Success Stories

[Marsha Osburn]

I only had a short time before school was out to implement the Spring Forward challenge. I chose a kindergarten boy who I had been working on with Switch It at increasing difficult levels… (I had been using the sample Switch It packet I found earlier) When I saw the Spring Forward Challenge I decided that I would use the packet of /oe/ and see how he responded to the new challenge. WOW I feel like this boy had it in his head he just wasn’t “ready” but I think it is the “cvc in kindergarten syndrome” (I made up this syndrome).

I feel that many teachers feel that cvc word reading is an acceptable level of reading for kindergarten….and there are many stories that can be practiced by students.  I know that as a special ed teacher the L..E…A…P to the advanced code can seem daunting. I love the fact that the streamlined pathway says just go…and the activities and passages that I have found so far in the Reading Simplified Academy are so user friendly…I have always used and believed in phonetic approach to reading and had much student success over the years.

Anyway I used the lesson plan right off the Spring Forward and just got going I loved seeing my students response and excitement to new stories and seeing the practiced /oe/ spellings right in the books and passages. I love my summer break but almost hated to see it come so quickly this year!

I took the information to my superintendent and ask for the funds to enter the Reading Simplified Academy and it was granted…so excited to be a part of the community!!

I really feel that this speed it up approach is what I have been missing in feeling success and seeing even more student success.

Thanks

[Marnie]

Marsha, thanks SO much for sharing your early wins!  Such a great example of the Reading Simplified message–even little bits and a couple of activities can make a difference. Love the fact that you jumped right in when you only a few days left in the school year. A rare choice!

You articulate a common K issue that also creeps up in special education circles too.  When I first introduced an earlier version of the Streamlined Pathway to K teachers, they took weeks on just 1 or 2 short vowels. Because of that instructional inefficiency, I thought a step-wise visual model, where each step equals about 1 week, would press teachers to work faster.

Invariably, when teachers allow the students to go faster (in those early years) and they have the decoding activities to support them, the students surprise the teachers and make quicker progress.  I’m excited to see what gains you can make next year with the Streamlined Pathway engine to get you over that LEAP.  😉

I also love that you call it a speed it up approach! Yeah.  🙂

[Diane]

I had three students for this challenge. The first one, a 10 yo, had been assessed using the Woodcock Johnson at first grade reading level. When I assessed her she knew her consonants but was confused by short and long vowel combinations.  I agreed to work with her for 6 weeks with the hope of bringing her up 2-3 grade levels. We worked on Switch It, Sort It, nonsense words, and Quickreads fluency. Today she tested at 3rd grade independent reading level and 4th grade instructional on the San Diego plus she is reading 120-130 cwpm on Quickreads Level C. I also identified some visual issues which the parents will follow up with. The second student just completed first grade and when we started he was solid on his consonants and short vowels but hardly knew any vowel combinations. We used Switch It, Sort It, Write It, and Quickreads. He tested this week at the 2nd grade independent level, and 3rd grade instructional level on the San Diego. He was able to read 90-110 cwpm on Quickreads level C. The best part is he is enjoying reading books. I have only  worked with the third student for 2 sessions so far. He was solid on his phonics knowledge, but he was very slow decoding words. He was able to read Quickreads level B at 40-50 cwpm.  We have worked on Switch It, guided reading and Quickreads. The Switch It was a challenge at first but he improved over the two sessions and his fluency increased 20-30 cwpm, but he still needed to read it 3-4 times. I used repeated reading for all of them, especially for Quickreads.

[Marnie]

Wow Diane! Thanks so much for sharing your successes!

This is really quick work! The 10 year-old made a HUGE jump in such a short time span. Is that cwpm on a first time read or after practice?

And such great news about the student who now already enjoys reading. Priceless.

And for your final student, it’s good to hear that Switch It was hard but he’s better now. That’s a sign that there was a break-down there so he should find reading easier soon.  As for the re-reading, I’ve had some students with dyslexia take over 5 times to read a passage before they mastered it.

Again, great work. True Successes!