It's almost the end of the school year. Where are my readers? The 13 readers who started the year at level A are now at levels ranging from K to M. Not too bad! We have spent the last two weeks on higher level comprehension strategies. We started with fables and went on to Leo Leoni stories.(It's the 100th anniversary of his birthday.) The children worked on finding the lessons in these stories. That is a strategy that is assessed in 2nd and 3rd grade.
This week we are going to review finding the important information in nonfiction texts.
And then we will do some story mapping.
Good by to first grade and hello to third grade for next school year.

Last week I started my last round of running records for this school year. The top readers were first to be tested. Each of them read a level M fiction and nonfiction selection. All six did very well with only one reading error among all of them and no comprehension errors. I don't test past this level because most of the texts are not appropriate for first graders. I will test the middle level readers this week and save the lower level readers for the last week of school.
This is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leo Leonni. We will be doing some whole group study of his fables this week.
Next year I will be teaching third graders. My last 7 years in first grade have given me a broader perspective on how and what I will teach in reading and writing this go round in third grade.