| Frequently Asked Questions |
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| What makes Read Well different? What makes it work? |
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Designed to be flexible to meet the needs of all, some, and few students regardless of their ability or achievement level |
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Small group placement determined by assessed skill level |
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Skills taught to mastery in small-group instruction |
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Sufficient, targeted, appropriate extra practice to reinforcement skills |
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Ongoing assessment to monitor progress and guide pacing |
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Daily instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency |
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Comprehensive and ongoing professional development |
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| What students does Read Well serve? |
Read Well can be and has been implemented successfully as a core replacement for struggling and at-risk students. It is also used across the United States as an intervention and as a core curriculum. |
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| What evidence of effectiveness or data do we have for Read Well? |
| The Read Well Research Base and Evidence of Effectiveness brochure is available in hard copy (item# 133671) and electronically on the Internet. |
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| What does the research show about Read Well? |
The research shows that:
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Read Well sets a strong foundation for reading that is sustainable. |
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Read Well helps move students from high-risk into the low-risk category in DIBELS. |
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the percentage of students in the high-risk category in DIBELS was reduced after Read Well instruction. |
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after instruction with Read Well, students showed substantial gains in phonological awareness and phonemic decoding. |
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| What is required to implement Read Well with fidelity? |
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Administering the placement inventory to place students at the appropriate skill level |
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Provide direct small-group instruction at least 30 minutes per day, at least five days per week. |
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If students struggle or experience weak passes, provide a second dose of instruction or extra practice on the difficult skills |
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| What are the components that make up Read Well? |
Read Well K:
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23 Small-Group Units (Getting Started Guide, Teacher's Guides, Decoding Magazines, Storybooks with Duet and Solo Stories, Assessment Manual, Sound and Word Cards, Blending Cards, My Activity Books: Comprehension & Skill Work, Blackline Masters, and manipulatives) |
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Activity Centers: Appropriate Independent Skill Practice to support the Read Well units (TG, Card Book, Game Mats, manipulatives, Blackline Masters CD-ROM) |
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26 Whole-Class Units (Getting Started Guide, Teacher's Guides, Read Alouds and related activities: ABC Wall Cards, Poem Posters, Pocket Chart Cards, Blending Cards, CD of Songs, Lap Books, Children's Literature Set, My Activity Books, Blackline Masters) |
Read Well 1:
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40 Small-Group Units (Getting Started Guide, Teacher's Guides, Assessment Manual, Decoding Books, Storybooks with Duet and Solo Stories, Sound and Word Cards, Blending Cards, manipulatives, Blackline Masters) |
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Activity Centers: Appropriate Independent Skill Practice to support the Read Well units (TG, Card Book, Game Mats, manipulatives, Blackline Masters CD-ROM) |
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Spelling & Writing Conventions: 34 units that align with small-group units (TG's, Poem Book, ABC Wall Cards, Song CDs (2), Spelling Folders) |
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Read Well Plus: 12 small-group units that extend Read Well 1. (Exercise Books, Storybooks, including 2 tradebooks: Nate the Great and Frog and Toad Together, Comprehension and Skill Workbooks, Teacher's Guides, Getting Started Guide with Assessments, Blackline Masters, Sound Cards) |
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Read Well 1 Composition: 30 units—25 regular, and five bonus units for students who begin first grade with finely developed literacy skills, (Getting Started Guide, two Teacher's Guides, Student Skill Books, Literature Set, Composition Books) |
Read Well 2:
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Ten Fluency Foundations Units (Teacher's Guides, Getting Started Guide with Assessments, Storybooks, Activity Books, Sound Cards, Cards) |
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25 Small-Group Units, including five Plus units (Exercise Books, Storybooks with "With the Teacher" and "On Your Own" stories, Assessment Manual, Sound Cards, Blending Cards, Teacher's Guides, Getting Started Guide, manipulatives, Blackline Masters) |
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Read Well 2 Spelling and Writing Conventions: 36 units that review many of the words from Read Well 2, (Getting Started Guide, Teacher's Guides, ABC Wall Cards, Poem and Song Book, Spelling Songs CD, Activity Books, Blackline Masters) |
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Read Well 2 Composition: 11 units that cover 32 weeks of school (Getting Started Guide, Teacher's Guides, Literature Set, Online Resources, Composition Writer's Notebooks) |
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| What are some of the ways in which Read Well teaches phonological awareness and phonemic awareness? |
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Stretch and Shrink |
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Smooth and Bumpy Blending |
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Segmenting |
