2009-10-21

**PM: Penn London Language Arts**

 * December Literacy PLC
 * Who/how to share with staff
 * Materials
 * Guidelines


 * Whole Group Best Practice
 * Selection of stories for GO! Chart second trimester
 * Support for GO! Chart instruction
 * How is it going?
 * How do we refine the instruction?
 * How do we extend the GO! Chart from whole group to small group to collaborative & independent work for both first and second grade students?
 * Other strategies


 * Phonics/Spelling
 * Suggestions for best practice instruction of phonics elements
 * Suggestions for best practice instruction and assessment of spelling words during Writing Workshop

=Minutes (in bold):=

Attending: Kim Rollings, Stacey Varone, Mary Teresa Maule Alft, Debbie Pye, Kristin Bulgarelli, Valerie Piccini, Veronique Taylor, Marie DiGiulio =THESE MINUTES ARE IN FIRST DRAFT FORM. THESE MINUTES WILL BE SHARED WITH PLE STAFF ON 10-27-09=


 * Working on the development of a glossary/explanation to keep in the LA Notebook.**
 * __**Harcourt Phonics Words**__ **-**
 * **Grade 1: The first 8 words in the "Spelling List" (#1-6 new, #7-8 review)**
 * **Grade 2: The first 12 words in the "Spelling List" (#1-10 new, #11-12 review)**
 * __**Harcourt Spelling Words**__ **(These words are some of the high frequency words from the weekly story)**
 * **Grade 1: #9 -10**
 * **Grade 2: #13-15**
 * **These are not to be used for phonics instruction.**
 * **These are not be included in pre and post tests.**
 * __**Phonics Instruction**__**:**
 * **In Harcourt, instruction is hands-on engaged activities with both the words from the list and other words with the pattern**
 * **Students who demonstrated pre-test mastery will participate in independent practice activities**
 * **Students who did not demonstrate pre-test mastery will participate in teacher-led instruction.**
 * __**Why do a Phonics pre-test**__**?**
 * **Must do**
 * **informs instruction**
 * **differentiates instruction**
 * **phonics-related**
 * **include the review words**
 * **Teacher discretion needed for further instruction for students who missed the review words: whole class, small group or individual work**
 * **Can generally be given the Friday before or on the Monday of instruction; if on Friday can be given immediately following that week's post test**
 * __**Why do a Phonics post-test**__**?**
 * **Must do**
 * **formative assessment of phonics**
 * **students who demonstrated mastery of at least 5 of 6 words in Grade 1 and 9 of 10 words in Grade 2 on the pret test do not take the post-test.**
 * **include the review words**
 * **Must be given generally on Friday to the students who did not have mastery on the pre test**
 * **Scoring: Be aware of students' mastery of the phonics chunk and other letters of the word**
 * __**Best Practice Whole Class** //**Word Work**//**: Phonics**__
 * **Harcourt**
 * **Build Words**
 * **Word Sort (idea from Practice Book worksheet, but students use word cards in pocket chart)**
 * **Review Lessons (back of book; also in front of second grade book)**
 * **Project Read**
 * **for difficult concepts, such as -ur**
 * __**Best Practice** //**Flexible Group**// **Instruction: Phonics**__
 * **Project Read**
 * __**Parent Communication**__
 * **Phonics chunks can be "advertised" to parents in newsletters**
 * **The Additional Homework Ideas pages from the Harcourt materials can be sent home as "ideas" to parents without the need for the work to be returned to the teachers; some of these can be put into the teacher newsletter**
 * **can put Harcourt website in newsletter**
 * **no packets; see homwork policy (9/2 Chairpersons' Meeting)**
 * **lists & tests do not go home (9/2 Chairpersons' Meeting)**
 * __**Word Work**__
 * **Whole class on-level "core" instruction**
 * **Can be taught whole-class or differentiated with independent groups & a teacher-led group**
 * **Monday: can focus on the generalization with the whole group**
 * __**Whole Group Definition**__**:**
 * **The whole class is working on the same materials with the same grade-level curricular goals**
 * **The whole group can be differentiated by instructional format (eg: CD, teacher read aloud, buddy read, independent read)**
 * __**LA Meetings**__**: Consideration of design: 2 meetings back-to-back or in one meeting; explanation first, then time to share examples, then whole group share back, then restating at the end of the meeting to sum up or ticket out of the door**


 * Stage 10E and 11
 * Curriculum specific information from the third grade pacing guide for second grade teachers to use in instruction
 * Selection of passage for Stage 11 & development of questions for consistency


 * __Second Grade__ Teacher Questions/Concerns - These items were used as "checkpoints" during the discussions of the agenda items listed above in the Minutes.
 * Phonics/Spelling
 * Parent communication
 * Assessment- purpose, effectiveness, assessing words that are on word wall anyway?
 * Independent practice opportunities
 * Consistency between schools, third grade preparedness
 * Student self-esteem, "buy-in"
 * Running Records
 * Time factor to do classroom running record and F&P
 * Purpose of classroom running record? Most teachers feel interactions and observations during small groups yield sufficient info for a teacher to administer appropriate F&P
 * F&P provides between 2 and 8 running record assessments between stages. Teachers feel this is sufficient.
 * Request grade level meetings
 * time to engage in LA conversations like we did for Harcourt implementation
 * focus on one LA topic per meeting
 * Instead of upcoming professional learning groups? Teachers prefer to concentrate on GRR professional development for now.

AGENDA:**
 * NEXT MEETING DATE: Monday 10/26/09 3:30-5:00 (Pending approval)
 * **Plan logistics of sharing the Phonics information at mid-day meeting on 10/26/09**
 * **GO! Charts (see above)**
 * **December PLC Final Planning**
 * **Spelling: Brief discussion to present to PLE Writing Committee**