Daniel Webster Middle School
Los Angeles Unified School District
Roger Salked, Principal

Dorothy Padilla, Director
Beyond the Bell Branch
Los Angeles Unified School District

Dear Ms. Padilla,

The reading supplement program, Reading and Rhythm, was held at our school during the fall semester, 2004. The thirteen six grade students were given permission to participate in this after school program. These students have demonstrated a need for reinforcement for skill mastery in reading comprehension and fluency. Student participants are enrolled in the Developing Readers and Writers Course utilizing the Language Program curriculum.

The Reading and Rhythm afforded the students who were experiencing difficulty in reading fluency and comprehension a strategy to assist them in increasing:

• Reading rate fluency (words per minute)
• Reading fluency for comprehension

Reading and Rhythm provided a four-week program; two one-hour sessions per week during the after-school Extended Learning Program on Mondays and Wednesdays. The methods learned offered students a means to utilize in class the next day as they worked on silent and oral reading activities in all core classes. Students worked well with Mr. Angel in a very motivated and excited manner. Many of these students have classroom behavior problems or display lack of self-esteem.

This implementation of the reading rhythm method was evident and observable in the work habits of students while working independently on reading mastery tasks in class. Students began immediately to walk with their heads high and worked with more self-confidence. By the end of the program students raised their fluency by ten points or more. More importantly these same students raised their score on the Language Program Summative test by the same average.

I was very impressed with the reading strategy for helping at risk students improve their reading skills. I highly recommend that the Reading and Rhythm Program be expanded for more implementation processes.

Thank you for allowing my students the opportunity to participate. The students have internalized a system that will aid them for the rest of their lives.

Sincerely,

Theodore Lamond – Teacher