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Sound Counting |
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Sound and Word Routines |
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Rhyming |
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Games |
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Songs |
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| What is the reasoning behind the Read Well sound sequence? |
| Read Well introduces high frequency sounds first and separates easily confused letter/sound associations. This enables students to decode more high-frequency words sooner. The different levels of Read Well have overlapping sound sequences. This provides additional options for intervention when needed, and enables students who have completed one level to smoothly transition into the middle units of the subsequent level. |
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| How is vocabulary taught in Read Well? |
Vocabulary is taught:
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using student-friendly definitions. |
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through teacher-read text and in duet stories. |
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throughout a unit. |
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across multiple units. |
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sometimes used to define other words. |
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The word is read in decoding practice when students have learned the necessary letter/sound associations |
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| How is comprehension taught in Read Well? |
Comprehension is taught:
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through the use of duet stories. |
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with explicit teacher prompts embedded in the text. |
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through retelling activities. |
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by building on background knowledge. |
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through the use of story maps. |
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by encouraging students to make predictions. |
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with the multiple levels of thinking described in Bloom's Taxonomy. |
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through Comprehension and Skill activities for every unit in Read Well 1, Plus and Read Well 2. |
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by using Read Well units to build content knowledge. |
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| In what ways does Read Well build fluency? |
Read Well builds fluency with multiple methods, including:
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multiple readings of all stories and passages, |
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whisper reading, |
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partner reading, |
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multiple reading of Homework stories, |
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timed readings, |
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and optional extra practice passages for each unit. |
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| Does Read Well include homework? |
Every unit of Read Well includes reprints and modifications of solo stories already learned in direct small-group instruction. These serve as homework and:
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provide extra reading practice to build fluency. |
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provide a home connection for parents. |
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provide an opportunity for parents to encourage reading success. |
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help children develop a sense of responsibility. |
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| How does Read Well address differentiated instruction? |
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Multiple entry points allow students to be placed at an appropriate skill level. |
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Built-in progress monitoring is included with short one-on-one assessments at the end of each unit. |
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Provides specific pacing options for each unit. |
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Provides suggestions for systematic reviews of earlier units (Jell Well reviews). |
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Optional extra practice lessons are included in every Unit for those students needing repetition. |
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| What are Solo Stories? |
| Solo Stories are stories that are fully decodable by students who have reached that unit. They help build fluency and independent reading skills. There are Solo Stories included in each unit, and all stories are Solo Stories after Read Well 1, Unit 34. |
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| How does the format and design of Read Well curriculum support teachers? |
Read Well was created by teachers for teachers, and was designed to make things easier for teachers.
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Separate Small Group Teacher's Guides (one for each unit) |
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Explicit differentiated lesson plans included in each unit for intervention and acceleration |
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Light scripting of lessons to help teachers understand the steps and visualize a lesson before instruction |
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Comprehension questions are built into storybooks and lap books |
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End-of-unit assessments included for every small-group unit |
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Important "Teaching Tips" are outlined in each Teacher's Guide |
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Specific areas in each unit provide repeated and extended practice with oral language patterns for ELL students |
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Components are color-coded |
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Materials listing in each Teacher's Guide |
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| What are tricky words? |
