Assessing, PD, and a Linky

Now that I am integrating CAFE and the Daily 5 in my classroom, I have been searching for a good reading assessment to use with my students. When I was in my undergraduate classes, we took 2 reading courses where we actually worked with a student in an after school program for an entire semester. In this class we used DIBELS to monitor our student's fluency and their growth as they worked with us. I really liked DIBELS because it had a weekly progress monitoring that we were able to give our student. However, this is not geared towards my 6th graders at all. If I remember correctly, it only went up to 3rd grade. 

I have also had previous experience with the DRA while doing observations and subbing at the elementary level. I really like this assessment because it not only has students read aloud, but they also read silently, and there is then comprehension questions that follow as well. I also like that this assessment provides you with a reading level that can be transferred to a grade equivalent. Since we do not use AR at my school, I would at least love to have this ball park number to help with my grouping and instruction that takes place in my classroom. I was looking on the Pearson website, who is the company that publishes the DRA kit, and I was excited to see that they have a 4-8 kit. Have any of you all ever used the 4-8 kit? You can find more out about it here. I am pretty sure that I am going to go ahead and budget for it though. :)

I was also so excited to discover that The Sisters are going to be in San Antonio doing workshops on The Daily 5 and CAFE in April. I already emailed my principal to see if I can go. I would love this opportunity since not many people in my district even know what it is . You can find out all of the places that the Sisters are going in 2012 by clicking here. Have you ever seen them present? I know that it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity and I have a feeling that I would walk away with so much knowledge that will help me to implement both things in my classroom even better. 

I mentioned last week about wanting to do a linky party where we all share what it is like on a daily basis in our own classrooms. I know that I personally love finding out how others spend their time during the day. It might even provide you with a new idea for your own classroom. 

Here is how it will work. On Friday, January  13th, you will get to write a post that it is completely dedicated to telling others what a day is like in your shoes. You can share as much or as little as you would like. I will have the post go live early that morning and all you will have to do is link up. In the mean time, feel free to copy and paste the picture and tell others about the linky party by blogging about it! I hope you are as excited about this as I am!