Saturday, October 5, 2013

j'aime lire - teaching reading in grade 1 French Immersion

What's your routine for teaching reading and specifically French sound blends in grade 1? Here's an overview of mine.

September to December we review the letter sounds from kindergarten using Jolly Phonics. Sound blends are introduced over 10 weeks beginning in January.

Guided reading routines begin in March.


1)  Introduce the letter sound and action (from Jolly Phonics). Each sound is a specific colour.

In school these cards did not have English explanations. Neither did the stories as posted below. I have changed those for tutoring purposes and for families who want to help but feel lost when they don't speak French.

LINK TO STORY DOWNLOAD HERE!
2)  Circle the sound with a coloured pencil in a our words of the week. Sound out the words of the week in isolation. We look for "les petits mots", the little words in the big words. Notice "les fantômes" or "les lettres muettes" (silent words).

3)  Circle the sound in our story of the week. This encourages students to look for what they know and recognize.

4)  Read the story together. There are spots to spell the words and images to help as we read.

In my classroom these simple stories were on 1 sheet of paper, no booklet, and we had 3 "levels" of difficulty for various student ability.

As I prepare the resources I will post the stories. I can't post Jolly Phonics resources but they are available from their site here.

5) Play a game with the words, either walking on footprints with the words, pulling sticks from a can, making the words with magnets. We also practice listening for the sound at the beginning, middle and end of the word.


































6)  Change some of the words in the story to write a new story using the simple sentence structure of the story of the week. This was not part of the grade 1 routine, I've added a writing component for tutoring.

7)  Use visual dictionaries to help choose new words for the new story. Usually writing your own story is for homework.

8)  Stamp the sound blends on our hand (mine too), it lasts for a couple days and is a reminder of the sound of the week.












8)  Practice re-reading the story, review the sound, read the word sticks, write your own story over the course of a week. Depending on where they're at practice spelling the words. In grade 1 students were to bring home their duotang, read the story and each page was stamped with a "please sign and return" note for parents.

9)  Each week I send something in the mail, a note, a cartoon using our words, a postcard in French.

10) The following week we review the last week's sound, reread the story, read your own story and move on to a new sound.  Periodically we review past sounds, words, stories to see if it's "sticking". We can also spend time reading home reading books from school together.  The first goal is reading, then spelling, then writing.

This is the progression I hope to work through.





11) I have a license to print levelled books from readinga-z.com and lend these out for students to read, practice, enjoy, and sometimes do some reading response work with. These are also the base for writing when we move on to that.










Here is the scope and sequence we used in grade 1. At the time we had a team of Francophone assistants who went to each class and worked with small groups of students. Each classroom had 4 French speaking adults for an hour block! The program can still work by teaching the mini lessons to the whole class and then working on differentiated levels of stories in small groups. 

We also had quick assessment check lists, each group leader did an assessment at the end of the week with each student. This gave a quick snapshot of who had mastered a sound and who needed some extra review. We had 4 grade 1 classes and kept the literacy block cohesive and structured. 

In January we began a guided reading routine. That's another post!
Rocky View Schools has generated a list of grade level words that students are expected to be able to read as sight words by the end of each grade. These word banks serve as part of our reading assessment. Many of the grade 1 district words are in the short stories teachers have created. I have added support materials that include the grade 2 and 3 words for the students I work with in those grades. Everything isn't posted yet but it is comin'!












SUPPORT MATERIALS (click on description to download document)
grade 1 word list by sound RVS
les jasettes word lists by sound for work with words during Daily 5
English pronunciation guide of French sounds (scroll down to page 16) click link here ---> La boîte à outils

40 comments:

  1. Hi, where did you get the little booklets like CH as seen above? Thank you!! Love love love your blog :)

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    1. The books are now posted on this blog post. Download away!

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  2. I made the booklets. I have almost all of them ready and will post them!

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  4. Hello, I love everything you posted, I am still a new teacher ( 2nd year) trying to get better at teaching grade 1 French Immersion. You mentioned that the student bring home their duotang, read the story and each page was stamped with a "please sign and return" note for parents..... What duo-tang do they bring home?

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    1. Students kept their stories in a duotang that went home every week to read to their parents at to have their reading signed by parents.

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    2. You are an incredible teacher, thank you for sharing with other teachers I truly appreciate it a lot. You mentioned that you have posted the books that you used, where exactly could I find them?

