That’s what the Secret Stories are to me and my students. Yes, I am sure that I have become a better teacher over time, but the truth is, I didn’t have my secret weapon, and so I couldn’t give it to my students. If you were to look at my data from seven years ago and compare it to my data now, you would see a huge difference. However, data is extremely important to principals, as well as to district and state-level administrators, as it provides a “snap-shot” of current student performance. Knowing the Secrets gave them confidence to tackle new words in reading, write more complicated words in their stories, and even figure-out unknown words in their story problems for math.Īs early grade teachers, our students are just learning how to “do” school, and so testing is not what is most important, nor should it define them. Secret Stories was a game-changer for me, as it gave my first graders more of the phonics “code” they needed to actually do reading and writing workshop! As a result, my students had always shown unbelievable growth-not just in their reading, but in their writing, as well. I had been using Secret Stories in first grade for the past seven years, alongside the Lucy Caulkins Reading and Writing Workshop Model, which our district had adopted several years back. My new school was a Title 1 and Title 3 school, with both ESL and free and reduced lunch population. Our district had expanded from four Early Childhood Schools to six, and I was moved to a new building and placed in kindergarten. Having taught first grade in a large school district for the past ten years, this past year was to be my first ever teaching kindergarten. Is there any assessment data showing how well kids can actually read? I show my students many videos and we sing many songs too, but I don’t see all kids accessing the information later in their reading and writing. I am not understanding how this transfers into their reading & writing since it is done in isolation. This comment, in particular, sums up what many who saw the video back in October were curious to learn. Most wanted to know if the Secrets they knew in the video actually transferred to their reading and writing, and if so, how? So, Katie asked me to track of all of this year’s data and write this post. I was just so excited that I had to share it, and from the moment that Katie posted our little video back in October on Facebook, we both began receiving so many comments and questions. The Secrets were not only their favorite stories, but also their favorite “toys.” They didn’t just “know” them, they were actively using them to read and spell words! With every day came new growth and discovery, and being new to kindergarten, I felt like I was learning right along with them. Having only taught first grade before, I had no preconceived notions about what kindergartners were “supposed” to do, and so we just “played” with the Secrets all the time. I sent Katie the video of my class in late October, as I wanted her to see how fast my kindergartners were soaking-up all of the Secrets! These little kindergartners knew ALL of the them by the end of October, even though they were still learning their individual letter sounds with the Better Alphabet Song. This year was my first year teaching kindergarten, though I’d taught first grade for many years. My name is Melissa Gregory, and I am a kindergarten teacher at a Title I School near Cincinnati, Ohio. They loved to pretend to be the Superhero Vowels when they were playing in the drama center (so cute!) On the 100 th day of school, I asked them to write about their favorite part of kindergarten, and almost all of my kids said it was learning the Secret Stories! They had such ownership of their learning and were so proud! My Journey from First Grade to Kindergarten They begged to do it every morning, and were the first ones to get mad and remind me if I got busy and forgot. They loved for me to take the ‘Secret’ book and go through all of the grown-up reading and writing sounds that they know. It was my first year teaching kindergarten, and having taught first grade for the past ten years, I was just floored by what the kids were able to do. I shared the above videos and comment with Katie back in October.
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