
Most of us grew up with traditional reading instruction in which a lot of the teaching methodology, whether phonics-based or whole-language, included taking turns reading popcorn style, choral or round robin. If you were like me, you would follow the pattern and count ahead to know which section you were going to read out loud so you could quickly preview and prepare for your turn. Or, you flipped to the last page to find the questions at the end and filled them in.
WHPS Approach - Systematic, Rooted in Research
Our literac
y curriculum is rooted in a more systematic and purposeful use of instructional time. In kindergarten, this begins with learning about reading super powers students can grow as they learn to read everything around them, make new words out of smaller words, and even team up with a partner to figure out tricky words. The sophistication ramps up as we explore not just trickier words but increasingly complex issues. You can learn more about our instructional approach on the WHPS YouTube channel.
Reading & Writing Assessments
We are excitedly preparing for our next round of Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) coming up in February. This is one of the times when teachers are able to share information from the Formative Assessments we use to guide instructional decisions and individual goals for your child. While the following resources are primarily for teachers, I wanted to pull back the curtain on a few of the special tools we use to identify individual goals for children and monitor progress.
- Conferring Menu - Remember that this program focuses on systematically helping children grow. This is one of the tools teachers use to identify individual and small group goals and teaching points for children based on their reading level.
- Text Features by Level - You can get a sense of the characteristics of books at each reading level.
- Writing Continua - We don't stop just because a student meets grade level expectation, and these continua (narrative, opinion & information writing) help ensure students are meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations.
While these are primarily intended as teacher resources, I think parents may find the behind-the-scenes information interesting and fun to try at home (if you would like). Your child's teacher may refer to these tools during your child's Student-Led Conference.