Kelly Wall

SPU 316 Case Study

March 3rd, 2016

Case study: Elementary Level

Rosa
Description:
Rosa, a first-grade student, does not know the sounds of many letters and can only
identify 13 printed letters. However, she can sing the ABC song with no errors, can identify the
pictures she sees in books, and knows some concepts about print (for example, she knows the
front of the book, can show where to begin reading and where to go next, and understands the
correct direction to turn pages). She cannot point to words as the teacher read them or tell the
teacher the letters in the words.

Tier Two Reading Goals:

1) Given a sheet of lower case letters, the student can name each of the letters with 100%
accuracy.
2) Given a sheet of lower case letters, the student can state the most common sound of each
of the letters with 100% accuracy.
3) When shown a picture of an object, the student will state each phoneme of the word with
100% accuracy.
Intervention Plan: Teacher Directed In-Class Activities
Intervention plan: Multisensory Lesson- Letter learning (teaching letter names p. 218;
Multisensory Lesson p 243)
Target Skill: Phonics
Rosa has a hard time identifying letters and as of right now she can only identify 13
letters. I would like Rosa to be able to identify and name all of the letters in the alphabet with
100% accuracy. To achieve this goal I could start by giving her a paper with a letter printed on it.
I would give her a different letter each week. I would start by saying the letter name and sound.
Then I would trace the letter with my finger, saying the steps out loud. For example, for the letter
d I would say “down and around” as I trace the letter. I would then have the student trace the
letter and say the process out loud as they trace it. Once I feel confident that the student knows
the letter name and is able to trace the letter, I would take away the sheet of paper so that they
can practice independently making the letter. I would take shaving cream and spread it out on the
table. I would then have the student practice making the letter on their own, still saying the name
of the letter and the process of creating the letter. If the student is having trouble I would model
for them and even help them by using handover hand if needed.
Intervention plan: Sorting Beginning Sounds (p. 213)
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

Target Skill: Phonemic Awareness

Rosa cannot tell the teacher the letters in the words when the teacher points to them. Part
of this is due to the fact that she only knows 13 letters of the alphabet. While she is working on
learning the rest of the letters, the teacher can better support her phonological development by
training Rosa to start to break down words. The teacher can use the Elkonin Boxes to help build
this skill. This intervention could be done with just Rosa or with a small group of three to four
students that are also struggling to develop this skill. The teacher would start with two boxes
with two different letters marked on them, such as “d” and “b”. The teacher starts by introducing
the letters by showing the student the letter and saying “this is the letter t”. The teacher will then
introduce the sound that the letter makes by saying “b makes the “BAH” sound.” The teacher
will then prompt the students several times by asking them “what letter is this?”, and “what
sound does it make?” After the Teacher feels that the students know the sounds for both letters,
he or she will move on to the next step. The teacher will then bring out a bunch of objects that
start with “d” and “b”. The Teacher will pick up the first item and ask “what is this?” When the
student responds “It is a dog” the teacher will praise the student and then respond with a think
aloud, such as “Dog. What sound does dog start with? D-og. “DAH” dog starts with the “DAH”
sound.” The teacher will then prompt the students several times by asking “what sound does dog
start with? When the teacher feels that the students understand, he or she will the place the dog in
the “d” box and say “dog starts with “DAH”, d so I will put it in the “DAH, “d” box..” The
teacher will continue to do this until all the objects are places in the boxes. This is a good activity
to do because Rosa will start to break apart words by sounds and this will lay the foundation for
when she actually has to decode CVC words.
Intervention plan: Elkonin Boxes (P. 212)
Target Skill: Phonemic Awareness
For this activity I would give Rosa a work sheet with pictures items of things that she
would know, such as sheep, hat, man, etc., and boxes underneath the pictures. There will only be
enough boxes for the amount of sounds in the word, for sheep there would only be three boxes
(SH-EE-P)
Next, I would model for Rosa. I would say the name of the picture out loud and then
break the word apart into individual sounds. As I say each sound, I would place a bead in the
boxes under the picture. So for sheep I would say, “Sheep”. I would then sound out each
individual sound and place a bead in the box as I said them.
Last, I would have Rosa complete the activity the same way, saying the word, breaking
the word apart while sliding the beads in the box.
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

Independent Practice Activity:

To help Rosa practice these skills, the follow activity can be done on her own. The
teacher will create a set of flash cards. On one side will be a lower case letter that Rosa knows.
On the other side will be a picture of something that starts with that letter, such as a d on one side
and a picture of a dog on the other. Rosa will look at the picture and day the name. Rosa will
then identify the beginning sound. Once she does she will name the letter that the word starts
with and check her answer by flipping the card over. As she learns more letters, more cards can
be added and rotated in and out.
Progress Monitoring:
To help monitor Rosa’s progress I would give her a list of all of the lower case letters in
the alphabet. I would then instruct her to read all of the letters out loud. If she gets a letter wrong
I would cross it out, if she self corrects I would right SC above the letter. After she is done I
would count all of the letters she got right and record them. Any letters she self-corrected on
would count as right as well.
SC
A B C D E F G H I J K L M NO P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Number right answers

