Reading Ethnography

During independent work time, Mrs. Carey-Sweeney takes a small group of students, usually four to five, and works with them for 10-15 minutes on reading and comprehension. She strategically chooses the group based on the reading ability of the students. For example, there are a handful of students who excel at reading. She picks out more challenging books for them to read together during small group and then discusses the book with the children. They take turns reading each page, and ask higher-order thinking questions based from their reading. On the other hand, there is also a group of four or five students who have a lower than average reading level. Mrs. Carey-Sweeney chooses books at an appropriate level for them and uses picture cards
The class library has books that are tailored to the students interest and are categorized in such a way that makes them easy to find. The library also is labeled with reading levels to ensure that the students are reading books at their current ability. If students are struggling in the area of reading, the “listen to read” CD books are a great resource. This type of reading meets the student where he/she is at. By reading out loud, the student can more easily comprehend the story to nurture their interest in reading. The speller’s dictionaries are great resources to meet the students’ interest and ability in writing. They are filled with words that are commonly used in 2nd grade. They also have empty space for the students to add their own words that they are interested in learning how to
Carey-Sweeney uses numerous anchor charts in her classroom. She has a “focus wall” in her classroom library to remind students how to remain focused while reading. The chart uses pictures to show that students should be sitting still, not distracting others, reading one page at a time, etc. Also on the “focus wall” is a chart to guide students through comprehension strategies. For example, if a student were to get stuck on a word, they can use the chart to help them decide what to do. Sounding out the word, using context clues, or asking a neighbor are a few of the suggestions. When going a field trip, Mrs. Carey-Sweeney provides her class with an anchor chart that describes the writing assignment that they will do. This way, it gives students a guide on what to look for and pay attention to during the field trip because they know they will be writing about it afterwards. While using these anchor charts, Mrs. Carey-Sweeney is always reinforcing positive behavior, shows enthusiasm for the use of the charts, and stresses cooperation if students are reading/working on projects in small