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NEWSLETTER
SUNY Geneseo
Reading Clinic
Spring 2014


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Aidan has worked very hard this semester at
reading clinic! He and Ms. Marconi read
graphic novels, and utilized reading strategies
called chunking and check for
understanding. In addition, Aidan worked on
incorporating grammar, punctuation, linking
words and descriptive detail into his writing -
all topics he and Ms. Marconi reviewed! Aidan
and Ms. Marconi are utilized an iPad
throughout the semester, and incorporated this
technology with literacy learning! Lastly, Aidan
and Ms. Marconi collaborated with Hayden,
Luke, Ms. Brown, and Mr. Warner. Together, they wrote,
revised, and acted in a play. Through theatre, Aidan,
Hayden, and Luke worked on expressive reading, fluency,
and comprehension in an engaging way!

Aidan and Ms. Marconi
Griffin and Miss Pearsall have been having a great time learning together during clinic. It is hard to believe
that we are almost through our time together! We have been working hard on recognizing when Griffins
reading does not make sense. When Griffin is struggling with a word he asks himself the following questions:
Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense? Even as we have learned new strategies for
identifying words, we continue to emphasize the importance of making sure that what Griffin is reading is
making sense. The newest strategy we have been practicing during clinic is the Stretchy Snake strategy.
When Griffin comes to a word that he does not know, he stretches the word out slowly and then puts the
sounds together to figure out the word. This strategy has
been helpful for Griffin during both reading and writing
activities.
Throughout the semester, we have also been working on
spelling different sight words using different tactile methods
such as using play-doh, using stamps, using shaving cream
and Griffins favorite, jumping on letters. These activities are
more engaging than spelling worksheets. Along with
everything else, we have been preparing a special
performance for the literacy fair. Griffin and Miss Pearsall
both look forward to seeing you there!
Griffin and Miss Pearsall


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Miss Marciano and Joel have been having a
great time reading mini books about roads,
different kinds of animals, and things that
move. Joel has done a great job with looking at
a picture to prompt his writing. Since Joel loves
superheroes, Miss Marciano had two pictures of
the Incredibles and Spider-Man for Joel to write
about.
These past few weeks, Miss Marciano has been
working with Joel on his writing by focusing on
how words come together by using a decorated
cookie sheet as a magnetic board. Joel has been
given words from a story to build and write
using magnetic letters and dry erase makers.
Each week, Joel has been taking home a
Challenge Notebook along with a Spider-
Man toy for him to practice his writing outside
of clinic. Joel received a different challenge to
write about with Spider-Man throughout each
week.
For the literacy fair, Joel will be creating his
own superhero (Super Gold!) and will
create a comic strip. He will be
writing a story about what he
drew. We are very excited
for this project and cant
wait to show it off!
Joel and Miss Marciano
Camryn and
Ms. Beaupre
Time flies when
you're having fun!
Ms. Beaupre and 3rd
grader Camryn Smith
have been enjoying
the book Ivy and
Bean, Break the Fossil
Record, by Annie
Barrows. Camryn has
worked hard reflecting on her own
reading and writing through a strategy
called Cross-Checking. This helps Camryn
pay close attention to words within text
and use her dominant reading skills to
make meaning, as well as recognize
spelling patterns within words. Camryn
also used details that Annie Barrows uses
in her story writing to develop ideas for
her own writing piece. She used details to
write a personal narrative about her
favorite memory at the pool while on
vacation with her family. Her detailed
"how to" piece not only provides an insight
to how Camryn learned, but also teaches
the reader how to do a flip underwater.
Awesome reading and writing Camryn!




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Hayden and Miss Brown
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It has been a pleasure working with Hayden in
clinic. We have focused a lot of attention on his
reading comprehension this semester. We have
utilized strategies such as the cover up technique.
Hayden would read a few sentences aloud and
then I put my hand over the text to ask him what he
just read. He would explain using his own words
and if he wasnt sure, he would go back and reread
those sentences. This allows him to monitor his
reading and to practice reading for meaning instead
of reading too quickly. Hayden did a nice job
reading from an Ultimate Adventure book called
Everest, written by Bill Doyle and David Borgenict.
He also read several reading a-z stories and
passages between the U and W levels.
Hayden is a hard worker with many creative
ideas. He has written enthusiastic and
creative pieces of writing. We practiced taking
our time to write these ideas so they were
clear for the reader to understand. His use of
punctuation and spelling, in his writing, was
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also discussed when needed. Hayden and I also discussed
the importance of transitions in his writing. He had the
opportunity to use these skills when he wrote part of the
play, which was presented at the literacy fair. He worked
well with two other students to put this play together and
because of the groups motivation; they were ready to
present their play on our final night together. I hope the rest
of Haydens year as a fifth grader goes very well. Keep up
the great work, Hayden!
Rivers and Mrs. Visalli
Comic Time!
The past few months on Wednesdays I have had the privilege of working with an excellent
third grade student, Rivers! We spent the first sessions getting to know each other and soon
learned we both love our pets, comics, and skiing. Rivers, is quite the funny character and I
am so excited that I had the chance to work with him.
Each week Rivers and I have been working on sight words,
running records, and creating a comic for his final project.
Together with these weekly activities Rivers and I have be
working on VOICE and ORGANIZATION during our
writing time. When we are reading we are focusing on
making connections to the text and connecting one text to
another. For our word study activities we have working on
our long vowel sounds!
Rivers and I have had so much to get done in the last few
weeks. Rivers is a hard worker and Im excited to see the
results of his final project!


