Students First Page 7 Smarty Ants, Achieve 3000 change instructional time at Timrod Elementary Students in kindergarten through second grades at Timrod Elementary engage in an instructional website during blended learning called Smarty Ants. It is an effective and research-driven solution to differentiate instruction in foundational reading skills and accelerates student achievement. Smarty Ants provides students with activities that are engaging and interactive. The students are given the opportunity to choose their activity, while the program selects the skill level. The program continuously evaluates each student’s exact skill level, learning temperament, and learning pace. Based on this information, the adaptive content system automatically delivers the right level of skill instruction and practice to keep learners in the zone of proximal development. No two students will approach the content or process in the same manner. Teachers track and monitor student progress through lessons and growth toward fluency and comprehension. Students learn more than surface-level phonemic awareness and phonics. Students dive deep and master these foundational reading skills through Smarty Ant’s complete scope and sequence. Smarty Ants transforms emergent readers into independent readers. “It is astonishing to see our students actively engaged with this program during ELA instruction,” said Timrod Principal Michelle McBride. Achieve3000 is utilized in grades third – sixth during ELA blended learning instruction. This program provides differentiated instruction solutions to students for nonfiction reading and writing. It provides solutions in the areas of English Language Arts, literacy in the content area, intervention, ELL, blended learning, and foundational literacy. Achieve3000 students made significant and substantive gains in vocabulary, reading comprehension, and total reading skills, according to a 2014-15 study conducted by an independent evaluation firm. Achieve3000 differentiated instruction provides engaging, nonfiction content that supports core curriculum, Response to Intervention, English language learning, special education, workforce readiness, and other instructional models. Achieve3000 is often used during ELA/literacy stations in Timrod’s blended learning program. Achieve3000 uses precisely matched text using a student’s Lexile score and the auto-adjust feature. Achieve3000 ensures that all students will be able to access curriculum and engage in the daily lesson without exceptions. Recently, Ms. Strickland’s fourth grade class won the Achieve3000 2018 Read to Succeed Contest! Ms. Strickland was awarded a gift card to use for a class celebration. “These two programs have changed the culture of our instructional practice at Timrod,” Principal McBride said.
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