Cindy Wihongi - Professional Blog

I have learnt a lot today in regards to the entire reading programme and some new resources to access reading material for my learners.  It was great to have my teaching practice both affirmed and challenged with some great ideas about how to be inclusive of new resources within a well resourced/well rounded reading programme.   I did feel really frustrated however as when I struggled to find reading material that was appropriate for the group I had hoped to ‘target’ in today’s RPI.  They are readers of approx 7-7.5 years and there didn’t seem to be a lot available.  I found the journal surf offered a huge range for more able readers and I found it difficult to negotiate the TKI website.  I did persevere with this after our day had finished and managed to find some appropriate leveled books.  Although we had hoped to find ‘sets’, I managed to find 3 texts which could ‘loosely’ be grouped based on experiencing emotions and how different experiences make...

 This survey was really insightful in finding out about the habit and attitudes of our Year 4/5 learners in Totara.  In our remote area we do have trouble with accessing public libraries but we do have a small library at school and also a well resourced book shelf in our classroom.  We also are part of the Duffy Book initiative so the students are regularly gifted books of their choice so most definitely have access to a range of texts. It was interesting that they thought that their ability of reading matched their teachers opinions but that they believed their whanau had a higher opinion of their reading ability.  This is an area that I am keen to explore a bit more.   The results re the amount and times that they read was no surprise.  It was hugely variable and it would be amazing to increase these times/amounts.  I believe that the insight into their choice of books and topics enjoyed is one way to increase this.   Feedback from men...