Reading Level 3 interventions

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down. If the student is demonstrating difficulty, take the following steps to help encourage accuracy, confidence, and independence.

1. Set a clear goal.

   • Set a goal in student-friendly language prior to beginning the exercise. The goal should be positively stated, written using clear and concise language, and be observable and measurable.

   • Review the goal with the student and check for understanding.

2. Introduce and model how the student will monitor their goal.

   • Choose or create a self-monitoring chart for students to track their progress over time. Use the chart to motivate, encourage, and allow the student to practice self-monitoring. Include the goal on the self-monitoring chart.

   • Explain and model the steps needed to complete and interpret the self-monitoring chart.

   • Practice completing and interpreting the self-monitoring chart with the student.

3. Clarify the expectations by modeling and reviewing the specific steps required to complete the exercise.

   • Review the steps of the activity with the student.

   • Model or explain the steps of the activity.

   • Practice completion of the task with the student.

   • Encourage the student to explain or show you how to complete the task.

   • Monitor independent practice and provide feedback and prompts as needed.

Is the student on task and engaged with the activity?

When a student is struggling to stay on-task and engaged, consider the strategies below as a starting point to increasing student engagement.

• Adjust the pacing or duration of instruction.

• Provide built-in breaks as well as allow the student to request breaks as needed. Involve the student in determining their preferred and most successful work schedule. Some students prefer longer work periods and longer breaks while others prefer shorter work periods and more frequent breaks. Adjust as needed to increase student momentum, success, and confidence.

• Consider student motivation. Motivation can be intrinsic and extrinsic. How to motivate the student is largely dependent on their learning needs, preferences, and reinforcers. Student observation, reinforcer surveys, rapport building, and parent and student questionnaires can be helpful in determining how to increase student motivation.

Are there words in the task (passages, questions, or answers) that the student does not know?

• Define and review key vocabulary used in the task.

• Display key vocabulary words and definitions.

• Promote student practice with vocabulary sentence strips, guided notes, response cards, or note cards.

Is the student demonstrating difficulty with answering comprehension questions?

• Have the student refer to the Book Monkeys Question Guide before reading each selection. This serves as a reminder to read closely, attending to the key ideas and details that they may be asked about later.

• Check the Errors section of this report. Is the student struggling with a particular type of comprehension question? If so, provide guided practice on that question type using the relevant Book Monkeys Worksheet (available in Teacher Resources) along with some short reading selections appropriate for the student.

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down. If the student is demonstrating difficulty, take the following steps to help encourage accuracy, confidence, and independence.

1. Set a clear goal.

   • Set a goal in student-friendly language prior to beginning the exercise. The goal should be positively stated, written using clear and concise language, and be observable and measurable.

   • Review the goal with the student and check for understanding.

2. Introduce and model how the student will monitor their goal.

   • Choose or create a self-monitoring chart for students to track their progress over time. Use the chart to motivate, encourage, and allow the student to practice self-monitoring. Include the goal on the self-monitoring chart.

   • Explain and model the steps needed to complete and interpret the self-monitoring chart.

   • Practice completing and interpreting the self-monitoring chart with the student.

3. Clarify the expectations by modeling and reviewing the specific steps required to complete the exercise.

   • Review the steps of the activity with the student.

   • Model or explain the steps of the activity.

   • Practice completion of the task with the student.

   • Encourage the student to explain or show you how to complete the task.

   • Monitor independent practice and provide feedback and prompts as needed."

Is the student on task and engaged with the activity?

When a student is struggling to stay on-task and engaged, consider the strategies below as a starting point to increasing student engagement.

• Adjust the pacing or duration of instruction.

• Provide built-in breaks as well as allow the student to request breaks as needed. Involve the student in determining their preferred and most successful work schedule. Some students prefer longer work periods and longer breaks while others prefer shorter work periods and more frequent breaks. Adjust as needed to increase student momentum, success, and confidence.

• Consider student motivation. Motivation can be intrinsic and extrinsic. How to motivate the student is largely dependent on their learning needs, preferences, and reinforcers. Student observation, reinforcer surveys, rapport building, and parent and student questionnaires can be helpful in determining how to increase student motivation.

Are there words in the task that the student does not know?

• Define and review key vocabulary used in the task.

• Promote student practice with vocabulary sentence strips, guided notes, response cards, or note cards

Is the student having a difficult time sorting words into categories?

Have the student practice listing members of categories with the Scrap Cat T-Chart Worksheet (available in Student & Teacher Resources).

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down. If the student is demonstrating difficulty, take the following steps to help encourage accuracy, confidence, and independence.

1. Set a clear goal.

   • Set a goal in student-friendly language prior to beginning the exercise. The goal should be positively stated, written using clear and concise language, and be observable and measurable.

   • Review the goal with the student and check for understanding.

2. Introduce and model how the student will monitor their goal.

   • Choose or create a self-monitoring chart for students to track their progress over time. Use the chart to motivate, encourage, and allow the student to practice self-monitoring. Include the goal on the self-monitoring chart.

   • Explain and model the steps needed to complete and interpret the self-monitoring chart.

   • Practice completing and interpreting the self-monitoring chart with the student.

3. Clarify the expectations by modeling and reviewing the specific steps required to complete the exercise.

   • Review the steps of the activity with the student.

   • Model or explain the steps of the activity.

   • Practice completion of the task with the student.

   • Encourage the student to explain or show you how to complete the task.

   • Monitor independent practice and provide feedback and prompts as needed.

Is the student on task and engaged with the activity?

When a student is struggling to stay on-task and engaged, consider the strategies below as a starting point to increasing student engagement.

• Adjust the pacing or duration of instruction.

