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M ILWAUKIE, Oregon— "What do you do when you’re stuck on a word?" Wendy Fenner asks her second-grade students as they drift off to private classroom spaces like "cozy corner" and "author’s chair" to read their library books. "Look at the picture," Christie calls out. "Right. What else?" Fenner shoots back. "Try sounding it out!" Josh yells from back of the room. "Good! What else?" the teacher asks. "Skip it?" suggests Lucy tentatively. "And come back later?" "Thanks for raising your hand, Lucy. Yes, everyone’s right," says Fenner, "you are all right. There are lots of ways to figure out a word." In Fenner’s classroom at Clackamas Elementary School, every moment of the day seems infused with reading and the excitement it can generate at the hands of a creative teacher. In fact, most of her kids hardly notice they are learning to read, they’re having so much fun. However, some of Fenner’s 26 students are struggling, barely able to get through a first-grade primer, while others are reading at the fifth-grade level. "I taught a combined first-second grade last year," Fenner says, "and I tried to organize my kids into reading groups, and be sure no one felt they were in the lowest group. But realistically, I could only spend about 20 minutes with each child every other day. And it just wasn’t enough. I was staying awake at night trying to figure out how to find time to read with all my kids." This year Fenner is sleeping better. In the fall of 1997 the teachers at Clackamas Elementary created a system of reading blocks that includes every student from second through sixth grade. "We assessed all students in the first couple of months of school and tried to figure out where each one placed on a reading continuum," Fenner explains. "We ended up with 14 reading groups this year, organized according to grade level and reading ability." Every morning, students gather in their "blocks" for one hour of intensive reading instruction. Those with the most difficulty learning to read meet in groups as small as six, while good readers work in groups four times that size. "Now I still don’t always read daily with each of my second-graders," says Fenner, "but it’s a huge relief to know they are going to other classrooms for special reading attention, just as it must be a relief to other teachers to send their lowest readers to me every day." It is 9:30 on a warm spring morning, and in a routine comfortably familiar to the children in Fenner’s classroom, some quietly leave the room when she announces it’s reading-group time. Other children stay, and more drift in from other classrooms. After a few minutes, 15 second- and third-graders, those who are a full year or two behind in learning to read, settle down on the floor. Fenner sits on a pint-sized chair in their midst with a book in her lap and an easel at her side.  PLANTING A PEACH TREE When the room is quiet, she holds up Coyote Plants a Peach Tree by Mary Brown. "Now, how do you think a coyote could plant a peach tree?" Fenner begins. "He’d dig a hole," Malika says. "Right," Fenner says, "and how else?" "Maybe the coyote eats the peach, and it comes out the other end as a seed and grows," David puts it delicately without saying any bad words. "Good!" Fenner turns to the easel and quickly sketches a crude tree. "Now what are these called? Brrrrrrr…," she prompts. "Branches, that’s right. And these? Flowers, yes, but what’s another word for flowers? Blossoms! Good, Josie!" She writes the answer on the easel, spelling it aloud. "Now, when a bee comes buzz- ing around, what does it want?" "Nectar," Josh replies. "Yes! Nectar! And how do you spell that?" Fenner opens Coyote Plants a Peach Tree. "I’ve covered the words because I want you to think about the story," she says. Keeping the pace lively, she guides her students through the book, asking questions, writing new words on the easel, and directing attention to the pictures. By the time she’s finished, the children have anticipated the story line, learned some new words, absorbed a small lesson in botany, and practiced spelling. "It’s more natural if the children themselves generate the vocabulary before they read the book," Fenner explains, "though in reality I am guiding them to say those things. When we talk about what they see on the page and I ask, ‘What’s this called? What’s another word for it?’ I’m looking for someone to say the exact word that’s in the text. When Josie says ‘blossoms,’ I repeat it, write it, and spell it, so when students get to that word on their own, they’ll remember it." "Kids like it when I cover the words because it takes the pressure off," Fenner continues. "They can enjoy the pictures and talk about what they think is happening in the story without being distracted by trying to figure out the words. By the time we finish, they can’t wait to get their hands on that book to see if their predictions match the text." And today Fenner just happens to have enough copies of Coyote Plants a Peach Tree for teams of two to read the story aloud to one another. Children settle around the room in pairs and the pleasant drone of voices fills the air as Fenner strolls around looking over shoulders, making sure every child is either reading or listening. "How does good reading sound?" she asks. "Like talking," Malika says, without looking up from her book. "That’s right," Fenner says, "and I hear a lot of good expression in your voices." Self-esteem is a key issue with slow readers, Fenner believes, and she tries to make certain that every child feels a sense of accomplishment by the end of the