Virginia Driggs- Reading Connections Teacher

CRCT Test Preparations

With less than three school weeks left before the CRCT Tests, Read 180 students are being taught as many test taking strategies as possible.  There are  many strategies that will help students make the best choice when they are unsure of the correct answer.  The goal for Read 180 students is to score between 800-849, meaning they meet the standard.

CRCT Tests are multiple choice so knowing which answer to choose is sometimes easy and obvious; but other times more difficult.  Each grade level test will have questions that few students miss and some that all except advanced students will miss (unless it's a lucky guess).

Big Push Begins

The big push to April's CRCT begins now.  There are only three and a half months before testing...and Reading is the first test taken!  We have been working hard on all our Reading and ELA skills since school began in August.  But, the closer the test gets, the more seriously all our students (especially the 8th graders) become.

 

Along with the regular Read 180 curriculum, I will be teaching the students as many test-taking tips as I can.  There are many known tips that will aid students in making better selections when they aren't quite sure which answer is the most correct.  I will, of course, teach as many of these as I can.  However, please remind your sons and daughters to listen to all their teachers in all subject areas as there are many tips out there I might not be aware of at present.

Mid Year News

All Read 180 students are being placed on level 4 (proficient) starting Jan 6th even though many of them are no yet working on that level.  The purpose for this is to better prepare them for the CRCT Test in April which is a grade level test.  By working on grade level materials between now and then, they should improve their CRCT scores.

Mid-Year Testing

SRI mid-year testing will be given he first week of December.  These test results will help determine who can change to another connections class and who must remain in Read 180 for the remainder of the school year.  I will take the time to explain the reuslts to each student and provide them a written copy of the report they can bring home.

Thankful for Books!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of the year when we stop and give thanks for all the good things in our lives. I have such a bounty of things to be thankful for that I could fill an entire blog listing them. However, this year I have stopped and thought about all that the ability to read has given me. There are so many things I can do because I know how to read and can not only read for information, learning, and directions, but can read for fun and relaxation. There's nothing better than a good book to sweep me away from my daily life and let me visit far-away places and times.

Read 180 Homework

Students are asked to read for fun at least 30 minutes each night.  There is no better way to become a better reader than read.  Please sllow you student to read magazines, comic books, books, newspapers...basically anything they wish as it's their choice.

Even better is to set aside some time when everyone in the house is reading.  When the adults in the home read, they set an example that reading is important.  Students will value reading more when you do it, also.

Read 180 Success Story at Garrett

Read 180 has proven to be a really great addition to Garrett's curriculum.  For the 2007-08 school year, 92% of the Read 180 students met the CRCT standard or 800 lexiles or higher!  Way to Go...especially last year's 6th graders (currently 7th graders) as 100% of them scoredd 800 or higher.

Read 180

Read 180 is the Title 1 Reading curriculum selected this year at Garrett MS.  It was developed by Scholastic and considered to be the Cadillac of reading programs.  It has three major components:

1. Computer...consisting of SRI testing to place the students on their reading level, computer lessons introduced by high-interest video clips tailored to their needs, and Reading Counts testing to test their knowledge of individual books from the independent reading center.
2. Independent reading...consisting of high-interest books on 4 levels. 
3. Large and small group instruction led by myself emphasizing skills I have seen that the students need to work on in order to improve their reading.