Reading Recovery Lesson Format

A Reading Recovery lesson is 30+ minutes of intense one-on-one work daily.

• Students begin by picking out a book they would like to take home that evening from a selection of already read books.
• They then read several books that they have previously read to build fluency and to continue to practice all of the strategies young readers need to use.
• Next, they read the book that was new to them at the end of their lesson the day before. They have only seen it once and now is their chance to read it without support.
• Based on this reading, several "teaching points" are chosen to help move the child through areas of struggle. These mini-lessons are specific to the exact needs of a particular child at a particular time.  They usually relate to one of the three cueing systems, which might include a phonics "lesson", sight word work, work on monitoring for meaning, comprehension, or a discussion on the  structure of our language.  The teaching point could also focus on  a concept about print, fluency, expression, or anything else in their reading that should be celebrated or needs to be adjusted.
• After this, they write a sentence or two.  While writing,  they work on stretching words out to hear the sounds within them. As needed, specific phonetic skills are taught, imbedded in the words they are writing.  Writing  also provides an opportunity to increase each child's fluent writing vocabulary
• After the sentence is written by the child, it is copied onto a sentence strip. The child re-reads this sentence as it is cut apart, after which they reconstruct the sentence. This "puzzle" is sent home so that it can be attempted again that evening.
• Each day we end with a new book that was chosen specifically for each child. It is intended to keep them at the "cutting edge of their learning". It is hard work, but children are supported before and during reading. The next day, this is the book that they will read independently so that I can observe what is easy for them and what is still causing struggles. This is what informs me, about what I will need to do next.

The time at which each child comes for their lesson is flexible.  All children miss as little of their classroom work as possible.  Usually some children do their lessons before school starts. We rotate who misses which part of their classroom work. being careful  that no one misses the same things on a regular basis.  Reading Recovery students still receive all of their classroom lessons.