understood the point of the strategy and that she was making the connections in the book that I intended for her to make. She was also able to change her predictions throughout the book and explain to me using the clues from the text and the illustrations to support why she was changing her predictions. Sonjia really excelled at this strategy which showed me that she comprehended the parts of the book that I had intended for her to comprehend.

In order to connect the book to her personal life, I had Sonjia write a person narrative reflection of the book. I asked Sonjia to think of a time she was shy and she met a friend who helped her to not to be shy and they ended up hanging out or playing together. She thought of a time when it was her first day of school and she was really shy during recess and another girl came up to her and introduced herself and asked her to play with her who helped her not be shy anymore and she made new friends. I asked her to write her story on the paper for me which she tried to do but only ended up writing a sentence or two. By Sonjia being able to verbally tell me her story was good enough for me because she made the connection between the book and her personal experience. I explained to her that by personally connecting herself to a book will help her comprehend the book better.

The next portion of the lesson was the word sort. We continued to work with short vowel sounds using picture sorts. This time, we worked on sorting short [o]and [u] vowel sounds. Sonjia did so well with this word sort. I heard her emphasizing the vowel sounds when sorting every picture. She even used the strategy I showed her during the last lesson of using the first picture in each sort as a guide when she came across a picture she wasn’t sure about. She correctly sorted every picture which helped her sort every word correctly as well. I really see the improvement with Sonjia knowing and recognizing her short vowel

sounds. I am feeling like we are working towards really closing this gap and hopefully moving her forward in her spelling patterns.The last portion of the lesson was the shared reading. I chose a book that Sonjia’s general education teacher had in her classroom library that was also in Sonjia’s Lexile level. It was a book with a collection of short folktales and poems from the Latin American cultures. I thought Sonjia would like this book because it is fun to read and incorporates some simple Spanish words in which she may know. I shared with her the Senor Cat’s Romance story which she really seemed to like. She even told me she would check out the book from her teacher and read the other stories in the book because she liked the fun language and style of the poems. Overall, this lesson went extremely well and I can really see the changes being made with Sonjia and her comprehension skills which is a reassuring thing to be observing.

Goals: To develop comprehension skills,

specifically inferential comprehension skills.

To implement strategies for short vowel sounds.

To foster a true love for reading which includes understanding what is being read.


Familiar Reading (5 min): We will review the cover of the book

and ask if she remembers reading this book in class or on her own.

Ask if she can predict or tell you anything about the book. Then, have a brief discussion about what she predicts or tells you about the book.


Rationale & Selection: Can You Guess? A Story for Two

Voices by: Sue Fay

This book is that appeared on Sonjia’s AR Test print out given to me by her general education teacher. It is a first grade level book which indicates that Sonjia should be able to read the book fluently as well as comprehend the book because she has seen and read the book before and actual tested on this book using the AR Testing System.

This book is about two friends who decided to play the guessing game. One girl is giving hints to the other as she tries to figure out the object being described.The book has two characters with dialogue which is a great way to get both the students and I reading together.


To help this student develop inferential comprehension skills and strategies while reading.




Selection: A Chair for My Mother by: Vera B.

Williams

This book is about a little girl Rosa, her mother and her grandmother whose house and possessions are all destroyed by a fire. Rosa, her mother, and grandmother save and save until they can afford to buy one big, comfortable chair that they all three can enjoy.

I chose this book by looking up the student’s Lexile level texts using the Lexile website. I was given her Lexile level from her general education teacher then used the website to

find leveled books she should be able to read and comprehended with some assistance.

Before Reading Activity:Word Predictions:

Preview the text by quickly looking at the cover and pictures/illustrations.

Have the student close the book and write down some words she thinks she will see while reading the story.

Make sure she states WHY she thinks these words will appear in the story.

Ask: Based on what you saw and the words you wrote down, what is this story going to be about?

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy will help the student activate prior knowledge about the topic of the story and pull forward the academic vocabulary that will assist her in navigating the text.

*Revisit, Reflect, Retell by: Linda Hoyt pg. 172

During Reading Activity:Double-Entry Journal:

Have the student take out a piece of paper and fold it in half (hot-dog style).

Then, have her label one column ‘My Feelings’ and the other column ‘Their Feelings.’

Each time the main character in the story changes an emotion (happy to sad, dad to happy), have her write her feelings down about what is happening in the book in the ‘My Feelings’ column.

Then, have the student write down the character’s feeling’s about the same part in the story, in the ‘Their Feelings’ column.

After you have finished the story, have the student orally compare her feelings to the character’s feelings.

Rationale/Purpose:This strategy of two column note taking while reading is a great strategy for comprehension and comparison. The strategy organizes the information in a way that is easy to look at and refer to while comprehending a text. The strategy can also lead itself to many variations which make it a great learning tool for all students.

