What I've learned along the way is that the weekly tests emphasize concepts that aren't necessarily focused on if you are following the Teacher's Edition book to teach. I realized my kids were bombing the tests because I was focusing on comprehension, spelling pattern, sight words, and grammar. Most of those elements are represented on the test, but there are usually 3-4 questions based on the structural analysis and vocabulary. And some concepts only have one practice book page and no other lessons tied to it!
One week the structural analysis focus was final stable syllable: RF.1.3e Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
I didn't even know what that was! And I've been teaching lower elementary for over 10 years and have a Reading Specialist certificate! Luckily, I found out what they were on Pinterest.
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| Via A First Grade Teacher's Passions and Obsessions |
A final stable syllable comes at the end of a word (final) and is always pronounced the same way (stable). Examples are -le (table, apple, single) and -tion (contraction, motion).
I also found this video to help introduce the concept to students:
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| Via Turtle Diary |
The vocabulary focus that same week was inflectional endings -s, -ed, -ing: L.1.4c
Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g.,
look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking).
For these lessons, I turned to a favorite blogger, The Teacher Wife!
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| Via The Teacher Wife on TpT |
My students have been practicing writing words with -ing and -ed in their reading notebooks. We'll do some more activities from this pack throughout the week.
Luckily, there are some amazing lessons on blogs and TpT that can be used to supplement some of these skills and standards!
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If you are a Wonders teacher, how has it been going for you?
I have been using weekly tests modified so they would fit on one page back and front. The tests are such a waste of paper! My students' parents enjoyed getting a weekly summary of what their child would be learning that week. I included it with my weekly Monday newsletter. I liked the small group readers but I found it very difficult to juggle all my groups twice a week even with just 19-21 students.
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