Boost Support

The goal of Boost is to make sure that we are always supporting our struggling readers in the best way possible in order to help them to grow and develop into fluent readers with comprehension. When considering the best intervention for a struggling reader, we want to keep in mind the big five areas that lead to skilled reading: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. If any of these five are lagging behind, a learner will not have skilled reading with comprehension. Those who are most intensive will again receive support from our reading specialists. The reading specialist will work on the lowest deficit skill for each of these learners using a myriad of available intervention materials that best meet unique learner needs. The Reading Specialist may also administer additional diagnostic assessments in order to ensure that the intervention is addressing the area of greatest need.. Reading Specialists will do DIBELS Progress Monitoring on a bi-weekly basis with these learners. Learners receiving classroom support form our reading assistants will also receive targeted instruction on the lowest deficit skill. Progress monitoring will occur on a monthly basis for these learners and be completed by the assistant or reading specialist.

In grades K-2, many of our learners need support in the areas of phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency. In addition, we are always trying to strengthen their vocabulary acquisition and development as well as their comprehension skills. We also want to introduce them to comprehension strategies to help them become independent readers who apply fix-up strategies and understand what they read! However, reading intervention should focus on the lowest deficit skill. Thus, the majority of Boost instruction in grades K-2 will focus on strengthening the phonological, phonics, and fluency skills of our young readers. Reading assistants who support our struggling readers in grades K-2 will be looking at how to best support learners based on their IRLA color levels. The majority of their instruction will focus on strengthening phonological and phonemic awareness skills, reinforcing the alphabetic principle (letter names and sounds), and working on deficit skills at each color level using the Foundational Skills’ Toolkits. This may be a double dose of instruction if you are using the foundational skills’ toolkits in your instruction. This is perfectly okay as they will be able to reinforce the instruction you have provided and perhaps preview a lesson that you may be using on a subsequent day.

In grades 3 and 4, a shift occurs for learners that have strong phonological awareness and phonics skills. The majority of deficits in grades 3 and 4 have to do with fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. However, for any reader that is not yet reading at the white level by the beginning of grade 3, there may be underlying phonological or phonics deficits. These deficits often impact a child’s fluency and comprehension of text and must be “cleaned up” in order for a child to experience reading success. Thus, the first intervention that will be used to support our 1R/2R or below readers who work with the reading assistants in the classroom will be the Foundational Skills’ Toolkits. These kits will allow the assistant to focus on the underlying phonics skills that may be holding a child back from progressing into the white level. The 1R and 2R toolkit lessons (and those below this level) consist of explicit instruction in deficit areas that then allow for these skills to be practiced in connected texts. This also allows for comprehension and vocabulary work to be done as well; but the major focus is on addressing the phonics’ deficits that may need attention.

For those reading white or above in grades 3 and 4, who are still struggling to reach grade level expectations, the major focus will be on strengthening fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Read Live will be the primary intervention used to help meet this goal if the learner is reading at white or above.

Below, you will find information for supporting learners at each color level with intervention.

Reading assistants may also conference with learners or assist them with writing. But, the majority of their time with you should be spent on addressing lowest deficit skills. The majority of time, this will be done using toolkits and Read Live or games/activities adressing specific skill deficits.

If children are at RTM, they need exposure to the vocabulary and text patterns in books. Building their expressive and receptive vocabulary will be key. You can accomplish this best with short read-alouds and pointing out vocabulary that may be new to them and encouraging them to use these new words themselves! In addition, children who are RTM will need work on the alphabetic principle which means learning their letter names and sounds associated with them Simultaneously, they will also need to have phonological or phonemic awareness support. This includes short amounts of time-2-3 minutes a session on working on the continuum with skills such as: words in a sentence, syllables, rhyming, alliteration, onset/rime, isolating sounds, identifying sounds, categorizing sounds, blending sounds, segmenting sounds, deleting, adding, and substituting sounds (all done without the print).

