Bulldog

Four

Erin Hall

Honeoye Elementary

School

•The school encompasses K-12 in one building

Support for Pre-Service Teachers•Since I was able to conduct my student

teaching placement here and am currently a sub here I was welcomed with open arms to conduct my Instructional Inquiry.

•Teachers were willing to share their thoughts and concerns with me since they knew who I was.

Demographics

• 98.61% White• 0.06% African American• 0.09% Native American• 0.35% Asian• 0.90% from two or more

races. • Hispanic or Latino of any

race were 0.67% of the population

• Honeoye is a Hamlet in Richmond, NY

LITERACY INSTRUCTION

Literacy is extremely important in the school but there are too many programs implemented that it can become overwhelming for the teachers

and students

Michelle McCumber 5th Grade Teacher

Only use parts of Scott Foresman with Spelling and Grammar because of the Core Standards

Content driven reading and writing program – focus on Science and Social Studies – no standard English Program

Texts are more meaningful to tie in with the curriculum better

Depends on previous teachers to teach the skills that are expected for the next grade level

Whole group instruction – 30 minutes Small grouped on

ability levels-Enrichment-Special needs

20 minutes reading at home

Conferencing with Daily Five – Vocabulary but Daily 5 isn’t implemented in the classroom

Grade 5

Not comfortable with DRA 2 assessment ^“Go ahead and take it home, read it, and explain it to me” -Cindy

Thoughts on Assessment

“Tests don’t take into consideration all students. But they include all students in the assessment.”

-core standards are not practical-not everyone will be college ready-we need people who will do trade jobs-would need individual learning plans-hard to meet these needs(perfect world standards)-don’t figure in differentiation-need to teach test format – shouldn’t trick you but it can be tricky

-need to teach students to be critical readers and writers -test expects students to be quick readers and not pay attention to details

Cindy Futter Kindergarten Teacher

“Too many programs!”

Fundations – 5 times a week for ½ hour (reading) Another teacher implements this program –materials are not accessible in the classroom

Whole group instruction – 2 days a week for ½ hour

Small group instruction- 3 days of reading and writing for a ½ hour each-Leveled Readers

Expected to write 1-2 sentences per page that relates to the picture

Pizza Hut Reading Program – encouraging students to read at home

Kindergarten

Likes Dislikes

-Leveled Readers in Scott Foresman-Fundations is directed and sequential (Scope and sequence/ scaffolding)-Lucy Calkins -Handwriting Without Tears – groups letters together that makes sense (straight lines, curvy lines) -designed with boys in mind -both left and right handed writers are considered -multi-instructional

-Silly names in the Readers-Lucy Calkins – not enough time in the day for writing

-school is not state mandated but they are held to the common core

Janelle Deal Librarian

• Too many programs • Never had just one program in the school (except the Daily 5) –use

the Daily 5 language with the students but it’s not implemented in the Library

• Schedules are too strict and there is no set time for Science or Social Studies

• Not enough time in the day for Daily 5 and it’s not for everyone

• Students take AR (Accelerated Reader) tests online after reading a book

• Homework Jump Start was held in the Library after school

To Celebrate Dr.

Seuss’ Birthday the

Elementary school

immersed

themselves in the

wacky world of Dr.

Seuss

Have a unified Literacy Program

throughout the school

Create more family involvement programs to support the home-school connections

Teacher workshops should be geared toward grade levels and not just generalize the trainings

Recommendations

Print in the Community

The library wasn’t open during normal business hours

Th

e E

nd