Reading Recovery Graduation

At the beginning of 1st grade Caleb had tested on the low end of reading and was put in the Reading Recovery Program. The teacher and a lot of parents told us that we were lucky that if he needed help that he had tested low enough to be in this program because it was very good, but as parents it still made us sad. We of course,wanted him to get the help that he needed to be successful but we worried what pulling him out of class for special reading classes would do to his confidence and in a way we felt like we had failed to prepare him in reading.
After getting over our initial feelings of apprehension about it, we tried really hard to make it seem like a very positive thing when we talked to him about it. Caleb can be laid back when he wants to be and he didn't seem too worried about it. So for the next 20 weeks he met with Mrs. Albrecht the Reading Recovery teacher everyday for 30 minutes of 1 on 1 reading time. At first he started out at a reading level 3. By the end of first grade, they expect them to be at a 20 to be considered "on target". This seemed like an almost unreachable goal but we kept up with the homework and he kept working with the teacher. Every night he brought home 2-4 books from his reading level that he had worked on that day and had to read them to us. He also frequently had extra words to study or write. He was quite the trooper and after our initial shock of do first graders really need to have 30-40 minutes of homework a night we just made it part of our nightly routine for both boys.
Slowly at first and then more quickly at the end he really transformed into quite the reader! Starting out with 50 word books that were a level 3 and now moving to 400+ word books that are reading level 17-18 had been the drastic improvement that he has made. It is fun for me to sit down and be able to help both boys now read easy chapter books. They have both worked really hard to become such good little readers! Our goal of getting to a level 20 by the end of the year is no longer an unobtainable goal but a goal that Bryce has already met and one that Caleb is sure to meet or exceed by the end of the year. We are so proud of their hard work and so happy to have such great teachers working with them to help them reach their goals.