Literacy First Early Childhood Brochure

A nationally proven language to literacy process for Head Start, Pre-K and Kindergarten

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Accelerate

Literacy Development for

Every Child from the Very

Start Proven Research Based Customized

From the Common Core Experts at Catapult Learning

The Literacy First Early Childhood Process Because Early Childhood Literacy Is a Partnership With 34% of public school children in the United States reading below grade level*, today’s early childhood education and Head Start programs are challenged to help students build a stronger foundation for literacy.

Out-of-the-box solutions cannot accurately predict successful outcomes for all children when different programs serve diverse populations and have many varying needs.

Components of the Literacy First Early Childhood Process How Young Children Learn Language: Characteristics of early learners and considerations for teaching literacy skills, building on children’s prior knowledge Skills Development That Leads to Reading Success: Oral language development, phonological awareness, early phonics skills, experiences with print materials, listening comprehension and writing.

The Accelerated Literacy Classroom: How to develop and utilize a print rich environment; learning centers that include literacy across the curriculum and small group instruction that focuses on individual needs of diverse learners Teaching and Management Tools: Evaluation checklists, skill sequencing and assessment, and matching assessment to instruction, scheduling, lesson plans and resources

Support your teachers, directors, and reading specialists to accelerate literacy development for every child.

Based on a strong site relationship among administrators, directors, teachers, students, and a Literacy First expert, The Literacy First Early Childhood Process is a customized, research-based literacy and change motivation process that addresses the unique learning characteristics of young children while meeting the specific needs of your early childhood program.

Meets and exceeds all national standards and assessments.

Over a three-year period, The Literacy First Early Childhood Process trains and coaches educators to make the right instructional decisions for your children and your program, utilizing best instructional practices and child-friendly materials that meet all national criteria for reading program implementation. Additionally, the training, curriculum and resources support common core reading readiness skills preparing students to meet the challenges of the new standards for ELA and literacy.

A Three-Year Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Literacy Development The ultimate goal of the Literacy First Early Childhood Process is for 85-90% of children in the program to demonstrate mastery of early childhood phonological awareness and phonics* skills that predict later reading achievement.** To accomplish this, we utilize a strategic three-year plan to measure and monitor effective implementation with your leadership team and teachers, providing each with all of the materials and direction necessary to elicit positive change.

Training Components Include: Leadership: Critical to the success of the Literacy First Early Childhood Process, the Leadership plan focuses on both product and processes, in the cognitive and affective domains. Principals and program directors are provided with rubrics for scheduling, observation, time monitoring, meetings, homework assignments and coordination of resources. In addition, tools for modeling behavior, providing encouragement and support, and rewarding and recognizing teachers for their active, ongoing, enthusiastic participation in the training are discussed.

Assessment: To meet your goals, teachers must be able to diagnose and prescribe instructional strategies with the greatest potential for increasing student achievement. Throughout the training, teachers assess and activate students’ prior knowledge and current learning of lesson objectives and make instructional adjustments as necessary. At the same time, they develop expertise in the administration and analysis of test data to form flexible instructional groups and tailor lessons to meet the needs of individual students. In addition, they develop a process to disaggregate achievement data based on your program’s specific variables and populations.

Instruction: Emergent readers can accomplish reading goals only with the intervention of knowledgeable, skilled teachers. Throughout the three year program, the critical attributes of effective lesson planning, instruction and classroom management—as supported by the most current brain research—are implemented by teachers to communicate instructional material to young children, motivate and involve them and monitor their on-task behavior. The result: a significant increase in all students’ potential to meet and exceed lesson objectives and performance criteria.

Curriculum: The Literacy First Early Childhood Process curriculum content is comprehensive and research-based.

Along with your Literacy First consultant, you will establish a set of pre-reading goals, benchmarks and performance criteria, analyze existing curriculum materials and purchase or create materials needed to fill any gaps.

Staff Development: Frequent, needs-based and practical staff development is key to strengthening teachers’ knowledge and skills. It is also imperative for meeting the needs of a diverse student population. With the Literacy First Early Childhood Process, district personnel as well as administrators and teachers meet regularly to discuss issues regarding program implementation.

Resources: Both people and materials are necessary in order to facilitate the successful implementation of the Literacy First Early Childhood Process. With guidance from a Literacy First expert, administrators, program coordinators, directors, specialists and teachers will analyze current resources and evaluate the need for modification or possible additions to better meet the needs of all students.

*Fourth grade students’ reading achievement levels as measured and defined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test in 2011. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP. **Source: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidenced-based assessment of the scientific research on reading and its implications for reading instructions. (2000).

Stronger Instruction, Exceptional Leadership and Dramatic Achievement.

Beginning with a comprehensive site analysis and needs evaluation, Literacy First consultants will customize this nationally validated three-year process of change motivation with best practices and resources for professional development, effective classroom management strategies, targeted, extensive on-site coaching and consulting and child-friendly curriculum materials to meet your program’s—and your young learners’—specific needs and values.

Summary of Literacy First Early Childhood Services Services

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Professional Development

3 days of training for grade Pre-K, K teachers

2 days of training for grade Pre-K, K teachers

No training days in this year

Coaching/Consulting

6 days per school and unlimited phone and email consultation

6 days per school and unlimited phone and email consultation

6 days per school and unlimited phone and email consultation

Providing Leadership for Complex Instructional Change

This two-day training will strengthen the knowledge and skills of the building leadership team and district administrators to better enable them to implement complex and sustainable change resulting in accelerated student achievement.

Leadership Institute

2 days in July for Principal, Literacy Resource Specialist and one District Level Administrator per contract. (District responsible for travel expenses.)

Teacher Training Materials

Training materials include an Early Childhood Teacher Training Manual and 4 resource books.

My Data First

Web-based assessment data management system used each year to disaggregate student achievement data and form flexible skill groups for reading instruction

Developing Expert Readers (DER) Supplemental Lessons and Literacy Center Activities

The school receives a set of DER materials for phonological awareness and phonics. This set includes lessons, center activities and all necessary materials.

www.catapultlearning.com/literacyfirst

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