Making up for learning loss, Lynbrook students connecting letters, sounds
Lynbrook kindergarten teacher Juliana Rotman stood at the front of the class, held up cards with the letters that spelled the word “swift” and asked her students to follow along using only the sounds each letter makes.
Each child spoke aloud the individual sounds to complete the word.
"They're already figuring it out — like a puzzle," she said. "They're very confident in it. … They think it's fun."
The recent morning lesson at Lynbrook's Kindergarten Center was part of an instructional model based on the science of reading. Under the model, an initiative called "Sounds-Write" that was adopted by the school district more than two years ago, words are not just letters on a board, but also sounds with interconnected meaning. That enables the students to understand how words are composed of sounds.
“They are learning the sounds as opposed to learning the letters, but they are also learning how to write the letters at the same time they are hearing them, so it is all very connected," said Gerard I. Beleckas, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment for Lynbrook schools.
The district adopted the program to help with learning loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concern was that students would be coming to school without a solid preschool foundation.
Reading and other subject scores declined during the pandemic, when thousands of schools nationwide switched to remote learning. Reading and math scores fell sharply among 9-year-olds nationwide between 2020 and 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
A Newsday analysis of district-by-district results in grades 3 through 8 in October found that a little more than 50% of students tested in English Language Arts passed their assessments in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
School systems nationwide are exploring different approaches to teach reading to young students, and many have been looking to a phonics-based approach, which uses sound-it-out instruction. Earlier this spring, New York City officials said the city will require all of its elementary schools to employ phonics programs in teaching children to read.
At the state level, phonics-word recognition is a strand of Reading Foundational Skills Standards — within English Language Arts standards — in the early grades, so it is required as part of instruction. However, how a district teaches these skills within the curriculum is decided at the local school district level, the state Education Department said.
Learning how to read does not come naturally to most students, and one of the biggest challenges when teaching reading is keeping children motivated and engaged, especially when they are feeling discouraged, said Patricia N. Eckardt, associate professor of education at Molloy University.
“We really need to help them," she said. Educators must “consistently consider ways to differentiate instruction for students — that’s key.”
Schools must take a deeper look at the science of reading, such as what educators are doing in Lynbrook, she said.
“This program helps students to understand the interconnected meanings within sounds,” she said. “I believe programs as such should be integrated into literacy instruction to help students decode text while also immersing children in a literacy rich environment.”
She said she is aware of other Long Island districts that are taking a similar approach to reading instruction.
In Lynbrook, the curriculum starts in kindergarten and extends through second grade. Administrators and teachers have been trained in how to use the Sounds-Write program in class, and educators from other schools have come to the district to see it in action.
Children start learning specific letters of the alphabet by learning the sounds that letters represent individually and as pairs. There are about 400 children enrolled.
Each student is equipped with a dry-erase board to follow along with the teacher. Using one word, such as “brush,” children must identify the number of sounds that make up the word and the relationship between letters and sounds. The sounds are blended to build the complete word.
The approach takes into account the active working memory and not just the elements of phonics, but how the brain learns, said Allison Curran, elementary curriculum specialist at Lynbrook.
Rotman said she has noticed a difference.
"This allows all of the kids, even the ones who might struggle otherwise, to just focus on one variable — just the sounds," she said. "Breaking it down into smaller steps really helps all of the children succeed."
The district administered bench marks to measure changes in kindergarten early literacy, and the increases were substantial, officials said. Kindergartners have seen a boost in their understanding of letter sounds and word segmenting, with a major boost to above-average performance in both areas.
Prior, kindergarten students could put a couple of words together under a picture. But after a year of instruction under the initiative, students are writing full sentences, officials there said.
"And even if everything is not spelled 100 percent correctly, it is something that anyone can pick up and understand," Beleckas said. “They know how to spell it in a way I can read it, and they will get there eventually.”
Lynbrook kindergarten teacher Juliana Rotman stood at the front of the class, held up cards with the letters that spelled the word “swift” and asked her students to follow along using only the sounds each letter makes.