• Provide built-in breaks as well as allow the student to request breaks as needed. Involve the student in determining their preferred and most successful work schedule. Some students prefer longer work periods and longer breaks while others prefer shorter work periods and more frequent breaks. Adjust as needed to increase student momentum, success, and confidence.

• Consider student motivation. Motivation can be intrinsic and extrinsic. How to motivate the student is largely dependent on their learning needs, preferences, and reinforcers. Student observation, reinforcer surveys, rapport building, and parent and student questionnaires can be helpful in determining how to increase student motivation.

Are there words in the sentences that the student does not know?

• Define and review key vocabulary used in the task.

• Display key vocabulary words and definitions.

• Promote student practice with vocabulary sentence strips, guided notes, response cards, or note cards.

Is the student noticing details in the picture to provide clues?

Provide the student with multiple opportunities to practice responding to pictures outside of this activity, such as using the Twisted Pictures Picture Description Worksheet (available in Student & Teacher Resources).

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

After initially reviewing the exercise goal/task with the student, if the student is demonstrating difficulty, consider clarifying the instructions, setting a goal based on the student’s area of need, and modeling and practicing self-monitoring to encourage accuracy, confidence, and independence.

1. First, start by setting a clear goal...

   • Set a goal in student-friendly language prior to beginning the exercise. The goal should be positively stated, written using clear and concise language, and be observable and measurable.

   • Review the goal with the student and check for understanding.

2. Next, introduce and model how the student will monitor their goal...

   • Choose or create a self-monitoring chart for students to track their progress (aligned with the Reading Level 3 Progress Monitoring Chart found in Teacher Resources). Use the chart to motivate, encourage, and allow the student to practice self-monitoring. Include the goal on the self-monitoring chart.

   • Explain and model the steps needed to complete and interpret the self-monitoring chart.

   • Practice completing and interpreting the self-monitoring chart with the student.

3. Then, clarify the expectations by modeling and reviewing the specific steps required to complete the exercise…

   • Review the steps of the activity with the student.

   • Model or explain the steps of the activity.

   • Practice completion of the task with the student.

   • Encourage the student to explain or show you how to complete the task.

   • Monitor independent practice and provide feedback and prompts as needed.

Is the student on task and engaged with the activity?

When a student is struggling to stay on-task and engaged, consider the strategies below as a starting point to increasing student engagement.

• Adjust the pacing or duration of instruction.

• Provide built-in breaks as well as allow the student to request breaks as needed. Involve the student in determining their preferred and most successful work schedule. Some students prefer longer work periods and longer breaks while others prefer shorter work periods and more frequent breaks. Adjust as needed to increase student momentum, success, and confidence.

• Consider student motivation. Motivation can be intrinsic and extrinsic. How to motivate the student is largely dependent on their learning needs, preferences, and reinforcers. Student observation, reinforcer surveys, rapport building, and parent and student questionnaires can be helpful in determining how to increase student motivation.

Can the student hear the words clearly?

Check the student’s headset, volume controls, and background noise level.

Is the student answering impulsively?

If the student is working quickly and responding without pausing to think through their answers, sit with them as they work through 2-3 words in Chicken Dog. For each word, ask the student to repeat the word that they heard, blend its sounds, and identify the number of sounds that they heard. Then ask them to check for any sounds that we spell with more than one letter (such as [ea] for the sound /ē/).

Ask the student to select the missing letter(s) to complete the spelling of the word. Monitor the student as they work independently for 2-3 more words. If they continue to answer impulsively, prompt them to count the sounds that they hear for each word before selecting an answer.

Is the student identifying the correct number of sounds in each word?

Sit with your student as they work through 2-3 words in Chicken Dog. For each word, ask the student to repeat the word that they heard, blend its sounds, and identify the number of sounds that they heard. Watch for difficulty with identifying the sounds in consonant blends.

If your student does not identify the correct number of sounds, repeat and blend the word slowly, and ask them how many sounds they heard. If they still do not identify the correct number of sounds, tell them the answer and draw Elkonin Boxes for each sound in the word on a piece of paper or whiteboard (refer to Teacher Manual for examples). Ask the student to name the letters that represent each sound, and write those letters in each box. Remind them that we sometimes use more than one letter to represent a sound (such as when we use the letter combination [ai] to spell the sound /ā/).

Monitor the student as they work independently for 2-3 more words. Encourage them to listen for each sound that they hear. As needed, prompt them to repeat and slowly blend each word that they hear before selecting an answer.

Is the student struggling with a specific phonogram (letter-sound correspondence)?

A phonogram is a letter or a letter combination that represents a sound. (For example, the letter combination [ck] makes the sound /k/). Look at the Errors section in the student’s Progress Report to determine the specific phonograms they are struggling with. Review the sounds of these phonograms with the student.

To review: 

1. Write each phonogram on a flashcard. 

2. Show the student the phonogram card.

3. Say the phonogram sound or sounds.

4. Have your student repeat the sound or sounds.

Conduct a “speed round” where you point to each phonogram card and ask the student to say its sound. If the phonogram has several sounds, you may give your student a hint by holding up the number of fingers that correspond to the number of sounds (for example, hold up one finger for the phonogram [th]).

Lastly, call out one sound at a time and ask the student to point to the correct phonogram card. (For example: What letters say /th/? What letters say /ō/?)

If the student does not identify the correct letter(s), tell them the answer and ask them to repeat it to you. (For example: The letters th make the sound /th/. What letters make the sound /th/?)

Is the student struggling with specific spelling patterns?

Use the Error reports to identify those spelling patterns and provide targeted instruction. Use the following worksheet to support your student in understanding, identifying, and writing words with consonant doubling and silent-e.

Chicken Dog Worksheet Consonant Doubling & Silent E