Tutoring Report for C
November 30, 2022
Tutors: Christina Chaney & GF
Tutoring timeframe: September 22, 2022 - November 10, 2022
Total tutoring sessions: 5 sessions 55 minute average
Initial Evaluation Information
September 22 & October 6, 2022
Instructional reading level/range: 2nd Grade DRA Level 24
Assessment tool(s) used: DRA
Comments: All scores, with the exception of the timed word recognition in isolation (WRI), fell in the independent range at First
grade. The First grade WRI scores were 80% timed and 90% untimed. At Second grade, WRI scores were instructional (flash 60%,
untimed 80%), word recognition in context (WRC) was independent at 99%, fluency was developing at 56 WPM with a prosody score
of 2/3, and comprehension was 100%. A passage was not assessed at Third grade because flash WRI scores were frustrational.
Comprehension, decoding, untimed WRI, and DOLCH words are a general area of strength. Encoding (spelling) and phrasal and
expressive reading are an area of need.
Literacy Skill Area Strengths Areas of Need
Phonological Awareness Basic Syllables - Correct 100% Advanced Phoneme- Correct 50% Automatic 30%
Tool: PAST Automatic 100%
Onset-Rime - Correct 100% C performed better when he was given more time to
Automatic 90% answer or had the question repeated. When we got to
Basic Phoneme - Correct 90% the more advanced phonological awareness tasks, his
Automatic 70% automatic scores were significantly lower than his
percent correct.
Phonics Short Vowels 5/5 Vowel Digraphs and Other Vowels 13/15
Tool: Letter, Lessons, First Pseudowords 5/5 R Controlled Vowels 3/5
Words Phonics Consonant Digraphs 4/5 Diphthongs 1/5
Assessment Beginning Blends 14/15
Final Blends and Digraphs 7/8 C did well with decoding. He needs explicit instruction
Silent e 4/5 in decoding diphthongs.
Vowel Digraph + r-controlled 5/5
High-frequency Words Pre-Primer: 39/40 The only words C missed were: down, out, want, had,
Source: DOLCH Word Primer: 50/52 over, were, upon, wish, done, these, far, laugh
List 1st Grade 39/41
2nd Grade 42/46
3rd Grade 38/41
Spelling 7/24 (29%) Fall PALS Short Vowel: fane/FAN, chup/CHOP
Tool: PALS Affricate Blends: grip/DRIP, grim/DREAM
Initial and final consonants Preconsonantal Nasal: truck/TRUNK, chuk/CHUNK
Digraphs (sh, ch, th) CVCe: skat/SKATE, rup/ROPE, glid/GLIDE,
Beginning Blends (only difficulty shap/SHAPE
were the affricate blends) Vowel Digraphs: sup/SOAP, grim/DREAM, tit/TIGHT
R Controlled: shrup/SHARP, thun/THORN,
brun/BURN
Spelling is a significant area of weakness.
Writing Sample “my frafrat present is a tv and a Capitalizing the first word in a sentence, spelling
nutido sunish and my family found a (multisyllabic words), and fricatives.
cat in a tree and we safeed it.”
Attention & Motivation Co is very funny and often made us C had a difficult time staying focused and motivated
laugh. He was very motivated to for the entirety of our sessions. He often asked when
read texts he could connect with. He the session would be over or how much longer he had
especially liked when we played to work. He would sometimes rush through things and
games or when we read aloud to make careless mistakes.
him. Overall, C worked hard during
our sessions.
Based on the strengths and areas of need identified above, the following literacy goals were set for C.
Note: TSW = The student will… and LL&FW is the phonics curriculum we followed (Letter Lessons & First Words by Mesmer)
Alphabetics Word Learning Meaning Construction Writing
Starting Point in LL&FW: Targeted work in First Words
week 25 (-nk endings) (based on PALS spelling
assessment) and then week 1 in Beyond FIrst Words VCe.
Print concepts: n/a Strategic word Fluency: TSW choose and TSW compose creative sentences
identification: TSW apply reread dictated stories, in response to reading and prompts
Phonological analysis: phonics knowledge DURING independent level text, and to strengthen ideas and word
TSW blend, segment, and reading by applying the familiar instructional level choice. Write-It
manipulate phonemes in Think Sounds, Look for text to foster more sentence
Elkonin Box and tapping Parts, and Start Again fluency (NAEP ORF 3). TSW edit dictated and creative
activities to build comfort strategies to increase word Read-It writing sentences for capitals,
with 3- and 4-phoneme recognition accuracy in 2nd punctuation, and taught spellings.
