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program economist sunthe tribune tuesday may 26 1998 p7 5 r v r t york students learn to read jennifer brown staff reporter a few months ago reading words such as marshmallow and thermos would have been a struggle for sixyearold joshua townsend but today the grade 1 student at maple leaf public school in newmarket confi dently reads through the pages of a book called the missing necklace pausing only occasionally to form a new word in his mind before reading it aloud and when he isnt reading to his little brother jacob joshua likes writing stories both on paper and the familys home computer joshuas mother maria attributes her sons newfound love of literature to read ing recovery a specialized program that began in york region four years ago to ensure all children can read and under stand what theyre reading by the end of grade 1 i see so much improvement in this child the change in him is extraordinary its a miracle said townsend he always makes books now every day he asks for paper and writes something its getting to the point where joshua is reading to us when he arrived at maple leaf in november joshuas peers had already undergone a series of early literacy tests identifying students at risk but when joshua was tested in february his teachers determined he needed help in reading and writing he could identify letters and words such as the and at but he couldnt pull all his knowledge together to read a sentence education or story with ease and understanding his teacher penny zielinski said joshua was reading at level one not a good sign since grade 1 students are required to read at level 16 by the end of the year a levelone story involves reading a sen tence such as i am laughing a level- 16 story involves reading four or more sen tences on each page such as he was a brave little knight who wasnt afraid of any old dragon joshua easily reads level- 16 stories now and is ready to leave the program follow ing 30 minutes a day of oneonone instruction for two months he is just one of hundreds of children this year who will go through the program o which claims a 90per cent suc cess rate ffered in 71 schools across the region board officials hope all schools will have reading recovery by 2000 once enough trained teachers are available the program began in the western part the region where 23 schools offer it and quickly spread to 18 schools in the north reading recovery is viewed as a chance to halt illiteracy early although some tax payers may balk at the programs annual budget of 260000 studies show it saves money on special education later on up to 20 per cent of students need indi vidualized help and if we dont close that gap right away kids will continue tostrug- gle and every year that gap just gets wider said zielinski it would work in grades 2 and 3 but it would take the kids longer they cant achieve in other areas if their reading and writing skills arent there although it varies from school to school about four children per grade 1 class will require the program originating in new zealand reading recovery is now used around the world the program works teachers say because it provides a guided approach to teaching a child to read it teaches students to look at the word its meaning and the way it fits into the sentence for instance when encountering the word thermos joshua would seek out the sounds and combinations of letters he already knew th and her and then look at the rest of the sentence he looks for the chunks he knows explained zielinski we teach them to use their strategies to get over a word theyre stuck on we also have to let them do it and insist they do it they have to be inde pendent teachers also learn to shed all precon ceived notions about what a child knows when they pick up a book students arent the only ones benefitting from the program says zielinski who has been a teacher for 15 years ive learned so much about the teaching of reading and writing she said many teachers have said they thought they knew how to teach reading until they took the reading recovery training and teaching a child to read is the ulti mate reward of the profession says maple leaf principal glenna collins there is nothing more soul satisfying as reading recovery no panacea parent reading recovery may be viewed as the best means available to boost early reading skills in children but one thornhill parent argues it isnt the panacea some would believe occasional teacher and parent shelley smith says if teachers learned how to teach reading properly in university there would be no need for reading recovery or the programs 260000ayear budget if teachers are not taught to teach reading in teachers college it should be up to the board to come up with something that is used across the board she said smith recently made a presentation to trustees questioning the current methods of teaching reading in york regions public school board the issue became a concern for smith two years ago when her daughter was having prob lems learning to read after conducting research of her own smith discovered a program developed in florida that stresses the importance of sounds and recogni tion of letters or symbols in language known as phonographics the program does nt rely on memorization of words she feels the board should conduct a pilot study in grades 1 and 2 using the program i dont think reading recovery is the best program on the market i have a lot of questions about the results she said trustees referred smiths report to the special education department for further study jennifer brown 1 1 n i i iss i jf i if s pjfllb w a cis the outdoor den is a complete outdoor frontyard backyard patio garden and sunroom accessories store we have done the shopping for you and offer a one stop shop to accent your outdoor world we have tried to think of everything and have kept the emphasis on creating a unique store offering quality products that will let your imagination run wild we are committed on an ongoing 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