Decodable Texts-- Sierra Expeditionary Learning School

Moderation state
funded
Grant Applicant
Elizabeth Bell
Grant Co-applicants
Sara Jones
School Site
Sierra Expeditionary Learning School
Grant Category
Literacy
Grant Date
2023-06-15T12:00:00
Description

This request is for funds to purchase new decodable book sets for small-group reading instruction at Sierra Expeditionary Learning School. A structured phonics approach to teaching reading has been the main focus of early literacy research in the past decade. Recently, the “science of reading” has been at the forefront of the educational news world. The emphasis on teaching students to read via decoding (sounding out) words has been proven to be more efficient and more effective than a strategies approach with little or no attention paid to phonics instruction. In this vein, our school adopted the EL Skills Block curriculum several years ago. We use this structured phonics approach in grades K-2 (with additional use in grade 3 for intervention). The EL Skills Block, as well as the Sonday Reading System, which is the Tier 3 reading intervention curriculum used with our students in Special Education, stresses the importance of using decodable texts to teach young readers. While SELS has a tremendous library of leveled books for instructional use, we have only a limited number of decodable texts (a set of consumables that came with Skills Block and a small set Elizabeth recently purchased with a grant from our Parent Teacher Crew). We have a bountiful library of leveled readers, which are best utilized for teaching reading strategies and for practicing fluency. We lack a library of decodable texts that will support each reader as they acquire specific phonics skills and knowledge. 


 

Benefits of Program

All students in grades K-2, as well as students in grades 3-8 who receive reading intervention through our Special Education and Response to Intervention (RTI) programs, would benefit from the purchase of decodable texts. The aim is to improve the reading skills of all students and provide specific support to struggling readers. The use of decodable texts, paired with our structured phonics curriculum, is scientifically proven to be the most effective and efficient way of teaching children to read. Our goal is to use the decodable texts as part of our small-group instruction as well as to provide extra reading practice to our students. We will continue to use our library of leveled readers as a supplement when students are ready to read non-controlled text. This would be more in keeping with the current science of reading research. 

The use of decodable texts:

  • provides a systematic progression of phonics skills
  • allows young readers to practice specific phonetic skills
  • builds confidence (by practicing skills that have been explicitly taught)
  • builds neural pathways (with repeated exposure to specific phonics skills)
  • strengthens orthographic memory
Success of Program

If all emerging readers at SELS had access to decodable readers, they would be able to practice and apply the specific phonics skills they are being taught. With our limited supply of decodable texts, our emergent readers often have only a handful of books they are able to read and decode independently. Having a greater variety of decodable texts for students to apply their knowledge of specific sounds and letter patterns is a crucial stepping stone to reading connected text. If this grant were funded, our students would have many more books with which to boost their reading fluency, comprehension skills, and overall confidence. 

We use a variety of assessments to measure reading success. The EL Skills Block program provides weekly mini-assessments to track the progress of phonological awareness, phonics, and decoding skills. In addition, we use the following formal assessments to track and norm student progress: DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment), DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), Skills Block Spelling & Decoding Benchmark Assessment, and Star Reading Assessment for our older students. It is our belief that we would see substantial reading growth across our various assessments if our students had better access to decodable texts. 


 

Implementation

Our system for phonics instruction is already up and running with our current supply of consumable texts. If we receive this grant, we are prepared to put the additional books to use immediately with reading groups-- ranging from K-2 general education students to K-8 students who are receiving reading intervention through the RTI or SPED programs. This influx of decodables would also allow students to have more access to books at their independent reading level and give them more opportunities to practice their reading skills (decoding, fluency, and comprehension) during independent work times.

Can you share this grant with your grade level or subject team?

Our plan is to purchase enough decodable texts to share with the K-2 classrooms and the SPED and RTI programs. Approximately 90 students would receive instruction with these decodable texts (more than 40% of our total school population)-- nearly 70 K-2 students and nearly 30 students receiving reading intervention through either our Special Education or RTI services.

Sustainability
These are sustainable items. All books would be reused with reading groups across settings and years. Students are trained to care for our books carefully, and all books are transported between school and home using the Excellence in Education book bags, which further protect them from wear and tear.
Amount Funded
$6633.00
Individual Budget Items(s)
$1110 - Benchmark Advance 2021 Grade K Decodable Readers Print and Digital- 39 titles, 6 copies each, digital one year
$1725 - Benchmark Advance 2021 Grade 1 Decodable Readers Print and Digital- 72 titles, 6 copies each, digital one year
$972 - Flyleaf Emergent Reader Series- 41 titles, 6 copies each
$460 - Flyleaf Reading Series One- 10 titles, 6 copies each
$943 - Flyleaf Reading Series Two- 19 titles, 6 copies each
$943 - Flyleaf Reading Series Three- 19 titles, 6 copies each
Shipping
$515.85
Taxes
$480.21
Other funding sources

Elizabeth recently received a $500 grant for decodable texts from the Parent Teacher Crew at SELS. Additionally, she allocated $1,500 of her classroom funds from the SELS Bear Walk fundraiser to purchase a small collection of decodable texts for her kindergarten/first grade classroom. With an Excellence in Education grant, we would purchase more sets of those levels as well as several sets of the Reading 3 Series, which would allow a greater number of our students to benefit (as detailed in the Benefits section). Through our research, we found that current shipping costs are particularly high. Per our request, David Manahan, our Principal, agreed to use SELS instructional funds to pay for the shipping costs incurred by this purchase. As a result, all of the funds granted by Excellence in Education would be used directly for the purchase of books (plus tax).

Supporting Links
Benchmark Education decodable texts
Flyleaf Publishing decodable texts
Notes

Please Note: The SELS instructional budget will cover the costs of shipping in order to reduce the overall grant request.

Thank you!