Each child spoke aloud the individual sounds to complete the word.
"They're already figuring it out — like a puzzle," she said. "They're very confident in it. … They think it's fun."
The recent morning lesson at Lynbrook's Kindergarten Center was part of an instructional model based on the science of reading. Under the model, an initiative called "Sounds-Write" that was adopted by the school district more than two years ago, words are not just letters on a board, but also sounds with interconnected meaning. That enables the students to understand how words are composed of sounds.
WHAT TO KNOW
- The Lynbrook district adopted an instructional model based on the science of reading more than two years ago.
- Under the initiative called "Sounds-Write," words are not just letters on a board, but also sounds with interconnected meaning that enable students to form an understanding of how words are composed of sounds.
- The district adopted the program to alleviate the potential of learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They are learning the sounds as opposed to learning the letters, but they are also learning how to write the letters at the same time they are hearing them, so it is all very connected," said Gerard I. Beleckas, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment for Lynbrook schools.
The district adopted the program to help with learning loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concern was that students would be coming to school without a solid preschool foundation.
Reading and other subject scores declined during the pandemic, when thousands of schools nationwide switched to remote learning. Reading and math scores fell sharply among 9-year-olds nationwide between 2020 and 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
A Newsday analysis of district-by-district results in grades 3 through 8 in October found that a little more than 50% of students tested in English Language Arts passed their assessments in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
School systems nationwide are exploring different approaches to teach reading to young students, and many have been looking to a phonics-based approach, which uses sound-it-out instruction. Earlier this spring, New York City officials said the city will require all of its elementary schools to employ phonics programs in teaching children to read.
At the state level, phonics-word recognition is a strand of Reading Foundational Skills Standards — within English Language Arts standards — in the early grades, so it is required as part of instruction. However, how a district teaches these skills within the curriculum is decided at the local school district level, the state Education Department said.
Learning how to read does not come naturally to most students, and one of the biggest challenges when teaching reading is keeping children motivated and engaged, especially when they are feeling discouraged, said Patricia N. Eckardt, associate professor of education at Molloy University.
“We really need to help them," she said. Educators must “consistently consider ways to differentiate instruction for students — that’s key.”
Schools must take a deeper look at the science of reading, such as what educators are doing in Lynbrook, she said.
“This program helps students to understand the interconnected meanings within sounds,” she said. “I believe programs as such should be integrated into literacy instruction to help students decode text while also immersing children in a literacy rich environment.”
She said she is aware of other Long Island districts that are taking a similar approach to reading instruction.
In Lynbrook, the curriculum starts in kindergarten and extends through second grade. Administrators and teachers have been trained in how to use the Sounds-Write program in class, and educators from other schools have come to the district to see it in action.
Children start learning specific letters of the alphabet by learning the sounds that letters represent individually and as pairs. There are about 400 children enrolled.
Each student is equipped with a dry-erase board to follow along with the teacher. Using one word, such as “brush,” children must identify the number of sounds that make up the word and the relationship between letters and sounds. The sounds are blended to build the complete word.
The approach takes into account the active working memory and not just the elements of phonics, but how the brain learns, said Allison Curran, elementary curriculum specialist at Lynbrook.
Rotman said she has noticed a difference.
"This allows all of the kids, even the ones who might struggle otherwise, to just focus on one variable — just the sounds," she said. "Breaking it down into smaller steps really helps all of the children succeed."
The district administered bench marks to measure changes in kindergarten early literacy, and the increases were substantial, officials said. Kindergartners have seen a boost in their understanding of letter sounds and word segmenting, with a major boost to above-average performance in both areas.
Prior, kindergarten students could put a couple of words together under a picture. But after a year of instruction under the initiative, students are writing full sentences, officials there said.
"And even if everything is not spelled 100 percent correctly, it is something that anyone can pick up and understand," Beleckas said. “They know how to spell it in a way I can read it, and they will get there eventually.”
Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.