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Destin and Mrs. Blowers
During reading clinic, Jay and Miss Stewart
have been working on a variety of literacy
activities. For word work, we have played
games to improve our vocabulary and
increase our knowledge of high frequency
words and long vowel sounds. Jay is always
looking for a fun new game to play!
During our reading time, we worked on a few
different strategies to help improve Jays
comprehension skills. We focused a lot on
different questioning techniques before,
during and after reading to improve
comprehension. Each week we read a
different book and asked ourselves if what we
read made sense. With our reading we also
worked on answering who, what, when,
where and why questions.
Our writing activities focused a lot on editing
and revising our writing. We used an editing
checklist to help us when we were writing
and editing. We also worked on adding
details to our writing.
Jay has been working very hard over the past
few weeks and wehave been having a lot of
fun learning. I am looking forward to
working with him in the next few weeks of
clinic!!
Jay and Miss Stewart
Organizing Our Thoughts Before We
Write!

Sometimes writing with a purpose can be
hard, but there are many ways to improve and
organize all our thoughts before we write!
Destin and Mrs. Blowers spent the semester
figuring out how they could become better
authors in their own writing.
During the semester they discussed how
important it is to organize their thoughts
before they try to write; this way the reader
understands the purpose of the writing. Their
favorite model to reflect back on is the
hamburger model. This model reminds us that
we need a topic sentence, at least three juicy
details, and a closing sentence. Using this
model really helped them as writers. They
realized that once they were organized they
were able to include some good juicy details
that made their writing much more interesting
for their readers. Destin and Mrs. Blowers
enjoyed exploring many different pre-writing
strategies that made them better authors
throughout their time together in clinic!



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Sean has been very busy this semester in
Reading Clinic working towards the goals he
set for himself. Sean expressed early on that
he would like to become a more fluent reader.
To increase his fluency, Sean and Miss Horan
have been using strategies such as chunking
and stretching words out and checking for
understanding, while reading.
Sean and Miss Horan have been working on
writing a story about what Sean wants to be
when he grows up. This story will be shared
during the end of semester Literacy Fair.
Sean has been working outside of Reading
Clinic on writing in his writing journal
created by Miss Horan. Numerous story
starters are included in his writing journal to
help Sean get his wonderful ideas down on
paper.
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Sean and Miss Horan have also been using an
iPad, making Reading Clinic fun and enjoyable.
Incorporating technology into reading and writing
is an easy way to motivate students, especially
Sean!
Sean and Miss Horan
Jack and Mr. Gleeson
Jack is a very energetic and creative child. Throughout this reading
clinic, we have focused on three major categories; word work,
reading, and writing. In the word work section we have focused
on mastering diagraphs (two characters that create one sound i.e.
ch ) and blends (a combination of letters that make a distinct
sound i.e. bl). Although we have had limited time, he has shown
an improvement in this skill. In the reading section we worked on
building different strategies to use when Jack gets to a word he
doesnt know. Jack learned five different strategies, one for each
finger on his hand, and has implemented it in clinic to figure out
words hes having trouble with. Finally, in writing, Jack worked on
creating a story for the Literacy Fair where he fought Ivan Drago in
a boxing match. He wrote the whole story, we collaborated to edit
it, and he created illustrations that matched the story. Jack seemed
to enjoy himself during clinic, especially when he got to be creative
with the story. I hope he continues to work on reading, writing and word work. He is very fun
student and I have enjoyed working with him.



