HELPING YOUR CHILD READ AT HOME

 

Coventry Grammar School CORE Language Arts Programs Guided Reading is a major part of the balanced literacy program in our school. Students read books on their instructional reading level (90-94% accuracy). During guided reading, students read as the teacher guides them through the story by prompting readers to use decoding and comprehension strategies to better understand text.

Fundations is implemented as a supplemental phonics and spelling program. Fundations is research-based and uses multisensory techniques. Skills are taught explicitly, sequentially, and systematically. Fundations provides students with a foundation for reading, spelling, and handwriting. This program is delivered to all students in the regular classroom. Students who struggle in the regular classroom may receive additional targeted instruction in small groups.

Making Meaning is a supplemental reading program to build strategies for comprehension and community. Students are taught the strategies of retelling, making connections, questioning/wondering, and visualizing to make sense of text. The read aloud is a springboard to teach these strategies. Individualized Daily Reading is a component of the program that has students read books at their independent or “just right level”. Social skills are integrated into the program, such as, Think-Pair-Share, which allows children to talk to their peers about stories and share their ideas with the class.

Empowering Writers is used as the methodology to teach young writers. The focus of the K-1 program is to help students become aware of story elements and author’s craft as they listen to and discuss stories read aloud. At first, students may use symbols or letters to label a drawing. Later, some students use a combination of drawings and words, while others write a series of sentences to tell a story. Eventually they will write a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. In grade 2, students are explicitly taught the narrative diamond. Students learn about entertaining beginnings, elaborative details, building suspense, the main event, solution of the problem or conclusion of the adventure, and extended endings. As students progress through this series of related skills, including teacher modeling and guided practice, they gain confidence in their own writing ability and begin to apply these strategies in their own writing. (Excerpt ideas taken from www.empoweringwriters.com)

Supporting Literacy Competence Coventry

Grammar School’s Reading Room Program is designed to:

• Enhance the love of learning throughout the primary school.
• Encourage children to see themselves as capable and confident readers.
• Prevent reading failure.
• Continually assess students to determine strengths, weaknesses, and needs.
• Provide early intervention to students in need of support through daily one-to-one or small group instruction.
• Promote enriching experiences for students with highly developed skills.
• Guide flexible groupings to maximize reading success within the classroom.
• Offer collaborative support to classroom teachers as the in-class reading programs develop throughout the school year.
• Advocate for and support at-home reading initiatives.
• Provide professional development to classroom teachers and para-educators on current and innovative reading research theories, practices, and strategies.

The Reading Room staff are creative partners with teachers and the principal in encouraging a total school environment that values reading as the fundamental and essential skill for inspiring life-long learning.