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  5. Do you have copies of Jolly Phonics books you have above, ie cochon, also any J'aime Lire ressouces? Wondering where to get them if not?

    Thank you....love this site

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    1. I made the books and will post them - it's been a busy couple of weeks. The weekend for sure!

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    2. You are amazing.... Would you ever do a Workshop?

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    3. I did a session with a colleague at the Rocky View teacher's conference once. I would again sure. I'm just a teacher though. I don't have a master's and I get things wrong, still, you know? :)

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    4. Thanks Shannon, I know all too well, "that's how we learn", I tell my students. But you are inspiring and full of ressouces, always nice have new ideas. Thank you so much. I am sure your students love you.

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  6. Love love love the books you made. Can I find them anywhere? Merci!!!

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    1. THE BOOKS! I know, you totally need them and they have been great, lots of repetition and super simple to begin with. I even use them for remediation in grade 3. I will post them on the weekend (I made the books based on stories written by our amazing team of French assistants). They're all finished and ready to go. I've also sourced some more challenging sound themed poems and short stories so that there are differentiated reading tasks for students. If I don't post it send a reminder e-mail!

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  7. Hi Shannon, do you think you will be posting the books today? I'm going into school so I will print them if you do. Thank you!

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    1. I'll put up what I have, may not be perfect and I haven't proof read everything!

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    2. Done!! Thanks for the nudge Elysha!! The one for "eur" isn't there but the rest are. I love. little blog incentive. :)

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  8. Amazing thank you SO SO SO much!!!!!

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  9. What a fantastic resource to have! I have two questions for you. In the second picture I see three separate "booklets" (the sound, the story, the word work) - did you print a coloured copy for each student and then make 3 separate booklets for each student in your class? If you could give some more insight on how you have organized it for your class that would be great.

    The other thing I'm wondering, is this your complete French Literacy program? Or would you do other components as well? I know you said after this you will get into spelling and writing, so I'm assuming this is what your French literacy block consists of?

    Thank you!

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    1. This is not the entire literacy program. This is how I introduce the 11 main sound blends in grade 1 beginning in January. I made the booklets this year for 3 students I tutor (I sub this year and don' t have my own class). There are 11 books in the "series". When I taught grade 1 the stories had 3 reading levels and were on 1 page and were all kept in a RED duotang that went home every night. Students were expected to read their story and words every night and have parents sign and return the duotang every day. This was our home reading component (students who were able also had other reading). I have been compiling those too but so far only have 1 'level", they are not in colour. I did not print coloured booklets for every student when I was teaching.

      For grade 1s we didn't do the written component, this is something I added for my grade 2 and 3 remedial students.

      We follow the daily 5 and café plan. The mini lesson introduces the sound, the action and the 6 words associated with that sound. Students say the sound, mirror the action, write the words on a white board.

      The during Daily 5 I meet with different levelled groups throughout the week and introduce their story and work through circling the sound, reading the story (see the sheet I posted that gives all of the activities we try to go through each week.)

      These words are our words of the week for spelling. I posted the story words and the grade level words divided by sound. Students may be working on different word lists. In grade 1 the focus is on reading not spelling those words but depending on ability some will be spelling the words too.

      Work on writing is another separate component. I have posted throughout the blog many other parts of how I teach each literacy component. Once we have learned all of the sounds we begin a guided reading block, I have yet to post how we roll that out. I have a subscription to a-z teaching and print off their books to use in the beginning. They have inexpensive levelled books and I have pulled a few that seem to focus somewhat on a sound. These I introduce to my most capable readers in grade 1 and send them home along with the little 1 page stories for home reading. I have loved having that resource for my grade 2s and 3s who come in and say right away, just so you know Madame, I can't read :( (breaks my heart every time).

      I hope that helps. I do follow the cafe structure, Jolly Phonics and the Nelson Language Arts resource for Alberta. Lots of research based best practices for teaching literacy there.

