Old Yale Road Elementary 24-25

Literacy-Based Learning Plan: Grade One Cohort Intervention and Monitoring Strategy

Rationale

At Old Yale Road, we are committed not only to developing a love of reading for enjoyment in our students, but also to ensuring that students have the skills to critically analyze the wide range of information they encounter in today’s world. Strong foundational reading skills provide the basis for higher-level comprehension, allowing learners to evaluate and interpret information presented through print, digital media, and oral communication.

Learning Goals for the Cohort

A small group (n= 8) Grade 1 cohort will serve as the focus of our Literacy-Based Learning Plan. Our goals for these learners and all students include:

• Building strong foundational literacy skills, including letter recognition, sound knowledge, and sight word fluency.
• Using developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning from text.
• Drawing on multiple sources of information and prior knowledge to deepen comprehension.

Cohort Description

We have chosen to follow a Grade 1 cohort to track the long-term impact of targeted literacy interventions with students who did not meet Kindergarten expectations in phonemic awareness. These expectations were measured in Kindergarten using the Early Literacy Phonemic Awareness Tool – Surrey (ELPATS), an oral assessment developed by Surrey Schools. ELPATS measures students’ ability to manipulate and identify individual phonemes in spoken words, covering core skills critical for reading and writing development. Skills measured include:

• Isolating and identifying initial, medial, and final phonemes.
• Segmenting words into individual phonemes.
• Blending phonemes together to form words.

This tool provides insight into students’ strengths and areas of need, enabling teachers to design targeted instruction. Data from this assessment and other tools and observations is used to plan small-group lessons and provide focused support.

 Implementation Plan

We are currently in the initial stage of this Literacy-Based Learning Plan. By tracking an early primary cohort, we aim to follow their progress over several years, allowing us to measure the long-term effects of literacy programming and interventions. Focusing on Grade 1 ensures that we address the critical foundations of reading development early. 

Collaboration among Grade 1 teachers, Early Literacy Teacher, Learning Support Team Teachers and Literacy Success Teacher Leaders will be central to the plan, ensuring a consistent and cohesive approach to early literacy instruction.

School-Based Literacy Initiatives

• Responding to Readers (RtR): In 2024/25, 18 teachers participated in RtR creating a strong culture and ethos around best practice in teaching and learning specific to reading development. Beginning this year, the program involves site-based leaders, now called RtR – Literacy Success Leaders, who continue the conversation and support practices of  others committed to building successful readers.
• UFLI Foundations Program: Widely implemented across classrooms, UFLI Foundations is a research-based phonics curriculum developed by the University of Florida Literacy Institute. It emphasizes explicit and systematic phonics instruction, decoding skills, and structured practice.
• Words Their Way: A developmental approach to phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Students don’t just memorize words; they learn the patterns and principles that make spelling, reading, and vocabulary more logical.
• Assessment for Learning: A variety of best practice assessments including ELPATS, ACADIENCE, Dibels, etc 

Key Features of UFLI Foundations

• Grounded in the Science of Reading, drawing on education, linguistics, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience.
• Provides explicit, step-by-step instruction following a logical sequence.
• Emphasizes phonics and decoding to support comprehension.
• Designed for both core classroom use and targeted intervention.
• Lessons follow a predictable eight-step structure that builds student confidence:
  1. Phonemic Awareness
  2. Visual Drill
  3. Auditory Drill
  4. Blending Drill
  5. New Concept
  6. Word Work
  7. Irregular Words
  8. Connected Text

Key Features of Words Their Way

It isn’t a scripted program with one-size-fits-all lessons—instead, it’s a word study framework that helps teachers assess where each student is in their understanding of how words work, and then group students for instruction based on their developmental level.

• Assessment-based: Students are given spelling inventories to figure out their developmental spelling stage (e.g., emergent, letter-name, within word, syllables & affixes, derivational relations).
• Developmental stages: Instruction progresses with students’ growth—from recognizing letters and sounds → to understanding spelling patterns → to analyzing word meanings and relationships.
• Word sorts: The main activity is sorting words or pictures into categories (by sound, spelling pattern, or meaning). This hands-on, inquiry-based approach helps students discover patterns rather than memorize lists.
• Flexible grouping: Students work in small groups at their developmental stage, rather than by grade level alone.
• Focus areas: Phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, and word recognition—all taught in an integrated way.

The goal is to build a deep understanding of how words work, so students become stronger readers, spellers, and writers.

Developmental Stages in Words Their Way

1. Emergent (Pre-K to K)

• Focus: Learning letters, sounds, and concepts of print.
• Activities: Picture sorts, alphabet games, rhyming.
• Goal: Connect sounds to letters.

2. Letter Name–Alphabetic (K–2)

• Focus: Matching letters to sounds (CVC words, short vowels).
• Activities: Word sorts by beginning/middle/ending sounds, short vs. long vowels.
• Goal: Build a foundation in phonics and simple spelling

3. Within Word Pattern (Grades 1–4)

• Focus: Spelling patterns, blends, digraphs, long vowels, r-controlled vowels.
• Activities: Sorts by vowel patterns (e.g., cake vs. cap), homophones, word hunts.
• Goal: Move beyond sound-by-sound spelling to using patterns.