Learners who are at the 1Y and 2Y level, also need exposure to read-alouds, building that receptive and expressive vocabulary, and the opportunity to pick up patterns in the books they read with one-to-one finger correspondence. In addition, children who are at the 1Y and 2Y level, will need to work on the alphabetic principle which means learning their letter names and sounds associated with them. Simultaneously, they will also need to have phonological or phonemic awareness support. This includes short amounts of time-2-3 minutes a session on working on the continuum with skills such as: words in a sentence, syllables, rhyming, alliteration, onset/rime, isolating sounds, identifying sounds, categorizing sounds, blending sounds, segmenting sounds, deleting, adding, and substituting sounds (all done without the print). The goal to move them into 3Y is to have them understand that the words they are reading on the page have sounds associated with them and that they can use these sounds as they are pointing to make logical connections.

Once a child moves to the 3Y level, moving to 1G and 2G is all about Power Words! In 1G and 2G, these learners will need lots of repetition with power words (high frequency words) in order to progress to 1B and 2B. Games and activities to help them learn these power words will be an intervention focus of the reading assistant. In addition, Foundational Skills’ Toolkits will also be utilized at this level to introduce and strengthen initial blends and digraphs so that the learner is ready for moving into 1B. One of the key components of helping the reader at this level experience success is having him/her use what they have been learning with practice in connected texts. The Foundational Skills’ Toolkits provide this needed practice with connected texts.

1B and 2B are levels that focus on phonics’ skills and using words you know to figure out new words. Learners are introduced to one syllable word families, r controlled vowels, and both short and long vowels in 1B. In 2B, learners receive instruction on figuring out two-syllable words that are built from basic chunks, reading compound words correctly, reading words with endings, and applying fix-up strategies to words that do not look right or make sense. Foundational Skills’ Toolkits will involve lessons on each of these skills at both 1B and 2B and allow readers to practice these skills in appropriately leveled texts. In addition, the Toolkits will also focus on strengthening important comprehension strategies like comprehension retelling and main idea at these levels.

Learners at the 1R and 2R levels will focus on reading multisyllabic words and on identifying irregularly spelled words. At 1R, they will use three letter blends, inflectional endings, all vowel combinations and additional 2 and 3 syllable word chunks to help them decode unfamiliar words. They also utilize fix-up strategies and read comfortably with expression, using punctuation. At 2R, readers use both prefixes and suffixes to figure out words and figure out three and four syllable words, including names in texts they read. Fluent reading is a focus as well at the 2R level with self-correcting. Learners also move into visualizing in books that do not have illustrations and the goal is to introduce them to a favorite book series where they read all of the books in that series. Foundational Skills’ Toolkits will be utilized for 1R and 2R readers the majority of time. Read Live may also be woven into Boost intervention for those at the 2R level.

There is a shift of focus that occurs with learners who are now reading at the white level. Vocabulary and Language Acquisition become increasingly important as well as the focus on establishing a wide range of reading. The following are identified as critical areas for support with Vocabulary and Language Acquisition:

• Context Clues: notice new words or phrases and use context clues to hypothesize meaning.

• Distinguish shades of meaning among related words (e.g., knew, believed, suspected).

• Word Parts: notice and use prefixes, suffixes, and roots as clues to the meanings of unknown words.

• Figurative Language: distinguish between literal and nonliteral language.

For developing a wide range of reading, the following are focus areas at the white level:

• Finish a chapter book every week.

• Read something you like from each of these genres: • Informational text (science, history/social studies) • Fiction stories (realistic fiction, mystery, humor) • Traditional tales (fables, folktales, myths) • Poetry and drama

Reading assistants will use both Read Live and Foundational Skills’ Toolkits to support learners at these levels.

Readers at the Black or Above Level would not qualify for Boost support. There are many suggestions within School Pace on how to best support these readers as they grow and develop into skilled readers with fluency and comprehension!