The PCI Reading Program builds student success one level at a time. Completion of the three levels will take a non-reader to approximately a 3.0-3.5 reading level. Level three moves students toward reading independence by teaching basic decoding using 23 onsets and 20 word families selected from words taught in levels one and two. Students learn the basics of word analysis, word building, and decoding. Build upon the successful controlled-vocabulary approach from level one and two, students transition to learning onsets in the Letter/Sound Correspondence Lessons and word families in the Core Instruction Guide. Level Three also expands students’ reading selections, adding the genres of poetry and nonfiction. In Level Three, students mature as both readers and writers, learning and applying comprehension skills and strategies as well as practicing fluency and writing. Comprehension skills, including: setting, main idea, cause and effect, main character, character traits, supporting details, compare and contrast, using graphic sources, fact and opinion, identifying fiction and nonfiction, sequencing events, conflict and resolution, and identifying how to steps and the outcomes. Unit tests include both word decoding and comprehension questions. Students learn and practice the fluency skills of accuracy, rate, smoothness, phrasing, and expression. Students also write to communicate word comprehension and to respond to a book that has been read.
- Teacher: Erin Colligan