Foundational Practices for Foundational Skills: Connecting Independent Reading, Conferring, and the Read Aloud

Foundational skills include fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. In order for students to stay motivated and to transfer skills to independence, they need time to read, explicit instruction as they read, and they need to participate in daily read alouds. This session will give practical tips for starting or restarting Independent Reading, including a look at classroom libraries. Hannah will offer a framework for reinvigorating your conferring practices, addressing issues such as: How do I decide what to teach? How often do I confer? How do I get to everyone? What notes should I take? She will discuss how read alouds create a variety of entry points for children to make meaning from text and how to explicitly connect the read aloud to independent reading. Teachers will leave feeling newly inspired and confident about these three foundational practices that support fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and motivation.