École Riverdale 22-23
OUR CONTEXT
École Riverdale is a unique school. Here's some of our Ravens to share with you the many reasons why...
OUR LEARNERS
All of our Ravens are readers, writers, and communicators. These are the skills of literacy, which is foundational to further learning and joy in life. At Riverdale we strive to meet each learner where their literacy skills are currently at and support them to continue learning and growing in these areas. We are a dual tract school and we have learners developing literacy skills in both English and French.
The Core Competencies of Communicating, Thinking, and Personal/Social Responsibility are highly connected to literacy. At Riverdale, we foster the development of these core competencies as connected to all curricular areas. Our Ravens enjoy working with one another and learning together. They love to be involved in creative work where they can share ideas, try out new thoughts, and design. Our students are working on developing critical and reflective thinking skills. Our students are good citizens who contribute to the community of Riverdale and beyond in many ways.
Our Ravens use stories in a variety of ways as they learn and develop.
We often picture stories to be imaginative and fictional. However, we each have a story and so does each living and non-living thing on this Earth. Sharing a story is sharing part of who we are and the journey that we are on. Each story is important and valuable, full of learnings and knowledge.
"There is power in story; when we share stories, we build understanding and relationships. We connect with one another on a whole different level." ~Charlene and Wilson Bearhead from Resurgence
Our learners are readers of stories.
Core Competency: I can get new ideas or reinterpret others’ ideas in novel ways.
Our students love to engage in stories whether they are being read to them, they are reading with their friends, or they have found a quiet space and a good book to read on their own. Stories peak interest, build creativity, expand our minds, lead to greater questions and explorations. Stories, both fictional and non-fictional, open the doors to new worlds, ideas, and perspectives.
Our learners are creators of stories.
Core Competency: I communicate confidently, using forms and strategies that show attention to my audience and purpose.
Whether it is an imaginative story about rocket ships and aliens, or a story based on their experiences, such as their mischievous dog, a challenging moment, or their celebration of Ramadan, our students have stories to share. Through the creation of their stories, students will share their ideas, wonderings, and curiosity. They will reveal who they are and what they value, as well as their hopes and dreams. Through their story creation they will find new ways to connect to one another and through the connection learn from one another.
Our learners are story tellers.
Core Competency: I have pride in who I am. I understand that I am a part of larger communities.
From Indigenous cultures we learn the importance of story telling to pass on knowledge and to share identity. Each day through story our students learn more about themselves, but also about those around them. Through story we find belonging in community and celebration of all those in our community. Through story we share who we are, our hopes and dreams, as well as our struggles and triumphs. Through story we can take ownership or who we are and share about ourselves with pride. 
Our students love to learn through story. At Riverdale we are committed to focussing on developing literacy skills in all of our learners. With these skills our learners will continue to develop a joy of reading, the voice needed to share their stories, and understand the value of the stories others share with them. Story is what connects us.
OUR FOCUS
This year, we turned our focus to the reading of stories and the connection to others that reading brings. Reading is part of everyday life. Reading builds greater understanding and empathy for the perspectives of others. Reading builds our passions and dreams. Reading connects us to new places and new people. Reading is powerful.
At Riverdale, we recognize the power of being a reader. Everyday, we provide a variety of opportunities for students to engage with the written word. The written word is found all around us from signs, instructions, recipes, and both fiction and non-fiction books.
This year we focused in on our early readers. Our student learning goals, as connected to the curriculum were:
- Develop phonemic and phonological awareness
- Use phonics to decode words
- Use reading strategies to know if decoding makes sense
Several primary classes participated in this focus. Each teacher selected a cohort of early readers. These readers already recognized most of their letters and letters sounds and were successful with some beginning sight words. In order to target and guide student's success with the above goals the following learning experiences were used:
- Whole class and small group teaching of phonics using specific programs intended to do so.
- Reading groups that met with the teacher and/or LST for targeted instruction.
- Use of decodable books that focus on a sequence of phonemes and decoding skills.
- Literacy centres using games to focus on the same decoding skills as the reading groups and phonic instruction.
OUR NEXT STEPS
Collected evidence of our students's learning demonstrates that our focus on targeted early intervention for phonemic awareness and decoding skills is having a positive impact on our early readers.
Our evidence is based on a short learning sprint that took place from March - May with a cohort of early readers across several primary classes. These teachers worked closely together on both assessment tools used, resources selected and strategies implemented. Our cohort was assessed at the beginning of the sprint and at the end. They were assessed on letter and sound recognition as well as recognition and decoding of CVC words. These words have a short vowel sound with a consonant on either side, such as bat, run, buzz. Here are the results of our pre and post assessments.
Despite the short time frame, there was growth in our readers. Based on teacher reflections and observations, these improvements were also noted:
- Students showed greater ability to differentiate between a letter and a word.
- Students that were muddling letters, such as b/d, were more often not getting muddled.
- Despite greater ability to decode, students continued to struggle with comprehension while reading.
- Students exhibited greater confidence as readers.
- Students were enjoying the books and reading with their group and teacher.
Moving Forward
Our short dive into a purposeful focus on decoding for our early readers has been successful for both students and teachers. The collaboration of staff to create the purposeful learning activities and focus was valuable and forged a cohesive and enthusiastic team. As the work progressed so did the wonderings about moving forward and ways to build upon and improve the work we started this year.
At Riverdale we will continue to focus on our early readers and ways to develop decoding skills. Teachers are committed to starting this targeted work early in the year to see greater growth and success throughout the year.
As this group of teachers worked on this project, other teachers took on other inquiries. When everyone came together at the end of May to share all of the learning that had taken place, curiosity was peaked in a variety of ways. Our teachers are committed to the developing of readers and we are excited to see where the passion takes us. As we move forward we will be looking for ways to expand our literacy focus to include an exploration of ways to develop a joy of reading, as well as targeted instruction for readers struggling in the Intermediate grades. Our work will begin with the formation of a literacy committee to help harness the passion and guide the direction. We are looking forward to continue developing lifelong readers who love the worlds they can travel to in a good book.
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
