DIBELS on the Brain

When the Middle of the Year DIBELS benchmarks roll along, I will have been the DIBELS coordinator for my school for two years.  My word, have I learned a lot about these tests!

I always have known the skills tested were important for kids to be great readers, but I didn't really know more than that.  DIBELS tests are meant to look at the "Big Ideas In Early Literacy" (indicated by the National Reading Panel's report), which are phonological awareness, the alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with text, vocabulary, and comprehension.  I always send this link to my parents so they can understand first of all, what is DIBELS, and second of all, why the skills the  DIBELS tests assess are important.  That was a tongue twister!
Since I started teaching, I have always had my students complete bellwork.  They have been trained from day one to follow the morning procedure, and then get started on their bellwork.  During this time, I take attendance, hear random stories from my students, and pull students for RTI.  Before I begin a new type of bellwork, I always walk them through the process so they can feel comfortable doing the work independently.
I start my kindergartners with first sound bellwork, because I want to give them practice hearing the first sounds in words and they also get some extra phonics practice because they have to write the letter as well.

The kids cut and glue (which is an important skill on its own) the picture in the correct column.  Before they get started, I go over all of the pictures at the bottom.  I ask if there are any questions.  After the questions have been answered, if a student needs to know what a picture is, they have to ask their neighbor.


The back side was formatted so the paper could be double sided.  There is a space at the bottom because the kids cut it off on the other side.  I'm weird about saving paper.  Again, before I get started, I explain all of the pictures, and if the kids have any questions after my explanation, they need to ask a neighbor.
We then transition into the vowel challenge bellwork.  We use this bellwork through the rest of first quarter and the first few weeks of second quarter.

 It steps it up a bit, because it moves from just writing the first sound to writing the vowel sound to full phonemic segmentation.

The front side of the paper looks exactly the same as the first set, so the kids already feel very comfortable with the format.

I also have them sort by short and long vowel sounds, which is a common core standard.

The move from writing the medial sound...

to full phonemic segmentation.  Again, the pages are formatted so they can be copied double sided.
 It has the kids use their letter sound knowledge and the spelling rules we have studied.  We start with simple CVC words, and then move into CVCE words and then even tougher words.  We always check our work before we start our day, and I love how I can see the light bulb illuminate, and then hear, "Mrs. McCleary, I see a phonogram!"  If I had a quarter for every time I heard that, I wouldn't need to work; however, it is SO incredibly rewarding when the kids make those connections.
When we begin entering words into our spelling notebook (which will happen in two weeks), I change the bellwork again.  We start working on DIBELS skills for the middle of the year tests (nonsense words, letter naming, phonemic segmentation, first sound fluency).  In my opinion, the kids need to understand that nonsense words won't make sense when they sound them.  This is kind of an odd thought when we always ask them, "Does that sound right?"  So, I want them to understand the words don't make sense.  I have seen my scores increase and my students' reading skills improve since I've started using them.
So, I combined DIBELS skill practice with the kids practicing their spelling words.  I teach at a Spalding school, so the lists are aligned with the kindergarten spelling lists.  Even if you don't teach at a Spalding school, the words come from the Ayres list of high frequency words, and the extra practice will be beneficial for your students.


This is the front side of the page.  The format does not change through the end of the year.  The sentence at the bottom of the page becomes more difficult as the year progresses.

This page format is used on days one through three.  The kids "rainbow write" their spelling words twice.  They add the missing letter, and they copy the sentence.  For the higher kids, I am going to have them write their own sentence using the words at the top of the page.  As the year progresses (the third set of bellwork), all kids have to write their own sentence.

Day four is a word scramble.  I let them work with a neighbor to unscramble the words.  The kids have a blast and really learn to work together well.

Day five is a word search.  I was hesitant to use it at first; however, once I teach the kids how to complete a word search, they really do a great job.  I let them work with a friend on this as well.  They love it, and they LOVE to find hidden words that are not on the list.

Start with this set.

This is really the second set (now).  I went back and created the file with lists 1-5.


This is really part three now.
My students grow so much throughout the year because of this extra practice.  Their spelling improves.  Their writing improves.  I am so thankful for this (and the few extra minutes it gives me in the morning to get my clerical duties done).
Thanks for stopping by! 

Ways to Help Young Writers Feel Successful

For whatever reason, writing always seems to be one of the most daunting concepts to tackle in the mind of a student. I don't think I have heard the phrase, "I don't know how" or, "I can't" more than when a student is tasked with a writing activity. This is especially true with our little learners who are just starting out with the most basic writing concepts. I've put together just a few simple strategies you can use to help your early writers feel successful and make huge growth in their writing.

The key to student writing success is to start with the basics. For me, this is introducing sentence writing using predictable charts. Predictable charts are a great way to introduce writing concepts such as capital letters, spaces between words, and punctuation at the end. It's also a great way to practice sight words and sentence fluency -- bonus!

The first thing you do to set up a predictable chart is come up with a sentence stem that uses familiar words or phrases. The three I usually like to choose from begin with "I like...", "I see...", or "I can...". Then students will create their own sentence using the stem and complete it with the word of their choosing and then I'll put their name in parenthesis at the end so we know they wrote it.

The thing I love about this part of the predictable chart is the students feel proud of the sentence they created - it's something they did, with their name on it. It may seem like a simple thing, but this really does help them become excited about writing!

You can also have pre-made sentence stems on a big chart paper for the students to actually write a sight word themselves. I used this predictable chart during our apple week last year and they filled in a sentence stem using the word "see" and a number - again, combining multiple concepts in one easy strategy!

After your predictable chart is completed, you can turn it into an independent writing activity for your students to accomplish. First, I'll type up the students' sentences and give it to them in a strip.

Next, they'll cut out each word and glue it to a piece of writing paper, being sure to put the words in order, use spaces between the words, and have the word with the period at the end of their sentence.

After that, they will draw a picture to match the sentence and practice writing the actual sentence themselves.

Having their sentence as a visual model helps with handwriting, sentence structure, and even confidence!

Another way to help young writers feel successful is to have pictures and labels for more difficult words. One activity I love using with my students is pocket chart sight word sentence builders. In this picture, students are building predictable sentences similar to the ones they created with me during shared writing. Only, instead of having the actual word at the end, there is a picture representation.

Then, based on my students' levels of writing, I have differentiated writing recording sheets for them to complete and show their work. Differentiating work this way allows every student to feel successful because they will have completed the activity that best fits the writing level they are at. Some are only ready to trace the words; others are ready to write all of the words on their own.

Another way to help young writers feel successful is to break down reading/writing sentences into separate tasks. I love using my Read It! Write It! Build It! Draw It! printables from my monthly sight word sentence builder packs. They provide students the opportunity to read a sentence before they write it; thus providing a model for them to reference as they are writing their sentences with the proper structure. I noticed a huge improvement in my students' ability to remember to include spaces and capital letters in their sentences. They loved being able to illustrate - another HUGE part of early writing - the sentences they built. This helped them work on adding details to their pictures as well.

This activity can be found in Spooky Sentence Building!

This activity can be found in Snow Many Sentences!

All of these pocket chart activities and printables can be found in my Sight Word Sentence Builders for the Year {The Bundle}. You can get there by clicking the picture below! There are also links to each individual monthly pack so your students can practice these in the pocket chart or writing center all year long!