This Fall, our Resource Team worked collaboratively with all classes to assess components of students' literacy skills- specifically, their ability to decode, or the process of reading in which we translate printed text into speech.  Reading is a complex skill- we need to understand the relationship between letters and sounds, and be able to accurately and rapidly match up the sounds into words. Once we have a solid grasp of the patterns of letters, and words, we work towards automaticity- being able to read words automatically.  And through practice, and gradually over time we learn to break text into meaningful chunks- reading fluency. Being able to read fluently is a critical skill in building comprehension- understanding the meaning of the written text- and in accessing the art and joy of reading.  

Through our scanning, we can see that many of our students would benefit from focused instruction, support, and practice with different components of decoding skills.  Our hunch here is that if we dedicate intensive attention to these skills, we can support all of our students in improving their literacy skills- especially those that need it the most.  We wonder what professional development opportunities would provide us with teaching and intervention strategies we may not yet be familiar with?  We wonder what literacy materials would benefit all students, and in particular our students working towards proficiency in reading?  We are excited to support our whole school community in accessing the joy and inclusion of reading.