Sight Word Strategies for SPED students

Jenny Tschetter shared this question on 9/9/2016

 When a teacher is working with a SPED student that CANNOT spell a few of his sight words (for example- and they have been doing Lessons and using the Skill Builders, but to no avail), what would you recommend for how many/what types of cues to give that student so that they can get past that specific unit? Student is red-faced and teary-eyed etc. The teacher wants to stay faithful to Lexia implementation, but also recognizes that this student may NEVER spell the word "does" correctly! 

Ideas? 

Response from Bonnie Coleman

The sight words lessons can be very difficult if students have not had prior instructions or exposure to the words that will be presented to them in the lessons in Core5. I've seen quite a bit of student frustration over these lessons when teachers just let students go, without preparing them for the sight words lessons coming up in Core5. The words themselves are not exactly the sight words that might be in their language program (depending on what teachers use to teach reading).  So, it's beneficial - VERY beneficial, especially for SPED students, to have several days of non-Core5 experience with these words prior to working in the Core5 lessons that present those sight words. 

Teachers can use the Teacher Manual to see which levels and which lessons have Sight Word work, plus, they can also work through the lessons themselves on the Demo access. 

I would suggest a variety of activities - word match is a good one. I've seen one called "Feed the Puppy" that works great, and there's a Bingo sort of activity that I actually made copies of and laminated, to show as an example of a great sight-word game, it's very nice, and gives the student a lot of non-stress related exposure to the words that are labeled as "sight words" even if they can still be sounded out. 

The more teachers allow this sort of work, the more confident students will be when doing the Core5 activities.  Spelling the words is not critical at this point - students are not required to spell words (since that is a different skill), but only to recognize the words.  Many teachers have little tricks to help students remember certain words.  One that works well (surprisingly) is to associate the word "the" with films and things kids often watch on TV or devices, at the end of an episode, or even stories.  Just showing the phrase "The End" over and over again, and pointing out the word, helps kids associate it and become able to recognize it in other contexts. 

Teachers that use gimmicks like this to get students to remember sight words often see that their students move on faster, score higher, and read quicker, simply because the gimmick helps them not only to remember, but to do it quickly.

So, to reiterate... encourage teachers to look ahead to what students will be presented in the program, and prepare their students ahead of time. SPED students in particular need this. Teachers can Demo a lesson in small groups or for the whole class, but they can also provide non-tech based activities to familiarize students with content they will soon be presented. 

Not sure if this helps or not.  Bonnie

Response from Kathleen End

I don't think there is a right or wrong...the teacher just has to trust their gut.  One thing you can recommend is to use the new Sight Word Flashcards in the resource materials.  There is also a really good connection for sight words that has a number of good ideas for how students can practice sight words offline.

and also look at the child's ISP or bring this up during the student's re-eval.

The First 5 Minutes of Class

I was reading this article yesterday morning, "Small Changes in Teaching: The First 5 Minutes of Class" and decided to try one of the ideas in my webinars.  I used this slide.

The idea is to activate what students already know about the subject matter. Prior knowledge is the foundation on which new knowledge is built. Information below is from the article.

Asking students to tell you what they already know (or think they know) has two important benefits. First, it lights up the parts of their brains that connect to your course material, so when they encounter new material, they will process it in a richer knowledge context. Second, it lets you know what preconceptions students have about your course material. That way, your lecture, discussion, or whatever you plan for class that day can specifically deal with and improve upon the knowledge actually in the room, rather than the knowledge you imagine to be in the room.

Seemed to work pretty well. I was able to use what was shared to shape what I did next. I shares this  Short video and link to the article with the webinar team.  I'm sure they all do cool things as well to start a webinar. Small Changes in Teaching: The First 5 Minutes of Class By James M. Lang JANUARY 11, 2016 The Chronicile of higher education

Lexia for Home Use

My question to Customer Support, 4/22/2016

The answer:

Parents are able to purchase Lexia for home use by contacting the Family Literacy Center, via phone 800-580-4275 or via the web www.LexiaForHome.com 

Using Lexia at home in the summer

There are several considerations to keep in mind when using Lexia with students at home during their summer time off from school. One of Lexia’s strengths in helping students progress in their literacy skills is in teachers monitoring student progress, intervening when students struggle with online content, and celebrating when students show progress. This needs to be planned for in advance of students using Lexia at home over the summer break.

