 Many area schools have benefited from Woods Foundation grants,
allowing them to purchase the new electronic display boards. The
Promethean boards were new to District 27 last year, and this year's
grant cycle allowed the schools to purchase additional boards.
Jefferson, along with the other elementary schools in District
27, is using a program referred to as the Daily 5 and Café. The
concept was developed by two sisters who have promoted the program
as a way to teach children to read and write. Focusing on the goals
of the program, teachers at Jefferson have monthly strategy meetings
in order to work together so classes flow from one level to the
next.
In the afternoons, the second-grade class spends 30 minutes
working together on a reading assignment focused on that week's
story. Mrs. Miller uses the Promethean board to share worksheets and
other instructional material with the students, which allows them to
read together and to see answers as they are written on the board at
the front of the room. The Promethean board uses an overhead
projector to display a worksheet taken from a computerized document,
and the teacher needs only to touch the screen to create a line of
writing. The large-screen display eliminates the need for each
student to have a copy of the worksheet and allows the class to work
together.
For the next 30 minutes each student chooses an area to study in,
from the Daily 5 -- Read to Self; Word Work; Read to Someone
(partners); Listen to Reading (on computer); Work on Writing. Mrs.
Miller tracks each student's daily area of choice, so by the end of
the week each of the Daily 5 has been completed.
"Teachers can pull out a group of students who are struggling in
a specific area and give them extra help during the Daily 5 time
frame," Mrs. Miller explained. "If we were teaching the whole group
together, it is more difficult to have a break-away session with
two, three or four students. Also, the kids like the individual
attention we can give them while they work."
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The "Café" comes from a menu of four reading strategies from
which the children may choose once per month. The categories are
comprehension, fluency, accuracy and expanding vocabulary. Each
category has a list of actions to help the student achieve the goal.
Another feature of the new teaching strategy is to use a simple
sound instead of voice to signal the end of an activity or to gain
the students' attention. Mrs. Miller uses a wooden rain stick, which
makes a soft, strong sound the children can hear, but it is less
harsh than a raised voice or strongly worded command.
This year Mrs. Miller's class has Ms. Heather Rogers as a student
teacher, and Mrs. Shirley Warner is their Foster Grandmother.
[By MARLA BLAIR]
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