The Systematic Assessment of Book Reading SABR (2.0) examines qualities of teacher and child talk through observation of classroom shared book reading. There are two forms of the assessment that can be used to support observations.
- The short form is designed for reviewing video-recorded read-alouds or live observations, and allows educators and researchers to capture 17 focal aspects of classroom discourse during book reading that are most closely related to growth in young children’s language and literacy skills.
- The long form is designed for researchers to capture more detailed qualities of classroom discourse and includes 40 codes; this includes codes of theoretical importance as well as codes that closely relate to growth in children’s skills. The long form is designed for use with transcribed read-alouds.
To support accurate and consistent implementation, training is recommended.
Short-form Training: During this 5 hours training, participants will learn how to identify texts and follow administration protocols for using the SABR. As well, participants will learn to navigate their way through the SABR manual as they engage in practice activities using the coding forms. This training is recommended for prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers, school leaders, and intervention specialists.
Long-form Training: This training is 8 hours in length. Participants will learn to implement the coding scheme which has been designed for ease of use to quickly prepare teams to reliably observe and measure qualities of classroom discourse. Participants will each receive the SABR manual and they will have opportunities to engage in practice activities using the coding forms.
For more information and to request training, please contact CLI Solutions Group.
This engaging series of trainings dive into content from the eCIRCLE Infant & Toddler Teacher Training: Play with Me! courses. Sessions in the series provide specific instructional strategies targeting infant and toddler development. In these face-to-face trainings, teachers experience strategies in action through video examples of real caregivers and children. Teachers participate in interactive exercises related to infant and toddler language, literacy, and social-emotional development, as well as best practices in responsive caregiving and using developmental checklists.
Trainings in this series are available individually or in combination. Session titles and descriptions include:
• Talk with Me: Promoting Early Language Development: Session includes language-building and eliciting strategies such as labeling, describing, narrating, and encouraging conversation.
• Read with Me: Promoting Early Literacy Development: Session includes strategies for promoting interest in books and a motivation to read, as well as using rhyme, rhythm, and props to enrich literacy experiences.
• Connect with Me: Supporting Early Social-Emotional Skills and Self-Regulation: Session includes strategies for promoting early emotion recognition, self-regulation, and relationships with others.
Accessing Face-to-Face Training & Support
Infant and toddler services offered by CLI Solutions Group include training, instructional coaching, consultation, and custom services to strengthen a wide variety of programs. Our services can be used in combination or individually. Our staff is available to provide additional information, answer questions, and customize solutions to meet your program’s unique needs. Please contact us to discuss training options and how we can help improve your infant and toddler program.
Fluency is a critical component of reading and it is something educators focus on as soon as students can begin to recognize letters and high-frequency words. Fluency involves decoding words effortlessly; recognizing irregular and high-frequency words automatically; yet it is more than word-reading accuracy. Fluency involves reading at an appropriate rate—neither too quickly nor too slowly. It involves paying attention not only to punctuation marks, but determining suitable interpretation of the passage through inflection, intonation, and voice to effectively communicate the meaning of the words on the page.
Students who lack fluency or who are considered dysfluent, often struggle to decode, impeding comprehension. The opposite might also be true. Some students read quickly but with little or no expression, and therefore do not comprehend well.
Fluency can and should be taught in the classroom. Helping teachers to understand how to effectively monitor, teach, and provide practice opportunities, is the goal of our training.
Center time provides critical learning opportunities in an early childhood classroom. This time of independent or cooperative play allows students to practice skills and concepts taught during direct instruction using engaging hands-on activities. It is also a time for students to build language skills and practice new vocabulary. During this training, teachers will learn how to impact this time of learning and vocabulary development using three key components.
Prekindergarten students often lack vocabulary and background knowledge about many topics. Themes allow students to experience a topic and not just hear about it. When a theme is planned well, children are able to use new vocabulary in authentic, memorable ways. Teachers will be shown how to thoughtfully plan and prepare centers based on a theme.
Center choices should connect to the theme and skills taught during direct instruction. Choice and sufficient time allows students to connect new learning to what they already know and can do successfully. During this training, teachers will be provided several examples for each center to ensure they understand how to thoughtfully plan and design purposeful choices in advance so they support language and the mastery of content.
Thoughtful conversations support students use of new language and they prompt and guide student’s thinking and processing. Teachers will learn the importance of engaging their students in conversations during play.
This hands-on, highly interactive session will help teachers understand how to evaluate and plan small group instruction based on the results of CIRCLE Progress Monitoring.
In the cycle of effective teaching and learning, assessment is what drives instruction. Assessment serves as a tool to identify the skills and abilities of students so teachers are able to improve instruction and student learning. These types of improvements only happen when teachers take time to evaluate and plan effective instruction from the data collected.
CIRCLE Progress Monitoring provides teachers with several different types of reports to help with the evaluation process. During this training, teachers will be shown how to analyze each report to glean valuable information about the strengths and needs of the class. They will be shown specifically how to determine which skills need to be retaught during whole group or small group. Teachers will also learn how to use the Class Groups Report to group students in an intentional way for small group instruction.
Once teachers determine the needs of the class, they can begin planning direct instruction. Effective instruction assists students in learning new skills and moving information successfully into their long-term memory. To assist with this goal, teachers are shown how to plan and implement instruction that follows a lesson cycle with key components. Teachers will be shown how to use the CIRCLE Activity Collection as a planning tool and resource to ensure all lessons follow the lesson cycle and include hands-on activities.
Prerequisite: Participants must be current CLI Engage Users.
