I am wrapping up my January and February interventions (yes, they spilled into March) and getting ready for 4th Quarter interventions, which will start right after spring break. Because of my daily consistent intervention time and targeted instruction, all of my students are in good shape. Every student knows the letter names and sounds; those last couple stragglers now have the confidence to blend sounds and read short sentences; and, only a few still need help formulating and writing sentences. In addition, Miss Lori has done an incredible job of tracking student progress with the math power standards and working one-on-one with those who need it. All of our students are “green” in the skills we systematically track. Yay!
But that doesn’t mean I’m kicking back for the last two months of school. There are still weak areas to be addressed and ongoing practice of certain skills that have to happen.
In the video, you’ll see that my 4th Quarter interventions will consist primarily of:
practicing and solidifying heart words/high frequency words
revisiting segmenting sounds in words to ensure a solid score on this end-of-year DIBELS subtest
practicing naming letters in a line, which is an end-of-year subtest on DIBELS
revisiting the reading of nonsense CVC words to ensure students use short vowel sounds during the DIBELS subtest (their nonsense CVC word reading often goes downhill during the weeks that I teach long vowels and vowel teams)
nudging (some) students toward WWR (whole word reading), which is assessed on DIBELS and, ultimately, our goal in teaching students to read.
If my students had other needs at this time of year—letter names, letter sounds, segmenting, blending, counting, writing numbers, letter formation, naming numbers—then those would be added to my plans for 4th Quarter interventions. Last year I did have students who were still working on these skills. And most years there is a student or two who joins our class in the spring and seems to need everything. There is always something to work on and since I can get so much accomplished during my intervention time, I continue to make the most of it.
Video: All Set for 4th Quarter Interventions