Week 12- Fourth Grade

“A Poisonous Pen” Week 12 Fourth Grade  

AlphaSkills Read with Sarah

Week 12 Fourth Grade

Poison Pen (Fiction, Level 12, Stage 3) by Beverley Dunlop

To say that this week’s book was a fiction book and a character lesson all in one would be an understatement. In Poison Pen, younger sister Briar is jealous that her big sister’s new boyfriend is stealing all of her attention, so she devises a plan to change things. This plan, of course, backfires and leaves her asking for forgiveness and feeling pretty rotten. This little book not only served as a reading and writing curriculum for us this week, but it also offered a great opportunity to talk to my fourth grader about actions, choices, and consequences, which is always a treat.

The activity I want to highlight this week is the Reading Benchmark that accompanies the book and Guided Lesson with instructions for use. I don’t know a lot about assessing Elijah’s progress on my own, but this activity allowed me to assess the Elijah’s oral reading skills, comprehension skills, and fluency in two easy steps. I really appreciate this element of the AlphaSkills curriculum because it gives me a progress report on how he is developing in key areas. Also, when the completed benchmark sheet is completed and sent back to the AlphaSkills staff, they are able to assess whether or not he is ready to move on to the next level of materials or if he needs to stay in the current level with other resources. This way I know he’s always using materials that are appropriate for his development right now.

The materials we’re using in fourth grade are a step above those we used last year for third grade, but with the expertise of the AlphaSkills staff I can always be sure that my fourth grader is right where he needs to be! For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.