Reading Recovery


Reading Recovery
At Stevensville Primary School, we run a Reading Recovery program for students who are having difficulty reading at the age-appropriate level. We have several qualified Reading Recovery teachers who work one-on-one with students in Year 1.


What is Reading Recovery?
Reading Recovery was designed for students in Year 1 who are experiencing difficulties with reading and writing. It was developed in New Zealand by Dame Marie Clay, an educator and psychologist and has been successfully implemented in many other countries including Australia, United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada.
Reading Recovery teachers must be experienced classroom teachers who participate in a year of training with a Reading Recovery tutor. Reading Recovery teachers participate in ongoing professional learning to update and refine their skills.
Students participating in Reading Recovery have individual lessons for half an hour each day, with a trained Reading Recovery teacher. Most students remain on the program for 12-20 weeks, according to individual needs.


The Reading Recovery Lesson (Ref: Reading Recovery Guidelines © 2007)

During the Reading Recovery lesson, students are involved in authentic reading and writing tasks. The Reading Recovery teacher demonstrates and teaches for problem-solving strategies and supports the student to develop effective reading and writing processing.

 

Structure of a lesson
A 30-minute Reading Recovery lesson includes six core activities in text reading and writing.
Text reading: Reading familiar books
Two or more familiar books are read in a phrased and fluent manner at the beginning of the lesson, providing an opportunity for the student to practise good reading behaviour.

 

Text reading: Taking a running record of yesterday's new book
The teacher takes a running record of the new book from the previous lesson: first the student reads the text without help, and then the teacher teaches the student. The most powerful teaching points from the book are selected to obtain the quickest progress possible.

Working with words and letters
A short time is spent using magnetic letters to help the student extend his or her letter knowledge and word understanding.

 

Text writing: Writing a story
The student writes one or two sentences about a book or a personal experience. The teacher supports the writing process while teaching flexible writing strategies that will encourage independence.

 

Text reading: Reconstructing the cut-up story
The teacher writes the story on a strip of cardboard. It is then cut up and the student searches and checks for information to help them reassemble the story.

 

Text reading: Reading a new book
The teacher introduces a new book, providing information about content, how language is structured and some words to help the student use their reading strategies. The student reads the book with appropriate support from the teacher. A culmination of the lesson’s reading and writing work is linked to the new book.

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