What reading program does your school use? (grades 1-2)

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oohlala ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 5:50 am

My school is looking into switching to a new, common-core aligned reading program. I'm curious to know what programs other yeshivas, bais yaakovs and day schools are currently using. What is your general impression of the program? Do you find that it meets the needs of most of your students? Does it proceed in a logical order for phonics and gradually increasing in difficulty (1st grade). Are the stories appealing and differentiated for small group instruction? What are the additional components to the program (spelling, phonics, etc.) and do you have time to use them?
Thanks in advance!!

↑ oohlala ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 8:29 am

I assume there are no responses because you're all working!!? Let's go people! I'd love to hear from teachers, resource room teachers, administrators, and even parents...Thanks!

Ruchel ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 8:32 am

My dd has Ratus. I and my husband also had it. It dates back to the early 80s. Newer isn't necessarily more efficient.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratus

↑ oohlala ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 10:57 am

I've never heard of this. The Wikipedia page is all in French... ???

momtra

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 3:48 pm

I'm pretty sure it's called Reading Street.

Rodent

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 4:16 pm

They use Sound Waves but I don't think they use that in isolation.

amother ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 4:46 pm

So I'm in public school, kindergarten. We are now using Readygen - it is horrible, horrible, horrible :-( I don't have a choice, I have to use it but whatever you do... Please don't use it.
(thanks for letting me vent)

↑ oohlala ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 5:38 pm

Public school teacher, thanks for your reply...can you tell me why you dislike readygen? I looked it up online and it seems very up-to-the-minute with common core...Thanks.

ValleyMom ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 5:49 pm

85% of NYC Public Schools are using Columboia Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop. The yeshivas that are more progressive are moving in that direction as welll.

I spent a week getting trained last summer in NYC and I LOVE the process.
It is AMAZING.

Our school has heavily invested into the Reading and Writeing Workshop.

Lucy Calkins is my NEW HERO!

↑ oohlala ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 5:56 pm

Thanks valley mom...our school uses some components of TC, but we have found that the context of our school doesn't really work well with it. The school invested somewhat in TC, but now decided to seek a streamline, rigorous, common core aligned program, so we are on the lookout for a new reading program.

↑ ValleyMom

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 6:09 pm

I am TELLING you go to the training this summer it will change your life. I went last summer with 1,400 teachers form around the world and there were only THREE frum/yeshiva teachers.

That's crazy.

The theory is brilliant.

For phonics I use a combination of Words Their way and Fountas and Pinnel.

I teach Pre 1st and my studetns are FLYING this year.

ESLevi

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 6:15 pm

We use Reading Street for grades K-4, with a gradual changeover in grade 4 to a novel based curriculum and fully switched over to novels by grade 5.

Things we really like about Reading Street:
common core aligned. Lots of nonfiction selections along with the fiction selections. Assessments include "fresh reads" which do a good job assessing comprehension. Leveled readers for differentiation. We particularly like the way it's set up to encourage small group instruction, which we accomplish via push in support. Lots of teacher resources which can be used in creative ways. Social studies and science components that we can build on independently, with great cross curricular content. We are also moving in the direction of project based learning, and the Reading Street themes are good for that.

Some drawbacks: it can be really overwhelming at first. It takes some effort to get into it and find the elements that will work best in your classroom. (Once you do it, though, it's done and you can move right along with it.) Way too many worksheets, too many tests - this is a problem for teachers who do it all by the book. We encourage our teachers to be creative, not depend that much on worksheets, carefully pick and choose from the assessments so they aren't testing all the time.

↑ amother ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 7:21 pm

Public school teacher here,

Readygen is NOT ready yet-for starters!
Also, its NOT teaching the kids to read. It assumes that the kuds come in knowing everything! Its basically a lot of read-alouds and a crazy graphic organizer EVERY DAY! The writing is FLUFF! Does not teach aby writing skills! The phonics program is horrible - it teaches 5 letters a week uppercase and lowercase and no sounds yet. THEN you teach 1 sound a week. It does 2 sight words every 2-3 weeks. The list goes on and on.

We were using teachers college till 2 years ago but it wasn't aligned with the common core. So we designed our own lessons which pretty much worked.

We also did Orton Gillingham phonics program which was AMAZING! but now that's out the WINDOW!

Its just horrible!

↑ amother ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 7:29 pm

amother wrote:

Oh and I forgot to add that we are being seriously evaluated with this ridiculous program!

↑ amother ↓

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 7:32 pm

ValleyMom wrote:

Oh come on, TC is not THAT GREAT! Is teachers college aligned with the CCSS? And I find it hard to believe that most public schools use her program. As far as I know most public schools bought into Readygen.

↑ amother

Thu, Oct 10 2013, 11:15 pm

Slingerland

↑ Ruchel

Fri, Oct 11 2013, 3:38 am

oohlala wrote:

I've never heard of this. The Wikipedia page is all in French... ???

yes sure

heightsmom

Fri, Oct 11 2013, 4:51 am

[quote="ValleyMom"]85% of NYC Public Schools are using Columboia Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop. The yeshivas that are more progressive are moving in that direction as welll.

I spent a week getting trained last summer in NYC and I LOVE the process.
It is AMAZING.

Our school has heavily invested into the Reading and Writeing Workshop.

Lucy Calkins is my NEW HERO![/quote

I am a nyc public school teacher and have used TC for years. Nyc has pulled Lucy Calkins from alll school in favor of a program they believe is more aligned to CCSS. TC never addressed the needs of my students. TC is best for upper middle class students whose families read with their children. If your students do not read at least 3-5 books ( grades 1-2) the prgram will not be effective .More progressive yeshivas arre moving to programs that are aligned to CCSS

↑ oohlala ↓

Fri, Oct 11 2013, 10:19 am

OP here... TC does not work with the short, half-day schedule of a Yeshiva. Some components are good, but we have found that the writing in particular is too heavy on narrative and neglects expository writing. The units of study do not devote enough time to non-fiction, either. We assess students 3 times a year and each child has a letter level (Fountas and Pinnell). We use the TC assessments for this, and most likely will stick with that.
In a perfect world, our school should be able to craft its own program according to the standards, but that is not practical due to the fact that teachers have little or no common prep time to plan and our staff would be most comfortable with a packaged, core curriculum. (Our teachers are veteran, and not incredibly open to drastic change and training.) The few that I've been thinking of considering so far are Reading Street, Journeys, Treasures and another new one by McGraw Hill called reading wonders, I think. There is also Imagine It! by SRA. There is a possibility of using Wilson's Fundations in place of the current phonics and spelling program. Any input on these above programs would be appreciated!

↑ oohlala ↓

Tue, Oct 15 2013, 7:22 am

We had an in-service meeting yesterday mostly about the common core...we will be looking to purchase a new program soon--I'd love to hear more input on reading programs!! thanks!

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