An Intervention Update and Small Groups



Of course I can't leave anything alone too long....I have revised, no-- tweaked my intervention a bit this year due to many reasons, which is a whole new blog post.  I have a few extra hands helping me out this year so I wanted to be very efficient in what I was planning for them to do, as well as documenting it and their progress (or lack of :/).  Originally, I used my Intervention Planning sheet to plan the intervention groups, as well as to let helpers know who they were working with and what they were to do with each student/group.  Then there is a place to check off if the group is done--meaning they don't need that help anymore.  They were expected to jot down notes on my individual intervention student sheets about the progress (that were kept in my Intervention Tub).  Well, I found a few things wrong with this system--There is no room for notes on the planning sheet, some helpers were just checking it off as done after one time, it took longer to take the individual notes than expected, and I was not keeping up with checking on their progress as well as I should have because the notes were going straight into individual student files.  I wasn't looking at these on a regular enough basis.

So, onto my new plan!  I still use my planning sheet as seen above, but it is for my use only.  I then came up with a document for my helpers to use that has a space for explaining the intervention, as well as a place to write individual notes on each student and the date that they worked with them.  I added a spot that lets them know if this is an individual activity or a group activity. 

This is much easier for me to check on on a regular basis.  I then transfer the notes and intervention dates to the individual student intervention sheets.  This makes me a lot more accountable, as well as aware of what other people are doing with my students.  These are now kept in a binder for easy access.  

**On a side note, I use these sheets as well when I pull students for interventions--either the same or different than what I have my helpers doing.

I still use my Intervention Tub for interventions as well.  It is where I keep supplies needed for the interventions--student files now keep flashcards, papers that need to be corrected, as well as documents used for interventions for that individual student.

This new system seems to be working quite well for me so far....


 

Now, onto small group reading--We have a lot of help during our small group reading time.  So, my students are out with various teachers and teacher's aides every day.  We switch every two weeks, so it takes quite some time for me to see all of my students.  I am obsessed with control and with all this help, I am NOT in control.   To help with this, I came up with a quick checklist for all the reading group instructors to quickly fill out about their groups so I (and the other classroom teachers) can have an idea of how the groups are going.   This helps communicate progress, as well as help decide whether or not students move up reading levels. These are filled out during the second week of rotations.  There are 3 of us classroom teachers that share students for reading, as well as teacher aides for reading groups--in all there are 9 of us.  It can be difficult keeping on top of your students as readers when there is that many people involved and that many sheets to go through.  So after these progress sheets get turned in, they are used by classroom teachers to make the new groups for the following week.  Then I look over them and document the notes made about my kids.  I made a separate document to keep track of those notes since the progress sheets include students from other classrooms.  As I explain all this it sounds like so much paper work--which it is, but it helps me keep track of everything and I feel better informed of where my students are at without having to look it up.

 The individual small group reading sheet can also be used to see reading behaviors/patterns that may need to be addressed in future reading group and/or a small intervention group with other students struggling with teh same behaviors.  All too often reading groups are based on level, and not behaviors or strategiesso this is a great way to help look at reading groups a bit differently.

 If anything catches your eye, these new sheets are part of the updated Intervention Notes {FREEBIES} at TpT.  I included the pdf document, as well as the PowerPoint/word documents so you can edit them as needed.  Just click on the following link to download them all.

        NEW Intervention FREEBIES here!

To read my other posts about interventions, please see THIS post.

Giveaway Extravaganza!

I believe I need more motivation to get on the blogging roll!  I feel like I am still new to the blogging world and have no real idea what I am doing.  So here is my thinking....more followers = more motivation to blog.  I love finding great ideas so I want to pay it forward.....

Tic Tac Toe and Roll, Say, Keep
(see previous post)

 Sooooo.....if you would like a {free} copy of my 2 jungle themed game boards that are meant to be used with any spelling list, vocabulary list, sight word list, or math facts, then start following my blog.  Leave me a comment that you are a new follower, as well as your email address and I will send it your way.  If you are a follower already leave your email as well and you can get one too! 

And.............If you mention my giveaway on your blog leave me a comment as to where I can find your post, as well as your email address.....I am giving away my new Hands on Sort, Tally and Graph packet (normally $3.50) that I just uploaded to TpT and Teachers Notebook.  This giveaway ends November 18 when my Thanksgiving Break begins!

Wait......it doesn't stop there!  While putting together and finalizing my Sort, Tally and Graph packet I had my 1st grade son help me out.  For the sorting activities we used some of their Halloween candy.  He thought it would be fun to count all of the pieces of candy.....so we did!  Which gave me an idea- I am giving away 3 copies of my Small Group Guided Reading Lesson Plan Templates to whoever (at least the first 3 people) can guess and/or come the closest to how many pieces we counted.  (Hint-there are a lot of tootsie rolls hidden in there!)

So leave me a comment with your guess (and email address so if you win I can let you know)!  Good luck!  You have 1 week!

Who knew?

I can't believe I have begun a blog!  I never thought I would....I love reading everyone else's.....who knows if this will even work out?!  So I decided to call my blog A Teacher's Passions and Obsessions because I have a lot of both!  To start with, I am very passionate about my family and children, as well as teaching.  Within my life I have become passionate about the little things as well (more on that later).  As a teacher you become obsessed with certain things and well my biggest obsession like a lot of teachers is fonts!  I love using a variety of fonts and of course have my favorites.  Along with fonts, I am a little obsessed with clipart.  Ok, maybe a lot.  My collection is slowly growing....

I have also become obsessed with Teachers Pay Teachers.  For years my colleagues have told me that I should make a book of some of the things I have made.  I love creating things that organizes my teaching and makes my life easier.  So a few months ago I started posting a few things. My favorite thing that I created is my collection of small group reading plans.  It has made planning easier for me because my choices of things to do for each level is right there in one spot.  I also love having the checklist there for observing my students and helping me decide when to move them on to the next level.  I used to look at several different resources to make great reading plans, but not anymore!  Check them out at my TpT store Carrie's Creations. 



Lesson Plan template front



Student checklist on back

Now that I have started this blog, I hope to keep up with it.  I start school next Friday for a teacher meeting/work day and I still have a lot of things to do to get ready.  I hope to get a little done tomorrow and then maybe I can share what I have been working on for this year!  I have lots of new ideas to implement thanks to the blogging world!