Eye on ECCS: Celebrating student achievement in elementary literacy

 

NOTE: Occasionally throughout the school year, we will visit a school across Eastern Carver County Schools. Some weeks the plan may be to stop in multiple classrooms by grade, or by subject. Other weeks it may highlight a certain specialist group. The purpose is to give families and our community a glimpse into the every-day learning environment happening in our buildings. A chance to spotlight the incredible work our teachers and staff do on a daily basis for our students, and to showcase the incredible work our students produce as well. So, keep your Eye on ECCS!

The school year is just days away from being complete. It’s hard to imagine as sometimes it feels like it just began. But in elementary classrooms across the district it’s evident that both students and teachers put in the work this school year. You can hear it in the work that students are completing. You can see it in their FastBridge scores.

For the last Eye on ECCS for the school year, we ventured into five elementary classrooms to celebrate student achievement this year. To reflect with teachers on the gains students made, and how teachers are evolving within the Science of Reading literacy practices, anchored by the state of Minnesota’s READ Act. It mandates that schools use structured literacy – systematic instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. 

BREAKING DOWN READING

Maren Yue, fourth grade teacher at Jonathan Elementary, found her students had skyrocketing data fluency scores. They were able to accurately read, but their comprehension scores weren’t showing that same growth. 

“It came down to that basic sentence structure for increased comprehension. Breaking it down sentence by sentence. Re-reading the text with a clearer purpose,” Yue said. “Syntax has become that puzzle piece that has been missing for us. We take FastBridge testing three times a year. It flags those kids who are maybe in the at-risk category. But it’s the minute-to-minute, day-to-day observations, those exit slips, informal observations, those whiteboard checks, that are really telling us what is working and what isn’t working so we can do something differently to make sure we are understanding what that missing puzzle piece is.”

Yue said as text becomes more rigorous in fourth grade, the importance of understanding the meaning grows with the challenge.

“It made us think about it some more. It was how are we going to attack that. How are we going to employ reading strategies to really break down those complex strategies?” Yue said. “We have a really good curriculum with BAR (Being A Reader). It’s that fine balance between keeping that love and enjoyment for reading and bringing in text that is high interest, high engagement, but also at that complex rigor level.” 

DEEP DIVE

Kristi Volp, kindergarten teacher at Chanhassen Elementary, was first introduced to PRESS – Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites – through Carol Redmond, the ECCS elementary literacy coach, last school year. PRESS is driven by research-based approaches to reading that address tiered interventions to help struggling learners or whole class intervention.

“This year I had an opportunity to take some time and dig deep into our FastBridge scores with Andrea Hawley, our instructional coach, and other district officials. We were able to identify some  areas where we felt like we could support kids better. We pulled out word segmenting as an area that students were missing; being able to take apart a word and then blend each sound individually,” Volp said.

Along with her student teacher, Nora, Volp used PRESS methods on a daily basis to set a routine and create repetition with the content.

“There is a whole group piece and an intervention piece, and what I did was meld the two together and I used it as a whole class intervention. We were able to push them a little farther than we had been doing before. Instead of looking at 3-letter segments, we went right into four letters,” Volp said.

Students used interactive methods with letter tiles and a keyboard display on a touchscreen. They also used touch spelling from their Sonday lessons – a multisensory reading instruction – along with writing the words on a whiteboard and then breaking it apart with letter tiles.

“I saw a huge impact using PRESS. We’re getting to our FastBridge testing here at the end of the school year and I know they’re going to do so well on segmenting because they’ve had all of this practice. I see it everyday in their learning,” Volp said.

GIVING STUDENTS TOOLS TO SUCCEED

In first grade at Carver Elementary, Shannon Pepper gives students a weekly checklist for them to monitor their reading jobs. Whether it’s read-spell-read flashcards, sound cards with accompanying pictures for letter sound recognition, high frequency word lists, or lesson plans, they know what’s expected of them and gives them direction when the teacher is working with a small group.

It is that independent work stamina that Pepper works with her students to build up throughout the school year. 

“Finding and creating certain things that are at each student’s level is super important. I do a weekly packet that has the specific skills for each group of learners. At the beginning of the year they are working on it independently and then eventually I let them work in groups so they can chat a little bit. It ends up being one of the students’ favorite activities. It’s all about them reading something and then having to retain and comprehend what they read. When they’re this little, you’re not actually sure that they are doing it. These activities are tools for me to see that they are actually doing the work,” Pepper said.

Utilizing paraprofessionals and volunteers, Pepper strives to meet all small groups three-to-four times per week.

“I love first grade testing because we’re doing 1-on-1 testing. All reading-based. I love that I’m able to see the progress first-hand. It’s purely can you read, and that’s my goal. I always say in first grade I’m teaching them how to read and in second grade they are reading to learn,” she said. “At first, as you’re becoming more familiar with the curriculum, you’re teaching it by the book. But now I’m using more supplemental material, other tools that I’ve found helpful. Now that I know how to teach it, I’ve found a way to be most successful with all readers. How to tailor an approach that meets all students.”

INDIVIDUALIZED DAILY READING

When students are reading in school, building confidence and finding materials that interest them, they’re more likely to read at home or away from the school day.

“Every day in third grade they’re doing their 20 minutes of IDR (Individualized Daily Reading) time completely with their choice book, but also sticking to a theme around what we’re working on so they can apply their skill to their independent book. Giving them their choice, you see the interest level in reading go up a lot,” Carver Elementary third grade teacher Megan Cotner said.

Cotner uses a Book Club method to have peers share what they read to increase their retention.

“We do fluency work where they work with a partner that is completely student-led. The timer begins and they know to meet with whomever their partner is that day. They begin to chat about their books and I think the interest builds again because they are telling their partner what they liked about the book, and why they should read the book, too,” she said.

“Being more student-led has always been one of my goals. I don’t want to be talking to them all day,” Cotner added. “I want them to take some of the learning in their own hands. They know what to do because we have the same daily routines. And I think that’s where we see some of the higher gains is because they lead.” 

Cotner’s advice for students is to find a series or book that challenges them.

In Brett Carlson’s fifth grade classroom at Bluff Creek Elementary, students conclude the school day with 30 minutes of IDR.

“The reality of the digital world is fewer and fewer kids are reading at home, so it’s a priority for us to carve out dedicated time for independent reading,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘I don’t like to read.’ What they mean is reading is hard for them; that’s how to translate that. You have to find a book that doesn’t frustrate them but isn’t too easy for them or vacation reading. Once we foster a structure or habits, then it becomes not just reading to read, but reading to learn, which is what they experience in secondary (schools).”

MEETING THE STUDENTS’ NEEDS

Students feel empowered when they can work independently, Carlson said. “Kids will never verbally tell you they need structure. But if you don’t have those structures in place then they appear to be off behaviorally because they don’t know what to expect. Every day should have new challenges and new activities, but within the same structure of knowing what to expect. Students need to feel safe and comfortable for learning to take place,” he said.

Carlson said the zone of proximal development or the sweet spot for learning in students today is smaller than it was 10 years ago. It’s why he uses a gradual release model to develop expectations and create classroom norms.

“They get frustrated when things are too hard and they also want more challenge if things are too easy. To level the playing field, we do a gradual release model. We do the same activity together and then I release them when I know they’re ready for independence, which can be a painfully slow process at first. It’s, go slow now so we can go fast at the end. The kids do benefit from this approach. If we just let them go to work independently right away without giving them the scaffolding we would have 17 kids needing Mr. Carlson’s help all at the same time. And that doesn’t work for anybody,” Carlson said.