Students First Page 9 Developing a lasting love for reading is at the heart of Greenwood’s Curriculum. Reading is essential for success. It’s benefits include knowledge acquisition, vocabulary expansion, stress reduction, and improved writing skills, memory, focus and concentration to name a few. The development of literacy skills leads to a love for reading and is a gift that lasts a lifetime. Using the Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention System (LLI), Greenwood students in kindergarten through fourth grade who are reading below grade level expectations receive intensive support to achieve grade-level competencies and develop a love and appreciation of reading. The LLI system is a short-term intervention, providing daily, intensive, small group instruction, as a supplement to a strong classroom literacy program. Lead by Greenwood’s Intervention Lead Teacher, a team of four certified teachers received intensive specialized training in the implementation of LLI. The interventionists in collaboration with classroom teachers utilize data generated from a variety of literacy assessments to identify and level students for instruction. Based on their strengths and challenges, students are placed in groups of 3 or 4 and matched with an interventionists. Groups meet each day for a minimum of 30 minutes. Throughout the course of a week, lessons include interactive read alouds, reading mini lessons, shared reading, phonics, spelling, word study, and independent reading. A wide variety of engaging, carefully written books designed to engage students reading below grade-level are at the center of each lesson. Essential to a strong literacy program is a system of regular assessment and data analysis to inform instruction. Daily anecdotal notes and biweekly reading records are taken for each student as well as periodic administrations of the Developmental Reading Assessment to discern literacy level and monitor progress. Interventionists and classroom teachers meet regularly to confer and align classroom and LLI instruction. Currently, thirty-eight students are served with LLI at Greenwood.
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