DORF, DAZE, and DIBELS, and a {FREEBIE}

Do you ever feel like there are WAY too many acronyms in education?  It's SO true!

If you have read my blog, you know that I help with DIBELS at my school.  Our DIBELS expert is out on maternity leave (she had twin boys that are just the sweetest little babies), so I offered to help out.  It was a big endeavor for me to volunteer for, but I have learned so much along the way.  I really am thankful for the experience.

Now, our school has some amazing readers.  We do not have many yellows or reds; however, we noticed on the MOY DIBELS tests, some of our students were having issues with the quality of retell and with DAZE.  These skills are not just important for DIBELS scores, but they are important for reading in general.  You need to be able to remember what you read, right?

So, my brain started thinking about these two issues, and I came up with an idea to combine comprehension and DAZE practice.  I chose non-fiction topics because they are a bit more challenging, and our students are supposed to be reading more non-fiction in the classroom (hooray for cross curricular reading).  The biographies are about presidents, political figures, scientists, explorers, and other famous people.

The first level would be reading the passage and retelling the main idea and three facts (in order).  

This would help with DORF retell for DIBELS.

The second level is a cloze activity, which would help kiddos be ready for DAZE. 

 Since there are the same retell questions, it would help with DORF retell as well.

Oh, man!  Is it difficult to find extra DAZE passages or what?!  Start your second graders on these passages to familiarize them with the DAZE format.  This would also be great as an intervention, homework, or a center activity for third graders so they can get some extra practice.

Oh, my dear friend... the answer keys.  Have the kids check their own answers with these sheets.

I had a TON of fun researching these amazing people.  My favorite was Theodore Roosevelt, partially because he practically had a zoo at the White House, and all of his animals had fun names like Father O'Grady.  I decided to share my Teddy Roosevelt passage with you, so you can test out these activities in your own classroom.

Click on the picture to download your {FREEBIE}.

I am going to put these passages on sale until Thursday for 30% off!  Check them out in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Have a fantastic week!