Read Well Program

[CeCe]

I just interviewed for a Kindergarten position today and they use the Read Well program for literacy. I've heard both pros & cons about this program, but haven't had first-hand experience using it myself. I'd love to hear what others think about Read Well and how the children do with it. I tend NOT to use worksheets and I'm wondering if this is program is heavy on worksheet activities. Is anyone using this with Kindergarten?

[mccwen]

We use it at my school. I use the Read Well Kindergarten program and the first grades use Read Well. I have experience with both RW & RWK.

I love the RWK program. It is fun, creative, and age-appropriate. The RW (1st grade) program is not nearly as exciting and can be very monotonous (sp) to teach. I would not recommend the RW 1st grade for kindergarten- it moves too quickly- however RWK is a lot of fun and my kids loved it this year.

I can tell you some of the highlights...

RWK has two components- whole group & small group.

Whole group lessons focus on letter of the week activities and themes. They use real literature (Dr. Suess, Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom, & Brown Bear Brown Bear- are just some examples we used) and stories written by RWK authors (called LAP books)each day has a different whole group activity or art project that goes with the lessons. There is a CD of songs/chants that go with the whole group lessons as well as whole class literacy games and "smooth & bumpy" blending cards (blending/segmenting simple words- VERY important in kindergarten!)

The small group lessons are where the kids must show mastery of skills and they are grouped according to ability levels and are based on RW assessments. The children learn to track text and follow the story, understand concepts like character, problem, solutions, and predictions. Even my lowest group this year were able to read words like me, see, I, I'm, we, he, dad, mad, sad, etc.

This is the first year I've had numerous students leave my half-day kindergarten sessions reading. I had at least 20 out of 38 able to read 20+ words and some of those could read 50+ words. (One of my girls tested on a 2nd grade reading level and another read 154 words.) The ones who could not read that many words at least knew all their letters and over 20+ letter sounds.

The one area the program is a bit weak is in writing. There is a journal the kids are to do once a week, but we're going to make that more of a priority next year.

The program can be a bit overwhelming at first to sit down and plan for and because my kids are only at school 2.5 hrs/day, we had to modify the whole group lessons (shorten them and eliminate some of the activities) I still think the kids got a lot out of it. I would reccommend going to the website- www.readwell.net and check it out. (There are links at the bottom of the page for the kindergarten program.)

We did X just this past week (last week of school) and the kids had a ball. The X alphabet card is "stolen" by Captain X and he leaves clues around the room for them to find his "treasure" (X- shaped cookies and the alphabet X card.) They had a blast trying to figure the clues and looking for the treasure.

[mccwen]

Wow- I didn't mean to write a novel.. lol I wanted to ask, what state you live in?

Also if you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

[CeCe]

mccwen,

Thanks so much for your informative reply! I got the Kinder job that I interviewed for and I'm so excited! I've wanted to teach Kinder for a long time, but kept getting placed in 2nd grade, which I also love, but just have this burning desire to try K. I'm so glad to hear RWK is fun and exciting for kids and teacher. Sounds like it is really working with your K kids! Very impressive results!

Thanks for all the tips and I did check out the website. It looks like a fun program. I love lots of art projects integrated with literacy activities.

I'll be able to pick up my RWK curriculum in about a week, so I'll have the summer to look it over. My class will also be half-day, so I may have to do some of the same modifying that you do. I'm glad to hear that the writing component is the only weak part because I'm planning to do KidWriting for my writing workshop time. I bought the KidWriting book (Feldgus & Carbonick) and subscribe to a KidWriting mailring. I really like this program for teaching writing and teachers I've chatted with really seem to love the results.

[mccwen]

Congrats on the job! Welcome to Kindergarten!

I would highly reccommend reading all of the Program Guide this summer. It really lays out the program for you. Since it is such a new program, I hope they've sent the new, updated Program Guide to your school (It's got a green cover/spiral spine.) It tells you all the materials you'll need each week for the art projects/scrapbook and tips on how to conduct small groups. I'm sure your K team at your school will also be very helpful. My kids really did enjoy it this year and I'm looking forward to next year- after having the "trial-by-error" year done with!
I had a feeling you were probably in WA- me too! I'm in Tacoma. (A lot of Tacoma schools are using RW/RWK.)

[mccwen]

The program comes with the ABC Wall cards (the alphabet that goes across the front of your classroom.) You'll want to use these because each letter has a cheer the kids will learn and each wall card has a picture. For example the Aa cheer is "A says /a/, Ant on an apple, /a/,/a/,/a/.

The program also comes with pocket chart cards you will use to retell stories, teach beginning, middle, and end, and make simple sentences. You don't need to make any charts or anything (unless you want to) but you will need to make samples of the work the kids will do. There is a lot of photocopying in this program, which is funny because it's not like kids are doing worksheet after worksheet, but there is one paper each day, one art project each week, and one scrapbook page for each letter. (Our scrapbooks turned out so cool- the kids had a blast looking over the ones they did at the beginning of the year.) If your district has a print shop that you can send the papers to, to be printed I would do that. We did it and it was such a time saver/ expense saver.

