Sopris Spotlight
Your Summer School Intervention
Solution
Summer Reading Camp Model Is Effective
Throughout the Year
The months after winter break
give teachers an opportunity to "start fresh" with
students. There is so much learning to be done in that
window of opportunity before spring fever hits. Before
you know it, the school year is over, and students
must brace themselves for the possibility of
a "summer slide," which can result in teachers having
to spend considerable time in the fall making up for
lost gains.
Research from the Center for
Summer Learning at John Hopkins University
suggests that the loss of reading skills during the
summer can be particularly detrimental for students of
low socioeconomic status. On average, these
students fall two months behind in reading, while their
middle-class peers make slight gains over the
summer.
This achievement gap can
expand throughout elementary school, resulting in
low-socioeconomic students being as much as two
and a half years behind in reading by fifth grade. A
2007 study by John Hopkins researchers indicates
that, at grade 9, two-thirds of the reading achievement
gap between students of high and low socioeconomic
status can be explained by differences in summer
learning opportunities during their elementary school
years.
"High-income parents are
taking their kids to the library, reading books, going on
trips, doing things that would continue to add to their
background knowledge," says Anita Archer, nationally
renowned author of REWARDS® and
creator of Sopris West's Summer Reading
Camp. "We can't duplicate that, but we can keep them
reading, teach them vocabulary, and improve their
skills."
Summer Reading Camp
provides opportunities for closing the achievement
gap before it expands at the primary level and helping
at-risk students in the intermediate and middle
grades catch up and advance. The intensive four- to
six-week summer school program is specifically
designed for at-risk students who will enter grades
2–8 in the fall of 2008. It is appropriate for
students performing below benchmark in reading,
spelling, and writing; English language learners
(ELLs) with conversational English skills; and
students who have learning disabilities.
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What's New
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As the new year sets in, educators have a "fresh
start" with
students. And Sopris West has new products and
services to
help you reach and exceed your goals for the
academic
year.
Check out new product highlights in this issue's
"Product
Focus" and request a free annual catalog. This
year we celebrate
three
decades of dedication to providing practical,
evidence-based
solutions for all students, particularly those at risk
of school
failure.
Studies have shown that much of the reading
achievement
gap can be attributed to summer learning inequalities.
Sopris
West's Summer Reading Camp is the perfect
summer
school program to prevent this "summer slide" for
your at-risk
students. Learn more from Summer Reading Camp
creator
Anita Archer in "Sopris Spotlight" and meet
Gail
Adams, another author and Summer Reading Camp
trainer, in
"Insider's Insight."
We look forward to another year of celebrating your
students' successes. Please stay connected by
sending
comments,
story ideas, and suggestions to Connections
at
e-newsletter@sopriswest.com.
Sincerely,
Your friends at Sopris West® Educational
Services
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| Product Focus |
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2008 Catalogs Offer New Literacy and Math
Solutions
It's a new year, and we couldn't be more excited
about the innovative products and services Sopris
West is offering in 2008!
Our 2008 Sopris West Catalog and spring Literacy
Enrichment Catalog feature an up-to-date lineup of
research-based professional development,
assessments, core curricula, supplements, and
targeted interventions to meet all of your students'
diverse needs.
New literacy and math products we are
introducing this year include:
Supplements and Interventions
- Step Up to Writing® in Math (Grades
K–12)
- Practicing Basic Skills in Reading: One-Minute
Fluency
Builders Series
(Grades K–12)
- Letter Tiles for Phonics and Spelling
(Grades
K–12)
- Early Vocabulary Connections: Important
Words to
Know and Spell (Grades 1–2)
- Basic Writing Skills: A Manual for Teachers
(Grades
3–8)
- Inside Math: Tools for Building Conceptual
Understanding and Computational Fluency
(Grades
3–8)
- Words for Academic Writing: Vocabulary Across
Curricula (Grades 4–12)
- SpellDoctor: Electronic Spelling Portfolios Tied
to
Authentic Writing (Grades 4–12)
- The Key Three Routine: Comprehension
Strategy
Instruction (Grades 4–12)
Reading and Language Arts Core
Curricula
- Read Well® 2 (Grades 2–3)
- LANGUAGE!® The Comprehensive
Literacy Curriculum Fourth Edition
(Grades 3–12)
- LANGUAGE! Focus on English Learning
(Grades
3–12)
- LANGUAGE! Access to Literature (Grades
4–12)
Assessments
- Children's Progress Literacy Assessment
(Grades
PreK–3)
Professional Development Programs
- LETRS® (Language Essentials for
Teachers of Reading and Spelling) Second
Edition
(Grades K–12)
- LETRS Foundations: An Introduction to
Language and Literacy (Grades K–12)
- Early Childhood LETRS (Grades
PreK–K)
- LETRS for ELL Educators (Grades
K–6)
- Leading Literacy Change (Grades
K–5)
- 50 Nifty Activities for 5 Components and 3 Tiers
of Reading Instruction
(Grades K–6)
- The Reading Coach Presenter's Kit
(Grades
K–12)
Click
here to request your free copy of one or both
Sopris West
catalogs.
