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Contact Mrs. Forest-Bakker or Mrs. Henz for more information.
Overview of the Reading Support Program
What is Elmwood's Reading Support Program?
The Reading Support Program is a tutorial program which provides students in kindergarten through fifth grade with intensive strategy instruction and practice.
Students meet in small groups three to five times a week for thirty minutes.
In addition to these reading groups, two early intervention programs specifically designed for Kindergarten and First Grade, K-Leap and Leap, are provided at Elmwood.
How are students chosen for the Reading Support Program?
Students are referred by parents or teachers. When a child is referred we administer an Informal Reading Inventory to determine if the child qualifies for the program.
Students who have been in the Reading Support Program the previous year and who have not reached an instructional level equivalent to their grade level will continue in the program.
Who will be teaching my child?
Two Reading Specialists, two instructional aides, and three Leap-trained tutors teach Reading sessions.
Who should I contact with questions about the Reading Support Program?
The Reading Specialists oversee the program and can answer any questions you may have about the program or reading in general. They can be reached by calling the Elmwood School office.
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The Kindergarten Program
Sessions with Kindergartners include activities which focus on upper and lower case letter identification, letter/sound relationships, phonemic awareness, and emergent reader concepts.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds within words. Two examples of phonemic awareness tasks are rhyming and alliteration.
Emergent literacy is the way young children make sense of written symbols and sounds. In addition to phonemic awareness, emergent literacy includes reading and writing from left to right, knowing words are surrounded by spaces, and that words convey meaning.
K-Leap
K-Leap is a form of literacy support that is available to selected students during the second semester of kindergarten. K-Leap children must be referred by their kindergarten teachers.
K-Leap sessions are fifteen minutes in length five days a week for approximately one semester. Sessions are one-to-one and are delivered by a Leap-trained tutor. The tutorial has four components – ABC Study, phonemic awareness activities, shared writing experiences, and experiences with books.
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First Grade Program
Sessions with first graders begin with a review of their alphabet knowledge, rhyming, and concepts of print. Early in the year poetry is used to reinforce these concepts. Word walls are constructed by the students and used as a tool to expand their reading and writing vocabularies. Gradually a shift is made to easy books with story lines. They begin learning and practicing the reading strategies of searching for visual, semantic, and syntactic cues, monitoring reading, cross-checking one source of cues with another, self-correcting miscues, and solving new words. Poems and stories are reread several times to promote sight word retention and fluency.
Leap
Project Leap is a one-to-one intervention for first graders who need extra support to further their literacy development. It is short-term and based on research. Students are tutored thirty-five minutes each day for an average of sixty-five school days. During a tutoring session the child reads at least four easy books, writes a sentence, and receives phonics assistance through word study.
Classroom teachers refer children for services. After completing the referral process, classroom teachers and the building reading specialists collaborate to determine which students will receive Project Leap services and which students will receive services in the Reading Support Program.
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The Second Grade Program
Sessions with second graders include activities that focus on decoding, comprehension and fluency. Early in the year poetry is used to reinforce these concepts. Word walls are constructed by the students and used as a tool to expand their reading and writing vocabularies. Gradually a shift is made to books with story lines. The reading strategies of searching for visual, semantic, and syntactic cues, monitoring reading, cross-checking one source of cues with another, self-correcting miscues, and solving new words are reviewed. When these strategies become habituated we begin working on comprehension strategies. Poems and stories are reread to promote sight word retention and fluency.
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The Third Through Fifth Grade Programs
Sessions with third graders include learning how to decode monosyllabic and multi-syllabic words "on the run", comprehension, and fluency. Early in the year short stories are used to teach and reinforce these concepts. Gradually a shift is made to chapter books and nonfiction essays. As students become more fluent they are encouraged to read silently rather than orally. The seven comprehension strategies of connecting known to new, determining importance, asking questions, visualizing, inferring meaning, synthesizing, and fixing reading problems are taught and practiced.
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Reading With Your Child
The most important reading activity you can do with your Kindergartner is reading nonfiction and fiction books aloud. Be sure to read a wide variety of books. As you read have your child make predictions. Reread favorite books. Have your child "read" to you using the pictures or their memory.
Continue reinforcing their letter curiosity and expanding their alphabet knowledge by reading alphabet books. Play name the letter or letter sound games. Play "I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter __ or the letter sound ____."
Play identification games to call attention to the great variety of environmental print. ("Who will be the first one to spot the word "exit," "stop," "McDonald's?" )
Young children naturally love to play with language. They love nursery rhymes, jokes, and tongue twisters. Take advantage of this love. Read poetry and tongue twisters to them and have them repeat them. Say three words and have your child choose the word that does not rhyme (cat, pat, pig).
Have your child listen to word parts and then repeat the word as a whole (ta…ble) or say the word as a whole and ask your child to say it syllable by syllable, by first sound and then the rest of the word, or sound by sound. Say a word and have your child replace the first or last letter with another (cat…mat or cat….cap). Have your child say a word without its initial or ending sound (cat…at, hit…it, etc.).