As far as themes go, I just stuck with what the RWK theme was. You'll find that in a 1/2 day program you won't have time for many "extras." I did check out books from the library that went with the theme and would read those books too. On each of the "Day 5" pages in the teacher manuals they give you a list of 3-5 stories that also follow the theme. Again- look through the Program Guide to help you know what supplies you need. One of my summer projects this year is to organize all my books and RWK supplies by unit so everything is ready and all together in one place.

Ok- I've written another novel, but I really do like the program and there are lots of tips I could give you. lol Again- if you have more questions, please ask.

Did the school you're at use the program last year? I know a lot of schools in Tacoma starting using it this past year, but because they didn't get it until mid-year, they really didn't get to see the complete program. We received the program in late Sept. and started using it by the 2nd week in Oct.

[CeCe]

Yes, my school used it last year and I think that was their first year. As far as I know, they began the year with it in place. The schools in Vancouver have been using it for a year or two, I think. The only negative I heard about it was from a K teacher who told me she wanted to do her own art projects instead of the RWK ones and her district told her she had to do the ones that go with the RWK program. But they sound like cute projects and if they go with what I'm teaching, I'm happy to not have to re-invent the wheel and go hunting all the projects on my own. From everything you've shared with me, it sounds like it really matches my philosophy and the way I like to teach so I'm really excited about it. I wish I could go get the program guide today, but have to wait until the teacher I'm replacing is gone. I really appreciate your sharing all your tips and info with me! You've been soooooo helpful!!!

If you aren't tired of this topic yet , would you mind telling me the topics of say, the first 3 themes so I can start looking for books & center ideas that might tie in. It sounds like they are 5-day themes, is that right?

[mccwen]

This school year (2003-04) was the first year the program was available for purchase- unless of course your district piloted the program, then it is possible they've used it for two years.

The first week is the letter Aa (Ant on the apple.) (You don't do small group work until week 4- the first three weeks are for assessment and placement.) The theme for the first couple of weeks is welcoming kids- taking tours around the school- and meeting the people in the school they'll need to know.

In week 1 they draw a picture of themselves on an apple cut-out. The next day they learn a song called "At the Apple Tree" and they take turns putting their apples on the apple tree in your room. (Oh yeah- you'll need to put up a tree somewhere in your room- preferably at the front of the class where you have class meetings/circle time etc.) They also listen to the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and put letters of the alphabet on the apple tree.

In week 2 they learn letter Ee (eels on wheels.) They make binoculars out of toilet papter rolls and you take observation walks around the school using the binoculars. They also go around and meet some workers in the building. I forget what the lit book is for that week- maybe Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

Week 3 is Hh (Horse on a house.) I really forget what we did that week! lol I'm at home right now, but I'll be at school in a couple of days. I can pull the manual and let you know.

Last year I questioned why they did two vowels right off the bat because they both can make such irregular sounds, but I think it's because they have the kids working on blending and segmenting pretty quickly. (It's cute- they meet Hector Ant and he has an old broken down truck with flat tires and that's why the letters make bumpy sounds- then he's in a glider [a paper airplane] and it's a smooth ride- so those letters make smooth sounds. lol)

RWK does have training here in WA. We were fortunate to have a first grade teacher here in Tacoma who is a trainer and she held several workshops for us. Your principal should let you know about it- mine did.

Overall I liked the art projects- of course some were better than others. I don't know if you'll have para help in your room, we don't have much time with a para, so I relied on parent volunteers to help the kids with the art projects. I usually had a parent back at the art table and work with 2-3 kids at a time. Especially for projects involving glitter or painting. They just need too much supervision with that kind of stuff, it's difficult to those kinds of projects whole group.

I hope your kindergarten team will be very helpful. Hopfully they will help you with the day-to-day organization and activities in the program.

I'm Wendy- by the way

[CeCe]

Thanks, Wendy, for getting me started with this! I really like to plan ahead and want to be completely ready to run with it when school starts Aug. 30, so I'm glad to have met you and to know I have someone else I can ask questions of. My K team is really small - just me and one other teacher. My school just has around 400 children and only 3 K classes so far. I'll teach an AM session this year and the other teacher has an AM & a PM. Teaching half-time works well for me right now since I'm doing a Master's program and have 2 children of my own. I stay plenty busy!

[mccwen]

Your school sounds a lot like mine! We also only have 2 K teachers- I'm full time w/ 2 half-day sessions and the other K teacher teaches an am class. We're waiting to see if the district will allow us to try out a full-day program for next year, but of course we have to wait for budget aproval.

I just received my Master's Degree in January- very relieved it's done! lol Where are you getting your degree from?