First Grade Title I Literacy

The purpose of Title I literacy is to offer additional reading and written language instruction. The classroom teacher provides literacy instruction and the Title I staff supplements the classroom instruction. The goal of instruction is teaching students to develop and use reading strategies. The primary focus when a child is reading is to construct meaning while using problem solving strategies to figure out new words.

Leveled books

Magnetic letters

Cut-up sentence

Reading strategies

Homework

Parent links

FAQ

 
Meet the Staff

FAQ What is Title I? This program provides financial assistance to schools to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards. Improving the reading skills of children is a top priority.   What is the Title I literacy program like at Dike-Newell? Students are tested at the beginning of school year with the Development Reading Assessment. (DRA) If the child scores below the standard (level 2) for September in first grade; the classroom teacher will refer that student to Title I.   How often does a child receive additional support? Most students receive daily 30 minutes lessons 4 to 5 times a week.   Who makes up the first grade Title I staff at Dike-Newell?   Mrs. Powers is a reading teacher. Mrs. Hudson, Mrs. Beal and Mrs. Eckert are educational technicians.   Why is my child taken out of the classroom? Most students are taken out of the room to a quieter less distracting environment.   It appears that my child is just memorizing these books. How is this good practice? In the beginning of the year, students read leveled books 1-3. These books are patterned text. They are highly predictable. When children read these books they feel like they are readers from the very start. Students reading at these levels are working on making voice to print match. Which means, saying one word and pointing to the word on the page. The pictures in these levels support the words. We encourage the students to look at the pictures. We celebrate approximations.

 

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Cut-up sentence The 30 minute lesson includes a time for students to write a short story. The teacher then records the story on a strip on paper. The strip is cut up into phrases and words. The student then puts their sentence back together. The cut-up sentence is  put in an envelope with the complete story written on the front of the envelope. The envelope is  sent home and  the student will put their sentence back together with adult guidance.

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Leveled books The students in the Title I literacy program read leveled books. These books range from levels 1-16. Levels 1-3 have simple text with a highly predictable pattern and pictures which support the text. As students advance through the levels, the books get progressively more challenging. It is the responsibility of the Title I staff to choose the appropriate level for your child. We do not want to choose a book which is too easy or too difficult. We choose the level which your child can read with support from the staff. Your child should know most of the words at this level; however, there should be new words for your child to learn. The level is marked on the back of each book. We do not tell the students this information. This is just for the staff and parents to keep track of progress.

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Reading Strategies During your child's Title I lessons the staff is teaching your child to use multiple strategies to figure out new words. These are the strategies we  will teach your child: Does that word make sense? This is the first strategy we teach your child. We are constantly asking them, "Does that make sense?" When your child is reading they will have to learn to monitor their reading for meaning. They need to make sure the words they are reading are making sense. Picture clues Most beginning reading books provide pictures to support the text. We teach the children to look at the picture for clues to a new word. Phonics Phonics is the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. During the Title I lesson students build phonics skills by isolating sounds and recording the symbol that represents the sound.We do this through writing. We also build phonics skills by making words with magnetic letters. We do teach your child to use the letter sounds to figure out a new word, however, this strategy does not work for all words. Does that sound right? Our English language has a sentence structure students are familiar with by way of listening and speaking. We teach them to be  thinking as they read; does this sound right? Skip the word and read on This strategy is a little more advanced. When a student reaches levels 7 & 8 we usually introduce this strategy. We tell the student when they come to a new word it is sometimes helpful to read on to get more information about that word. This usually gives more meaning to the sentence and students can take what they know about letters and sounds and this additional information to figure out a new word.

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Using Magnetic Letters to Make Words Students use magnet letters to make words. When students are making words they are learning about how letters and words work.  The focused attention is on letter-sound relationships. This activity only takes about five minutes. The students are given 5 to 6 letters and are ask to form words they can easily make when they know the letter sounds and blend them together. They work on checking the word by sounding out the word. This is a skill that has to be developed and using the magnetic letters to practice is quick and fun for the students.

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