Making reading enjoyable is the key to the Lower School’s intensive reading program. The year starts off with Literacy Week in which the school mascot sets reading goals. The Silver Knight takes off from campus in a hot air balloon, challenging the students to read one million minutes during the year. A cardboard cutout of the knight keeps track of their cumulative progress in the hallway. Every time students add another 100,000 minutes of reading, the knight ceremoniously gets a piece of armor. Students track their individual minutes on their own miniature versions of the knight. The emphasis on reading is on making reading more exciting.

Underlying the fervor over reading is a considerable investment made in assessment tests and new books. The School’s Guided Reading Program ensures that students are continuously and appropriately challenged so their reading skills advance every day, says Reading Coach Stephanie Duggan. Rigby assessment tests are given three times a year to rank student reading levels on an A-Z scale. The school also invested in the Rigby book library, which ranks books on the same A-Z scale, and two libraries of Scholastic books. The ranking system makes it easier for students, teachers, parents and librarians to select books as a child’s reading skills improve.

This process results in using just the right books for a specific child. If a child reads a book and it’s too hard, they get frustrated. If it’s too easy, they get bored. So the program guides the teacher to find books for each student’s reading level – books which help that student become a better reader, engage the student and stretch the student’s vocabulary.

The Lower School evaluates the assessment tests three times a year to help teachers group and re-group children who share similar abilities, needs and strengths. A small group allows for interaction between readers, support from the teacher, more in-depth discussions of the text and mini lessons. Because the tests are repeated, the progress of each students is identified and groups change to reflect which reading skills students need to address.

The assessment tests identify the point of need for each child. When schools do not teach at the point of need, many children do not progress. Guided Reading allows students to discover how to think about a text, and the purpose is to teach individuals to read increasingly difficult texts with understanding and fluency.