04/12/23 EASTCONN/Drasch

The Joy of Reading

Windham Middle SchoolFifth Grade Students working withWindham Head Start Preschoolers

Intended Preschool Outcomes

Head Start children will have increased skills on learning outcomes related to literacy

Families and students/children will value the public library as an important resource

Children/students will have their culture and primary language reinforced as being valued and part of their reading experiences

Children and families will view reading as fun

Why Reading Aloud is Important The single most important activity for building skills

required for successful reading is reading aloud to children.

Reading aloud enriches a child’s background knowledge, develops a child’s vocabulary and comprehension, and increases a child’s interest to read and write.

Reading aloud to children provides opportunities for listening, interpreting, and discussing text relationships.

Reading aloud increases word recognition and fluency. It also influences word knowledge, reading speed, oral accuracy, and comprehension.

Reading aloud creates a mental dictionary for the child and an opportunity to learn many words that are not routinely spoken.

ELLM Orientation Material

“Reading aloud and talking about what we’re reading sharpens children’s brains. It helps develop their ability to concentrate at length, to solve problems logically, and to express themselves more easily and clearly.” - Mem Fox; Reading Magic

Head Start Child Outcomes Framework

Listening and Understanding For non-English-speaking children, progresses in listening to and

understanding English

Speaking and Communicating Uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken language

Phonological Awareness Associates sounds with written words

Book Knowledge and Appreciation Shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as

asking to have a favorite book read; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; going to the library

Progresses in learning how to handle and care for books; knowing to view one page at a time in sequence from front to back; and understanding that a book has a title, author and illustrator

Print Awareness and Concepts Recognizes a word as a unit of print

Speaking and Communicating

Uses an increasingly

complex and varied

spoken language

Phonological Awareness

Associates sounds with written words

Book Knowledge and Appreciation

Shows growing interest and

involvement in listening to

and discussing stories

and…

Demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books

Print Awareness and ConceptsDemonstrates increasing

awareness of concepts of print, such as that

reading English moves from top

to bottom and left to right, that

speech can be written down,

and that print conveys a

message

Shows progress in recognizing the association between spoken and written words by following print as it is read aloud

Okay, so the program is connected to the learning outcomes for Head Start children, but how does reading picture books during class time benefit the 5th grade students ?

Intended Fifth Grade Outcomes

Intervention reading students will increase their confidence in reading aloud and their reading fluency

Participating students will increase their reading scores on the CT Mastery Tests and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)

Students will increase their positive self-concept and social competence by viewing themselves as positive role models and by making a contribution to their community

55 % of the fifth grade students participatingin this program are intervention readers currently reading at the first or second grade level.

Typically, these students also have self-esteem issues and do not feel important, needed, or valued by their school or extended community.

Developmental Reading Assessment Insights

85% of everything children read should be easy for them

15% should be a bit of a challenge

0% at the difficult level because it provides no purpose for learning

Preparing the 5th Grade Students Classroom workshop facilitated by EASTCONN with

teambuilding activities that focus on respect, responsibility, perspective and attitude

Classroom workshop facilitated by the town’s children's librarian covering book selection, reading aloud and how to extend a story

Classroom workshop facilitated by EASTCONN to explain the preschool goals and objectives, share teaching strategies and model a reading activity

Classroom teachers model the whole procedure from choosing a book to reading to preschooler. In small groups, students fill out story activity form and practice reading aloud to one another.

Developmental Reading Assessment Characteristics of a Successful Reader

Selects appropriate books

Sustains reading

Previews & predicts

Engages in fluent & expressive reading

Uses a variety of strategies

Reads for meaning

Reads within a literacy community

Story Reading and Activity Checklist for 5th Grade Students

Questions asking why, how, what if …, what happened when …, what do you think will happen …:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wrap up questions that have the preschoolers thinking and connecting to their own experiences:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Extended activities:Examples:•Ask preschoolers to draw a picture of their favorite part of the story or their favorite character.•Have the preschoolers re-tell the story using the book and it’s pictures as a guide. •Have preschoolers tell a story using puppets (try to have them use some of the vocabulary from the story)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Story Reading and Activity Checklist Title of Book: ________________________________ 

Author’s name: _______________________________ 

Illustrator’s name: ____________________________ 

Main ideas: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Main characters:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

List of vocabulary words/unfamiliar topics from the story:

Word Meaning___________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ________________________________

5th Grade Teacher FeedbackStudent Motivation and Empowerment Now, whenever there is an unscheduled period, students beg to use the time to practice reading their books aloud to one another and to work on creating extended activities.

Student Ownership and Commitment Students are asking to read aloud to their class and fill out of the Student Activity Form. Classmates are contributing by making positive, productive comments and discussing how much they like the book selected, often asking if they can use it next.

Student Responsibility and Appreciation A student made this comment to his teacher after his first interaction with the preschoolers; “It was fun. The preschoolers made me feel good, but they are very active and it is hard to keep their attention. Being a teacher is hard work! I’m exhausted!”

Parents and Community Connections

Visits to the town library by Head Start students and their 5th grade buddies

Workshops for parents that better prepare them to share and read books and stories with their children

A culminating celebratory event held in the children’s section of the town library