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Assment 1 Assment 2 Assment 3 Assment 4
Number right answers

Raymond
Raymond, a third grade student, has difficulty identifying rhyming words when he hears them.
He can match all upper and lower case letters and can identify all upper case letters. Raymond
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

has trouble reading lower case letters; he mixes up /b/ and /d/, /g/ and /j/, /m/ and /n/, and /p/ and
/q/. His teacher is also concerned about Raymond’s fluency skills. He enjoys listening to stories
and is able to identify the characters and setting of the story. He is able to identify what
happened at the beginning and at the end of the story, but has difficulty sequencing the middle of
a story.
Tier Two Reading Goals:
1. Given a sheet of lower case letters, the student can name each of the letters with 100%
accuracy.
2. Generate a corresponding rhyming word when presented with a three- phoneme written
prompt (e.g., cat-hat; fish-wish).
3. When given a 250 – 300 word content area text, the student will read the text at 80 words
per minute, with 100% accuracy and correctly answer several questions about the text
content.

Intervention Plan: Teacher Directed In-Class Activities

Intervention plan: Rhyming (p. 203)
Target Skill: Phonics
To help improve Raymond’s rhyming skills, I would lead him a few of his classmates in
an intervention focused on helping to teach them rhyming words. I would start by reading “Do
you like Green Eggs and Ham”. I would then explain what a rhyming word was, and pick out a
few on the first page. I would then have cards of rhyming words from the book. The cards would
have pictures and the names so that the students do not get confused. I would do one or two as an
example and then assist the students in matching up the cards.
Intervention plan: Make and Break (p. 256)
Target Skill: Phonics
In this intervention a small group of students will construct, break apart, and reconstruct
common word patterns. The student will be doing this by using magnetic letters on a chalkboard
or white board. The students will start with a word such as all and the teacher prompts the
students to say the word out loud. The teacher will then mix up the letter and have the student
able to reconstruct the word and say it with ease. The teacher then add the letter b in front of all
to make ball. The student says the word ball. The teacher takes away the letter b and the student
says all. The teacher then replaces the letter b and the student says ball. This process is repeated
until the teacher feels that the student understands. The teacher will then explain that the two
words rhyme because they end in the same sound, all. The teacher will then continue by adding
on different letters to the beginning of all and repeating the whole process over again.
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

To help better support Raymond, the next round would switch to another letter that he is
mixing up, such as switching the b to a d or having him form words will oll instead of all. He
would then come up with the word doll. This process could be repeated with word pairs such as
map and nap, gum and Jam.
Intervention plan: Repeated readings
Target Skill: Fluency
For this intervention, the teacher will explain the repeated reading process to Raymond
and a small group of his peers by telling them that they will be reading a short selection over and
over again so that they can become better faster readers. The teacher will pick out several
passages of about 100 words that she or thinks will interest the student. The teacher will then
have the student read to them orally while the teacher times the student and records the amount
of errors. The selection is too hard if the student take more than two minutes to read the selection
or makes more than five errors in 100 words. However, if the student only makes one to two
errors and reads more than 85 words per minute than the selection is too easy. After the student
reads, go over the errors with them and help them sound out the words correctly. After have then
repeat reading the selection until the teacher feels that the students can read it faster and more
fluently. This can be done by having the student read to themselves, a partner, or while listening
to a recording to the selection and reading along. The students keep track of their progress and
chart their own progress after each read. The students will continue this until they can read the
passage at a speed 85 words per minute.
Independent Practice Activity:
To reinforce the second skills learned, I would create an activity for students to do on
their own. I would take a set of plastic eggs that break apart in the middle. I would pick two
words that rhymed such as dog and frog. I would right one word on the top half of the egg with a
marker, making the onset sound black and the rhyming suffix silver. I would then write the other
word on the bottom following the same process. When teaching the student how to use this
activity, I would have them start by reading the first word “frog” and then read the suffix og,
which is marked in silver in case the student still struggles with identifying the suffix. I would
then have them read through the rests of the egg halves the same was until the student finds
another half that has the og ending. To help him check his answer, I would right the rhyming
word on the inside of the shell. If he is wrong he would be able to see what the word that he was
looking for is and self-correct himself.

Progress Monitoring:
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

To help monitor Raymond’s progress I would monitor the repeated readings. I would
note the level of difficulty of the passage being read, the number of words correct, the number of
errors, the number of student corrected answers, and the number of teacher’s prompts. I would
then have Raymond graph his own progress so that he could visually see his improvement.