| Read Well uses the term "Tricky Words" to refer to irregular words that are gradually introduced in sequence with the sounds students are learning. These are practiced during decoding lessons. |
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| What is Stretch and Shrink? |
| Stretch and Shrink is phonemic awareness activity that prepares students for sounding out words. Students orally stretch and shrink words. Spring toys are used for demonstration and guided practice. Stretch and Shrink is part of the daily decoding exercises as well as part of Read Well K whole-class lessons. |
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| Do all students start in Unit 1? |
| No. All students should be given the placement inventory to determine the appropriate unit to begin Read Well instruction. Each level of Read Well has multiple entry points to provide for a variety of student skill levels. |
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| Where should students be at the end of the school year to be on grade level? |
| Read Well is designed so that students move through the units at an appropriate pace "with mastery." Not all Kindergarten students will complete through Unit 20 in Read Well K. Read Well K and Read Well 1 units overlap, so students who have had Read Well K in kindergarten can begin at a higher unit of Read Well 1 in Grade 1. First-grade students who are at grade level should finish Read Well 1, Unit 38 by year-end. Second-grade students who begin the year on or close to grade level should complete Read Well 2 Unit 20 by year-end. Read Well helps students who are not at grade level to catch up. |
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| What are the readability levels of Read Well? |
| Due to the sound sequence of Read Well, designed to introduce sounds used frequently before introducing less frequently used sounds, there is no direct match to standard readability measures. Read Well's sound sequence allows students to decode more high-frequency words earlier, which enables them to comprehend meaningful sentences and stories sooner. Read Well Plus takes students to a 2.5 reading level, and Read Well 2 Plus takes students well beyond a second-grade reading level. |
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| Are there themes in Read Well? |
| Each small-group unit of Read Well has 4-6 similarly themed stories. Very often, 2-3 consecutive units have a related theme. Recommended read aloud books, related to the theme, are listed in each unit's Teacher's Guide. |
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| Read Well Plus, Read Well 2, and Read Well 2 Plus all note that they come with Trade Books. Are these the recommended Read Alouds? |
| No. The trade books mentioned are fully decodable by students who have reached these units, and are directly taught in small-group lessons. Comprehension and Skill work supports each unit and is an integrated part of the curriculum. There is a Children's Literature Set that is part of the Read Well K curriculum. There are also literature sets for Read Well 1 Composition and Read Well 2 Composition programs. |
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| Are the Read Well Blackline Masters available on CD-ROM or online? |
| Blackline Masters are available for all levels of Read Well. Currently, they are a separate purchase (listed in the catalog) for Read Well K, Read Well 1, and Read Well 1 Plus. Blackline Masters CD-ROMs are included in the Read Well 2 Instructor Package. |
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| Why do I need to buy the Read Well Activity Centers? Can't we just use generic activities to keep students busy while our teachers teach the other small groups? |
| Read Well K and Read Well 1 Activity Centers provide multiple independent practice activities that give students the opportunity to cement the skills learned in small-group instruction. The activities are explicitly taught and organized for independence, and the content aligns with both students' needs and instruction. Practice with these activities results in motivated and engaged students, higher assessment scores, and improved student skills. |
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| Are the Read Well assessments only available on paper? |
| Currently the Read Well assessments are done on paper. The data from these assessments can then be entered into the VPORT Online Data Management System. Discussions are underway to determine the feasibility of developing the Read Well assessments for administration through VPORT. |
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| What are examples of the scheduling options for 120 mins/60 mins/90 mins (and what is covered during this time)? |
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120 minutes: 30 minutes whole class [Read Well ABC Routines, Theme-Related Read Alouds, and Write Well Spelling] and 30 minutes small groups (3) [Classroom teacher with 3 group rotations: 30 mins Teacher-Directed instruction, 30 mins Read Well Independent Work, 30 mins Teacher-Developed Center Activites] |
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90 minutes: 60 minute walk-to-read (Teacher and Assistant 45 minutes directed; 15 minute independent work); plus 30 minute whole-class instruction (Teacher doing Read Well ABC Routines, Theme-Related Read Alouds, and Write Well Spelling) |
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60 minutes: walk-to-read with Teacher and no whole-class instruction |
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| How do you implement multiple groups after placement if there is only one teacher? |
| In general, while one small group is given teacher directed instruction, another small group would be participating in centers and/or their independent work. When the time is up, the groups rotate. During small-group instruction, the teacher is periodically scanning the room to ensure everyone is on task and meeting expectations. |
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| When should you use Extra Practice vs Jell Well Review and how do you know when to use them? |
Jell-Well reviews are traditionally used at the end of each unit when a student or group scores two consecutive Weak Passes or one No Pass. However, an instructor may sense a weakness earlier within the unit and decide to provide a Jell Well sooner.
Extra Practice should be used at the end of each unit and can be teacher directed, sent home, or used as independent stations. |
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