Reading Recovery and Lift off to Literacy

 Reading Recovery and Lift Off to Literacy

Lucan East ETNS started the Reading Recovery programme in 2011. There are now two Reading Recovery teachers (Jenny and Karen) working in the school. The program is run in Senior Infants and First Class.

What is Reading Recovery? This is a school-based, short-term early intervention designed for individual children aged five or six, providing intensive help for these children to improve their reading. Reading Recovery was developed in the 1970s by New Zealand educator Prof. Dame Marie Clay to world wide acclaim. The intervention involves intensive one-to-one lessons for 30 minutes a day with a trained Reading Recovery teacher, for between 12 and 20 weeks. Daily 30 minute lessons are individually designed and delivered by specially trained teachers. Drawing from their training, Reading Recovery teachers make moment-to-moment decisions to support the child’s learning. During each lesson, children read many little books.

The carefully levelled books and individually designed lessons immediately give a boost in confidence to the children. This feeling of self belief and self worth that the children experience from being able to read a book that is right for them; spurs them on to read more and more. The more they read the better they become.

‘Lift Off to Literacy’ is a classroom approach to literacy based on Reading Recovery it is an internationally recognised proven approach to improving children’s ability to read in a short space of time. It gives children plenty of opportunities to read books at their own level of competency and gradually lift the complexity of what they can do in both reading and writing. Currently we run this initiative in Senior Infants and First Class. The school has invested heavily in this program and the PTA has spent time covering the thousands of books which cost thousands of Euros. Everyone who participates in the program really takes care of the books and enjoys reading the different varieties of texts. This program has been a great success creating many happy enthusiastic readers. For further information see the PDST website.

Jenny.