Intervention, Support and Extension

MiniLit (Meeting Initial Needs in Literacy) is an early literacy intervention program. It is designed to address the literacy challenges of young students (Years 1 and 2). The program incorporates features of an explicit, systematic literacy approach: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary and text comprehension.  Students are withdrawn from class and work in small groups with an experienced literacy teacher.

Accelerated Literacy Intervention (ALI) is a literacy support program intended to accelerate literacy and language learning for students. The intervention is a part of a student’s personalised learning plan. It is a series of small group lessons with an intense literature and reading focus.

Critical aspects of ALI are explicit teaching of relevant literacy focus skills, guided reading instruction and personalised student feedback. Emphasis is on building awareness and understanding in the areas of phonics, phonological awareness, vocabulary development, fluency and comprehension.

IHM subscribes to the educational website Sunshine Online. Year levels Reception, 1, 2 and 3 use this online resource in the areas of literacy and numeracy. An added feature is the home access opportunity offered to families through the defined online Learning Spaces.

There are three categories of Learning Spaces (1 Emergent, 2 Early and 3 Fluent). These are then divided into Literacy – Alphabet/Letter Blends, Words/Phonics and Numeracy with explicit and supportive text titles (audio and non-audio available) available through The Bookshelf. Overall, there are over 560 e-books and 1,000 interactive activities and games.

Literacy Pro is an online reading resource that promotes reading engagement and success. This resource aims to match, motivate and monitor independent reading in Year 3 to 6.

Student reading ability is measured using the Lexile Framework. Students are then assigned a Lexile guide to search for ‘good fit’ reading material, available in the school library, across an extensive range of interest areas. This match is designed to increase students’ motivation to read more and consequently increase their reading mileage. Online quizzes attached to books provide additional information for both students and teachers on reading comprehension.

Teachers use the data provided to have meaningful discussions about book choice and reading mileage to monitor reading growth over the year.