Programs

Reading Programs

Kindergarten Program

focuses heavily on Phonemic Awareness.

First Grade Program

continues the Phonemic Awareness emphasis, helping children continue learning to put sounds together to make words.

Second Grade Program

Third Grade Program

The way to make good readers is to give them the opportunity to practice with guidance. In 3rd grade Title One, the students are given a choice of what they would like to read and who they would like to read with. Mrs. Lovelace uses the Reading Recovery techniques to help the students as they read. They are reminded that when they read, the words in the story need to "look right" and "make sense." After students get better at reading, more strategies are given to them so they know what to do when they are stuck on a larger word. Taking words apart and analogies are examples of this. After reading, follow up activities are done so the students understand they are reading for a purpose. They may be asked to compare/contrast two things, identify the problem and solution in the story, answer multilevel thinking questions, or put parts of the story together in logical order. Another part to 3rd grade Title One is writing activities. They may write an extension or alternate ending to a story just read, or be asked to come up with an idea and write a story on their own. All writing projects are student edited and rewritten so the students get a chance to find their own mistakes and have a sense of accomplishment. Each time a new strategy is taught, the teacher sends the message that the students can use it in a variety of reading and writing settings. By doing this, she hopes to create independent readers and writers.

Fourth Grade Program

By 4th grade, most Title One students have caught up in reading skills, but still have to focus so much on reading the words that they have trouble understanding the message from what they have read. Since this is the case, Title One in 4th grade focuses on fluency and comprehension of fiction and nonfiction materials. The groups read many things together and learn ways to group words in phrases and pause at appropriate punctuation. When focusing on comprehension, the first step is to make sure the students understand that when they can't remember the story, they need to go back and do some rereading. After they know that and can apply it, the students learn to think deeply about what message is written "between the lines." With most comprehension activities, there is a lot of writing involved. Because of this, they get a chance to firm up their writing skills at the same time as doing reading and comprehension. Some of these activities include writing story summaries; sequencing the most important parts of each chapter in a fiction book; and taking notes in a nonfiction book, putting them together to make a report. 4th graders also get a chance to work on perfecting their writing, doing at least one major writing project. During the project, they see what it's like to work hard on one piece of writing until it is perfected enough to be published in book form. To publish, cut cardboard is used to make a book that is sturdy and durable. Student publishers complete the project by sewing pages together and creating illustrations, a cover, and a title page. While all writing projects aren't this extensive, the main components of writing (brainstorming ideas, writing a rough draft, editing, and producing a final copy) are always practiced. Each time a new strategy is taught, Mrs. Lovelace sends the message that the students can use it in a variety of reading and writing settings. By doing this, she hopes to create independent readers and writers.

Multiage Program

The 1/2 classrooms focuses on the individual needs of the children being served. Mrs. Melcher works in the classroom giving assistance to children with classroom work and with specific skills that a particular child needs. Strategies taught by the classroom teachers are reinforced. Phonemic Awareness and Visual Phonics are also used to give children more strategies in decoding unknown words. Dolch Sight Words are used with students to help children build a broad base of words that can not be sounded out so have to be memorized. Students are also pulled out of the classroom to work if it is felt that would be more beneficial to the student or if more than one child has needs in the same area. The program in the 3/4 classrooms focuses on comprehension skills and writing. Children are pulled out of the classroom in small groups to read books and respond in writing. The character traits are emphasized when possible. Writing responses focus on various comprehension skills. Literal, inference, drawing conclusions, cause and effect are some of the skills the children work with. The children are asked to think beyond the text with "What do you think?" questions.

Children in all grades of multiage are taught CRISS strategies which help them organize their thoughts for reading. These strategies use a lot of graphic organizers to help children categorize their thoughts so they can write or respond in an organized way. The ultimate goal is to have students become independent readers and writers.

Reading Recovery/Reading Lab

This program is a one-on-one program for first graders. It is based on two thoughts. The first is that programs for children who are experiencing difficulty in reading should be based on observing what the child can do as a reader and writer. Also we need to know how children who are good readers and writers learn. This gives us insight into how to teach children who are having difficulty. Typically the program lasts about twenty weeks. Students for the first round are tested at the beginning of the year. They qualify for testing based on scores on the Metropolitan Reading Test and the DIBELS in Kindergarten. We also ask the Kindergarten teachers and Mrs. Cave for further recommendations and more information about the students. Tests don't always give a true picture of what a child's strengths or weaknesses are. Teachers, on the other hand, know their students pretty well. Children are assessed on the following skill areas: Letter Identification, Concepts About Print, Writing Vocabulary, Word Reading Test, Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words and Text Reading Level. Concepts About Print assesses skills such as being able to follow the direction of reading, going from left to right; where to start reading on a page; matching words one-to-one;being able to tell the difference between letters and words; and recognizing that sentences are in reverse order. In Writing Vocabulary the child is given ten minutes to write as many words as he/she can without help. The Hearing and Recording Sounds test is a sentence dictation. We look at how many sounds the child can hear in a sentence and whether they are in the correct order. We can see if a child hears beginning, middle and ending sounds or has a weakness in one or more of those. The Reading Level test is difficult at the beginning of the year. Many first graders are not reading at that time. This test mainly checks for one-to-one correspondence and ability to follow a pattern. Once the assessments are completed, the teachers get together and rank the children. The students who are the lowest are placed in the program with parent permission.

