Kids use SpellRead program to improve skills

By Gina Morton
The Daily Item

June 22, 2009 06:42 am

— DANVILLE — Sam Betz placed the colored consonant “S” card on top of the colored “EE” vowel card and sounded out the letters.
“Ssss Eeee,” he sounded out. “See.”
His classmate, Julia Long, also gave her cards a try.
“Mmmm Oooo,” she sounded out, pointing to each card. “Moo.”
Sam and Julia, who will be second-graders in the Danville Area School District this fall, are using the program SpellRead to help enhance their reading and writing skills.
The students are two of 40 involved in the summer school literacy program, which just began the SpellRead lesson this year.
Becky Perruquet, a kindergarten teacher at the Danville Elementary School, said the program helps students learn sounds, spell sounds and read and write.
“It’s important literacy skills be strong,” she said. “... The district believes in practicing these literacy skills.”
The summer session is open to students who just completed kindergarten through fourth grade. A balanced program of reading and writing is practiced.
It lasts five weeks — two in June, two in July and one in August. It’s 9 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays and funded through a tutoring grant the district previously received.
“District teachers recommend students based on their standardized test scores from the end of the year,” said reading specialist Penny Gaugler.
The summer program is an annual event, but SpellRead is new this year.
Gaugler said she learned of the program at a conference, and that with constant practice, the students will show improvement after a year. It will be used only by students in grades two through five.
“It’s about getting kids up in their test scores,” she said. Students discuss books they read, keep a journal and practice both reading and comprehension.
The children will read out loud, listen to reading and do word lessons throughout the summer in an effort to strengthen their abilities. They will be tested in August to determine what progress has been made.
Perruquet said studies show that students who don’t practice over the summer lose as many as three levels, and Gaugler said 20 percent of word knowledge also is lost.
But it was obvious the students didn’t find the summer session like school, but more of a fun experience.
As Sam and Julia continued practicing with their group, they were praised each time for their good work.
“That was awesome, Sam,” Gaugler told the boy as he finished his turn. “You’re doing so great, Julia.”

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