We want to hear how our products are
working for you! Please drop us a line at
e-newsletter@sopriswest.com.
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| Insider's Insight |
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Q&A With Gail Adams
Author of The Six-Minute Solution and the new
Words for Academic Writing
National trainer for REWARDS®
programs and
Summer Reading Camp/Effective Reading
Intervention
Academy
Q: What is your primary area of interest?
A: Fluency has been an interest of mine ever
since I was
trained in curriculum-based measurement (CBM)
decades ago.
When I was a special education classroom teacher, I
provided
daily fluency training for my students. Fluency is fun for
kids;
they like to be timed, and it captures reluctant readers
because
they see themselves making progress after only one
practice.
Later, as a resource specialist working in general
education
classrooms, I realized that almost every student could
benefit
from fluency practice.
Q: How did you come up with The
Six-Minute
Solution?
A: In the mid-1990s, Sheron Brown (coauthor,
colleague,
and friend) and I attended a workshop presented by
Kevin
Feldman, in which he talked about PALS
(Peer-Assisted Literacy Strategies). That gave
us the
idea to take
the partner model and apply it to fluency. Sheron and I
put the
model into place in our own district and later
incorporated it
into the staff development work we were doing as
consultants
for the San Diego County Office of Education. In
Six-Minute Solution, same-skill partners do
repeated
oral readings of one-minute nonfiction passages.
Students like
to work in pairs, and it increases accountability when
they
monitor each other's progress.
Q: What inspired you to create the new
Words
for
Academic Writing program?
A: Several years ago, I decided to transfer from
teaching
in an upper-middle-class neighborhood to a school in
one of
the lowest socioeconomic areas in my district.
Although the
schools were only a few miles apart, the difference in
the
students' academic skills, background knowledge,
and
vocabulary was immense. It quickly became apparent
to me
that my new students had difficulty understanding the
language of school.
One unforgettable example was the student who,
during a
test, raised her hand and asked for paper and
crayons. When I
asked why she needed those materials for a multiple
choice
test, she replied that she needed to "draw a
conclusion." That
was when I decided to focus on directly teaching
words that
students needed to know in order to be successful in
school.
View full article
Meet Gail Adams at a Sopris West Summer
Institute! Look for more information on scheduled
presentations in the next issue of Connections.
To
save the date for an Institute near you, click here.
Please tell us which experienced professional
you'd like to hear from next and what education topics
you'd like to learn more about by e-mailing
e-newsletter@sopriswest.com.
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| High Marks |
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In 2007, the Florida Center for Reading Research
(FCRR) posted positive reviews of five Sopris West
programs: Read Well®,
REWARDS®, Sound
Partners, Teaching Reading Essentials,
and The Six-Minute Solution. Below are
selections from the FCRR reports; click on each
product's name for the full review.
On
Read Well: "Differentiation is at the
heart of
the
Read Well programs, and it is strategically
woven into
many levels."
On REWARDS: "The
instructional design
features
of both REWARDS programs [Intermediate and
Secondary] include instruction that is explicit and
systematic,
with a high level of teacher/student interaction."
On Sound
Partners: "To address student
mastery,
cycles of review are built into lessons; additionally, the
tutor is
trained to give specific corrective feedback and to
scaffold
difficult tasks."
On Teaching
Reading Essentials: "The
instructional strategies presented in the program are
based on
the latest reading research and are in keeping with
the
linguistic knowledge and skills teachers need to
implement
effective instruction for beginning readers and
intensive help
for the older, struggling readers."
 On The Six-Minute
Solution: "The repeated
reading and partner reading strategies in
Six-Minute Solution derive from a strong
research base."
Check out
www.sopriswest.com for
more information on these and other practical,
evidence-based
programs.
Please share what you like about a specific
Sopris West program and your own success stories
with the Connections community by e-mailing
e-newsletter@sopriswest.com.
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| Conference Calendar |
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If you will be attending any of these upcoming
2008 conferences, we look forward to seeing you
there! Stop by the Sopris West booths for information
on our products and a schedule of presentations by
our authors and education experts.
Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Annual Conference and Exhibit
Show
March 15–17, 2008
New Orleans, Louisiana
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Annual
Convention and Exposition
April 2–5, 2008
Boston, Massachusetts
National Council of Supervisors of
Mathematics (NCSM) Annual
Conference
April 7–9, 2008
Salt Lake City, Utah
National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics (NCTM) Annual Meeting and
Exposition
April 9–12, 2008
Salt Lake City, Utah
National Head Start Association
(NHSA) Annual Training Conference
April 20–24, 2008
Nashville, Tennessee
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Sopris West® Educational Services, a
Cambium Learning™ company, provides
research-based, culturally responsive curricula,
products, and professional development services that
allow educators and parents to increase achievement
for at-risk students and develop a positive school
climate.
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