Regent Road Elementary 24-25

Our intended learning impact is to increase literacy competencies in our students by enhancing their ability to comprehend and make connections to text. Our plan is to Improve fluency and comprehension for grade one students through use of an evidence-based reading interventions that focuses on phonological awareness, proper letter formation, and spelling. Although literacy is a school wide goal, this plan focuses on the impact for our grade one students. The hope is to help students develop the literacy skills they need to feel successful in all areas of their education, thus improving how these students feel about themselves as learners and how they feel about their ability to learn (the power of yet).

English Language Arts Curricular Targets: 

• Read fluently at grade level: reading with comprehension, phrasing, and attention to punctuation
• Use foundational concepts of print, oral, and visual texts: concepts include directionality of print, difference between letter and word, difference between writing and drawing, spacing, letter-sound relationship, understanding that pictures convey meaning, taking turns, and phonological awareness

Ways of meeting goal:

• Tier one support: Classroom teachers will utilize strategies with all grade one students – learning will include:

• Small group instruction
• Facilitated conversations
• Shared reading experiences
• increased reading volume by engaging students in large amounts of targeted daily reading

• Tier two support: LST will support targetted learners with five day per week pull out (groups of 3-4 students)
• Will echo strategies used in classroom
• Targeted instruction to support areas where students need additional support

• Beginning of year: all students in cohort were assessed for letter and sound recognition 
• End of year: all students in cohort assessed for reading levels

Some of the strategies that are employed for our cohort as well as the larger school population included:

• Exploring literature
• Class discussions
• Writing experiences
• Classroom based group work
• Small instructional group work with LST support
• Targeted home reading program

It is demonstrated, through evidence provided by our cohort of students and reflected through the larger group of students, that our reading focus is positively impacting learners.

Language from the provincial assessment scales was used to identify successes and remaining challenges. There was a noted improvement for all students identified in the sample cohort in relation to the literacy goals. These goals included:

• Students becoming more proficient in making connections to their world
• Students improving their reading fluency at grade level: reading with comprehension, phrasing, and attention to punctuation
• Use foundational concepts of print, oral, and visual texts: concepts include directionality of print, difference between letter and word, difference between writing and drawing, spacing, letter-sound relationship, understanding that pictures convey meaning, taking turns, and phonological awareness
• Communicate using letters and words and applying some conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation: common practices in writing, such as capitals and small letters printed legibly; familiar words spelled correctly; and correct use of periods, question marks, and capitals (including capitalized I); introduction to Canadian spelling

Learners in our cohort showed improvements in their self image of being readers and active learners. Some of the successes shown by these students include being newly able to follow pictures and pattern of a story, demonstrated growth in recognizing one to one correlation of words on the page to sounds, increased word recognition,  recognition of word pattern, and more focused time on text. These enhanced skills have had a positive effect on the students' learning across all subject areas as their confidence and mastery has increased.

The skills that our students are developing are contributing to success in their ability to express themselves and make sense of the world around them. 

Snapshots of previous School Wide Student Proficiency in Reading and Oral Language

Snapshot of 2024-2025 Literacy progress for cohort group of Grade 1 students

Limited Progress:

• Most of these students knew less than 50% of their letter sounds at the beginning of the year. Most received targeted LST support for phonics. They are now demonstrating reading readiness.

Gradual Progress:

• Most of these students knew between 50% and 75% of their letter sounds at the beginning of the year. Some received targeted LST support for phonics. They have gained some confidence in their ability to sound out and blend letters into words. They are transitioning into becoming readers.

Steady Progress:

• Most of these students knew 75% to 100% of their letter sounds at the beginning of the year. These students are working towards becoming more proficient readers. They are working on decoding more difficult words and on making sense of what they have read.

Very Good Progress:

• Most of these students knew 90% to %100 of their letter sounds at the beginning of the year. These readers have built up their reading stamina and can make meaning from what they have read. They are reading at or above grade level. They are confident readers who can read for enjoyment.

After collecting and analysing student achievement, we have seen an improvement in student understanding as indicated by student self-assessment and teacher assessment.

We are seeing students develop further strategies to self-regulate which is resulting in improved literacy acquisition. A continued focus on utilizing social-emotional strategies will aid our students who are trying to articulate their understanding and further develop their ability to express themselves and increase their comprehension skills.

Our next steps are to extend the focus of literacy acquisition using a variety of strategies.  We will do this by engaging in further opportunities, investing in more resources, and reaching out to the literacy district helping teacher to explore further strategies in improving student learning opportunities in literacy. Expanding the cohort in future years will assist us in reaching out to learners to improve the rate of proficiency.