The first step in this setup process is to determine who will be monitoring students from school by logging in to myLexia.com. This cannot be a parent/guardian as they do not have access to myLexia. This should be school-based personnel.

Next, instructions should be sent home to parents using the Parent Overview Letters and Home Use Letters. These letters can be found on myLexia.com by clicking on RESOURCES on the left, RESOURCE MATERIALS and then scrolling down to the School to Home section. Letters will need to be edited to include any instructions that the school wants parents to follow.

Lexia Lessons
Identify someone at school with myLexia access to monitor students weekly to determine when they need intervention and then contacting the parents to provide the Lexia Lesson.  It is important that students are not struggling without assistance. The Lexia Lesson could be picked up at the school or emailed home.

Skill Builders
It will also be important to set up a system for administering the Skill Builders for each student. Here are some ideas:

• Consider creating a folder for each student with the Skill Builders to do after completing a level. 
• Initially provide Skill Builders from 2 levels below the students level at the beginning of summer.
• Another option is to print Skill Builders from previous level (usually about 25 pages) to be worked on in tandem with on-line program, perhaps on alternate days.  Could also send home current level SB, but would want parents to wait to give them to students to work on until they have completed current level.

Monitoring minutes
Parents check on the weekly minute progress by observing the student dashboard when they log in to Core5.

Certificates
Email or mail the certificates home when they are earned!

Consider setting up a weekly checking.

NOTE:

• Be sure licenses are not up for renewal in the summer months, which could cause a lapse in availability to students.
• Consider doing the End of Year myLexia tasks before or after summer use. This might depend on whether students’ progress should be considered part of the previous school year or part of the new school year.
• May want to set up a class of summer users, all grade levels combined.
• Some schools use Lexia as a summer reading program as opposed to tracking books read.  Incentives sometimes have to be put in place for this and clear expectations set for students and parents.

Reading Placement - Advanced Settings

In addition to changing the level of a student's placement, their are some advanced settings that allow you to adjust the specific reading content.

Under the Manage Tab, in the student section, select a student and then edit the student.  Go to the program tab and select the level and then the gear as below:

You will then be able deselect the reading content as needed.

Unit Progress Bar

Greetings!

Want to be sure all of us are coaching teachers in training sessions to make sure students are aware that partial work is not saved and has to be repeated if students log out without finishing.

Remember, the Unit Progress bar (Teacher Training Guide page 5, top of the page, labeled E), has to reach the end on the right of the screen for students to get credit for the unit.

If the student logs out prior to finishing the unit, s/he does not get credit for the partial work.

Thanks,

Nancy

QUESTION: What if the student is in Guided Practice or Direct Instruction and they close out.  When they come back in will they start at the beginning of the Standard step or at the beginning of the step they were on?

ANSWER: They start back at whichever level of scaffolding they are on. If they are in Instruction, they will be at the beginning of thet Instruction step when they go back in.

EXAMPLE: Here is an example from a student's Detailed Skills Report. (I've attached the graphic, just in case in doesn't come through within the email.)

This shows that the student started at the Standard step. I can tell that they dropped down to Guided Practice before exiting out on 3/21 because that's where they started when they logged back in on 3/22. During their session 10:46 am session they worked on the Guided Practice step, but then scaffolded down to the Instruction step without completing it. They logged back into the activity at 8:02 pm, finished the Instruction step, then completed the Standard step successfully.

Teacher being added to more than one school.

Currently, a teacher-level user can only be added to one school at a time.  Mylexia.com looks at teacher email (which is the default username) to find duplicates.

There are a couple work-arounds.  

1.  The teacher could be given District Administrator Access and can be added as Staff in classes at multiple schools.  Of course, for privacy reasons, you may not wish this teacher to have access to all student data.

2.  You could use a different email address for the second teacher account so myLexia.com does not recognize this user and allows her to be added to a second school.  The wrinkle involved there is that the teacher email address is used for automatic notification to teacher of students who need off-line instruction and students who have achieved certificates.  If you use a phony email address or a personal email address for the second teacher account, he/she will not (in the case of a phony email address) get the notification emails.

Lexia’s Email Notificationsfor Teachers and Staff