Strawberry Hill Elementary 25-26

Our Focus

Every day at Strawberry Hill our team of educators provide a variety of educational experiences that prepare our learners for a world in which they think creatively and critically and communicate skillfully. Our students are learning to use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, viewing strategies to make meaning. The ability to access and comprehend text is essential for all learners’ academic success, social development, connection and overall well-being.

In the photo above students engage in our school wide home reading program: Books Give Us Wings. In the classrooms, teachers K-7 use a universal system to track home reading and all of our readers are recognized every month. 

Specifically, in our cohort this year, we continued to use an explicit and systematic approach to developing foundational reading skills helping learners to develop an awareness of the segments of sound in speech and how they connect to the letters of the alphabet.

Through our continued efforts we know this method of instruction works best to improve and promote how students are learning to read. When literacy lessons are structured this way students are mastering the core skills of how to decode words, analyze words parts, write the sounds they have learned when writing words and recognize letter patterns in text. Through this process they are developing their fluency and comprehension and learning how to become confident readers. It is critical to recognize the interconnectedness of foundational skills to move learning forward

This year we also focused on the learning goal of:

• Using developmentally appropriate reading, listening, viewing strategies to make meaning.

Across all grades our teachers provide students with learning opportunities aimed at increasing developmentally appropriate skills and strategies to make meaning of what they are reading. We monitored the progress of our cohort that has grown to include a mix of primary and intermediate classes to highlight and determine overall successes and gaps.

In our cohort, we used an explicit and systematic approach to build foundational reading skills helping learners to develop an awareness of the segments of sound in speech and how they connect to the letters of the alphabet.

Through our research this year we know this method of instruction works best to improve and promote how students learn to read. When literacy lessons are structured this way students master the core skills of how to decode words, analyze words parts, write the sounds they have learned when writing words and recognize letter patterns in text. Through this process they are developing their fluency and comprehension and learning how to become confident readers. It is critical to recognize the interconnectedness of foundational skills to move learning forward.

Successes! 

• Most of our primary teachers and all our LST teachers  are using the same explicit and systematic literacy approach to instruction.
• School wide stories/lessons are provided for classes
• School wide read alouds at assemblies
• Leadership- Grade 5/6 buddy reading program with grade 1’s and 2’s to encourage fluency, comprehension, empathy and connection.
• Release  time  provided to teachers to learn and collaborate together

Our Next Steps

To understand the impact of our focused efforts have made, we have continued to collect data and examine our cohorts closely. It is demonstrated, through evidence provided by our cohort of students and reflected in the larger group, that our focus on improving the use of foundational reading skills is positively impacting learners. Our teachers tracked the progress of their students’ reading learning goal:

• use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, viewing strategies to make meaning.

FSA - Foundational Skills Assessment 

Another piece of evidence we are monitoring over time with a view to increasing students' level of proficiency in literacy is the FSA results for our students in Gr. 4 and Gr. 7. The following two graphs reflect that, of students who wrote the FSA, about 50% are on track in grade four and about 65% are on track by grade 7.

Classroom Literacy Assessments

Through collaboration from our learner support team and classroom teachers, for our intermediate students, intensive support was needed for about 72% of students in the upper grades.  

Moving Forward

At Strawberry Hill, we are proud of the gains our students have made in literacy this year.

However ongoing assessments show us that there is a continued need to:

• teach explicit sequential and systematic literacy instruction to support the development of foundational reading skills and move beyond cohorts and primary grades.
• Enhance reading comprehension by building vocabulary and background knowledge.
• Develop student led literacy events to promote literacy within the school community and increase the link between home and school
• Build teacher capacity through- continued professional learning on reading instruction across grade levels
• Provide time for collaborative planning and co-teaching, particularly between teachers and our responding to readers leads.
• Offer in-school professional development sessions, possibly in partnership with District Helping Teachers, to build collective efficacy in teaching for understanding.

We will continue to connect our literacy goals with our social-emotional learning (SEL) goals to support students' overall well-being and engagement in learning through school-wide read-alouds. We will also continue to strengthen the connection between home and school reading through our Books Give Us Wings home reading program.

By providing meaningful reading opportunities both at school and at home, we aim to foster a lifelong love of reading and inspire joy, curiosity, and a sense of belonging in all learners.