This 1.5 hour session, is a condensed version of the full-day CIRCLE Progress Monitoring (C-PM) training for Prekindergarten teachers. C-PM is a research-based assessment for prekindergarten students. The results of C-PM inform teachers and administrators how students are performing on specified skills at three time points during the academic year.
C-PM for Administrators provides a clear understanding of each skill assessed, how it is assessed, why it is assessed in the way that it is, and how it is beneficial to student learning. Administrators will learn that student scores are based on cut points of what is expected at each time point for the age of the child. Ample time will be dedicated to understanding the various reports available through CLI Engage. Administrators will leave with the knowledge of what each report is and how it is useful when making academic decisions for students. Time will be devoted to learning about two additional tools: CIRCLE Activities Collection and eCourses.
Click here to contact us for more information.
The CIRCLE Activity Collection translates the best early childhood development research into practice through a wide variety of activities that teachers can implement in the classroom. Available in English and Spanish, the collections include activities that support skill development in language, literacy, social-emotional, mathematics, and science. Each activity is structured around a standard lesson cycle, with teacher tips and extensions to enrich implementation. Scripting is included, providing example dialogue for what a teacher might say to introduce the activity, model the objective, and scaffold children’s responses.
Many activities include a demonstration video for teachers to see the activity in action. These high quality implementation examples serve a powerful professional development resource for educators. Filmed in real classroom environments, each video is then edited and overlaid with annotations that help viewers identify and understand the instructional strategies that are being used.
The Children’s Learning Institute believes that children should be exposed to new concepts multiple times and across a variety of contexts in order to solidify their understanding. These quick and easy to implement activities help teachers connect and reinforce concepts across multiple areas of development. Our activities can be used during large group, small group, and one-on-one instruction.
The activity collection is integrated to work directly with the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System (Pre-K) and the Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment (TX-KEA) tools. Data collected through these assessments is used to automatically suggest activities that will strengthen learning in areas where students have the greatest needs. Teachers have the added options of selecting their favorite activities and adding comments they can reference for future use.
Click here to learn how you can gain access to the CIRCLE Activity Collection.
CLI Engage is a comprehensive professional development, assessment, and quality improvement platform for early care and education programs. Through this digital delivery system, we disseminate a wealth of early childhood program improvement tools. CLI Engage provides an integrated resource suite that connects online professional development courses, to supplemental classroom curriculum, and highly targeted data collection and planning. Key resources included on the platform include the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System, eCIRCLE Professional Development courses, CIRCLE Activities Collections, and quality improvement tools.
Screening, Progress Monitoring, & Observation:
- CIRCLE Progress Monitoring System (PreK)
- Texas Kindergarten Entry Assessment
- Infant & Toddler Developmental Checklists
Online Learning & Professional Development:
- Beginning Education: Early Childcare at Home
- Core Competencies for Early Childhood
- CIRCLE CDA Training Program
- CIRCLE Infant & Toddler Teacher Training Series
- eCIRCLE Professional Development
- Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines Training
Activities & Materials:
- Family CIRCLE Activity Collection
- Infant & Toddler Classroom CIRCLE Activity Collection
- Prekindergarten/Kindergarten Classroom CIRCLE Activity Collection
Quality Improvement & Innovation:
- CIRCLE Classroom Environment Checklist
- CIRCLE Classroom Observation Tool
- Family Engagement Resources
- Teacher Coaching Competencies
Select CLI Engage content is freely available to the public, while most Prekindergarten and Kindergarten tools have eligibility requirements for access. Organizations ineligible for free access can purchase affordable user licenses for their teachers and administrators.
Click here to contact CLI Solutions Group to learn how you can gain access to all of the resources on CLI Engage.
The CIRCLE Pre-K Foundations Training provides a comprehensive look at prekindergarten instruction to support kindergarten readiness. This 7-module training was developed to target key areas of prekindergarten learning and instruction.
Across the 7 modules, teachers will experience multiple demonstration lessons and will have numerous opportunities to practice lessons and activities which can be immediately implemented in the classroom.
Training may be offered over 2 full days, or by individual module. Best Practices should be provided first, but sequence is flexible after Best Practices has been completed. A total of 13 CPE Hours will be awarded if all modules are provided at one time.
MODULES:
- Best Practices (approximately 140 minutes): Reinforces the importance of using research-based instructional approaches as a critical component of children’s emotional development and learning while engaging teachers in meaningful discussions, self-reflection, and planning.
- Mathematics (approximately 90 minutes): Supports teachers in delivering playful lessons and activities that offer students opportunities to explore a wide variety of math concepts which are thoughtfully planned around learning guidelines.
- Phonological Awareness (approximately 90 minutes): Clarifies the skills associated with phonological awareness and their importance. Teachers learn how these skills develop across a continuum and practice ways to teach phonological awareness throughout the day.
- Alphabet Knowledge (approximately 90 minutes): Provides a deeper understanding of how letter knowledge contributes to literacy development and prepares teachers to provide meaningful experiences through targeted lessons using books, the letter wall, environmental print, and more.
- Language Development (approximately 115 minutes): Discusses the importance of intentional language development by engaging students in meaningful conversations. Teachers will explore and practice ways in which language can be woven throughout all parts of the school day.
- Book Reading (approximately 100 minutes): Prepares teachers to provide effective read-alouds that actively engage students through targeted before, during, and after reading activities that foster a love for books while also building comprehension and vocabulary.
- Written Expression (approximately 100 minutes): Discusses the emergent stages of writing to help teachers establish reasonable expectations for writing in the prekindergarten classroom. Teachers will experience four approaches to writing instruction and learn the teacher’s role in scaffolding writing.
Training content is based on literacy development, curriculum implementation, math, mentoring, progress monitoring, and professional development research conducted at the Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Contact us to learn more or to schedule a training.
