We are very excited about the Pathways to Reading program. (PTR) This program will greatly benefit our students in the ability to sound out words, understand what they read, and read fluently. The primary focus of PTR is to understand and apply the five scientifically validated core components of the reading process. The five core components are:
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Vocabulary
Comprehension
The relationship of the five components is presented in the Simple View of Reading (Gough, Juel, & Griffith, 1992) – pictured above.
Decoding (the ability to figure out words) and Comprehension (the ability to interact with the meaning of text) are skills necessary for independent reading. There are specific skills and tasks for each of the five components of the reading process that impact a student's ability to learn to read.
Tuesday, Sept. 8 we will begin Large Group Instruction in First and Second Grade. I will spend several days building Vowel Town. The students will learn how to produce sounds correctly, how to pull sounds apart (segment) when sounding out words. Second Graders will progress to working with multi-syllable words. Small Group instruction will begin on Lesson 11. (Sept. 22) I am teaching the Large Groups and Mrs. Thomas (Reading Specialist) and Mrs. Mellies (Instructional Aide) is teaching the Small Groups.
Spelling will become a part of this program for the First Graders during the Second Nine Weeks. Second Graders will begin spelling the Week of Sept. 14 - 18. Each week there will be 10 words that we will work on. 1 of these words will be a "Mystery Word". It's new and exciting!! I'm confident our students will become better readers with this program!