hour, however small. Jack, a third-grader, has hung back on the edges of the group during the lesson, appearing to pay no attention. But when Fenner asks if anyone knows anything else about coyotes, Jack puts up his hand. He walks to the front of the room and says, "Coyotes don’t hurt people, so we shouldn’t hurt them." "It’s a real problem if a child is completely disengaged from reading," Fenner says, "but I do whatever I can to connect a low reader to the material. Jack, for example, doesn’t particularly like to read. He’s new, and he’s struggling. So I was happy that he could share what he knew about coyotes and get some recognition." Fenner usually spends 20 minutes a day on phonics with her reading group. These kids are so far behind in reading, she says, that they’re just not catching up without the additional help of phonics. "I was trained to teach reading using the whole-language method, which minimizes phonics, but after getting into a classroom I could see that some kids just don’t have enough tools to learn to read without phonics. So now I combine whole language and phonics, as do most teachers." It’s time for recess. The children line up at the front of the room, facing Fenner who stands in the doorway. They know the routine. The ticket to the playground is an answer to a question about Coyote Plants a Peach Tree. As each student steps forward, Fenner leans down and asks a rapid-fire question about the story, her hand poised above the child’s shoulder. As she gets an answer, she lightly touches the child. Released, and pleased with themselves, the children run down the hall to 15 minutes of freedom. "When these kids came to me, the only reading tool they had was to try to sound out words," Fenner says, "and they weren’t very good at that." Sounding out words can be very difficult, she points out, because there are so many exceptions in our language. "Or maybe they get close but it doesn’t match a word they know, so they give up." "Low readers really need the skills to feel good about themselves," Fenner says, "and I try to give them a cueing system beyond sounding out words so they can learn how to read on their own: Study the picture, look at other words in the text, think about what makes sense in a sentence." ALPHABET SOUP After recess, Fenner’s full second-grade class of 26 students gathers on the floor in front of her. It’s reading time for fun, and today she has chosen Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh, a story about a dog who eats alphabet soup and begins to talk. And talk. And talk. The kids love it. As Fenner reads, she asks questions, comments on the story, and holds up the book for everyone to see the funny illustrations. When Martha the dog reminds herself to "never mistake a leg for a tree," the kids go wild. "Tell your neighbor why that’s so funny," Fenner suggests. "Pee, pee, pee," the students whisper to one another with delight. It’s a continual challenge to acquire high-interest books for the classroom, Fenner says. "I want real books with real vocabulary as opposed to these canned 50-word books," she says. "I’m bored to tears reading those, and I can’t imagine asking a child to be interested." The district gives her a set of standard reading books that are quite good, she notes. But to supplement those, Fenner brings in books that are designed for beginning readers regardless of their grade level. These books, Fenner says, don’t carry a stigma for older kids. The children in her low reading group know if they are given a first-grade book. "They don’t want to use it when they are in second or third grade," Fenner says. "It totally shoots their self-esteem. A child like Jack, with a book like that, wouldn’t have a chance." Fenner’s second-graders got their library cards on a field trip to the public library earlier this year. "The card has been a catalyst for change in some families," she says. "The kids were very excited to check out books on their own, and the whole idea was that a parent or older brother or sister has to take the child back to return the books and get more. But other families haven’t shown any interest." Still, Fenner continually reinforces the idea of using the library by bringing in a weekly hodge-podge of library books on particular subjects she knows will interest her kids. After reading Martha Speaks, she presents her library choices for this week. "Tim, I was thinking of you when I picked up this book on horses," she says casually as she tosses it on the pile beside her. "And Christie, here’s one on whales that you might like." The kids clamber for these books as they scatter to read on their own for 10 minutes. But certainly the most sought-after book this day is The Spice Girls’ Journey, written at home by second-grader Lucy for the family book-writing contest—part of a schoolwide "reading round-up" week. With a floppy head attached to the top of its construction-paper body, and long dangling arms and legs, the book itself is a Spice Girl. One child barely puts it down before another eager reader snatches it up. "On a very hot day," the story begins, "the Spice Girls took a long journey from England to Clackamas, Oregon, USA. They were going to stay there three mounts" [author’s spelling]. "Some kids got a lot of support from their families in making these books," Fenner says, "and others didn’t. But I get excited about whatever comes in because it’s a book. I want these kids to love books, to have books in their hands constantly. That’s what it’s all about for me."
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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