[MOSAIC] How are you all starting the year?

[CNJPALMER at aol.com]

Hi everyone!
I hope you all are having a great start to the year. 
 
I thought I might share what is new in my corner of Maryland in  
comprehension strategies. Some of you might remember that I have had some  interest in 
teaching comprehension at the early childhood level.
 
I read Tanny's book over the summer and was so impressed with her work and  
the possibilities it held for young and also learning disabled learners, that I 
 shared it with two colleagues...one in Kindergarten and another in first  
grade.We started by taking Tannys' ideas and combining them with some of the  
things we have already been trying with RWM, STW and Starting With  
Comprehension. We are planning six week strategy units with these ideas and are  starting 
now with Monitoring Comprehension.
 
 We have also been looking into Japanese Lesson study as a means for  
professional development and decided we could use this format to learn more  about 
teaching comprehension strategies to the youngest of learners. So here is  what 
we are doing. We are doing an initial lesson to introduce each strategy and  
are planning to use the lesson study format as we plan.  My first grade  
colleague will be teaching our first lesson on Friday and my K colleague and I  will 
go into her classroom to observe. Afterwards, we will debrief and replan  the 
lesson based on what we observed the students do in reaction to the teaching  
moves made. I will be teaching the lesson a week or so later to a grade 2 
class  full of strugglers. My colleagues will come watch me and then we will 
repeat the  process for my K colleague.  I know that each class is of a different 
age  group and that makes traditional lesson study a little problematic but I 
AM  excited to have such an opportunity to collaborate. I plan to post the 
final  version(s) of the lessons here so you all can benefit from what we have  
learned...but I wouldn't mind hearing from any of you that have tried lesson  
study with comprehension lessons. Anything I need to know to help smooth the  
way???
 
What exciting plans do all of you have for comprehension lessons this year?  
Please share and let's get the discussion going!
Jennifer



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