*Strategy came from Literacy Instruction II course at NSC from a power point created by Pam Norton.

Post-Reading Activity:Putting it all together/The Character and Me:

Have the student refer back to the word list she made in the pre-reading. Go back trough the book and see which words on her list actually appeared in the story.

Then, see if her prediction of the book came true.

Next, have the student fill out The Character and Me worksheet using the notes from the during-reading to choose a character and compare herself to the character in order to fill out the worksheet.

Rationale/PurposeBy having the student refer back to the strategies used in the pre-reading and during reading, this will allow her to see how all the strategies are connected and aiding in her comprehension. This will also help her to see that every activity is related to the book and there was a purpose for doing it all.

The Character and Me worksheet invites the student to compare herself to character in the story with the use of a Venn Diagram. This diagram works well for this activity and students find it especially useful for other topics in which they are asked to compare. It is a great strategy to help with practice of comparing two objects or people.

*Revisit, Reflect, Retell by: Linda Hoyt pg. 42-43

Writing (10 min): Rationale/Purpose:

Will be writing her predication words, the two column notes, and The Character and Me worksheet.

See above.

Word Study (10 min)*Short Vowel Sound Word Sort:

We will be using a set of words (all used in the previous sorts) associated with their short vowel sounds [a, e, i, o, u].

I will have the student choose a word and read the word aloud to me.

I will then have the student place the word in the correct sort according to its vowel sound.



Rationale/Purpose:The student is middle within word pattern stage. This word sort using short vowel sounds will help this student prepare for long vowels and consonants by recognizing the difference between short vowel sounds.

By having the student only match the familiar words with short vowel sounds, will indicate to me whether she has learned the short vowel sounds in words or if she has been leaning on the pictures instead of reading and recognizing the words. Being able to sort words without pictures is a goal for students in the middle within word pattern stage.






Rationale & Selection Martina the Beautiful Cockroach A

Cuban Folktale retold by: Carmen Agra Deedy

This strategy will show the student how a fluent reader reads through a fiction text using expression. I am sharing this book with the student because she expressed to me that she likes books about her culture which is Cuban. I think this book is very cute book and the student will enjoy it. It is a folktale about her Cuban culture so she may have heard the story before.

This book is a Cuban folktale about Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha who is a beautiful cockroach. She lives in Old Havana with her big loving family. She has come to the time in her life where she is ready to give her leg in marriage. Abuela, her Cuban grandmother will do anything to get Martina to meet the right man to marry but has a very strange test she wants Martina to give to each of her suitors that will determine who the right man will be. Martina is skeptical about this test but realizes her grandmother was right and finds the perfect man to marry.

*optional

Tutor: _Renee Whaley___ Tutee: _Sonjia____ Grade Level: _ 4 _ Reading Level: _2-3__ Lesson #: 5_


Sonjia continued to surprise me with her growth in inferential comprehension. To start this lesson I decided to choose a book for familiar reading that I knew Sonjia could read fluently in which I could join in reading with her. I choose the book Can You Guess? A Story of Two Voices by Sue Fay. This book requires two readers because the book is a conversational story between two girls playing a guessing game. Sonjia really liked that I got to read with her in this book. It was a first grade level book so Sonjia was able to read the words with little to no help from me which made our reading of the book easy and very fluent. I could tell Sonjia felt confident being able to read fluently just like I was while we were reading. That made me happy to see her so confident and I had a lot of hope for the rest of our lesson.

The next part of the lesson was the guided reading portion. I choose a book for this part of the lesson that I felt Sonjia would like and be able to connect with. The book I chose was A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams, which is one of my personal favorites. I love this book and I could tell from my excitement introducing the book to Sonjia, she was excited to read the book as well even though she had never seen the book before. We started the guided reading portion of the lesson with the before reading strategy of word predictions. Sonjia has done this strategy with me before, but did not do all that well with the strategy, so I decided to try the strategy again now that she is more confident with herself and has improved with her comprehension skills. Sonjia did remember this strategy which boosted her confidence even more because she thought she knew what she was doing with this strategy. She did so much better with the strategy this time around and as able to choose words she thought were going to be in the book based on the pictures and she also explained to me why she thought those words would appear. She also was able to predict what the story was going to be about which satisfied every component of the word predictions before reading strategy. This was something she was not able to do the first time we worked with this strategy. This made me very happy to see her be able to successfully work through the strategy.

