Academics are Aca-Awesome!

 

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Can you believe we are already one nine weeks down for the 2014-2015 school year?! AND, we all know how quickly the weeks fly during the holiday season.  With that in mind, I am really increasing the intensity of my academic interventions this school year.  My fabulous co-counselor, Nicole, and I came up with two academic SMART goals for our comprehensive school counseling program this year in addition to our attendance and behavior goals.  If you are not using the ASCA Smart Goal worksheet to create program goals, check out this previous post and access info from my ABCs of the ASCA National Model presentation.  Links to many of the ASCA forms and examples can be found in it.

Our first overall program goal written in SMART goal format aims to increase EOG scores among third, fourth, and fifth grade students. Each year, I do homework clubs in the spring, which then transitions into EOG small groups for students who missed the passing EOG scale score by 1 or 2 points in Reading or Math. Most educators call them the "bubble kids."  We focus on coping with test anxiety, multiple choice strategies, test preparation habits, and goal setting for the upcoming EOGs.  However, this year I really wanted to include our K-2 students, too, when addressing academic success.  This year's goal, in general, is to decrease the number of K-2 students that come before the retention committee in June.  We have Closing the Gap Action Plans as well as other initiatives designed to meet this goal.  Here are a few of the interventions:

11.  Reading Readiness Book Clubs:  Typically my book clubs address primarily social/emotional issues with reading improvement as a pleasant side effect, but this year I am specifically targeting "bubble" second graders who are a level or two below their MCLASS benchmarks in reading fluency and comprehension.  I am starting with two second grade groups, a boy group and a girl group.  We will be reading the book The One and Only Stuey Lewis:  Other Stories from Second Grade.  I really loved this book when I previewed it because the main character, Stuey Lewis, provides a great model for young readers who lack confidence. Stuey is self-conscious about reading, hates being around "good readers," and needs lots of encouragement from his teacher at the beginning of the story. I  am predicting that  my students will be able to relate to him and will be able to do some vicarious learning as they see him persevere and totally change his attitude about school. I will also be emphasizing a growth mind-set by discussing Stuey and facilitating confidence building activities as we practice reading.

If you have read about my book clubs before, you know I always give the students "jobs" to give them a sense of ownership in the book club. This time,  I have added a WORD MASTER job so we can include vocabulary or word work while we read.  Anytime a student sees a word they don't recognize, they will smash this buzzer (left).  We will then add the word to our list, look up the meaning, and draw a picture to help us remember our new vocabulary word.  Pretty fun, huh?!

The best part of the book club is that I have definitely upped the "WOW" factor by getting new Kindle Fires for the students to use.  I requested six Kindle Fires and cases in a recent Donor's Choose Grant and had it fulfilled in about 24 hours!  If you haven't tried out Donor's Choose yet, you really should give it a try.  The key is promoting your project on Facebook, Twitter, email, and any other social media outlets you use.  I also plan on having popcorn parties, reading camp-outs, and other fun activities during the Stuey Lewis book clubs so I can avoid having these weekly lunches be another dreaded work time. Check out my 24-page Stuey Lewis Book Club Activity Pack here and get started on your own!

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2.  Report Card Conferences: I am holding report card conferences with all of my RtI students and others I am concerned about following report cards going home last week. I have always had informal meetings with students about report cards, but this year I am using a specific, standard form with my students to help me stay organized.  Find it on TPT here.

3.  Retention Groups:  2014-2015 is the first year I have conducted retention groups with K-2 students.  I am working with second grade students who were retained and Nicole is working with first grade students. I will be sharing more about the structure of these groups in an upcoming post. 

I would love to hear about any academic interventions you are excited about this year.  Leave a comment!  ALSO, the first person to correctly identify the movie this blog post title is referencing will receive a free item of their choice from my Life on the Fly TPT Store....good luck!

Enjoy and Happy Counseling! ~  Angela