Book Buddy Experience

1. What did you feel you learned during this experience?
• During my book buddy experience, I have learned the different types of strategies that can be used in order to support student’s reading needs. I have realized the importance of students being able to understand the relationship between written letters and spoken sounds in order to use phonics to read and spell. My knowledge of informal reading inventories, primary spelling inventories, and running records has significantly increased as I feel very comfortable and confident when administering these types of assessments. I have learned many creative and fun effective activities that can help increase students phonics skills. I have learned the effectiveness of using graphic organizers,
I was unsure how long it would take me to really know the reading levels of my students and what I could do to help aid their reading, vocabulary, and writing skills. During the first two weeks, my case study student, Ryan, would drift off from reading and did not seem fully engaged throughout reading and would not seem very interested. Over the weeks, I realized how my book buddy’s interests grew as I found that they became more engaged every week. They became really excited about our focus books, free reading books, word work activities, and about the different visuals I provided them with each
The primary spelling inventory informed me of the word knowledge my students bring to their reading and writing. The results from the primary spelling inventory informed me of the spelling patterns my students struggled with the most and the area in which they needed the most support. The informal reading inventory helped me determine the reading instructional needs of my students. I used the results of this assessment in order to choose the accurate guided reading level books that they would read during free reading. The retelling provided me with information regarding my students’ comprehension level. Providing my students with puppets created a more engaging way for them to retell the story to me. Using puppets also helped them think of the order in which the events happened in by thinking back to the print and the illustrations. This retelling helped me guide instruction by knowing the strengths and weaknesses of my students when talking about the story elements of our focus book. The running record helped me determine my students’ highest instructional level and the strengths and weaknesses in