4. Syllables & Affixes (Grades 3–8)

• Focus: Multi-syllable words, prefixes, suffixes, inflected endings.
• Activities: Sorting words by syllable type, adding -ed/-ing, breaking words into parts.
• Goal: Understand how words change with affixes and syllable rules.

5. Derivational Relations (Grades 4–12)

• Focus: Word origins, roots, Greek/Latin bases, advanced vocabulary.
• Activities: Sorts with Greek/Latin roots (tele, auto, bio), derivational endings (-tion, -ity).
• Goal: Build meaning and vocabulary knowledge through word structure.

Big Idea: Students don’t just memorize words; they learn the patterns and principles that make spelling, reading, and vocabulary more logical.

Evaluation and Progress Monitoring

• Baseline Data: Collected using ELPATS & ACADIENCE in Kindergarten to identify students requiring support.
• Ongoing Assessment: Regular progress monitoring through class-based assessments, small group instruction data, and UFLI Foundations lesson outcomes.
• Collaborative Review: Grade 1 teachers will meet with Early Literacy Teacher, Learning Support Teachers and Literacy Success Leaders to analyze student progress and adjust instruction as needed.
• Long-Term Tracking: By following this cohort throughout their primary years, we aim to evaluate the sustained impact of interventions and adapt programming for the cohort group and ultimately all K-3 students. 

Our school is committed to ensuring that every student develops strong foundational literacy skills that will support them throughout their learning journey. See below for our approach to evaluation and progress monitoring for our all students, including our cohort sample, ensuring that it is both systematic and responsive, allowing us to identify students’ needs early and provide timely interventions.

Baseline Data Collection

In Kindergarten, we used ELPATS (Early Literacy Phonemic Awareness Tracking System), and other assessment for learning strategies to establish a baseline understanding of student skills.  We will expand to use assessments such as ACADIENCE this year as we continue to identify progress and students who may require additional support with phonemic awareness, letter recognition, and other early literacy skills. By collecting this information at the start of their school experience, we can intervene early and set students up for success. Data collection will continue and expand throughout the primary K-3 years.

Ongoing Assessment

Throughout the year, we monitor progress using a combination of tools:

• Classroom-based assessments
• Small-group instruction data that reflects how students are engaging in targeted literacy lessons.
• UFLI Foundations/Words Their Way lesson outcomes, which track mastery of phonics, decoding skills and other 'word attack skills'.
• **Acadience Reading Assessment, a quick and reliable one-on-one tool that measures students’ ability to sound out words, read fluently, and make meaning from text. (implementation for 2025/2026)

This multi-layered approach ensures that we gain a full picture of each child’s growth and can adapt instruction to meet individual needs.

Collaborative Review

Grade 1 teachers will meet regularly with Early Literacy Teachers, Learner Support Team teachers and Literacy Success Teachers to collaboratively review student progress. During these meetings, they will:

• Analyze observations and assessment data such as UFLI, ELPATS, Words Their Way and ACADIENCE for Kindergarten and Grade 1 students
• Share observations and instructional strategies.
• Identify students who may benefit from intensified interventions.
• Adjust small-group instruction and set new short-term goals.

This collaborative approach ensures consistency, shared responsibility, and a stronger support network for our learners.

Long-Term Tracking

We will continue to track this Grade 1 cohort through their primary years to evaluate the sustained impact of interventions. This long-term perspective allows us to refine programming, measure the effectiveness of our strategies, and plan future supports for all students. 

Supporting the Grade 1 Cohort

Our Grade 1 cohort are not yet meeting literacy expectations. To address this, we will implement a layered plan of support:

1. Targeted Small-Group Instruction
   • Daily phonics and phonemic awareness practice using UFLI Foundations/Words Their Way and other best practice in literacy skill building.
2. Focused Classroom Interventions
   • Short, intensive skill-building sessions for students identified through Acadience and ELPATS data.
   • Use of UFLI and Words Their Way 
3. Progress Monitoring
   • Progress checks to ensure interventions are effective - on-going Acadience, UFLI, Words Their Way and ELPATS data collection
   • Quick classroom-based checks (sight word fluency, decoding assessments) to adjust instruction.
4. Professional Collaboration and Growth
   • Ongoing professional learning for teachers around evidence-based literacy instruction.
   • Collaborative analysis of what works for struggling readers and sharing of best practices across grade levels.

Looking Forward

By closely monitoring this Grade 1 group, we can learn what strategies work best, refine our approaches, and extend them to more students across the school. Using both UFLI and Words Their Way in conjuction with ELPATS and Acadience screeners as key tools, we will evaluate student progress, plan future interventions, and ensure that every child has the opportunity to reach the next level of proficiency.

Ultimately, our school’s plan is about building confident, capable readers who can move from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” By combining strong assessment practices, intentional interventions, and collaboration, we can help all students progress toward greater literacy success.