The strategy I chose to use for the during reading activity was a double entry journal which Sonjia would in one column, write the main character’s feelings during events in the book and in the other column, write her feelings to those same events in the book. Sonjia was able to take very detailed notes about the character’s feelings in the book. She even asked me to stop reading a few times so that she would write what she wanted to write. I did notice that she seemed to say she felt the same way as the characters in the story during each event. This didn’t bother me too much because I could see she was connecting with the character and really putting herself into the story as well as seeing the changes in the emotions of the characters throughout the story. After we were done reading the book before we moved onto the after reading strategy, I decided to have Sonjia explain to me her notes and her feelings about the events in the story. She was able to re-tell the story to me with such detail that I sat there in a bit of a shock. She had never paid that close attention to a book we had read together before and she was able to recount the emotions of the characters and tell me how their feelings changed the flow of the book from happy to sad back to happy again. I was so proud and excited to see Sonjia make such a stride in her comprehension. It was right then that I realized she could understand and comprehend the inferential components of a book and that I was able to help her achieve that. I had a very proud teacher moment and I was reassured why I wanted to become a teacher in the first place.

After I collected myself from my own thoughts, we began our after reading strategy of putting it all together and filling out The Character and Me Chart. We began with going back to the list of words Sonjia created in the before reading strategy. I had her look through the pages of the book to see if any of her words actually appeared in the book. Sonjia was able to find seven out of the eight words she predicted would be in the book which she felt very proud of. The next part of the after reading strategy was The Character and Me Chart. This chart is set up like a Venn Diagram where one side is the main character, Rosa’s, feelings with three describing words, the other side is Sonjia’s feelings and three describing words, and the middle is where Sonjia would write the feelings they both shared in the story. I was watching Sonjia fill out her diagram and I noticed she used the same describing words for herself and for Rosa and really only wrote the feelings they both shared down. I decided to stop her and have her explain to me the describing words

she chose and why she chose them and her diagram thus far. She verbally told me that she felt the same way as Rosa throughout the book and that they both went through the same emotions which is why she had only wrote down the emotions they shared and used the same describing words. I was expecting Sonjia to choose different words to describe herself and Rosa but I understood why she didn’t and I was okay with that. Sonjia was also able to write down at least one different between them and she explained her whole diagram to me and I could tell she had a very good understanding of the book as well as how she could relate herself to the characters in the book in order to understand them and the overall book better, which is exactly what I wanted to her understand for this lesson.

Now we moved onto the word sorts. Sonjia has always been excited for the word sorts which I found out was because she does word sorts with her mandatory fifteen minutes of intervention. I decided to not use pictures in this word sort and use all the words Sonjia had seen throughout the last four lessons with me. Surprisingly, Sonjia was glad that we were not going to be using the pictures in the word sort. She had told me that she liked just the words and not the pictures. This was surprising to me because I had thought using the pictures was helpful to her and she liked using them. Either way, I was happy to see her excited about the word sort. Sonjia dived right into sorting all the words. She did amazing well and she was using all the strategies I had showed her throughout the other lessons in order to sort the words. She incorrectly sorted two words but then quickly realized her mistake and sorted them correctly without any guidance from me. There were a lot of words in this sort and she was able to sort them all. Through her progress with the past word sorts and her tremendous growth, I really think I helped her come closer to closing this gap in her spelling patterns with the use of the word sorts.

The next and last portion of the lesson was the shared reading. I decided to share the book Martina the Beautiful Cockroach A Cuban Folktale retold by Carmen Arga Deedy. I chose this book because I knew Sonjia enjoyed reading books about Cuba and Cuban culture because she is from Cuba. I was surprised to find out that she didn’t know this story even though it was a Cuban folktale. The book was above Sonjia’s reading level so I read the book to her as she followed along. There were a few Spanish words in the book in which I could not pronounce. Sonjia stepped in and was able to help me with the Spanish words and together we got through the book. I was happy to see that Sonjia could help me with the words I didn’t know and I could tell it made her more confident knowing she could help me too. Overall, Sonjia enjoyed the book and really enjoyed being able to help me read the book as well.

Overall, throughout all five lessons, I saw such a great improvement with Sonjia. She was shy and timid when we first started our lessons and by the end, she was strong and confident. Each lesson she grew as a reader and her comprehension improved little by little. I saw Sonjia become a stronger reader while also becoming more confident within herself and her reading abilities. Her general education teacher told me Sonjia started asking higher level thinking questions in class as well as noticeably improving in her reading skills and comprehension skills. This made me feel really great and reassured me that my lessons were helping Sonjia and that Sonjia was able to take what I was doing with her, and apply it to her learning in the classroom. I feel like being able to work with Sonjia not only had benefits for her, but for me as well. I feel amazing knowing that I made a slight difference in her education and she has made a difference in me as a future educator. I now have a better understanding of how to work with a struggling student and through hard work, preparation, persistence, and patients; I can really make a difference in a student’s life. I learned so much from Sonjia and I have even a more powerful drive to become a teacher and make a difference in the life of my future students.

Reading Intervention Lessons and Reflections

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Transcript of Reading Intervention Lessons and Reflections