The lessons are daily for thirty minutes. The first ten days are spent getting to know each other. The teacher takes the opportunity to find out more about the child's strengths and weaknesses. Many books at the childs' level are read. The child writes and illustrates a book. Sight words are introduced. When formal lessons begin in the third week, the time is broken into ten minute segments. The first segment is spent reading familiar books. This helps get the child warmed up and feeling confident about reading. At the end of this segment the child reads the new book from the previous day. The teacher does a running record to assess accuracy. 95%-100% indicates the book is easy.

90%-94% tells us the book is at the child's level. A score below 90% indicates the book is too hard. The next segment is working with words and writing. During this time, new words are introduced. These may be sight words or pattern words. They may be words that the child is having difficulty with. We work with pattern words so the child can see that if he/she can read and spell one word in the pattern, more words can be read and spelled. For example, if a child knows cat, he/she can also figure out mat, sat, bat, etc. After time has been spent with words we move on to a sentence. The child decides on a a sentence to write. We work on hearing all of the sounds and help with letters that can't be heard. When the child writes the sentence in his/her journal, it needs to be written correctly. The teacher writes the sentence on a strip of paper for the child to read. Then the words are cut apart and the child puts the sentence back together. The sentence does not have to be cut apart word by word. If a child is having difficulty with word endings, beginning or ending blends, or a particular sound, those can be cut apart for the child to focus on. The sentence is then put back together by the child and read. It is taken home to put together and share with family. After the word and writing portion a new book is introduced.

We take a picture walk through the book, looking to see what it is about and checking for difficult words. The child is led to figure out words based on strategies learned. Then the child reads the book. This is the book that is read the next day for a running record. Strategies for figuring out unknown words include: sound it out, picture clues, does it sound right, does it look right and does it make sense.

