Every summer REAP provides Summer Reading Camps for struggling readers. The camps are a win-win for students and for REAP-trained teachers; the kids get two weeks of supplemental reading instruction while the teachers gain valuable advanced training in Structured Literacy.
The students received explicit, research-based, multisensory reading instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. We assessed the students’ reading abilities before camp and again near the end of camp.
The results?
The students in the kindergarten group showed a statistically significant difference in their ability to read rote memory words. In the first-grade classroom, the students showed statistically significant growth in three areas: whole words read, oral reading fluency, and rote memory word reading.
In other words, the kids showed measurable improvement in their reading abilities after only six days of instruction. The students really enjoyed the camp, and one student even asked for materials to practice at home. The students were happy to be able to read books without having to guess at the words. Teachers and students alike remarked on the improvement in students’ fluency over the course of six days.Â
