Before I wrote this blog post, I put a question out on Instagram to find out what people wanted to know about my reading instruction. I found questions that were asked frequently enough that I could turn them into over-arching themes, all laid out below!
The Basics
I have seven students I teach in my reading groups. I split the groups into two. Three students are in one group and three are in the second group. I pull one group to my kidney-shaped table and the other group goes with my assistant to the front of the room for reading centers. You can read more about my reading centers when I post that blog (no later than Saturday, November 3).
Right now I pull each reading group for roughly 12 minutes. We started the year with less than five minutes, so that has been a big jump! I will be adding another component to my reading group and stretching it to 15 minutes. We have two 15 minute rotations with about a five-minute break in-between. I have 40 minutes scheduled for reading to allow time to transition as well. Students get 30 minutes of instruction: 15 with me in the reading group and 15 with an assistant in the centers.
The Warm Up
I always start my students with either alphabet or sight word work. Even though my students are working on these skills in centers, I want to reinforce it in reading groups. Many of my students have an alphabet or sight word identification IEP goals, so every opportunity to include instruction is important. I am using two of the three levels of Little Miss Kim’s Class’s letter of the week work and one of the three levels of her sight word work. These review sheets are perfect to start off the lesson.
Last year, I used vocabulary as part of my reading groups as well. I am excited to start implementing vocabulary this year. I will be using the vocabulary that comes with the curriculum that I use, all mentioned below. My reading group will spend about two minutes on the alphabet/sight word pages, three minutes on vocabulary and 10 minutes for the reading instruction. That will make up the 15-minute reading groups.
The Curriculum
My main curriculum is Unique Learning Systems (ULS). You will be able to read more about how I use ULS in my classroom in my blog post, to be posted by Sunday, November 4 at the latest. I mainly use the fiction books and comprehension from ULS during this part of my lesson. I will also pull some of the phonics work for review. I enjoy using books from the ULS library as well, but I don’t use these as often.
While the nonfiction articles in ULS can be a little tough for my students, I love using the weekly newspaper from News 2 You. I find the simplified version to be just enough to expose my students to the content without overwhelming them. It’s been a great way to add nonfiction elements into reading.
I also use elements from my Weekly Thematic Packs. I will supplement reading groups with my easy readers and comprehension. While I only use my packs about 20% of the time, I like to add them in because it helps tie the entire theme together. I have a free sampler pack that will allow you to test the easy readers and comprehension, and you can browse the entire library of weekly packs here.
Scripted Curriculum/Programs
As mentioned, my district provides all self-contained classrooms access to ULS as our main currciulmn. My school’s PTO purchased us a subscription to News 2 You as a supplement, and I use my weekly packs as an additional supplement. Last year I ran two Reading Mastery groups. Those students moved to middle school, so I am not currently using that program. I also have expierence adminstering Edmark, although I am not currently using that either.
Evidence-Based Practices
It’s always important to be using Evidence-Based Practices in our classroom. When I sat down to decide what I wanted to include in my reading group, I referred to the 4 components of reading. My students get work on Alphabetics (phonemic awarenesses) during their reading centers with an assistant. They also work on fluency during their reading centers and in their IEP bin work each morning. I tackle the vocabulary component in the warm-up and the comprehension component during the reading instruction. The comprehension check allows me to ensure my students are making progress!
Other Opportunities for Reading
I have many opportunities built into every day to work on reading. In addition to the reading groups and reading centers, my students use the curriculum from The Autism Helper. Some of my students are using her functional literacy curriculum and other students are using the ELA curriculum. We will do this work at students’ desks for independent work. I also have a read-aloud on my schedule every day, although if I am being honest, we only get the read aloud in about twice a week.
But What About Real Books?
The last time I blogged about reading, I had people ask if I ever used real books. Some people were concerned that I was not exposing my students to actual books you would find in a library or general education setting. This is what my read-aloud is for! If you want to know more about what this time has looked like in my classroom, read my blog post about read-aloud!
Congratulations!
This was a long blog post, and I love to reward people for making it to the end. I made these simple visual schedules to help my students know what to expect when they come to my reading table, and I am sharing them for free with you! Grab them here!
I hope this blog post inspired you to tackle reading in your classroom!