MiniLit

Making Up for Lost Time in Literacy

MiniLit is a research based program that provides reading instruction for readers who have been identified as struggle to make progress after their first year of formal schooling.

This program explicitly teaches student based on 5 key areas of literacy development as identified through research.

These areas are:

Phonemic awareness – This is being able to:

• Manipulate sounds in words
• Orally blend (combine the sounds m-a-t to make ‘mat’)
• Segment (break up the word ‘tap’ into its sounds t-a-p)

Phonic word attack skills – This is being able to:

• Convert a letter or string of letters into a sound

Fluency - This is being able to:

• Decode automatically and quickly
• Read texts effortlessly and with understanding

Vocabulary  - This is being able to:

Translate (decode) the graphical representation of language to derive meaning (comprehension)

Comprehension – This is being able to:

• Derive meaning for words and text – the ultimate goal of reading!

MiniLit at Mayfield

• Years 1 & 2
• Small group instruction
• Three, one hour session per week
• Scripted lessons delivered by teachers and teacher aides

For more information on this program please contact Kate Miles (kmile13@eq.edu.au)

STRIVE

Structure Tier Two Robust Instruction of Vocabulary Experiences

Did you know?

Reading Comprehension difficulties aren’t just about comprehension. Often the cause is a much larger problem of poor word knowledge. In fact research shows that vocabulary is the strongest predictor of reading success. Students must know the meaning of at least 92% of words in a sentence to understand the meaning of that sentence. We can prevent reading comprehension difficulties by explicitly teaching vocabulary. This is called STRIVE!

S.T.R.I.V.E. is a whole school approach to the explicit teaching of tier two vocabulary in the classroom.

What are Tier Two words?

• Tier two words are high frequency words with a sophisticated meaning that can be used across a variety of contexts

• They require direct instruction.

• Examples of Tier Two words include perilous, luxurious, stealthily

How does STRIVE look at Mayfield?

• Vocabulary instruction is taught for short periods daily in classrooms

• Explicit focused lessons are taught to introduce new vocab words and follow up activities are including to encourage the use of these words

• Homework activities are included as well to encourage students to use these words at home and make them a part of their everyday vocabulary