words. Hear-It GL text. Read-It Language and vocabulary Write-It
development: TSW discuss
2-3 Tier 2 vocabulary words
Alphabetic coding skills: High-frequency sight BEFORE each new
TSW review less familiar words: TSW develop instructional read by hearing
-nk ending words and long automaticity with Dolch kid-friendly definitions, Motivation
vowel phonograms with high-frequency words using applying the words in oral
word sorts, word building flash cards and games, as sentences, noticing the words TSW identify text types and
in Elkonin Boxes, and well as reading and writing in text, and applying the topics of interest for independent
Cutting up Words high-frequency words to words in written sentences to reading through exploration of
activities to solidify words achieve automatic expand oral language. As text choices provided for
with -nk at the end and recognition of all 220 Dolch much as possible this will rereading. Read-It
words with silent e. words. include fostering
TSW read, build, and Word-Review, Read-It, & morphological awareness TSW actively engage in literacy
write CVCC and VCe Write-It with attention to learning through think-alouds,
words in word building, morphological units discussion, and hands-on
Cutting up Words, and Specific Dolch Words (prefixes, suffixes, & activities (white boards, pointers,
dedicated sentence Missed: out, what, over, base/root words). Read-It & etc.) to foster self-efficacy and
activities to develop were, these, wish, laugh, Write-It confidence as a reader and writer.
knowledge of nk ending down, far, want, had ALL
BL and VCe. Knowledge and
Decode-It, Spell-It & comprehension: TSW
Write-It discuss relevant knowledge
(content and text structure)
BEFORE each new
instructional read with
vocabulary and prior
knowledge activities, AND
demonstrate comprehension
AFTER each new
instructional read with
retelling and sentence writing
activities scaffolded with text
structure graphic organizers,
to foster general
understanding, chronological
retelling, and awareness of
text structures. Read-It &
Write-It
Final Evaluation Information
Instructional reading level/range: Second Grade/DRA 24
Assessment tool(s) used: LLFW, Dolch List
Comments on progress: Due to a limited number of sessions with C and a lot of time between our sessions, we were only able to see
small steps in a couple areas, specifically phonological awareness and high-frequency words. During our last two sessions we started
getting into a groove with our tutoring sessions. C was beginning to understand our routine and becoming more engaged. During our
first instructional session we focused on the -unk sound. C was able to easily decode -unk words. However, when he went to spell
words with -unk, he kept adding in a c and spelling it -unck. He continued to make this mistake in our final tutoring session when we
gave him a short spelling check. During sessions 2 and 3, we focused on reading and writing words with magic e. We introduced him
to the concept of word sorting based on features. In session 2 we worked on short vs. long a_e words and in session 3 we worked on
short vs i_e. C responded well to blind sorts and the challenge of figuring out the feature pattern on his own. We worked on reading
decodable texts to help C with his reading fluency. He benefited from explicit instruction on scooping his phrases while reading. He
tried hard to apply this learning when reading. He needs additional instruction on scooping his phrases while reading to increase his
fluency. We also believe that improving his spelling will have a positive impact on his reading fluency.
Literacy Skill Area Instructional Target Comments on Progress
Phonological TSW use Elkonin boxes C was successfully able to meet his target during most lessons and
Awareness: PAST and stretching words to showed some growth in the area of medial and final sounds. We used
Screener segment sounds Elkonin/sound boxes in the format of “Hear It, Say It, Count It”
during each routine lesson and he showed consistent success with this
strategy, particularly when spelling high frequency words. It also
helped his attention and motivation as it allowed him to slow down
and focus on spelling each sound in the word rather than
overwhelming him with the whole word at once. Due to time
constraints, we were not able to give the PAST again to measure
potential progress.
Phonics: LLFW TSW apply phonics C decodes well in isolation. He struggles to decode some simple
knowledge DURING CVCe words with automaticity and multisyllabic words in the
reading by applying the context of a passage. His slow decoding within a passage affects his
Think Sounds, Look for reading fluency. He enjoyed searching for words in a read aloud that
Parts, and Start Again fit our word feature focus. His favorite passage we read was one
strategies to increase word where we had substituted one of the character’s names for his name.
recognition accuracy in
2nd GL text. We did a decoding quick check with C during our last session. He
successfully read the words “chipmunk” and “snake.” We were
looking to see that he could continue to apply what we learned about
-unk and a_e.
High-frequency TSW develop automaticity C showed mastery with the pre-primer and primer lists. He
Words: DOLCH with Dolch successfully read the following Dolch words: wish, down, out, want,
high-frequency words
using flash cards, word over. If we had more time, we feel confident that he would have
boxes, and reading and mastered the remaining previously unmastered high frequency words.
speaking high-frequency
words to achieve
automatic recognition of
the remaining 11 Dolch
words needed for mastery.