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Choosing Books
The first rule of thumb when helping your child choose a book is to select one that is of interest to them.
The second rule is to choose a book that is at your child's independent reading level. We call books that children can read independently ""just right"" books. A ""just right"" book is a book your child has not read before. It is a book where some of the content is understood and there are few unknown words per page.
The Five-Finger Technique is a simple method you can use to help your child choose a ""just right"" book. To use the Three-Finger Technique, choose a page in the selected book and have your child read it to you. Count the number of errors your child makes on that page. If your child makes more than five errors the book is too difficult for independent reading.
If a too easy or too difficult book has been chosen it can still be enjoyed. If your child has selected a book that is much too easy, let him/her tape record parts of it. This helps build fluency and confidence. If the book is much too difficult, you can read it aloud and let your child talk about the pictures or summarize the sections you have read.
If you have a reluctant reader, try alternating reading sentences, paragraphs, or pages with him or her.
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Reading with Your Kindergartner
The most important reading activity you can do with your Kindergartner is reading nonfiction and fiction books aloud. Be sure to read a wide variety of books. As you read have your child make predictions. Reread favorite books. Have your child "read" to you using the pictures or their memory.
Continue reinforcing their letter curiosity and expanding their alphabet knowledge by reading alphabet books. Play name the letter or letter sound games. Play "I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter __ or the letter sound ____."
Play identification games to call attention to the great variety of environmental print. ("Who will be the first one to spot the word "exit," "stop," "McDonald's?" )
Young children naturally love to play with language. They love nursery rhymes, jokes, and tongue twisters. Take advantage of this love. Read poetry and tongue twisters to them and have them repeat them. Say three words and have your child choose the word that does not rhyme (cat, pat, pig).
Have your child listen to word parts and then repeat the word as a whole (ta…ble) or say the word as a whole and ask your child to say it syllable by syllable, by first sound and then the rest of the word, or sound by sound. Say a word and have your child replace the first or last letter with another (cat…mat or cat….cap). Have your child say a word without its initial or ending sound (cat…at, hit…it, etc.).
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Reading With Your First and Second Grader
Before reading a book, go for a picture "walk". Talk about the pictures and make predictions about what the story is about or what might happen in the story. Talk about what your child already knows.
If your child gets stuck on a word during reading help by:
giving your child wait time of 5 to 10 seconds to see what attempts are made.
saying "Use the picture to help you figure out what that word could be."
saying "Do you know a word that looks like that word?"
saying "What do you know?"
saying "What would make sense there?"
saying "Skip the word and read to the end of the sentence. Now what do you think that word is?"
saying "Put in a word that would make senses there and read on."
telling your child the word.
If your child makes an error while reading:
ask "Does that make sense?"
ask "Can we say it that way?"
ask "Does that word look like ______?"
As your child reads occasionally have him or her predict what will happen next in the story.
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Reading With Your Third, Fourth or Fifth Grader
Before reading go for a picture or chapter "walk". Talk about what your child may already know. Make predictions about what the story is about.
If your child gets stuck on a word during reading help by:
giving your child wait time of 5 to 10 seconds to seeing what attempts are made.
saying "Do you know a word that looks like that word?"
saying "What do you know?"
saying "What would make sense there?"
saying "Skip the word and read to the end of the sentence/paragraph. Now what do you think that word is?"
saying "Put in a word that would make sense there and read on."
telling you child the word.
If your child makes an error while reading:
say "Does that make sense?"
say "Can we say it that way?"
say "Does that word look like ______?"
As your child reads occasionally have him or her predict what will happen next in the story.
After reading ask your child such questions as:
Did what you read remind you of anything?
How does what you are reminded of help you better understand what you read?
What is important to remember in what you have just read?
What questions do you have?
Were your questions answered as you read?
What did you see in your mind as you read?
What do you think will happen next? Why?
Use your own words and ideas to tell me about this story.
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Listening to Your Child Oral Read
The following tips from the Scott, Foresman and Company will help both parent and child enjoy the experience of your child reading to you.
Establish a relaxed atmosphere.
Use a variety of easy reading materials.
Be sensitive to your child's interests.
Have your child choose the material to be read.
(See Choosing Books)
Be a reassuring and supportive listener.
Remember that the meaning of what is read is much more important than reading the exact words.
To help your child with fluency, Marsha Anders and Sharon Ferrari, Reading Specialists at Highland School, offer these suggestions.
Find appropriate reading material for oral reading, such as poetry and rhyming text.
Choose materials that are short and not too difficult.
(See Choosing Books)
Encourage repeated readings of favorite short selections.
Engage in paired reading for 10-15 minutes each night.
Have your child tape record his/her reading so that improvement can be "heard over time."
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Helping Your Leap Student
Students receiving Project Leap services will benefit from the following family literacy activities.
Read to the child on a daily basis. (This is often a pleasurable bedtime activity.)
If a "little" book comes home, listen to your child read the book. When the child has difficulty with a word the parent should gently provide the word so that the flow of the story is not interrupted.
If an envelope with a cut up sentence comes home, read the whole sentence off the envelope cover. Then watch and help the child put the pieces together.
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