What's the plan for tiering?
Below is a sample lesson plan for tiering within an Language Arts activity on the word family "AKE"
Curriculum Focus: Rhyming, changing the beginning consonant to make a new word, reading rhyming words
Materials: CD, magnetic letters, ake word family story, activity (tiered game), writing activity (tiered activity and assessment).
Lesson:
Begin with ake song from CD – words on poster. Sing a couple times.
As large group, get ideas for words that rhyme with ake – using magnetic letters to change beginning consonants.
Read aloud from ake word family book.
Fill in "ake" family practice activity - this will be tiered. See examples below. Tables are leveled (flexible grouping).
Gather back together on carpet – read their words to a partner that is near them.
Fill in our word family poster for the wall.
Send students in pre-determined partners to play word family game – follow the path (groups on similar ability/reading level). (Tiered two levels).
Assessment: anecdotal notes (game play) and writing activity.
See tiered game samples and tiered writing follow ups.
Curriculum Focus: Rhyming, changing the beginning consonant to make a new word, reading rhyming words
Materials: CD, magnetic letters, ake word family story, activity (tiered game), writing activity (tiered activity and assessment).
Lesson:
Begin with ake song from CD – words on poster. Sing a couple times.
As large group, get ideas for words that rhyme with ake – using magnetic letters to change beginning consonants.
Read aloud from ake word family book.
Fill in "ake" family practice activity - this will be tiered. See examples below. Tables are leveled (flexible grouping).
Gather back together on carpet – read their words to a partner that is near them.
Fill in our word family poster for the wall.
Send students in pre-determined partners to play word family game – follow the path (groups on similar ability/reading level). (Tiered two levels).
Assessment: anecdotal notes (game play) and writing activity.
See tiered game samples and tiered writing follow ups.
Ongoing evidence of implementation on tiering:
What impact did tiering have on student learning?
Students were successful in practicing the concept taught at their level. Everyone was working on the same concept. Some were encouraged to use blends, some had picture clues to inspire ideas. From the follow up writing activity, I recognized that some students will need extra work with reading the work family. I also noticed that some will need review on letter clusters/blends. These concerns will be addressed during guided reading.
Reflections on Tiering - ake family
The students had a lot fun participating in the song, listening to the story and playing the game. They were all successful with the follow up activity of creating ake words. Next time, I would provide more samples of blends for the students to in the follow up. We are still review this word family in Guided Reading groups. I am much more conscious of opportunities to tier and try to plan more lessons with tiered activities and assessments - with a focus in LA and Math.