How did you find Reading Rev and when did you start the program

After taking a “Science of Reading Academy” course several years ago through the California Department of Education Diagnostic Center, I worked with my second grade team to implement the UFLI curriculum as our phonics program. I taught UFLI for two years with great success and then moved to third grade at a new site this last school year. I knew I wanted to bring something similar to 3rd grade, but I struggled to find curriculum that was backed by sound research and appropriate for older students. It took me several weeks of reading, researching, and asking lots of questions before I finally found Reading Rev. I downloaded the sample Closed Syllables unit and tried it on with my class. I immediately decided to give the program a try. I spent the rest of the school year implementing the program (we made it through all but three of the weekly units) and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience. A few weeks after I started Reading Rev, one of my teammates also decided to pilot the program. We have been working together to use our experiences to shape our scope and sequence and we’re looking forward to our entire 3rd grade team implementing the program next year! Because of the success we’ve seen, the 4th and 5th grade teachers have also decided to taken on the advanced word study program next year.

How the program impacted your students

One of the biggest impacts I’ve seen across the board with all my students is an increased level of confidence with both reading and writing. My students have grown into self-assured readers and writers willing to take on challenges in a way I haven’t experienced with my students before. I have also seen a new level of engagement across my classroom. Struggling learners are finding the lessons accessible and are acquiring new skills because they can participate. Proficient learners are also finding new ways to engage with language and connect to literacy. The program has created a classroom environment where we regularly have high level discussions about language, grammar, morphology, and word origins. I am seeing this translate into incredible vocabulary growth for all of my students.

Any advice you would give teachers new to the program?

The biggest piece of advice I would offer is don’t try to implement everything right away. The program is so rich and there are so many amazing components, but it can overwhelm you if you let it.  Assess your students and determine what they need most. Start there. You can always add to the program throughout the year. I started with very simple weekly word study lessons to get myself acclimated. Pretty shortly after that, I added in morphology and some of the games. Later in the year, I started red word practice and by the end of the year, we had tried on many of the reading comprehension strategies. With this first year under my belt, I feel confident and excited to implement the program fully with my class next year!