Reading- The reading program at Chester Academy is based on the premise that students who are learning to read need a variety of tools to attain mastery.  Reading skills practiced in third grade include phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency.  All students are provided with direct instruction in these areas through a variety of strategies including whole group and small group instruction.

Program/Materials:

At Chester Academy, we are piloting the Scott Foresman Reading Street Program.  This series has two anthologies divided into six thematic units: dollars and sense, smart solutions, people and nature, one of a kind, cultures and freedom.  These units are designed to help students broaden their understanding of familiar topics, as well as develop their research and inquiry skills.  The genres included are: biography, narrative, folktales, realistic fiction, fantasy, tall tales, non-fiction, fables, myths, and informational text.

Instructional Delivery Model:

At Chester Academy, students are involved in a 3-Tier reading model, consisting of three tiers of reading instruction.  Movement through the tiers is a dynamic process, with students entering and exiting as needed.

·        Tier 1- Core Classroom Instruction

            A core reading program grounded in scientifically based reading research.  Students receive instruction in a 90 minute reading block each day, consisting of thirty minutes of whole group instruction, followed by a sixty minute reading group time, where the students are taught in 3-4 flexible small guided reading groups.

·        Tier 2- Strategic Intervention

Tier 2 is designed to further meet the needs of some students , where the core reading program is not enough.  They are provided with additional small group reading instruction daily.

·        Tier 3- Intensive Intervention

A small percentage of students require more support in acquiring vital reading skills than Tier 2 instruction can provide.  For these students, Tier 3 provides instruction that is more explicit, more intensive, and specifically designed to meet their individual needs.

Reading Placement/Groupings/ Assessment:

The children are grouped according to their reading level. They are assessed with several different tools.  Placement is determined by the following assessments:

• DIBELS, which is the Dynamic Assessment of Basic Early Literacy Skills. This a set of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills. 

• GRADE: Group Reading Assessment Diagnostic Evaluation: providing information on decoding skills, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension.

Scott Foresman Reading Street Assessments include: Baseline group testing - measuring performance in phonics/phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension; Benchmark tests - given at the end of each unit and at the end of the year to determine whether the student is above or below, on or above the expected level; Weekly group selection tests; and informal progress monitoring throughout the week, to check progress during instruction and to identify students’ needs along the way.

Reading Skills:

Phonic Skills- Phonics is based on sequential relationship between letters and sounds.  Ongoing skills are:

·        Review short and long vowels

·        Review vowel pairs, digraphs, diphthongs and blends

·        Prefixes, suffixes, endings, and contractions

·        Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, and homophones

·        Blending and dictation

Listening Skills- Listening is the first skill by which language is acquired.  By developing listening skills, students become perceptive, critical, thoughtful and effective communicators.  Ongoing skills are:

·        Interpreting, remembering and following directions

·        Listening attentively in a classroom environment

·        Listening for details

Speaking Skills- Speaking is a basic skill for effective communication.  Students develop the expression in written and oral language.  Ongoing skills are:

·        Reading aloud

·        Telling and retelling of stories

·        Public speaking