Teaching Reading At Walden School

In order for our students to become successful adults, they must first be successful children.

History

In 2003, Walden School teamed with The Langsford Center and independent reading consultant Sammie Brian to craft an early reading program which combines our many years of experience with the latest research and findings of The National Institute for Literacy. Although students are “reading” at an earlier age nationwide, more and more they are struggling in later grades to comprehend meaning and extract main ideas from text. It is our belief that during a child’s kindergarten through second grade years lay the critical foundation for effective reading comprehension and mastery of written expression and communication in later grades and beyond.

Walden’s Lower School is committed to provide an early reading curriculum rich in practice of the fundamentals and attention to all the steps in the reading process.

Reading vs. Decoding

While many students are cycling though the elementary grades “reading” at an advanced level, many schools mistake a child’s ability to decode –oral interpretation of word sequences in a sentence- with effective reading. While decoding is an essential skill in the process of reading, it is only one of many elements required to ensure successful reading comprehension and mastery. When a child’s ability to decode is mistaken for mastery in reading, essential skills such as extracting main ideas, processing vocabulary and understanding the basic elements of plot, character and setting are not enforced. As a result of this incomplete approach, we are finding that, nationally, many of our students and young adults struggle with reading comprehension and written expression.

Walden’s Approach

Though many students enter kindergarten with the ability to identify words based on recognition of the letter arrangement –or sight words- it is essential that students are able to recognize both the written and sound patterns that letters form when they are used together to create a word. Like an auto mechanic with an engine, a good reader has the ability to dissect a word and work with and recognize its parts. The reading process is a multi-tiered and sequential process. We take great strides to make sure that children are challenged to progress though each stage with mastery.

1. Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Phonemic awareness is the primary level in a strong reading foundation and takes place through listening rather than reading. From birth, children learn to speak based on the many sounds, or phonemes, they hear within each spoken word. Through, songs, rhymes, and having books read to them, students learn to hear and break down each individual sound within a word in order to recognize the basic structure and assign meaning. Through hands-on lessons, word games and review, Walden takes great care to assure that phonemic awareness is mastered in order to ensure that students to progress.

2. Phonics Instruction

While phonemic awareness occurs at the spoken level, the ability to recognize syllables and how they can be interchanged to create words introduces reading and decoding into the lesson. Students are taught to manipulate words through substitution and deletion of the syllables within a word. It is at this level where students “learn” words not just by the way they look but by developing the skills necessary to comprehend and “play” with them in a text. Decoding and reading are differentiated at this level. Students must be proficient in working with words before they can begin to read for meaning.

3. Fluency

Involves a student’s ability to read at a level and pace where comprehension occurs naturally. A student’s reading out loud with a flat and monotone delivery is a red flag and indicates that he may be able to read the words but might not be fluent in what he’s read. Teens and adults who struggle with comprehension and written expression often have yet to master fluency. A child who can decode text above grade level with a low rate of fluency will not build comprehension skills at the same rate as a child reading at a level where fluency comes easily.

4. Vocabulary

A child’s ability to make sense of new and challenging words through context clues, word structure and critical thought is the byproduct of fluent reading. Students who comprehend the words they read will be able to assign meaning to unfamiliar words and concepts. Through morning messages, word wall words, spelling/vocabulary texts, and guided reading, our students are taught not only new vocabulary words but how to extract meaning independently.

5. Terminology

In order for a student to work with and articulate the ideas they extract from their reading, a working knowledge of the terminology behind it all is essential. From kindergarten on, students are introduced to concepts such as plot, character and setting, as well as recognition of conflict and resolution. The process by which comprehension and terminology translate to written expression is enforced from the first grade.