Mrs. Smith' Reading Recovery

WHAT IS READING RECOVERY?

Reading Recovery is an early intervention program designed to select the lowest achieving children in first grade who are having difficulty learning to read and write. Children meet individually with a specially trained teacher for 30 minutes each day for an average of 12-20 weeks. The goal is for children to develop effective reading, writing, and word analysis strategies by making faster-than-average progress so they can catch up with their peers and then continue to benefit from regular instruction in the classroom.
 

HISTORY OF READING RECOVERY.

Reading Recovery was developed by Marie Clay, of New Zealand, whose research in the mid 1960's enabled her to design techniques for detecting children's early reading and writing difficulties. In the mid 1970's she developed Reading Recovery procedures with teachers, and tested the program in New Zealand. The success of this pilot program led to the nationwide adoption of Reading Recovery in New Zealand in the early 1980's and then to the United States.
 

THE CHILD'S LESSON

In Reading Recovery lessons the teacher and child sit side by side, reading and writing collaboratively. The setting provides the teacher with many opportunities to support the child's literacy learning.  Reading Recovery teachers follow the child's lead. Close observation and systematic recording of the child's responses enable the teacher to access how the child makes independent discoveries about reading and writing. From knowledge of the theory of the reading process and experience in interpreting reading behavior, the teacher formulates hypotheses about the strategies the child uses to operate on text. By making informed decisions about when and how to help the teacher keeps the child constantly pushing at the frontiers of his or her knowledge.
 

Helpful Links

Reading help for pre-schoolers www.getreadytoread.org/