Curriculum
Mission History What We Do How Are We Different? Who We Serve Curriculum Impact
In our READ 718 After School program, we pull from a variety of evidence-based programs and practices to best support our READers. All instruction is tailored to meet each child’s specific reading needs.
Lesson Structure: Each child works one-to-one with their tutor for 75 minute sessions twice a week for a minimum of 10 weeks. The sessions are structured yet flexible, allowing each tutor to best support the READer. We believe in face-to-face, responsive instruction and that positive relationships are essential to learning. READers are encouraged to ask questions, to slow down or speed up when they need to, and to read books and articles that motivate and inspire them.
Each session is structured as follows:
Word Study (25 minutes): focus is on decoding, spelling, syllabication, and/or vocabulary. We use Explode the Code, Words Their Way, and Megawords, depending on the child’s need. Each program provides structured, sequential instruction in decoding and/or spelling.
Comprehension and Fluency (30 minutes): READers read a wide variety of texts at their instructional level over the course of 10 weeks. While reading aloud, the tutor coaches the child on a variety of comprehension strategies and fluency exercises. Areas of focus include Determining Importance in Nonfiction, Understanding Narrative, Asking and Answering Questions, Synthesizing and Summarizing, Engaging with Texts, and more.
Read Aloud (20 minutes): Together, the READer and tutor choose a book from our library and the tutor reads aloud to the child. Tutor and READer discuss the book and focus on new vocabulary; tutor models fluency, comprehension monitoring, and engagement.
Vocabulary (ongoing): each READer maintains a personal vocabulary list with words pulled from their own reading and the “Read Aloud.” The words are studied and reviewed each session.
We assess each child at intake using a phonics screener, a spelling inventory and word lists to assess their word identification and spelling skills. We use the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark System to assess comprehension and fluency. We reassess each child at the end of each 10-week cycle to gauge progress.
READ 718 and “the Science of Reading”
You may have heard a lot of buzz lately about reading – how it is taught and how children learn to read. And if you’ve been paying attention to this buzz, you will certainly have heard about “the science of reading” and how schools in New York City and across the country are embracing it. But what is it? The “science of reading” is not a particular curriculum; rather, it refers to reading instruction that is based in scientific research. Because there is a lot of significant research that supports systematic, sequential phonics instruction for children as they are learning to read, “the science of reading” has come to mean a strong emphasis on systematic, structured phonics instruction for most people. This is not new research, but unfortunately it has taken a long time for the research to find its way into classrooms. Systematic phonics instruction in elementary classrooms helps children build strong, foundational reading skills necessary to become strong readers in late elementary, middle school, and beyond.
But instruction does not end with phonics – and there is a lot of research behind this, too! Phonics is just one element (and yes, an important one) of good reading instruction. Children also need instruction in fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. And they need access to lots of great, interesting books in a variety of different genres.
Since READ 718 opened in 2015, all of our instruction has been grounded in research (or “the science of reading”). We use the “5 Pillars of Reading” – phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension – as a foundation for our instruction and most of our READers receive individualized instruction in all five areas.