Kindergarten Program	focuses heavily on Phonemic Awareness.
First Grade Program	continues the Phonemic Awareness emphasis, helping children continue learning to put sounds together to make words.
Second Grade Program
Third Grade Program	The way to make good readers is to give them the opportunity to practice with guidance. In 3rd grade Title One, the students are given a choice of what they would like to read and who they would like to read with. Mrs. Lovelace uses the Reading Recovery techniques to help the students as they read. They are reminded that when they read, the words in the story need to "look right" and "make sense." After students get better at reading, more strategies are given to them so they know what to do when they are stuck on a larger word. Taking words apart and analogies are examples of this. After reading, follow up activities are done so the students understand they are reading for a purpose. They may be asked to compare/contrast two things, identify the problem and solution in the story, answer multilevel thinking questions, or put parts of the story together in logical order. Another part to 3rd grade Title One is writing activities. They may write an extension or alternate ending to a story just read, or be asked to come up with an idea and write a story on their own. All writing projects are student edited and rewritten so the students get a chance to find their own mistakes and have a sense of accomplishment. Each time a new strategy is taught, the teacher sends the message that the students can use it in a variety of reading and writing settings. By doing this, she hopes to create independent readers and writers.
Fourth Grade Program	By 4th grade, most Title One students have caught up in reading skills, but still have to focus so much on reading the words that they have trouble understanding the message from what they have read. Since this is the case, Title One in 4th grade focuses on fluency and comprehension of fiction and nonfiction materials. The groups read many things together and learn ways to group words in phrases and pause at appropriate punctuation. When focusing on comprehension, the first step is to make sure the students understand that when they can't remember the story, they need to go back and do some rereading. After they know that and can apply it, the students learn to think deeply about what message is written "between the lines." With most comprehension activities, there is a lot of writing involved. Because of this, they get a chance to firm up their writing skills at the same time as doing reading and comprehension. Some of these activities include writing story summaries; sequencing the most important parts of each chapter in a fiction book; and taking notes in a nonfiction book, putting them together to make a report. 4th graders also get a chance to work on perfecting their writing, doing at least one major writing project. During the project, they see what it's like to work hard on one piece of writing until it is perfected enough to be published in book form. To publish, cut cardboard is used to make a book that is sturdy and durable. Student publishers complete the project by sewing pages together and creating illustrations, a cover, and a title page. While all writing projects aren't this extensive, the main components of writing (brainstorming ideas, writing a rough draft, editing, and producing a final copy) are always practiced. Each time a new strategy is taught, Mrs. Lovelace sends the message that the students can use it in a variety of reading and writing settings. By doing this, she hopes to create independent readers and writers.
Multiage Program	The 1/2 classrooms focuses on the individual needs of the children being served. Mrs. Melcher works in the classroom giving assistance to children with classroom work and with specific skills that a particular child needs. Strategies taught by the classroom teachers are reinforced. Phonemic Awareness and Visual Phonics are also used to give children more strategies in decoding unknown words. Dolch Sight Words are used with students to help children build a broad base of words that can not be sounded out so have to be memorized. Students are also pulled out of the classroom to work if it is felt that would be more beneficial to the student or if more than one child has needs in the same area. The program in the 3/4 classrooms focuses on comprehension skills and writing. Children are pulled out of the classroom in small groups to read books and respond in writing. The character traits are emphasized when possible. Writing responses focus on various comprehension skills. Literal, inference, drawing conclusions, cause and effect are some of the skills the children work with. The children are asked to think beyond the text with "What do you think?" questions. Children in all grades of multiage are taught CRISS strategies which help them organize their thoughts for reading. These strategies use a lot of graphic organizers to help children categorize their thoughts so they can write or respond in an organized way. The ultimate goal is to have students become independent readers and writers.
Reading Recovery/Reading Lab	This program is a one-on-one program for first graders. It is based on two thoughts. The first is that programs for children who are experiencing difficulty in reading should be based on observing what the child can do as a reader and writer. Also we need to know how children who are good readers and writers learn. This gives us insight into how to teach children who are having difficulty. Typically the program lasts about twenty weeks. Students for the first round are tested at the beginning of the year. They qualify for testing based on scores on the Metropolitan Reading Test and the DIBELS in Kindergarten. We also ask the Kindergarten teachers and Mrs. Cave for further recommendations and more information about the students. Tests don't always give a true picture of what a child's strengths or weaknesses are. Teachers, on the other hand, know their students pretty well. Children are assessed on the following skill areas: Letter Identification, Concepts About Print, Writing Vocabulary, Word Reading Test, Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words and Text Reading Level. Concepts About Print assesses skills such as being able to follow the direction of reading, going from left to right; where to start reading on a page; matching words one-to-one;being able to tell the difference between letters and words; and recognizing that sentences are in reverse order. In Writing Vocabulary the child is given ten minutes to write as many words as he/she can without help. The Hearing and Recording Sounds test is a sentence dictation. We look at how many sounds the child can hear in a sentence and whether they are in the correct order. We can see if a child hears beginning, middle and ending sounds or has a weakness in one or more of those. The Reading Level test is difficult at the beginning of the year. Many first graders are not reading at that time. This test mainly checks for one-to-one correspondence and ability to follow a pattern. Once the assessments are completed, the teachers get together and rank the children. The students who are the lowest are placed in the program with parent permission. The lessons are daily for thirty minutes. The first ten days are spent getting to know each other. The teacher takes the opportunity to find out more about the child's strengths and weaknesses. Many books at the childs' level are read. The child writes and illustrates a book. Sight words are introduced. When formal lessons begin in the third week, the time is broken into ten minute segments. The first segment is spent reading familiar books. This helps get the child warmed up and feeling confident about reading. At the end of this segment the child reads the new book from the previous day. The teacher does a running record to assess accuracy. 95%-100% indicates the book is easy. 90%-94% tells us the book is at the child's level. A score below 90% indicates the book is too hard. The next segment is working with words and writing. During this time, new words are introduced. These may be sight words or pattern words. They may be words that the child is having difficulty with. We work with pattern words so the child can see that if he/she can read and spell one word in the pattern, more words can be read and spelled. For example, if a child knows cat, he/she can also figure out mat, sat, bat, etc. After time has been spent with words we move on to a sentence. The child decides on a a sentence to write. We work on hearing all of the sounds and help with letters that can't be heard. When the child writes the sentence in his/her journal, it needs to be written correctly. The teacher writes the sentence on a strip of paper for the child to read. Then the words are cut apart and the child puts the sentence back together. The sentence does not have to be cut apart word by word. If a child is having difficulty with word endings, beginning or ending blends, or a particular sound, those can be cut apart for the child to focus on. The sentence is then put back together by the child and read. It is taken home to put together and share with family. After the word and writing portion a new book is introduced. We take a picture walk through the book, looking to see what it is about and checking for difficult words. The child is led to figure out words based on strategies learned. Then the child reads the book. This is the book that is read the next day for a running record. Strategies for figuring out unknown words include: sound it out, picture clues, does it sound right, does it look right and does it make sense.