Intervention // Virtual Learning
As with everything else this school year, academic intervention looks a little different. Even since the beginning of the school year there have been adjustments made in order to better serve our kids, whether in person (when it was safe) or virtually. This year our intervention team includes Ms. Shanell (kindergarten and first grade), Ms. Turner (second and fourth grade), Ms. Fowler (first, third, and fourth grade) and Mrs. Bradley (fifth through eighth grade).
In order to accommodate virtual learners, almost all intervention groups are held in the teacher’s zoom classroom in a breakout room. This allows our kids to avoid the hassle of switching between different teacher’s zoom links and faster transitions to and from groups. This year we are working with students who have the most room for growth and could use some additional attention with reading and/or math. Students were selected in October for the first round of intervention based on the Fountas & Pinnell (F&P) reading assessment, data from the NWEA MAP test, as well as teacher observations in the classroom.
Each round of intervention is six weeks long and provides mini lessons and opportunities to practice skills that will better prepare students for grade level content. For example, before a child can multiply or divide fractions, they might need a refresher on fraction components and what a numerator and denominator is in order to visualize multiplying or dividing it. In reading, students might be practicing how to sound out words using different strategies so that they can read more fluently and transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Giving our kids skills that allow them to read more smoothly will allow them the brain space to comprehend and grapple with the topics they are reading.
At the end of each six weeks, our intervention team reassesses their students and evaluates with their teachers whether a child still needs additional support or if they are ready to graduate and work on grade level content full time. The first round of intervention has just ended and the last couple of weeks before winter break are busy giving F&P tests (and celebrating so many students who have made tremendous progress)! So many students have worked tirelessly over the last six weeks in order to reach or surpass grade level expectations.
Intervention allows our students to receive small group instruction from multiple adults each week and gives them more opportunities to work on and improve on their goals. We are so excited to see how much our kids have grown during this first round and to celebrate their achievements!