DOLCH:
Pre-Primer: 40/40
Primer: 52/52
1st Grade: 40/41
2nd Grade: 43/46
3rd Grade: 38/41
Spelling: PALS TSW develop C showed improvement with spelling the Dolch words and applying
understanding of -nk the magic e rule. He correctly spelled the words make, tuck, wish,
endings and VCe words down, out, want, over.
while using the hear it, say He spelled TAN/tane and CHUNK/chunck. He was resistant to
it, count it, write it instruction showing him that the an chunk of a word is spelling ‘a-n’
strategy. and does not require an e. He added an unnecessary c to the -unk
ending.
Writing “the fan gave me a shill” Although given a reminder about CUPS during writing
“The nine bikes glide over (capitalization, understanding, punctuation, and spelling), C did not
the hill” begin his first sentence with a capital letter or use punctuation. Once
directed to assess each part of his sentence, he corrected those two
errors. He spelled chill as shill, however it seems this was how he
heard the word. He correctly spelled “fan” because we explicitly
reminded him that “an” is a word chunk that is spelled ‘a-n.’
With the second sentence, C only missed the ending punctuation. He
did a nice job applying the Dolch word spelling (over) and magic e
pattern from the lessons (gave, nine, bikes, glide).
Attention & TSW identify text types C became more engaged and motivated as we had more sessions and
Motivation and topics of interest for started to get into a predictable routine. We wish we had more time
independent reading with C because we think we could have made more of an impact and
through exploration of text continued to grow his interest in our sessions. He loves to feel
choices provided for challenged and to figure things out on his own. He is very bright,
rereading. talkative, and creative. He enjoyed participating in read alouds,
writing on the whiteboard, and feeling successful. At times he
TSW actively engage in seemed resistant to correction - for example, he insisted multiple
literacy learning through times that fan was spelled with an e at the end even though we told
think-alouds, discussion, him fan has the ‘an’ chunk and doesn’t need an e. He also stated, “I
and hands-on activities love -ck endings”' when we tried to teach him that -unk doesn’t have
(white boards, pointers, a -ck. Overall, C worked very hard in our sessions and wanted to do
etc.) to foster his best.
self-efficacy and
confidence as a reader
and writer.
Recommendations for Tutee: Continue to practice scooping your sentences to help your reading sound more like a talking voice.
Remember to pay attention to the punctuation, too, so that your reading is done with expression! When you are writing and get to a
word that you are unsure how to spell, try to tap and write the sounds like we practiced in our sessions. After writing, go back and
check for CUPS. We really enjoyed learning more about you and getting to work with you. You are a very bright student - keep up the
good work!
Recommendations for family: Thank you for including your child in this tutoring experience. It shows one of the many ways you are
going the extra mile to support their growth. Continue to provide C with various materials and opportunities to read and write at home.
If he seems to not have the stamina to read an entire book, allow him to break up his reading into shorter chunks of time. Encourage
him to increase his stamina over time. You could also read a page or two to him so that he can listen to and imitate fluency. This
might be a nice activity to do before bed. To encourage him to write more, perhaps get into the routine of having him write in a journal
every day.
Recommendations for school: C would benefit from direct and explicit phonics instruction to address his spelling weakness. He is
very bright and remembered our instruction even though there was a considerable amount of time between our sessions. In our last
two sessions we started working with a_e and i_e. We also worked on -unk; however in our last session, he was still spelling -unk
words with -unck. We were using the Letter Lessons First Words Scope and Sequence. This scope and sequence would benefit C to
help address the gaps in his encoding knowledge. In our last two sessions we started using word study sorts. C really enjoyed blind
sorts because they presented him with a challenge to figure out the word feature target. He would also benefit from working on
dictated sentences that focus on applying his learned spelling patterns to his writing. He needs help constructing concise sentences and
self monitoring for writing mechanics. Because he is weak with his oral fluency, we began to teach C about scooping his sentences.
Due to the limited number of sessions, we were only able to practice this skill a couple times, but he seemed to grasp the concept and
was able to scoop sentences into phrases so that his reading sounded more natural. He would benefit from additional instruction and
practice to improve his fluency. C is an eager learner and occasionally got down on himself when he made a mistake. We tried to use a
lot of specific praise to offset his negative self-talk. He would benefit from a lot of praise when reading and spelling to help increase
his self esteem and attitude towards literacy.
We really enjoyed working with C as he is so bright, creative, and funny. We appreciate the collaboration on behalf of his family and
school that allowed us the opportunity to work with him and to learn from him. We hope that we were able to make this an enjoyable
and productive experience for all involved.
Collaboratively yours,
Christina Chaney
Reading, Literacy, & Learning Graduate Student
GF
Reading, Literacy, & Learning Graduate Student
Angelica D. Blanchette, Ed.D.
Associate Professor of Education
Reading, Literacy, and Learning Graduate Program
Longwood University
President, Monticello Chapter of VSLA
Pronouns: she/her/hers