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Eghosa and Miss Frantz
Eghosa has been working extremely
hard during our reading clinic
sessions! He and Miss. Frantz have
been reading all about famous heroes
that have impacted our lives in some
way. While reading, they have been
using various decoding strategies such
as chunking to identify multisyllabic
words. Miss Frantz and Eghosa have
also been working a lot on writing
persuasive pieces; He is excited to
share his piece that he has worked so
hard on at the upcoming literacy fair.
Incorporating various medias such as
books, video clips, and pictures has
helped Eghosa picture himself in a
particular characters shoes. We have
been using these feelings and thoughts
to guide our weekly writing. They are
looking forward to having more fun in
remaining weeks of clinic!

Ms. Fagan was so excited to work with Jackie
during the Reading Clinic this spring! She
learned that Jackie loves animals, Batman, and
Monopoly. We have been reading books about
animals and using different reading strategies to
help Jackie remember important details of what
he just read. We have used a picture book with
no words to have Jackie tell the story aloud by
using details from the pictures. We have also
been working on adding details to Jackies
writing to make his writing more interesting.
Jackie enjoys reading and writing about animals,
and he also likes the game of Monopoly. Ms.
Fagan made a monopoly board just for Jackie
that we play during word work time. Jackie has
done so well with making words in his pocket
chart and practicing his short vowels, blends,
and digraphs. He has his consonant sounds
mastered as well as most of the short vowel
sounds! To reinforce his knowledge, Ms. Fagan
has Jackie take an organizer with a monkey face
on it home each week to write words with short
vowel sounds or blends on the monkey face.
When he returns to school with the organizer
filled in, Ms. Fagan congratulates him and they
review all of the words he found. With Jackies
love for the super hero Batman, for his Literacy
Fair presentation we are making a new
superhero by drawing and writing about him in
a comic strip. Ms. Fagan has a Batman figurine to
encourage Jackie to make his super hero writing
is the best it can be. I am excited to show the
final comic strip at the Literacy Fair and we hope
to see you there!
Jackie and Ms. Fagan


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David and Miss Bush
David and Miss Bush have been
reading up a storm during
our Wednesday clinic sessions! David
has done a great job reading about all
sorts of different topics like dinosaurs,
ants, and various fiction
stories. During our time together, we
have also worked on sight words and
vowel sounds to support David's
spelling. Additionally, David has
worked with conjunctions while writing and has
written about wrestling, snow days, and
insects. David also worked very hard and did an
awesome job on his reading log at home! Thanks for
a great semester!
Luke and Mr. Warner
Luke and Mr. Warner are having a wonderful time
learning about reading and writing. Luke is a very
enthusiastic reader who enjoys reading a good
adventure or fantasy book! We are currently
exploring the suspenseful Skeleton Creek, and using
some of the spooky themes in the book to fuel
interesting and thoughtful journal
entries of our own! Luke has also
created a reading strategies toolbox, where we are
progressively adding more reading and writing tools. These
tools or strategies help us to overcome any reading issues that we
come across. Luke is making great progress, and his reading,
writing, and personal voice have progressed throughout our
meetings.



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Jack and Mrs. Joyce
Mrs. Joyce and Jack have had a great time
working together throughout clinic. They
have read some great books about
animals, friends, and Jacks favorite Dr.
Seuss books. During reading they have
been working hard on comprehension
strategies including questioning and
making connections to the text.
Jack has also been working hard on
writing his own story. Jack has used Mo
Willems series of pigeon stories as
inspiration to create his own story about a
pigeon. They have been working hard to
make sure Jacks writing has a main idea
with supporting details and that he has a
purpose for writing. Jack has worked
hard writing,
illustrating, and editing
his story. During their
word study time they
have been working on
high-frequency words
and words with digraph
sounds sh, ch, ph, and
wh.
It has been a blast working with Colin this semester!
Colin is a very confident reader that loves reading
books with Ms. Amorese. Colin expressed earlier in
the semester that he would like to improve his writing
skills. We are also learning some techniques to use
when we come to a word we don't know. Although
this semester has flown by, Colin has really shown
improvements in his reading and writing.
Both Ms. Amorese and Colin love to play games.
Throughout the semester we have played games to
focus on our word work. One of Colin's favorites is to
play Dominos with new words. Colin has also been
introduced to some of the secret stories by Katie
Garner (http://thesecretstories.com/). This is a really
fun way to learn different letter blends and digraphs.
While reading, Colin has learned some techniques to
not only enhance his decoding skills but also his
comprehension. One of the ways that Colin is able to
decode big words is by using chunking. Sometimes a
big word can be a little scary to try and read. Colin has
leapt this hurdle by using the chunking method to
break the word into smaller pieces. Colin has also
learned how to back up and reread. Colin is a fast
reader with great fluency but we've learned that
sometimes it's really important to go back and check
what we have read. This can assure great
comprehension!
Colin's writing is something he wanted to improve
throughout the course of the semester. Colin has a
TON of great ideas for writing but sometimes they are
a little tricky to get them all down on paper. Using a
graphic organizer before starting to write has really
helped Colin get all those great details organized in his
stories. For the literacy fair, Colin will be writing an
informative piece about one of his favorite topics:
monsters! It has been awesome to work with Colin. If
he continues to improve at this rate, he will be a
literacy all-star in no time.
Colin and Ms. Amorese


