Elementary Reading Programs
Houghton Mifflin
The Houghton Mifflin Reading Series was adopted in the Oswego School District during the 2005-06 school year. Houghton Mifflin Reading is based on the most respected scientific research in order to deliver effective instruction in the five key areas of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Students engage in award winning literature by favorite authors and illustrators. These stories are found in the grade level anthology and leveled readers. After each theme, students are assessed on skills and strategies. Teachers use this information to guide instruction, to monitor and document student progress, and to screen and diagnose reading abilities.
Based on their academic needs, students are placed in flexible guided reading groups: below level, on level, and above level. These groups help differentiate instruction so that all students are working at their instructional reading level.
The Houghton Mifflin Reading Series supports the following strategies in grades Kindergarten through fifth grade.
| Reading Strategy |
Description |
| Predict/Infer |
Think about the title, the illustrations, and what you have read so far.
Tell what you think will happen next or what you will learn.
Try to figure out things that the author does not say directly.
|
| Question |
Ask questions that can be answered as you read or after you finish reading.
|
| Monitor/Clarify |
Ask yourself if what you are reading makes sense or if you are learning what you want to learn.
If you don’t understand something, reread, read ahead, or use the illustrations.
|
| When you come to a word you don’t know |
Look carefully at the word.
Look for word parts you know and think about the sounds for the letters.
Blend the sounds to read the word.
Ask yourself: Is it a word I know? Does it make sense in what I am reading?
If not, ask yourself: What else can I try?
|
| Summarize |
Think about the main ideas or the important parts of the story.
Tell in your own words the important things you have read.
|
| Evaluate |
Ask yourself:
- How do I feel about what I read?
- Do I agree or disagree with it?
- Am I learning what I wanted to know?
- How good a job has the author done?
|
Look for great reading activities by Houghton Mifflin to connect home and school by clicking here.
Assessments
MAP (Measure of Academic Progress)
MAP assessments are achievement tests in reading and mathematics taken on a computer. This test is given to all students in second, third, and fifth grades in September and May. Fourth grade students are given this assessment in January. Students who are identified as being at-risk in reading and/or math or new students, may be given the MAP assessment in January, as well.
When you receive your child’s MAP test report, you will receive your child’s lexile score. This score will help you select books at your child’s independent reading level. To find out more about lexile scores, click here.
AIMSweb
AIMSweb is a program designed to monitor the progress of students in the areas of oral reading fluency and comprehension. At the Kindergarten and first grade levels, it can measure letter and sound fluency as well as phonemic segmentation. It allows teachers to frequently monitor at-risk students or those students with more significant educational needs to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and document appropriate instructional changes.
AIMSweb Benchmark Fluency Assessments
Students in second through fifth grade are administered a fluency benchmark assessment three times a year. Students in first grade are administered the fluency benchmark assessment in January and May. These scores help teachers meet the needs of their students, evaluate student progress, demonstrate progress, and serve as an accountability and communication tool. The following chart displays the goals for each grade level of words read correctly on grade level passages in one minute.
*WCPM: Words read correctly in one minute on a grade level passage.
| Grade Level |
District Standards |
January *WCPM |
|
May *WCPM |
| 1st |
M |
40 |
|
60 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Grade Level |
|
September |
January |
May |
| 2nd |
Exceeds |
93 and above |
120 and above |
137 and above |
| Meets |
45-92 |
65-119 |
90-136 |
| Does not Meet |
44 and below |
64 and below |
89 and below |
| 3rd |
Exceeds |
120 and above |
141 and above |
155 and above |
| Meets |
80-119 |
100-140 |
115-154 |
| Does not Meet |
79 and below |
99 and below |
114 and below |
| 4th |
Exceeds |
138 and above |
156 and above |
171 and above |
| Meets |
105-137 |
125-155 |
140-170 |
| Does not Meet |
104 and below |
124 and below |
139 and below |
| 5th |
Exceeds |
156 and above |
171 and above |
187 and above |
| Meets |
130-155 |
145-170 |
155-186 |
| Does not Meet |
129 and below |
144 and below |
154 and below |
Darrell-Morris
Darrell-Morris is a first grade assessment given five times a year. Students are given a spelling test that assesses their phonetic knowledge on grade level words. Each child receives a score from 0 to 90 based on his/her letter/sound knowledge. Oswego’s goal is to have all first graders advance to the final stage, Transitional/Correct, by the end of the year.
| Child's Score |
Child's Stage |
| 0 to 30 |
|
Prephonetic 1 |
| 31 to 48 |
|
Prephonetic 2 |
| 49 to 66 |
|
Phonetic |
| 67 to 90 |
|
Transition/Correct |
ISEL
The Illinois Snapshots of Early Literacy (ISEL) are sets of standardized, individually- administered measures of early literacy development for grades K, 1, and 2. They consist of brief measures of performance, which can be used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy skills. ISEL is used to assess alphabetic knowledge, listening to and talking about stories, phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, developmental spelling, word recognition out of context, passage reading accuracy and comprehension, vocabulary and fluency. ISEL-2 also assesses written responses to reading. Each measure is grounded in research and has been demonstrated to be a reliable and valid indicator of early literacy development and has been proven to correlate to their reading proficiency.
District 308 Reading Assessments Available by Grade Level (*DM: Darrell-Morris)
| Grade Level |
ISEL |
DM* |
Observation |
Fluency |
Measure of Academic Progress |
AIMSweb |
ISAT |
| Kindergarten |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st Grade |
X
*as needed
|
X |
X |
X |
|
X
*as needed
|
|
| 2nd Grade |
X
*as needed
|
|
|
X |
X |
X
*as needed
|
|
| 3rd Grade |
|
|
|
X |
X |
X
*as needed
|
X |
| 4th Grade |
|
|
|
X |
X
*January Only
|
X
*as needed
|
X |
| 5th Grade |
|
|
|
X |
X |
X
*as needed
|
X |
Reading Support Programs
District 308 offers reading support to identified at-risk and academically talented readers.
For information about programs for at-risk readers, click here.
For information about programs for academically talented readers, click here.
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