Amanda
Amanda has just transferred to your school and her school records have not arrived from her old
school, but her parents reported that her previous teacher had asked to meet with them. She is
starting the 4th grade at your school, since that is the grade she was in at her previous school.
They moved before the meeting could occur and are not sure what was going to be addressed at
the meeting. Amanda completed some assessments for her new teacher, who noted some skill
deficits. Most of Amanda’s peers recognize sight words like “whether,” “stomach,” “umbrella,”
“handkerchief,” “shoulder,” “lettuce,” “sweater,” “grocery,” and “thirsty” and can easily decode
all grade-level words. Amanda has difficulty when she encounters these and many other sight
words, and has difficulty with phonetic decoding at her grade-level, especially in the content
areas. Amanda’s oral reading is slow and labored. She often says the wrong letter sound or
incorrectly guesses at words. Also, Amanda is unable to answer comprehension questions that
require critical thinking after she has listened to a passage read aloud, but she can easily answer
rote memorization questions.
Tier Two Reading Goals:
1. When shown a list of letter combinations, the student will say each with 100% accuracy.
2. When given unknown grade-level content area words, the student will use an advanced
word reading strategy to correctly say the word with 100% accuracy.
3. After reading a passage at the instructional level, the student will be able to orally
summarize the key ideas and supporting details.
Intervention Plan: Teacher Directed In-Class Activities
Intervention plan: Word Building lesson (p 553)

Target Skill: Fluency

This intervention would be done with Amanda and a small group off her classmates. The
teacher would start by introducing the ow pattern. The teacher would then have the students
listen to “pure” by Lightning seeds.
The teacher would then have all of the students write down the word that they hear that
follow that sound pattern. The students would take turns naming the word that they found. Next,
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

the teacher would wright the letter combination on the board saying the sound it makes and
having the students repeat it.
The teacher would then move on to the next step, which involves adding onsets to the
pattern. An onset is added, such as fl and the teacher will read the word, Flow and then the
students will read the word. The teacher will then erase the onset and add another one, such as
Gr repeating this process over and over again. After this process is complete the teacher begin
the third step of adding the rhyme.
The teacher will then place the onsets on the board and have the student fill in the rhyme,
which in this case is ow.
The next step is for the teacher to mix up the ow words with another letter pattern such as
we words. An example of this would look like:
Flow, Flew
Grew, Grow
Know, Knew

Intervention plan: Morphemic Analysis (p. 230, 318-19)

Target Skill: Phonics – Sight Word Reading or Advanced Word Reading
Amanda has trouble with comprehension and recognizing sight words and she could
really benefit from learning how to use morphemic analysis. The intervention would begin with a
root word that includes letter combinations that I am already working on with her, such as graph
because she is working on ph. The teacher would write down the word. The teacher will then
read it and have Amanda read it. Next the teacher will explain the meaning of the root word. The
next step would be to then “branch out” by drawing a line and writing another word, such as the
word biography. The instructor many need to help Amanda sound out the word and then would
circle the root word graph so that she could see the root word. To enhance her understanding the
teacher might want to say something along the lines of “Because the root is graph the word has
something to do with writing and since the other part of the word is bio, which means life. So a
biography is a book written about a person’s life. Last, the teacher should have Amanda
brainstorm more words, circle the root graph and then break apart the words to try to figure out
their meanings.
Intervention plan: DAR/ DR-TA
Target Skill: Reading Comprehension
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

To start off this intervention, the teacher would have the student look at the title of a
grade appropriate text and skim over the first paragraph. The teacher would then prompt the
student to make predictions by asking “what do you think this story is about?” The teacher will
write down all of the students predictions so that the students can go back to see if they were
accurate once they read that passage silently.
Next the teacher should introduce background concepts and literary concepts to help the
student understand the passage better. Example of this include explaining the difference between
a simile and a metaphor while also giving examples of each. This is also a great time to talk
about vocabulary and cultural concepts that a student may not know.
After that, the Teacher will have the student read silently, checking their predictions and
taking note as they read. When taking notes, the student should draw if it helps them visualize a
scene and cite the lines where they find important information.
After the student has finished reading, the teacher will lead the student in a discussion.
The teacher will ask the student if their predictions came true, which did not, and what new
information did you learn? The student should use specific examples and cite lines from the text.
To help support the student more, the teacher should have a list of purposeful questions to help
lead the discussion and make sure that the student is coming to her own conclusions and is not
waiting for you to tell her.
The teacher should have the student explain why she thinks those examples show how
they are acting as metaphor makers. She should also have the students Explain how this helps
you to understand that first sentence better. The teacher should also have the student go back to
the title and ask questions about the title.
This is a great intervention because it actively teaches her a strategy to help her
comprehend text. After a few passages with teacher support, she can be transitioned to use the
strategy on her own without the teacher supports.

Independent Practice Activity: Somebody wanted but so (p. 382)

On the paper there would be a table with four column. The first column would say
somebody and that is where Amanda would u the main characters’ name. The second column
would say wanted and Amanda would list what the character wanted to do. The third column
would say but and Amanda would list the conflict or problem. The last column would say so and
Amanda would list resolution to the problem. This is a great way for Amanda to practice
breaking down the story and understanding the plot.

Progress Monitoring:
To help monitor Amanda’s, I would create a word list of sight words I would like
Amanda to know. I would give her ten words at a time and se which she is able to read, if she
Kelly Wall
SPU 316 Case Study
March 3rd, 2016

can answer more than 8, I would move her up to a more difficult level. I would record the level
she was on and the number that she got wrong and graph it to keep track of her progress.