Interventions

I am curious as to what you use for interventions for your Tier III and Tier II kiddos??? That is an area we are REALLY lacking on. We have a pretty good reading series and a GREAT 2 hour reading block (that I love so much), but I feel like we are really failing those Tier III and Tier II kids. We do our best to pull them for 30 minutes 4-5 times a week, but are seriously pulling random stuff from here, there, and everywhere to work with them. It is CRAZINESS and we all know those kiddos are the ones that need the most routine, predictable schedule. Well....I think we may have found it. I went yesterday and observed at a school in our district because I had heard they had an AWESOME intervention program. I have 1 word for what I saw...WOW!!!!! I was so impressed. It is by Fountas and Pinnell and is called Leveled Literacy Intervention.

It comes with EVERYTHING you need. Did you hear me? EVERYTHING. That is what I love. It is not extra work for me. Everything is laid out for you...you just follow the program. I love that it is repetitive. They do the same thing everyday/week so the kids know what to do. I swear. I watched a 30 minute lesson and these kiddos were ON TASK and WORKING HARD. You know...the kids who always say "I can't read." "I can't do it." Not these kiddos.....they can't say that because they WERE reading. They WERE and were proud. Each day they read a little reader. (It comes with 70 different books like this.) 

 Then every night, the students take home these cute bags with the same book in black and white (they are consumable so you don't have to worry about it not coming back), a very descriptive letter for parents on what to do, along with other activities. Can we say FABULOUS???

The teacher I observed said the CD that has the materials for you to print and copy is WONDERFUL and can create games, records, etc. Obviously I didn't see everything, but what I saw in 30 minutes MADE ME WANT IT!!! With that being said...it is NOT cheap. It is like $2000 per teacher. I went straight back to my principal and said "I don't care where you get it or how you get it, but I need $2000 for that program...PRONTO". We are meeting tomorrow (all of K) to discuss wants/needs/and I'm sure where are we gonna get the money. It was so worth every penny. I was so excited to finally find something that worked. How do I know it worked? Well, my friend from the school I observed sent an email that had these results in it:

I mean, really? 50% gain...WOO HOO!
**All of this information and pictures came from http://www.heinemann.com/  I am in no way paid for saying any of this! I loved it THAT much. You must check it out if you are looking for a good intervention program for your K kiddos. So, I'm curious...what do you use for Tier III and Tier II kids. Do ya'll even call students below grade level that? I'll let ya know if when we purchase it.