ELLINWOOD —  Seventeen teachers from Ellinwood and other schools attended an inservice recently in Ellinwood on teaching phonics.
“It started with the Multi-Tiered System of Support,” said Principal Eric Sjogren. “By looking at the data, it showed us we needed to work in the area of phonics.”
MTSS is a system where students are tested regularly to find the specific area where the student isn’t understand the concept. That particular concept will become that student’s focus until it is understood.
Seeing a need to include phonics, the school decided on the Pathways curriculum to meet that piece.
“Pathways will meet our needs,” he said. The program will be for kindergartners, first and second graders.
With all of the teachers and students using the same program, they will be speaking the same language and be a seamless process, said Sjogren.
“Its a very strong program. The kids will benefit greatly,” Sjogren said.
Jane Seward from ESSDACK was the trainer. She trains all over the state.
Sjogren is also pleased with the results of MTSS. “We’ve had major growth in all students in all areas of reading. Phonics was our missing piece.”
The pathways curriculum includes manuals, lesson plans, assessments and group introduction.
The five core components are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
The ability to figure out words and understand the meaning in the text are skills necessary for independent reading and impact a student’s ability to learn to read.