Pilot Program

Kindergarten

Reading Programs Teacher Concerns

Letter People

Zoo Phonics

No More Letter of

the Week

Lack of materials No continuity across

district Teachers supplement

programs to meet needs of students

Letter People•Puppets or Inflatable's•Letter names are taught before letter sounds•Letters are taught in isolation•Letters are taught out of order•Takes 26 weeks to teach letters and sounds

No More Letter of the Week•35 Letter sounds (2 for each vowel, 21 consonant sounds, 4 digraphs)• Introduce all sounds within first 8 weeks of school•alphabet taught out of order (high utility letters first)•Letters are taught in isolation•Letter expert/each child took ownership of 1 letter•Each letter was tied to a book/sentence out of the book

Zoo Phonics•The Animal Alphabet helps children remember the shapes and sounds of the letters.• Letter sounds are taught before letter names.• Lowercase letters are taught before capital letters.• The Body Movement for each Animal Letter helps “cement” the phonemic information into memory.• The alphabet is taught sequentially, and as a whole entity, “a - z.” The alphabet is not fragmented.• Short vowels are taught before long vowels.• Phonemic patterns (at, bat, fat, sat, etc.) are taught first, rather than random word lists (of, it, then, was, etc.)

Sounds/Signals Assessment DIBELS-September, February, May Take Home Reading Program Parent Surveys

Data Sources

26 Students 24 Students since September, 1addition in

February, 1 addition in April 73 % Free/Reduced Lunch (At-Risk) 5 Speech Therapy 1 Autistic 1 Emotionally Impaired 2 w/o preschool experience

Classroom Make-Up

DIBELS ASSESSMENT

2009-2010 2011-2012

Feb.

P.S

.

May

P.S

.

Feb.

N.W

.F.

May

N.W

.F.

02468

1012141618

At RiskSome RiskLittle/No Risk

Sept

embe

r

Febr

uary

May

02468

1012141618

well below benchmarkbelow benchmarkat or above benchmark

September February May0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

well below benchmarkbelow benchmarkat or above benchmark

DIBELS ASSESSMENT (Mrs. McClain’s Class)

% Sounds Known 9/16/11

# Students

95-100% 6

90-95 % 2

80-90 % 3

70-80% 5

70% or less 8

% Sounds Know

9/29/11

# Students

95-100% 19

90-95 % 1

80-90 % 2

70-80% 1

70% or less 1

Sounds/signals Assessment

Take Home Reading Program (based on DRA)

December 2011 May 2012

Student Reading Level

# Students

1 31

2-3 13

4-6 1

8-10 0

12-16 0

18 and Above 0

Student Reading Level

# Students

1 0

2-3 (end of KG) 26

4-6 (beg. Of 1st) 9

8-10 (mid 1st) 7

12-16 (end of 1st)

3

18 and Above (2nd or above)

3

First Grade Data

September February May0

5

10

15

20

25

30

IntensiveStrategicCore

1st Grade DIBELS Assessment

Beginning Middle End0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Emergent ReaderTransistional ReaderProbable Reader

STAR Early Literacy Scores

Parent Survey

17/19-Yes 0/19-No 1/10-I don’t understand the signals 1/19-No response

Relates a sound and an action to help remember the letter

Helps retain knowledge Helps student until they become readers Makes learning the alphabet fun

Do you think signaling is important?

8/19-Yes 9/19-Some 2/19-No

Our goal is to have our student teach us and our preschool age child over the summer

Do you know the ZP signals?

11/19-Yes 1/19-Sometimes 0/19-No 7/19-When first learning the program but

not anymore

Does your child signal at home when they do their homework?

17/19-Yes 1/19-No 1/19-No response

We sing the song everyday I asked my child to teach me signals

Do you feel the teacher provides enough information to help you understand how to help your child with ZP?

Helps reinforce the sounds-words and reading Important to practice sounds/signals at home Great practice and enhances reading abilities Independent work for student with no fuss Age and developmentally appropriate Productive and moves along at a good pace Wonderful way to learn Great to train students for future teachers Helpful Sometimes too much

What are your opinions about ZP homework?

Enjoys reading Excited and proud Confident Fun Loves it Amazed Somewhat good Eager

What is your child’s attitude about reading with the ZP program?

Amazed with the program-older children did not have ZP and didn’t read until 1st grade

Strenghthens students ability to read and builds their confidence

Amazed at how quickly my child learned letters and sounds-he knew none when he started school

Started ZP at a private school-pleased when we moved to TR and he continued ZP

I hope ZP is adopted by all KG and 1st grade teachers

Additional Comments

My child was introduced to ZP in preschool...I feel continuation in KG is why he’s such a great reader now

I wish all Ionia elementary schools would use ZP…I chose TR because they teach the ZP program

Genuine method for teaching kids how to read

Enthusiasm for learning and reading-just wonderful

Continued…

Skeptical at first, far exceeded what I thought was possible. My child’s reading level is almost a year ahead of my last child when she was in KG. I highly recommend ZP program to every child!

Continuted…

Student Survey

23/24 Yes 1/24 No

Do you like to read?

Handwriting pages-2 The animals-2 Singing the songs-8 Matching games w/ word families-3 Drawing pages-2 Spelling tests-1 A-B-C order-5 Sounds/signals-1

What is your favorite thing about ZP?

18/24- I like everything about ZP. 1/24-I don’t like Inny Inchworm because he

eats leaves. 1/24-coloring pages 1/24-Beat the Timer 1/24-spelling tests 1/24-handwriting pages 1/24-Sitting on the carpet for the lesson

because I get all sweaty

Is there anything you don’t like about Zoo Phonics?

19/24-Yes (like signals) 2/24-No (do not like signals)

21/24-taught signals to someone at home 3/24-did not teach signals to someone at

home

Do you like to do the signals? Did you teach the signals to someone at home?

7/24-Allie Alligator• she’s first• she has a bow on her head• it’s the first letter of my name

4/24-Catina Cat• she lays on a rug• she can jump• she cleans her face • she looks like my cat

Who is your favorite ZP animal and why?

1/24-Deedee Deer• she’s pretty and skinny

1/24-Inny Inchworm• my names starts w/ I

3/24-Sammy Snake• he sips lemonade and I love lemonade• he sips • he starts my first name

Con’t.

1/24-Timothy Tiger• I love tigers

3/24-Vincent Vampire Bat• he can hang upside down• he is a viking in the zoo phonics reader• he can fly

1/24-Xavier Fox• he’s in my name

Con’t.

3/24-Zeke Zebra• he falls asleep• he naps a lot• he sleeps a lot

Con’t.

Clear continuum from KG to 1st grade program

Students come into 1st grade feeling confident w/ familiar curriculum

Students love music involved in the program Program encompasses grammar lessons,

phonetic concepts, spelling, read aloud, oral retelling of stories and a connected lit. piece

No word is taught as a “red” word or non-phonetic word, sounds and exceptions are taught at all times

Positives from KG & 1st Grade

Students are able to decode just about any word given to them

Once students become readers, they generally drop signaling on their own

Lowest readers are higher and can decode larger words than in previous years

More students reading more fluently Lots of new words… Phonetic concepts are taught more quickly,

some concepts are covered that have never been taught before

Positives Con’t.

Both teachers in KG and 1st grade are teaching the same thing at the same time

Enough material to do 60+ minutes of whole group instruction daily

Positives Con’t.

Expense to the District

Cost$1169.95/KG teacher$1120.00/Pre-School

TeacherTotal

$12,670

Puppets $70.00

Literature Books $350.00

2 Trainings $75.00/session

$150.00/teacher

Zoo Phonics$599.95-Zooper