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Molly and Miss Liberati
Molly is one hard-worker! In the past several weeks, Molly has continued to
improve her instructional reading level almost each and every week. Our reading
instruction has relied heavily on the strategies detailed in the CAFE book (by Gail
Boushey and Joan Moser)--like "chunk the letters together," cross-checking, and
"check for understanding". When reading, Molly is quick to choose one of the
strategies she has implemented during clinic, and successfully apply it to unfamiliar
words. Through word sorts and word hunts that emphasize long and short vowel
patterns, Molly is gradually improving her
knowledge of each and beginning to
recognize words both in and out of context.
Lastly, Molly's sense of organization and
idea generation when writing new and
original pieces has much improved since
January. We've had a wonderful and
exciting journey together as Molly has and
continues to become the best reader, writer,
and speller she can be.
Caroline, Summer and Miss Musilli
Our girly group of three has been having lots of fun
while working on reading, writing, and sight
words during clinic! Both Caroline and Summer
have been practicing self-correction strategies while
reading differing passages really utilizing our
Stretchy Snake and Chunky Monkey
techniques. I get the chance to model these
strategies while reading aloud The Best Seat in
Second Grade a great story about a second grade
student and his adventures with the class hamster!
The girls have really enjoyed listening to a chapter
each week as we work on predicting the ending
and modeling our own writing after the author. We
have also been playing tons of sight word games
including Trash or Treasure, Go Fish, and using interactive iPad apps. The girls cannot
wait to show off all they have learned at our Literacy Fair, where they will read stories they
have written themselves, which include sight words and descriptive details galore!


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Jake and Ms. Plouffe
Tre-Vaughn and Miss
Piccarreto
Tre-Vaughn has been
working very hard
during Reading Clinic!
He and Miss Piccarreto
have been working
together and reading a
chapter book called
Flat Stanley. While
reading the book, he
has been practicing
with using strategies
such as identifying
story elements, finding the main idea;
summarizing and checking for understanding by
using Click and Clunk cards. Tre-Vaughn has
even created his own Flat Stanley for his literacy
fair project! Also, Tre-Vaughn has been busy
with focusing on his writing skills. He is having a
lot of fun with his learning by working on
Million Dollar Sentences, adding details to his
writing using hamburger graphic organizers,
using the writing process and writing
explanatory pieces on How to make a peanut
butter and Jelly sandwich. Tre-Vaughn and
Miss Piccarreto have had the opportunity to
practice on word work through a number of
engaging games and activities, such as: Squish
the Word, Swoosh! A sight word game, word
sorts, and interactive websites! However,
unfortunately, the weeks are flying by and its
sad to believe that Reading Clinic is coming to an
end very soon. It was a pleasure to be able to
work with Tre-Vaughn for the
Geneseo Reading Clinic and
I am so proud of all of his
hard work ethic!
Awesome job Tre-
Vaughn!
Jake has had the opportunity to
work with both Ms. Plouffe and
Dr. Henry as his tutors for this
reading clinic. He is such a
pleasure to instruct. We have
worked on various reading and
writing activities this semester,
including determining when
something he reads does not
make sense and how to correct
it. Jake has also written several
stories, mostly about Minecroft,
and worked not only on
conventions but on adding
details to his ideas. In addition,
we have played bingo with
digraphs and he usually beat
me! Jake is reading a poem that
he chose for the Literacy Fair.
We cant wait to share it with
you!


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SUNY Geneseo
1 College Circle
Geneseo, NY 14454
For any questions, please contact:
Sharon Henry
henrys@geneseo.edu
585-245-5355
A Note for Sharon Henry
Thank you for another wonderful Literacy
Clinic at Geneseo Elementary School. I
would personally like to thank Mr. Linton
and the students, parents, staff, and faculty
at Geneseo for making this experience for
my graduate students so meaningful. Your
commitment to this program continues to
produce better teachers. Another personal thank you
goes out to the SUNY-Geneseo graduate students for
hanging in there during our many breaks and snow
days. Although it made the flow of clinic instruction a
bit choppy, you adapted very professionally and made
significant growth with your students.