Case Study 1 - Luna
Age 9, Year 4, length of support 1 year.
The Hospital School intervention:
Literacy Support (Reading):
- 1:1 daily guided reading sessions
- Reading an instructional-level text with the teacher, focusing on decoding and comprehension strategies
- Reading an easy-level text with the Student Learning Support Officer, focusing on fluency, phrasing and reading stamina
- Reading box assessment to identify reading and comprehension level (re-assess throughout the year)
- Running Records as an assessment to identify the instructional level of texts
- Independent tasks in Literacy Groups to develop comprehension - reading cards, inferencing tasks, ed puzzle videos.
- Shared reading lessons focused on decoding and comprehension skills
- DEAR Program
Luna joined the Primary Classroom in her second semester of Year 3, with a love of picture books and enjoyed having stories read to her. However, Luna didn’t see herself as a reader and had poor self-esteem regarding her reading abilities. Through an Individualised Learning Program based on her reading needs and a range of literacy group activities involving word games, partner tasks and ICT programs, Luna’s engagement with independent reading increased.
The launch of our Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) Program in August 2022 was a changing point for Luna’s reading journey. Luna thrived on positive reinforcement and praise from her teachers.
When Luna first started attending the Primary Classroom, she was reading at a PM Level 24 with a self-correction rate of 1:4. After two terms, she was reading independently with a self-correction rate of 1:1. Her fluency and reading stamina improved gradually throughout her time with us.
Luna’s guided reading sessions consisted of a combination of PM levelled texts and decodables, depending on the learning focus of that session. Luna’s reading comprehension improved greatly over the year with an increase of 13 levels in our comprehension program and was comprehending texts similarly to her same-aged peers.
Luna left The Hospital School as a more confident, capable and engaged reader who was reading short novels independently for longer periods of time.