Reading Initiative

Literacy Lift Off reading initiative with 1st, 2nd & 3rd Class,
Sept-Oct 2012

We have found this programme to be very successful and beneficial to pupils of all reading abilities in the Junior and Middle Classes. We believe that Early Intervention is the key to successful reading and writing.

“Literacy Lift-Off”, also known as “Power-Hour” or “Guided Reading”, is an intensive programme of reading and writing, which gives the pupils a lot of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency. It gradually lifts the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing by equipping them with the necessary problem-solving skills. Pupils on the programme would typically be expected to progress at the rate of one level per week. The aim of Literacy Lift-Off is to make pupils constructive learners. It teaches them ‘how’ to problem-solve independently.

It is implemented in blocks of 6/8weeks in the Junior and Middle classes in Primary School. Diverse activities are essential for extending literacy processing power. Hence, the pupils work in ‘stations’ to carry out a number of activities in reading and writing, under the guidance of teachers, Special Needs Assistants and parents. The programme uses specially graded “PM+” readers. Pupils are assessed and grouped according to their reading ability prior to the commencement of the programme.

Station 1:

Familiar Reading
Pupils read previously seen PM+ Readers.
Purpose: Development of enjoyment, fluency, comprehension and speed.

Station 2:

Word Work
They use magnetic letters on the whiteboard to make and break words.
Purpose: To show children how words work, so that they can make a fast visual analysis of their reading.

Station 3:

Writing
Pupils write sentences based on their own experiences, using words that they encounter in their readers.
Purpose: That they will learn how they can write their own messages by hearing and recording sounds in words, using analogy and learning unusual words.

Station 4:

New Reading
Encountering new texts each day challenges the pupils to discover new ways to go beyond their current operating ability and lift their literacy processing.
Purpose: Pupils learn to use strategic activities to read new texts.

Station 5:

Listening
At this station, the pupils listen to a variety of stories.
Purpose: To develop their listening abilities and imaginative use of words.

Station 6:

Stile Trays
The Stile Tray is the key to the self-checking activities of the programme. Pupils answer the questions by simply placing each of the eight/twelve numbered tiles on the appropriate square on the base of the tray. When all the tiles have been placed, they close the tray, turn it over, and reopen it to reveal a geometric pattern.
Purpose: To self correct comprehension exercises. If the answers are all correct, the pattern will match the one printed at the top of the exercise.

Station 7:

Comprehension
Eight key comprehension strategies are identified, namely, prediction, visualisation, making connections, questioning, clarifying, determining importance, inferring and synthesising. Each strategy is explicitly modelled through a think aloud process using high quality fiction and non-fiction picture books. Children’s understanding of each individual strategy is supported by Comprehension Process Motions which are hand movements that help to concretise abstract unseen cognitive processes thus reinforcing the learning through a kinaesthetic pathway.
Purpose: to teach comprehsion strategy skills.