Springdale principals prepare for new elementary reading program

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Colby Pianalto, 9, a third-grader at Shaw Elementary School in Springdale, writes in his journal Thursday after a lesson about a book he and other students are reading. Students are participating in a new curriculum designed around a reading workshop, where a teacher gives a short lesson, releases students to work and then ends with a short wrap up.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Colby Pianalto, 9, a third-grader at Shaw Elementary School in Springdale, writes in his journal Thursday after a lesson about a book he and other students are reading. Students are participating in a new curriculum designed around a reading workshop, where a teacher gives a short lesson, releases students to work and then ends with a short wrap up.

SPRINGDALE -- Reading lessons will have more consistency among elementary schools and will include more time for children to practice after a new curriculum starts in the fall.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Amanda Tracy, a third-grade teacher at Shaw Elementary School in Springdale, leads a discussion Thursday with her students before assigning a short writing project. Students are participating in a new curriculum designed around a reading workshop, where a teacher gives a short lesson, releases students to work and then ends with a short wrap up.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Taylor Haskins, 8, a third-grader at Shaw Elementary School in Springdale, writes in her journal Thursday after a lesson about a book she and other students are reading. Students are participating in a new curriculum designed around a reading workshop, where a teacher gives a short lesson, releases students to work and then ends with a short wrap up.

The new Units of Study for Teaching Reading is designed around a daily readers workshop.

Units of study for teaching reading

• Newly adopted reading curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade in the Springdale School District.

• A grade-by-grade program.

• Author is Lucy Calkins and colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. Calkins is the founding director.

• Calkins is the Robinson professor of children’s literature at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York.

• On the web, visit heinemann.com/units… and readingandwritingpr….

Source: Staff report

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The workshop begins with a teacher calling children to sit together on the classroom rug for a short lesson on a specific skill, said Charlene Hornor, an instructional facilitator for literacy at Sonora Middle School who is leading training on the new curriculum.

Children practice the new skill together before their teacher releases them for a long block of time to read, Hornor said. The workshop ends with a short session of sharing and talking about next steps for reading.

The reading curriculum puts a priority on children having long blocks of time for reading, students reading lots of books and receiving instruction on specific skills, Hornor said.

The goal is to improve students' performance in reading, said Kathy Morledge, assistant superintendent over elementary education.

"Kids seldom have long periods of time to read," Morledge said. "We're building the reading stamina of kids. Kids who spend longer periods of time reading are generally better readers."

Elementary principals, assistant principals and instructional specialists from the Springdale School District spent several days last week learning about the Units of Study for Teaching Reading that the district has adopted. Shaw and Sonora elementary schools began piloting the new lessons this month.

Teachers will train on the new curriculum this spring and will try out the new lessons in May, Morledge said. The new curriculum is based on decades of research by Lucy Calkins, founding director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University, and her colleagues. Springdale teachers will continue training this summer in preparation for implementation in the 2017-18 school year.

Children spend about half their day on literacy, with instruction divided into reading, writing, language and studying words, but the children do not have long periods of time reading books, Morledge said.

Elementary teachers now follow district-developed reading curriculum to meet state standards for what children should know and do for literacy, Morledge said. District officials weren't satisfied with the way children were learning to read and wanted to see more growth, Morledge said.

"We felt like there was something more we could do," Morledge said. "Is there a way we can ratchet up our game?"

District results from the literacy portion of the ACT Aspire -- the statewide standardized test used for the first time last spring -- showed the level of proficiency ranged from 43.4 percent for third-graders to 48.7 percent for fifth-graders.

A task force considered seven programs and, after reviewing research and considering desired elements, selected the Units of Study for Teaching Reading as the top choice for all 18 of the district's elementary schools.

Purchasing the books and classroom material for 10,600 children in kindergarten through fifth grade is expected to cost about $12 per student, or about $127,200, Morledge said.

Elementary teachers are familiar with giving short lessons on specific skills, said Sara Kennedy, who is in her first year supporting classroom teachers as an instructional specialist at Monitor Elementary School. Kennedy previously taught the third and fourth grades.

Kennedy saw the new curriculum for the first time Tuesday. Her initial impression was that it will give teachers more freedom to respond to individual students, encouraging them to walk around the classroom and meet students when they are released to practice reading skills. The program will provide both curriculum and an understanding of what the instruction should look like.

"I love that it takes a student from where they are and gets them where they need to be," Kennedy said. "It allows for a lot of growth. You can meet students where they are."

Teachers at Monitor already are familiar with a writing curriculum using similar teaching methods also developed by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.

Hornor, who was an elementary teacher for 15 years, spent three years working with Sonora Middle School teachers to implement reading and writing workshops that are part of the Units of Study.

"When elementary schools began to hear of our success with the Reading Units of Study, our classrooms became demonstration classrooms for schools to observe workshop teaching," Hornor said.

Leadership teams sat around tables as if they were in reading groups in a classroom during training sessions last week.

At one point Tuesday, Hornor called a group of principals to the "carpet" -- simulated by a group of chairs in the middle of the training room -- to demonstrate and explain the components of the 10-minute lessons teachers will use to begin each day's reading workshop.

Teachers will make connections to previous lessons, name the new skill being taught, provide instruction on the new skill, and allow children to talk and try out what they will be doing for the rest of the workshop, Hornor said. The little lessons also will help children think about how the new skill applies to other situations or different texts.

Westwood Principal Allison Byford said the new curriculum will create a structure for reading consistent from day to day, from one grade level to the next and across elementary schools. Reading instruction now varies with some days for small group reading sessions and other days for independent reading.

"It's less about a script, but getting us all on the same page," said Byford, after spending a few hours with the new curriculum.

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The curriculum preserves the autonomy of teachers, but the lessons will provide a plan for incorporating key reading skills, including independent reading, reading comprehension, practice with letter sounds and work on the pace and accuracy of reading, she said.

With all that teachers want to do with their students each day, it can be difficult to provide extended periods of time for children to read in school, she said.

"We're really going to push and make sure our kids are reading," she said.

NW News on 01/29/2017

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