My name is Dottie, and I’m a returning WRC (Washington Reading Corps) Member, serving as a Kindergarten Reading Tutor for Horizons Elementary in Lacey, WA. 

The goal is to have all kindergartners reading by the end of the 2018-2019 school year. This year has been very productive so far, as I’ve been immersed in the classes, helping with testing, being an aide to teachers when needed, doing one-on-one tutoring, and now RTI (Response to Intervention) groups. So far I have worked with 37 students on a continuous or rotating basis, depending on the teachers and their students’ needs. The initial goal was to have these kindergartners able to identify letters and their sounds, since these students were tagged as behind in this area.

The Kindergarten team is now working on getting the students ready for the Winter CBM (Curriculum-Based Measurement) testing, in which the students will need to be able to say 27 sounds and read 5 words in a minute. They are also working on site words, providing a new site word on a weekly basis, in which I help reinforce during one-on-one and RTI time.

I am very happy to have been able to continue with the WRC for another term, and extremely happy to be back at the same school. It continues to be very gratifying helping kindergartners reach these initial literacy milestones and am looking forward to seeing their continuing growth through the rest of the school year.