      As I'm able I'll post the guided reading routine. It's well laid out too (not by me by a team of teachers and assistants at our school). Take care! Shannon

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  10. In reply to Nadine Roustan the books are linked on this blog post above, first photo, orange writing or here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxi-Avemu8ekdDZvNkt1MVF6X28/edit?usp=sharing

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  11. Your blog is amazing. Thank you for posting all your great teaching practices and explaining how your program works. I'm only in my 2nd year teaching gr.1 FI and I'm always looking for new ways to improve my reading program. You mentioned that the stories have three reading levels per page. This is document also on your blog and I missed it? I'm looking at using your story components with my daily 5 and literacy program when we go back in January. Thanks again :)

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    1. I have yet to collect and post the 3 level, sorry - should be back to school this week but it might take some time. :)

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    2. Amazing resources! I found out about Jolly Phonique through your blog, and now that I'm using it I'm also discovering just how valuable the resources are that you have posted here. Thank you for sharing!
      I love the idea of having levelled stories for in-class work. Would you be willing to share this document as well?

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  12. Great blog! I just love your ideas and books! However, I noticed a small grammatical error in your books. The last page of your books should read "J'écris MA propre histoire". Histoire is a feminine word in French.

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    1. Aha! I just saw this. I have a list of corrections to make. Believe it or not I have a few teacher friends proof read with me but there always seem to be a few things we miss. Merci!

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  13. Hello,
    What an amazing blog! I am a very new Teacher to Grade 1 F.I. (I have been teaching core ) and I love your ideas and everything you present and the way in which it is done.... I do wish I were in your class as a grade 1 kid! You must leave quite an everlasting impression on them!
    I am just wondering if I have the permission to print your worksheets etc. and give to my class to do etc. or if I need to buy a licence in order to do so..... I have no problem purchasing the license/s if required from you, as this is amazing work to get out there into the little minds! I am aware how long it must have taken you to compile and the effort and time that goes into this and I would love to be ab le to use your brilliant ideas and stuff in my classroom. Please let me know asap. You can always inbox me if necessary at amsamai@yahoo.com with details as well. Thank you so much for your ideas, expertise, time, dedication effort and love you have for our students in general and for French!

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    1. You don't need permission. Follow the link and print from Google docs. Thank you for your kind comments! Shannon

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  14. I am a franco-american mother homeschooling two little girls 3.5 and nearly 6 in Asia. I've been feeling so down about our french and so lost struggling to find materials until a friend recommended your site. I am practically in tears of relief. Thank you so much! I can't wait to explore more and have already put you in my reader, pinterest and will find you on twitter... eek sounding like a stalker now!

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    1. Yay that's so cool! Thanks for your comment! I haven't posted much lately, we've had a bit of a health issue with my youngest. I'll need a month or two to get back on track and will hopefully post some new materials in May and June. Merci a million times.

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  15. Your blog is wonderful! I have a 6 yo who, despite lots of hard work, is still below grade level in her J'aime Lire and summer coming quickly - I will definitely use everything you have posted to keep up with things over the summer! Thank you!

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  16. I love all of the work you've put into everything! These are great ideas. :) Thank you so much for sharing!

    Just thought I would let you know that the first link for the story download has the same mistake several times: J'écris mon propre histoire. "Histoire" is feminine, so it should be "J'écris ma propre histoire."

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    1. Thank you. Gosh I feel silly when errors are posted. Truly, merci.

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  17. Hello!
    I really enjoy your blog! It has really helped me out being a new teacher to Grade 1 FI!
    I was wondering if there is a link to a sample of your day? Or how you run your French language part of your day? I fell like I am going in circles with FLA.
    Any help would be great!
    Thanks!

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  18. Hi!
    Thanks so much for all your hard work! This blog has really helped me out being a newer teacher to Grade 1 FI. I was just wondering if you had a link to your typical day? Or how you run your French Language part of your day/week? I feel like sometimes i am going in Circles with my FLA as there is so much to teach!
    Any help would be great!
    Thanks!

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    1. Hi Jenna. I am so sorry I haven't replied to this comment. I have it on my list to post but may not get to it right away. I know I've also found it helpful to see how other people plan their day. Keep an eye out for a post outlining this.

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  19. Merci!!! I have a grade 2 FI student who is struggling with reading and your resources are helpful. Looking forward to more. :)

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    1. So glad you have found this helpful. I'm sorry I am replying months later. I turned off comments to get rid of some rampant spam that was going into many comment fields. I need to remember to moderate and publish the actual comments!

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  20. J'aimerais avoir les petits livres de lecture par niveaux.. Je ne les trouve pas sur ton site. Pourrais-tu m'aider s.v.p.??
    Merci a l'avance!

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    1. Les petits livres par niveaux sont sur le site web https://www.readinga-z.com/translations/french/books/.

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