Westerman Elementary 24-25
OUR CONTEXT
Located on the shared, unceded, traditional territories of the Katzie, Semiahmoo, Kwantlen and other Coast Salish Peoples', in the City of Surrey, BC, Westerman Elementary is home to a wonderful and richly diverse learning community.
Building on the legacy of compassion, hard work, and service to community that was modelled by Surrey's 1997 Volunteer of the Year and the school's namesake, Margaret Westerman, our learners participate in a range of learning activities that expand their awareness, understanding and acceptance of others. They also put their learning into action and participate in a range of initiatives that support the health and well-being of their community, especially those who are more vulnerable. Whether collecting donations for the food bank, taking part in community environmental projects, organizing multicultural events, raising money for cancer research, or actively recycling and re-using, Westerman students show they care about others and appreciate any opportunity to give back to their community.
Westerman Elementary is a model of inclusion, understanding, and acceptance, regardless of background, socio-economic status, and identity. With dozens of languages, nationalities and cultures represented in the school community, students are welcomed to the school from around the world.
Westerman is literally a place "where the world learns and plays together".
In a safe and supportive environment, Westerman Elementary challenges all students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitude essential to be positive, proactive, and successful learners, and contributing members of the community.
OUR LEARNERS
Children at Westerman arrive at school each day with a desire to learn more about themselves and others. Recognizing that the development of strong literacy skills is fundamental to student success across all subject areas, our learners are provided with rich opportunities to share stories with each other, to make connections through text to the world around them, and to develop an appreciation of the power of language to convey thoughts and ideas clearly and meaningfully. Our learners are encouraged to read and engage with a variety of texts every day, and to communicate their learning with others, both at home and at school. A particular emphasis is currently being placed on providing students with literacy resources and activities that better reflect the diverse lived experiences and cultural identities of our learners. Ultimately, our goal is help our learners build the strong foundations in literacy that are critical to their ability to participate fully in the world around them.
Learners engaged in reading and literacy skill development are evident throughout the school. The following are examples of our students, individually and collaboratively, using oral and visual representations, and written texts to:
Fluency and Comprehension
Our learners build fluency and comprehension through daily reading to self, others and word work.
To support the development of reading comprehension and fluency, students engage in a structured literacy routine based on the Daily 3 literacy framework: Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Word Work. During “Read to Self,” students engage in daily independent reading by selecting texts that match their reading level and interests. Our learners build reading stamina and apply comprehension strategies such as visualizing, making predictions, and summarizing. Students also use sticky notes to track thinking and reflect on the text. In Read to Someone, students participate in partner reading activities that develop oral fluency focusing on elements like expression, pacing, and accuracy. Students also engage in peer discussions to encourage deeper understanding of the text and develop active listening skills. During Word Work, students engage in targeted vocabulary and phonics activities that reinforce decoding, word recognition, and understanding of word meanings in context. Our learners sort words by patterns, practice high frequency words, and use new vocabulary in sentences or short writing tasks. Word Work supports both fluency and comprehension by strengthening the students’ ability to decode unfamiliar words and understand language.
Create and Communicate
Our learners can create stories to deepen awareness of self, family and community.
Our learners can participate in conversations and communicate their ideas confidently about topics they know and understand. Some strategies include story workshop, sharing thinking through creations and hands-on learning or building our reading powers to help us transform student thinking and practice.
Our early learners are always eager to share and tell stories. In this sample below, students create stories from loose parts through story workshop. The students are playing with expressive language and doing a story demonstration through the use of visuals. Each story is unique and students take turns listening and speaking. Our youngest learners enjoy connecting with others through story and so many great adventures are shared.
Literacy throughout our school can look differently for each learner. Within our school environment, each day consists of a plethora of literacy experiences that build and develop each child's reading ability.
OUR FOCUS
Every day, our learners are presented with opportunities to practice, develop and demonstrate their literacy skills. Our team of educators provide our learners with these essential skills to set them up for success in today's rapidly changing world. To identify students’ overall strengths and areas for growth, we recently tracked literacy skills within a cohort of learners from diverse linguistic, cultural, and educational backgrounds. The learners within the cohorts are representative of the diversity that exists in the rest of the school population.
Our students’ learning goals include:
- Develop oral reading fluency focusing on reading with comprehension, phrasing, and attention to punctuation.
- Making meaning of literature using developmentally appropriate reading, listening and viewing strategies.
Reading Fluency
Reading fluency is important for overall reading development. Fluent reading improves comprehension, but also fosters a love for reading and builds confidence in our students. Fluency involves accuracy, rate, expression, and comprehension. At Westerman, we build reading fluency through promoting daily reading experiences through read-alouds, shared reading, and daily independent reading. By implementing these strategies and through continuous monitoring and adjustment, students can effectively nurture reading fluency empowering them to develop proficiency and become confident readers.
Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is a lifelong skill that is essential for success in all areas of education and beyond the classroom. Students are working on developing strong reading comprehension skills to be better prepared to navigate the complexities of the world, critically evaluate information from various sources, and continue learning independently throughout their lives. Comprehension makes reading enjoyable, fun, and informative.
As part of ongoing professional learning during the 2024-2025 school year, a group of teachers engaged in a book study of Powerful Understanding by Adrienne Gear to deepen their instructional practices around comprehension and student thinking.
OUR NEXT STEPS
Based on the evidence from our cohort of primary students, it is clear that our reading focus is positively impacting learners. After considering our student population, we selected our Grade 1/2 students who are emerging readers for the cohort.
Students were assessed on their ability to recognize letter names and sounds using the Provincial Proficiency Scale. Ongoing descriptive feedback from the teacher supported their growth by identifying strengths and guiding improvement. Assessment results demonstrate meaningful progress in foundational literacy skills, laying the groundwork for developing reading fluency and comprehension. The goals identified were:
- Identify letter names and sounds
- Blend sounds to form simple words
Nov | 38% | 50% | 12% |
May | 12% | 12% | 62% |
From fall to spring, we observed significant growth within the cohort. The number of students at the emerging level decreased by 26%, and those achieving the developing level also decreased by 38%. Additionally, there was a 50% rise in students demonstrating proficient reading skills by late spring.
Overall, we noted substantial progress, with many students moving from emerging to developing in their letter and sound recognition abilities. Teachers also observed notable growth among students at the emerging and developing level, who improved their fluency and comprehension skills through Daily 3 practice and guided reading in small groups.
Moving forward, our focus will be to continue to increase the number of students reading at a proficient level.
Moving forward
At Westerman, we take pride in the strides our students have made in enhancing their fluency and comprehension skills. Based on the evidence of their progress towards our learning goals, our next steps will include:
- Continuing to foster fluency: We will intentionally use instructional strategies to provide opportunities for students to further develop their fluency skills.
- Supporting emerging readers: We will offer targeted support to students who are emerging and developing in fluency and comprehension, helping them grow as readers.
- Collaborating with literacy experts: We will continue our partnership with Surrey School District Literacy Helping Teachers to implement a reading program focused on comprehension skills.
- Expanding our cohort: For the 2025-2026 school year, we will expand our cohort and gather data from both primary and intermediate grade levels to gain a comprehensive school-wide perspective on students' comprehension and fluency. Our goal is to increase the number of students proficient in reading fluency.
At Westerman, we are committed to ensuring that all students acquire the literacy skills essential for success in school and beyond. As we continually monitor, reflect, and refine our learning plan, we will prioritize the equitable distribution of instruction, time, and resources, with a focus on supporting our most vulnerable learners.
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.
