Grady Semmens Contributing Writer WHEN Michelle Allin started Grade 1 last September at Sherwood Park elementary, her favourite books were the ones with only a few words per page and lots of pictures. Now she sits down and reads books with full pages of text divided into chapters and wouldn't dream of rrissing a day without reading even though she’s on summer holi- days — a new-found love that her mother, Robyn Allin, attributes to a new reading program —intraduced at Sherwood Park last year. Michelle’s school was one of 12 clementary schools to take part in the North Vancouver School District's Reading 44, a program designed by the — districc’s teaching staff and reading experts from local universities to improve students’ reading abilities. “It really has improved Michelle’s reading, she just loves reading now, which I think is due to the program because she never expressed that much interest in reading before she started school,” said Robyn Allin. By clearly setting out goals and activities for teachers to use when teaching reading in the classroom, the program places more emphasis on read- ing in and out of school, * according to Cathy Molinski, tne school district’s principal of program services who heiped design the program. Molinski said the program was started in response to a call to action from the Ministry of Education in 1997. after the ministry found that 20% of all clementary students in the province are below the reading level for their grade by the end of grade three and will never catch up once they've fallen behind. - YOU SEE “A LAWYER FOR ONE REASON The school district's super- intendent Robin Brayne chal- lenged the districts’ teachers to reverse this trend and have every student: reading ator above his or her reading level bv the end of Grade 3. Molinski: said) the edtiea- donal staff and teachers took up the challenge by hiring a reading expert: from Simon Fraser University to work with them in producing a five-year plan to help teachers teach reading more effectively. Reading 44, as the pro- gram owas dtled, was intre- duced in the first 12 clemen- tary schools during the 1998- 99 school year. She said the goal of the progran’ is to “make every teacher a teacher of reading” by giving them specific activi- ties to use in the classroony that are known to boost read- ing skills. At the elementary level, Molinski said teachers regular: ly scheduled time to have stu- dents meet in) small groups and read books that are at their reading level. “This was one of the main things we did because it is proven that when you put a priorty on reading it has an effect oa students” reading abilities,” she said. The teachers also encour- aged their students to read independently at home with their parents, taught their stu- dents strategies to make read- ing easicr, and combined read- ing and writing exercises, So far, Molinski said the results look promising. According to results of reading diagnostic _ tests administered to students that took part in the program’s pilot run at the beginning of the program in September and towards the end of the school year in March, Molinski said almost all students showed an improvement in their reading skills. Somc Grade 6 students boosied their reading levels as by as many as three grade lev- els in the seven month period, They understand the paperwork and the evidence to be collected They have the knowledge and experience to assess the value of the claim They have the ability to collect a fair settlement THERE IS ONLY ONE REASON TO SEE A LAWYER... YOU NEED ONE ~ ARDAGH HUNTER TURNER 986-4366 AFTER HOURS 926-3181 Criminal matters only. #300-1401 LOoNSDALE Ave. NorTH VaN. : E-mail: harryh@ahtlaw.com ae EEF ok BM OF oP ott Ot act ae PE a ch at abe ae gt at ee Se eh: while results from the kinder- varten program showed the number of children deemed “at-risk” for reading dittcul- ties was reduced trom 25% to 10%, “It's just been amazing, there’s heen areal renewed interest on the part of teachers in teaching reading in relevant and interesting, ways,” she said. Many teachers who used Reading 44 sav it is about Ume reading was given priority as a subject on its own right, rather than being, taken) for granicd as one of the three R's, “ft seems that most of the younger teachers who have less than five vears of teaching experience just don’t have the necessary tools for teaching reading,” said Karen Harrop, an English ay a Sevond Language teacher at Queen Mary community school who used the Reading 44 program in her classroom, “Thes're the ones who were walking around with them under their arms wher- ever they go now,” said Harrop, pointing to the pro- gram’s manual that she, Molinski and a dozen other teachers are spending part of the summer revising for the second year of the program. “Ie seems that universities aren't teaching reading instruction to teachers as much anymore and just assuming that everybody knows how to teach kids how to read, which isn’t true.” Harrop said she attributes the program to the success of many of her students who now love reading. “A lot of the kids just feel better about themselves now and Pve seen a huge growth in the number of kids who now just love to read,” she said. “T remember there was one boy who was really upset because he had to miss taking part in his reading group one day.” Robyn Allin agrees, saying the program’s strength lies in the fact that reading is placed as a priority both in school and at home. “The parents have been really involved with the whole process,” said Allin. “In our class we had at least one parent voluntecring every day to go in and read with the kids at school and then we always do reading at home for at least 15 minutes every day,” she said. Inedind A onal tediy emeralstnemva ts CATHY Molinski, North Vancouver schco! district's principal cf program gervices, heiped design the Reading 44 program. The progsam is meant to Improve stu-" dents’ reading abilities. “And we're always remind- ed by the teachers at the school whenever we talk to them to keep up on our read- ing.” Compared to her other daughter who is now in Grade 5 and didn’t go through Reading 44, Allin — said Michelle is much more inter- ested in reading. “My other daughter has always been a very avid reader but I don’t think there was quite the enthusiasm for it as we've seen with Michelle.” Molinski said the program will be introduced in 10 more schools beginning in September and that all the dis- trict’s schools will be using it by 2003. As the first schoo! district in the province to produce its own reading . program, the Ministry of Education is plan- ning to use Reading 44 as a model for other school dis- tricts that want to implement similar programs of their own..