Reading Recovery Information
by Bobette Geiger
September 04, 2008
WHAT IS READING RECOVERY?
q Reading Recovery is a research-based, short-term intervention of one-to-one teaching for first graders.
q In Reading recovery, students receive 30-minute lessons each school day for 12 to 20 weeks from a specially trained teacher.
q As soon as students can read and write at grade level and demonstrate that they can continue to achieve, their lessons are discontinued and new students receive individual instruction.
WHAT CAN READING RECOVERY DO FOR MY CHILD?
q A key premise of Reading Recovery is that early intervention in first grade is critical. Research shows that children who fall behind in Grade 1 tend to remain below grade level in later school years.
q Early intervention is important because the gap between the lowest- and the highest- performing children is narrow in lower grades but widens later in elementary school.
q Numerous studies have examined the effectiveness of Reading Recovery for children with reading difficulties.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING READING RECOVERY LESSONS?
Each lesson consists of
v Re-reading familiar stories,
v Reading a story that was read for the first time the day before,
v Working with letters and words using magnetic letters,
v Writing a story,
v Assembling a cut-up story, and
v Reading a new book
§ The teacher teaches, demonstrates problem-solving strategies and provides just enough support to help the child develop effective reading and writing strategies and work as independently as possible.
§ Each Reading Recovery lesson incorporates the five components identified by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act as essential in a comprehensive instructional program in reading. The five components are
o Phonemic awareness
o Phonics
o Fluency
o Vocabulary
o Text comprehension
§ Accelerated learning is possible because Reading Recovery teachers base their instruction on carefully documented daily observations of what each child already knows about reading and writing. This is an efficient approach that allows all future instruction to work from the child’s strengths.
HOW CAN I CONTACT A READING RECOVERY TEACHER?
Bobette Geiger
Title 1/Reading Recovery Teacher
Troy Grade School
WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT READING RECOVERY?
www.emporia.edu/readingrecovery
