As schools across the state begin working to meet the standards outlined in the Alaska Reading Code, last week one school on the central Kenai Peninsula gave a behind-the-scenes look at how students learn to read in the classroom.
First graders at Mountain View Elementary demonstrated three different ways to learn to read in school at last Monday’s meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. Principal Karl Kircher, who submitted the annual school report to the board, said the Alaska Reed Act was “first in the minds” of the Mountain View school community.
The Alaska Reading Act, signed into law by Gov. Mike Dunleavy earlier this year, created four new state education programs aimed at helping Alaskan students read at grade level by the third grade. These programs, along with existing state literacy initiatives, are incorporated into Alaska’s Strategic Reading Plan, which was released in late August.
Kircher told board members that implementing the Alaska Reads Act in Mountain View classrooms provides resources and suggestions for professional development, evidence-based materials, early literacy, a framework for success, and science. He said it would be done through multiple avenues identified in its plans to do so. of reading resources and teacher preparation.
As part of Monday’s presentation, students in Kristin Perkins’ class demonstrated Hegerty’s phoneme recognition techniques. This involved manually “roller coasting” through words to identify middle sounds and breaking words into syllables. Barbara Ralston students read aloud “decipherable” books written to the phonics they have already learned.
Teacher Callie Giordano demonstrated “word-making” originating from the University of Florida’s Literacy Institute. The students followed while Giordano made sounds with his fingers, such as the word “block.”
“Blo-ck,” Giordano chanted, slamming his fingers against his thumbs on each note.
After Giordano and the children “tapped” with their fingers, the students bent over laminated manila folders and moved sound fragments to recreate the words.
Classroom instruction is just one of the ways Mountain View is working to improve student literacy, Kircher said.
In response to the professional development of the Alaska Strategic Reading Plan, Kircher said Mountain View staff are prioritizing Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS), a program offered at the state and district levels. said.
These programs are aimed at supporting teachers with skills specific to teaching reading, such as phonological awareness, fluency and comprehension. Kircher said Monday that 10 of his Mountain View staff members are participating in his LETRS training at pre-kindergarten, early literacy, interventionist, and administrative levels.
Curriculum Coordinator Melissa Linton and Primary Education Director Eric Pederson provided a roadmap for implementing initiatives aimed at increasing student literacy in a literacy presentation to the KPBSD Board of Education last month. Did.
KPBSD representatives, including Superintendent Clayton Holland, attended the Alaska Science of Reading Symposium earlier this year.
In his presentation, Pederson said he and KPBSD Federal Program Coordinator Jessica Scogin met with KPBSD staff who attended the symposium and found ways to help improve literacy in the district.
“We got three results,” says Pederson. “One is that we need to do more to support phonics in schools. We need to improve our plans for providing LETRS to administrators and teachers. It was the knowledge necessary for
The district purchased Heggerty videos for teachers and offered 80 spots to teachers and administrators for LETRS training, he said. The district also now has an effective literacy team tasked with defining a literacy “mission and vision” within the district.
At last month’s literacy presentation, Linton described LETRS to the board as a back-to-basics “sweat of the head” when it comes to reading.
“Teachers are engaged in two years of very rich and intensive literacy instruction to better understand the brain research behind it, how to read[and]what constitutes effective literacy instruction,” says Lynton. mentioned at LETRS last month. “It’s not programmatic. It’s a really deep dive into pedagogy and what it takes to teach students how to read.”
Linton and Pederson said the district will incorporate the Effective Literacy Team’s recommendations to strengthen KPBSD’s English language education curriculum.
Please contact reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
At a school board meeting in Soldotna, Alaska on Monday, December 5, 2022, Mountain View Elementary School teacher Curry Giordano used practices from the University of Florida Literacy Institute to “make words” with students. is being demonstrated. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kristin Perkins, a teacher at Mountain View Elementary School, uses Hegarty’s practice to demonstrate “phonemic awareness” to students at a school board meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, Monday, December 5, 2022. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
