Some teachers at Talmey were noticing the following about their learners:

  • Many grade ones need review of letters and letter sounds and these students are expressing concerns about reading “I can’t read”​

  • Challenging for grade ones and some grade twos to blend CVC words​

  • High ELL population need lots more repetition​

  • Using lots of visuals​

  • Vowel sounds challenging​

  • Students enjoy looking at books ​

  • Starting to notice print in books more, but mostly single letters ​

  • Using picture cues to read​

  • Students who are reading are very proud and excited to read

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How did this inquiry make a difference for learners?

  • Provided more ways for students to experience literacy (visual, auditory, kinesthetic etc.)​

  • Expanded our knowledge of letter/sound progression and helped us to create a road map to guide our teaching to make sure students are being taught the 44 phonemes and have many opportunities to practice reading and manipulating them.​

  • Provided more opportunities for playing with language at all grade levels.​

  • Emphasized the importance of tracking students throughout the year to target specific areas of learning.​

  • Guided reading and literacy centres became favorite activities where everyone was successful due to the variety of activities and multiple entry points provided.

Students are saying:

  • Students are proud of themselves because they see themselves as readers (When a teacher misses guided reading, students will say “No, we don’t want to miss it” or ” Can we do this again tomorrow”)​

  • Before it was ”No I don’t want to read” now it is “Can I read more?” for some students ​

  • Some students are now writing books and trying to sound out ​

  • Some students are noticing that they are not progressing at the same pace and can become upset​

  • Students are really enjoying reading and requesting time to read

What next steps will be taken?

  • Continue focusing on guided reading and literacy centres at all grades with a variety of entry points and activities.​

  • Explore non-fiction within our guided reading and incorporating more non-fiction along with specific word attack, vocabulary and comprehension strategies.​

  • Explore writing development and how best to encourage, develop, and support writing in our learners.​

  • Re-assess intervention resources, timing and strategies