Does this help us on the Spelling Bee?

Well, I am very excited about this test! My son, Scotty, placed 6th in the school spelling bee, so that means we are off to the county wide Spelling Bee. We did not use our Beacon equipment/methods to study for the first one, but have decided to give it a try for this next round. There are about 36 words on the study list that he is having difficulty with. We will be using the Beacon system to study those words. We will work on about 20 words to begin with, and add to that every few days. I will keep you posted on our progress.

Things coming up in 2010

We are very excited about the new year. In January of 2010, we will be hosting a Parent Workshop called A Parent's Guide to Reading. This event will focus on educating parents on what can be done at home to encourage reading development. We will focus on students in PreK through the third grade. More information about this event can be seen at www.beaconliteracy.com/news.php . I do hope that if you live in the Mt. Juliet or surrounding areas (Lebanon, Old Hickory, Hermitage, Donelson, Goodlettsville, Murfreesboro...) that you will make plans to attend. This event will be held in Old Hickory - please let us know if you are interested, and we will provide additional information.

Also, we will be welcoming five tutors to our team, and so will have openings for reading tutoring starting on January 10, 2010. If you or someone you know is in need of reading assistance, please contact us at info@beaconliteracy.com so that we can set a time for your free screening and introductory lesson. If you are interested in tutoring for us or in setting the program up at your school or organization, we would love to hear from you as well.

We will have a busy and exciting new year, and hope that you will join us as we continue to grow and reach out to the community!

Thanks to the Literacy Council of Sumner County & Dollar General!

I was recently given a wonderful educational opportunity by the Literacy Council of Sumner County. The LCSC received a grant from the Dollar General to continue/expand their work with Irlen filters & lenses. In that process, they were able to choose a volunteer to train for the screening process. LUCKY ME! They chose me! What an incredible opportunity to further serve the Hendersonville community and my students! Irlen Syndrome affects the brain's ability to process information and can affect many areas including, but not limited to: academic and work performance, behavior, attention, ability to sit still, and concentration. Visit http://www.irlen.com/ for a list of symptoms. This is not a remedial issue, and may affect many areas of your life. I am actually using an Irlen overlay on my computer screen as I type this blog. If anything on this sight sounds like something you or someone you love has difficulty with, let us know! We are now offering Screenings through Beacon and with the Literacy Council of Sumner County. You can also contact the LCSC directly - http://www.literacysumner.org/ . It is such a simple, non invasive solution to so many issues. I think you will truly be amazed at the outstanding results.

I also had the opportunity to meet Jamie Lee at the Big Read kick off at the Hendersonville Library, who wears Irlen lenses. Wonderful young lady, with a story to tell...you can read about Jamie Lee and her magic glasses at http://www.wizardrabbitpublishing.com/ .

So, thank you to Margie & everyone at the LCSC and to Jamie Lee & everyone else spreading the word about the Irlen Institute! God Bless and keep it coming!

Better late than never?

Well, it's been a while!
to update...Cooper did fantastic! We continued our work until June, and he improved his reading (word recognition) by just over one year, and his instructional reading level went from a kindergarten level to third grade. His confidence in his abilities is greatly improved, and he, his parents, and his teacher are thrilled with his progress. Cooper will continue to wear his Irlen Irlen filters and his reading and academic performance will be monitored. We are so thrilled. What a wonderful student and what a blessing it has been to work with Cooper!
We'll check in with him in a few months to see how he is doing.

Almost there.

We have about 3 weeks to go - I am very anxious to test Cooper and see how his scores come out...but I will wait! He continues to do his homework perfectly and I am always amazed at his effort and enthusiasm. We still have some letter reversals and word substitutions in our fluency practices, but they are getting fewer and farther between. Cooper is also beginning to correct himself when he makes a mistake and and something just doesn't make sense...that is our goal...for Cooper to be able to self-monitor and continue to progress without too much extra help. We want him to be able to keep up with his peers. I will try to post again next week, but will definitely have something to say when we are finished!
Have a great weekend!

...and going...

Sometimes Beacon Reading amazes even me. Cooper is moving right along in his lessons. We have missed a couple due to illness, field trips, etc...but he is keeping up just fine. I try to send home readers that correspond to our lessons. I am finding these stories on readinga-z.com - great site...if you tutor, teach, do anything with reading, have a look! A true plethora or resources!
Back to the point...Cooper is reading those books much more fluently than before, and we are receiving extremely positive feedback from his parents & teacher.

Cooper still has a bit of difficulty on timed reading tests (AR), but this is to be expected...his fluency has improved tremendously, but combining that word recognition improvement with fluency and comprehension simply takes a bit more time...we are just 8 lessons in - so we have about 12 to go...I'll keep you posted!

Making progress

Well, Cooper did remember his glasses, and we made it through the story. He did great! Much better than I anticipated. He did not struggle with any part of the story, and even stopped to tell me his thoughts on certain comical events in the story - like the pig that didn't like the mud - without any prompting. That is one of my favorite things about Cooper. He truly engaging himself in his work, even the most mundane. So, he will be working on that story until Monday, and then we will get back to our regular lessons.

Cooper tells me that his reading is getting better, and things are a little easier! That's what I like to hear! We are 7 lessons into our twenty, I'll keep you posted!

A New Adventure!

Well, we have a new student! We have completed 5 lessons. He is in the second grade, and is very bright. Cooper is wearing Irlen (read more about Irlen at www.iren.com) lenses to help with his vision and reading. They seem to be making a difference. I can certainly tell a difference when he is wearing them - his reading is much more fluent. Cooper seems to comprehend things quite well, but struggles with basic decoding and fluency. He often guesses at what the next word will be. So, we will work on that...

We are six lessons into the Beacon Literacy Program (read more at www.beaconliteracy.com) ...Cooper is doing very well with his lessons. He always completes his homework, and is such a pleasant student to work with. We have worked through the short vowels and vowel controlled r. Cooper often struggles at the beginning of each lesson, and sometimes throughout the lesson. He is, though, very quick to correct himself, requires little instruction, and - I cannot say this enough - he has the BEST attitude any teacher could ask for. We are supplementing our Beacon instruction with short, decodable books from Reading A-Z. With Cooper being only in the second grade, I would expect that our typical 20 lessons will be sufficient. I would like to try a couple of other things, however, so we may do a bit more.

Next week, we will veer slightly from our traditional lessons and read through a short story that Cooper will listen to and write out for homework. He will also have a few questions to answer about the story. I have two goals for this: 1) to review/reinforce what we have been working in the past 3 weeks, and 2) to focus a little more on his fluency. I am curious to see how Cooper will do with this, and how he will feel about it. I do hope he remembers his glasses!

Cooper's word recognition tested at 2.83, and he reached a frustion level on a first grade reading passage. Our goal is to bring his work recognition up to at least a 3.8, preferably a 4.0 or higher, and bring his fluency up to at least an intruction level in 2nd grade, preferably 3rd or fourth. I have not tested comprehension. From the brief time that I have spent with Cooper, though, I do not feel that comprehension is a major issue for him.