As shown in a recent post, I unboxed the Half-Pint Readers (decodable books) the district got for all the kindergarten classrooms. I was impressed. A quick glance deemed them to be 1) comprehensible, 2) engaging, and 3) instructive, meaning that students would get to/have to use the phonics that have been taught in our classroom. They’re also cute and that’s a requirement, in my opinion.
Using Half-Pint Readers Decodable Books during Small Group Instruction
I decided to have all my students read these books, working through them at their own pace but in front of me to ensure that they were decoding properly and reading fluently. Today’s video (above, click on the arrow to start play) shows my first day of implementing this new idea. If I had the books earlier in the school year, I would have started some readers on them back then. But, since I just received the extra copies and got them out and organized, all students are starting them now in the month of February.
Next year, I’ll probably do it differently, starting some students as soon as they are ready to be successful with these (November?).
A Need to Read Books
My students have not handled a lot of books—other than looking at them—and it is somewhat apparent in the video. For example, I see students opening the book and starting to read without first reading the title on the cover. One student started reading on the last page of the book. I also notice several students hesitant to turn the page and keep reading. Instead, they are waiting for me to tell them what to do. As you may or may not know, my students have been reading continuous text sentences and decodable passages in lieu of books. Reading these Half-Pint Readers, as well as my high quality at-least-80%-decodable leveled texts, over the next few months should take care of these issues and get my students ready for first grade.
We Want More Half-Pint Readers
My teammate and I were pleased with our Monday small group instruction and want to get some additional levels of the Half-Pint Readers. I talked to our principal about it and he agreed, saying that we have Title I money to spend. We currently have four boxes of the Level A books and one box of the Level B books. We will ask for more Level B books as well as Level C books. There are no levels beyond C.
Debra—my amazing teammate—did the research for us. She learned that each box costs $48 and has 36 titles. She also stumbled upon their website, which is loaded with activity pages and other fun activities, a scope and sequence, books to read online (for free), and other goodies. There are things there that you could use even if you didn’t have the books. You might want to check it out!
I hope you’re liking the embedded videos. This new feature is allowing me to post shorter videos more often. If you have any feedback about this, please let me know in the comments. Thank you!
Randee
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