Elementary Reading Programs
Elementary Reading
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Houghton Mifflin
The
Houghton Mifflin Reading Series was adopted in the Oswego
School District during the 2005-06 school year. Houghton Mifflin
Reading is based on the most respected scientific research in
order to deliver effective instruction in the five key areas of
reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension. Students engage in award winning literature by
favorite authors and illustrators. These stories are found in
the grade level anthology and leveled readers. After each theme,
students are assessed on skills and strategies. Teachers use
this information to guide instruction, to monitor and document
student progress, and to screen and diagnose reading abilities.
Based on their academic needs, students are placed in
flexible guided reading groups: below level, on level, and above
level. These groups help differentiate instruction so that all
students are working at their instructional reading level.
The Houghton Mifflin Reading Series supports the following
strategies in grades Kindergarten through fifth grade.
| Reading Strategy |
Description |
| Predict/Infer |
Think about the title, the illustrations, and what
you have read so far. Tell what you think will happen next or what you will
learn.
Try to figure out things that the author does not say
directly.
|
| Question |
Ask questions that can be answered as you read or
after you finish reading. |
| Monitor/Clarify |
Ask yourself if what you are reading makes sense or
if you are learning what you want to learn. If you don’t understand something, reread, read
ahead, or use the illustrations.
|
| When you come to a word you don’t know |
Look carefully at the word. Look for word parts you know and think about the
sounds for the letters.
Blend the sounds to read the word.
Ask yourself: Is it a word I know? Does it make sense
in what I am reading?
If not, ask yourself: What else can I try?
|
| Summarize |
Think about the main ideas or the important parts of
the story. Tell in your own words the important things you have
read.
|
| Evaluate |
Ask yourself:
- How do I feel about what I read?
- Do I agree or disagree with it?
- Am I learning what I wanted to know?
- How good a job has the author done?
|
Look for great reading activities by Houghton Mifflin to
connect home and school by
clicking here.
Assessments
MAP (Measure of Academic Progress)
MAP assessments
are achievement tests in reading and mathematics taken on a
computer. This test is given to all students in second, third,
and fifth grades in September and May. Fourth grade students are
given this assessment in January. Students who are identified as
being at-risk in reading and/or math or new students, may be
given the MAP assessment in January, as well.
When you receive your child’s MAP test report, you will
receive your child’s lexile score. This score will help you
select books at your child’s independent reading level. To find
out more about lexile scores, click here.
AIMSweb
AIMSweb is a program designed to monitor the progress of
students in the areas of oral reading fluency and comprehension.
At the Kindergarten and first grade levels, it can measure
letter and sound fluency as well as phonemic segmentation. It
allows teachers to frequently monitor at-risk students or those
students with more significant educational needs to evaluate the
effectiveness of interventions and document appropriate
instructional changes.
AIMSweb Benchmark Fluency Assessments
Students in second through
fifth grade are administered a fluency benchmark assessment
three times a year. Students in first grade are administered the
fluency benchmark assessment in January and May. These scores
help teachers meet the needs of their students, evaluate student
progress, demonstrate progress, and serve as an accountability
and communication tool. The following chart displays the goals
for each grade level of words read correctly on grade level
passages in one minute.
*WCPM: Words read correctly
in one minute on a grade level passage.
| Grade Level |
District Standards |
January *WCPM |
|
May *WCPM |
| 1st |
M |
40 |
|
60 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Grade Level |
|
September |
January |
May |
| 2nd |
Exceeds |
93 and above |
120 and above |
137 and above |
| Meets |
45-92 |
65-119 |
90-136 |
| Does not Meet |
44 and below |
64 and below |
89 and below |
| 3rd |
Exceeds |
120 and above |
141 and above |
155 and above |
| Meets |
80-119 |
100-140 |
115-154 |
| Does not Meet |
79 and below |
99 and below |
114 and below |
| 4th |
Exceeds |
138 and above |
156 and above |
171 and above |
| Meets |
105-137 |
125-155 |
140-170 |
| Does not Meet |
104 and below |
124 and below |
139 and below |
| 5th |
Exceeds |
156 and above |
171 and above |
187 and above |
| Meets |
130-155 |
145-170 |
155-186 |
| Does not Meet |
129 and below |
144 and below |
154 and below |
Darrell-Morris
Darrell-Morris is a first grade assessment given five times a
year. Students are given a spelling test that assesses their
phonetic knowledge on grade level words. Each child receives a
score from 0 to 90 based on his/her letter/sound knowledge.
Oswego’s goal is to have all first graders advance to the final
stage, Transitional/Correct, by the end of the year.
| Child's Score |
Child's Stage |
| 0 to 30 |
|
Prephonetic 1 |
| 31 to 48 |
|
Prephonetic 2 |
| 49 to 66 |
|
Phonetic |
| 67 to 90 |
|
Transition/Correct |
ISEL
The Illinois Snapshots of Early Literacy (ISEL) are sets of
standardized, individually- administered measures of early
literacy development for grades K, 1, and 2. They consist of
brief measures of performance, which can be used to regularly
monitor the development of early literacy skills. ISEL is used
to assess alphabetic knowledge, listening to and talking about
stories, phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge,
developmental spelling, word recognition out of context, passage
reading accuracy and comprehension, vocabulary and fluency.
ISEL-2 also assesses written responses to reading. Each measure
is grounded in research and has been demonstrated to be a
reliable and valid indicator of early literacy development and
has been proven to correlate to their reading proficiency.
District 308 Reading Assessments Available by
Grade Level (*DM: Darrell-Morris)
| Grade Level |
ISEL |
DM* |
Observation |
Fluency |
Measure of Academic Progress |
AIMSweb |
ISAT |
| Kindergarten |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st Grade |
X *as
needed |
X |
X |
X |
|
X *as
needed |
|
| 2nd Grade |
X *as
needed |
|
|
X |
X |
X *as
needed |
|
| 3rd Grade |
|
|
|
X |
X |
X
*as needed |
X |
| 4th Grade |
|
|
|
X |
X *January
Only |
X *as
needed |
X |
| 5th Grade |
|
|
|
X |
X |
X *as
needed |
X |
Reading Support Programs
District 308 offers reading support to identified at-risk and
academically talented readers.
For information about programs
for at-risk readers, click here.
For information about programs
for academically talented readers,
click here.
| 
