In the 5th grade classroom that I am in for my placement, the students have at least thirty minutes to read every day in the morning. At first, I thought it was great that the students had time each day to expose themselves to literacy, but I have come to realize that maybe this time is not as well as spent as it could be and the readings this week also justified that theory for me. Every morning during the students' reading time, each student is asked to take out a book of their choice and at the end of each period they must fill out a reading worksheet. There are also various reading groups based on the students' reading levels that work on phonics-based activities. The reading groups do seem to be a beneficial part of this time; however, I feel as though the silent reading could be adjusted so that students could have more interactive literacy time. My MT uses centers in other subjects such as math and they work really well so I feel as though centers for reading and writing could also be beneficial for the students.
After looking over the writing samples of the 5th graders and working with them each week, it is evident that there is a bit of a range when it comes to reading and writing levels. According to the Tompkins (2010), there are 5 stages of spelling development (169). The students in the 5th grade class range from stage 2: letter name-alphabetic spelling to stage 5: derivational relations spelling. For the few students who are in stage 2 spelling, it is difficult to produce writing from these students either because they are unsure of how to complete writing assignments or because of their lack of confidence in their writing ability. Although the reading groups are set up to address this and help build the skills of students, centers may be beneficial on the days that reading groups do not meet. I have seen students who are not at grade level for reading choose lengthy chapter books because their friends have chosen these types of books. Rather than have the students do this and not use their time productively, having the students do centers to build on their spelling, phonics, reading, and writing skills can be a much better use of their time and help them build up their confidence in literacy.
I failed to read the directions clearly and did not put what types of literacy centers I would embed into the classroom. Based on the levels of the 5th graders, there would need to be an array of centers to meet their various needs. Being there are students who are still at Stage 2 emergent literacy level, I would integrate the sliding letters activity. In this activity, there is a set ending that is written onto a note card and two slits that you can slide a letter line through. As the students slide through each letter, they determine whether the word is a real word or a non-sense word. I think allowing students to be able to see that there are patterns in words will help them spell correctly more easily. For the stage 5 students, I like the idea of word-based games. This way, they can improve their word knowledge while still engaged and challenged. Some ideas I found on busyteacherscafe.com are bingo games, word webs, or spelling magnetic activity. For all of these activities, it is easy to integrate a spelling list to help students practice their words for the week. I have observed that students do not take the time to practice their words at home so having ample time to practice in class can really help them improve on their spelling.
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