Case Study on 1st grader Emil

Scenario
"Emil is a first-grade student at Mitchell Elementary School. His teacher, Ms. Perry, administered a universal screening measure a few weeks after school began. Emil's score indicated that he may be struggling in reading. As a result, Ms. Perry monitors his reading performance once per week for five weeks using a measure of reading fluency. The five-week goal (or benchmark) is 22 words per minute (wpm). Emil's scores are in the graph and the table" (Brown, 2009).

Screening and Identifying
The following chart demonstrates the target areas for screening which would be important for a student at Emil's grade. Ms. Perry can use these methods to being screening and identifying precisely the areas in which Emil needs more assistance. Specifically for students in Grade 1, screening batteries should include measures assessing phonemic awareness, decoding, word identification, and text reading. By the second semester of grade 1 the decoding, word identification, and text reading should include speed as an outcome. (Reading Rockets).

The Five Components of Reading
Scientific evidence reveals that reading is the intersection of five critical components: phonemic awareness and phonics (also referred to as alphabetics), fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Together, they form the foundation upon which higher level reading skills, critical to success in college and the work force, are built. Without the ability to fluently pull print from the page and comprehend it, students will be unable to understand complex text, one of the best predictors of college success ("Research Base").

Plan for Interventions
In drawing up a specific plan, the school-based leadership team (SBLT) must work collaboratively: roles and responsibilities must be defined clearly and agreed upon and there must be frequent meetings to measure the implementation and its effectiveness.

Using the evidence collected from the Tier II intervention, an individualised plan will need to be established for Emil. Given the nature of the issue and the success of the initial intervention, m uch of the differentiated learning strategy for Emil will likely be Ms. Perry's responsibility but the need for technology support should also be evaluated. It is also likely that the remedial work of the Tier III intervention can take place in the classroom without the need for Emil to receive Special Education outside of it. It might though be helpful to have a teacher's assistant who can, at specified times each week, work with emil on his reading. There should be fixed goals for improvement established and regular checks and formative assessments in order to establish whether they are.

Activities in Reading / Language Arts
The teacher should use the universal screening scores to divide her students up into Guided Reading groups. She can do this based on level (Fountas & Pinnell groupings for example) or based on goal areas. These small groups can focus all instruction more intensely and allow the teacher to continually monitor Emil to determine any further interventions or tier placement.

To get Emil reading more, the teacher could suggest that Emil reads a book every night as a part of his homework. Then Emil should draw a picture of his favorite part and write a sentence to go along with the picture. This will help Emil broaden his vocabulary and become a fluent reader. He will be able to make inferences based on the information he reads and this will give him practice for in class read alouds. Not only will this help Emil academically but it will help strengthen his appreciation of books. To practice his sight words, the teacher could employ some art and a first grader's natural energy. For example, Emil could create a "sight word" watch. This watch could be decorated in any way that interests him-- an academic choice that makes a student feel validated and engaged. In the center or face of the watch, there would be one of Emil's sight words or a word he seems to struggle with. The teacher can then practice this throughout the day by stopping Emil and asking "Hey Emil, can you see the time?" and Emil can say "Yes-- I see (sight word)." This can also be practiced whole group depending on Emil's comfort level with this type of activity.

Activities in Math
Similar to Shaunika's activities, it is important to practice reading fluency in mathematics as well. If working on any math word problems, it would be beneficial for Emil to be one on one with the teacher or a small group of students to practice reading through the word problem, pronouncing the words correctly, and extracting the necessary information. The teacher could also create activities that can be used in both math and reading. For example, Emil could practice his number identification while practicing his sight words with a dice game like the one pictured. He could roll the dice and for whatever number he rolled, he would read a sight list from that column. If he rolled a three, he would read three sight words from that column and so on. This could be used as station work in either subject and adds an element of fun to his interventions.

Activities in Social Studies
Angela Watson argues that literacy in early grades focuses far too much on fiction. She suggests however that, if asked, children will tell you how much they love reading about dinosaurs, disasters and the like: all examples of non-fiction. Social studies is then an area in which literacy can be developed through a range of different activities. One idea is to use history texts to teach non-fiction reading strategies even at this early age. Watson's article: Integrating Social Studies into Literacy Routines, contains six other easy to integrate activities (Watson).

Activities in Science
To ensure Emil's continued success, and build on the entire class's literacy skills, reading should be taught in all subject areas including science. This creates meaningful, relevant context that is motivating to students and helps them make real-world connections. For example, Ms. Perry could build an integrated Science-Literature unit using the popular book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to teach the water cycle. According to Professor Patricia Bowers, "There is a fine array of children’s literature available today that teachers can use to introduce their students to the world in which they live and, concomitantly, to teach reading skills in a meaningful context." She goes on to say that, "Science and reading complement each other well because of the similarities between reading skills and science process skills." (Bowers)

Data-Based Decision Making
Emil is responding well to the regular Tier 1 approach of differentiated instruction. His score is at or above 22 wpm during the last three probes, and his rate of growth is quite high at 4.25 (last score minus first score divided by 5 minus 1 for the week numbers). Ms. Perry should continue probes for at least five more weeks to establish sufficient data, but overall the Tier 1 approach seems to be working quite well.

Ms. Perry should also check the reading material for the probes against that of the universal screening measure. The level of difficulty may have affected test results. In research, I found that McGraw-Hill has a fluency probe with simple language and larger text, while Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) includes slightly more text with smaller font. Because of the variety in DIBELS and the booklet approach, I suggest that this is the measure used by Ms. Perry with Emil and his classmates. DIBELS can be accessed online here. A sample of a McGraw-Hill fluency passage is available here.

Contributors
Kimberly Cochrane added Scenario, the outline format of this page, and information under Data-Based Decision Making.

Thomas Morrill added information and a chart to the Screening and Identifying section.

Shanda Bonn added a science activity.

Adrian Moore added two paragraphs on a Plan for Interventions and a Social Studies strategy idea.

Sean Calabrese contributed a paragraph/media to Math Activities and Reading/ELA.

Brittany Payne contributed the 5 Components of Reading under Screening and Identifying.

Shinese Anderson contributed the second paragraph under Activities in Reading.