Success Story:
Gains in Literacy and Vocabulary
Nanci Fry, Preschool Teacher
Illinois State At-Risk Pre/K Program
Rockford, Illinois
"The vocabulary growth has been amazing," says preschool teacher Nanci Fry about the effect the WOVEN WORD program has had on her students.
Fry tells of a student whose speech and language impairment warranted an IEP and a resource special education teacher, but who had gone through the WOVEN WORD program with her classmates. One day Fry was reading a story that contained the word "envious," which they had learned together—albeit months before—in a WOVEN WORD book. When Fry paused to ask, "Envious. Now what does that mean again?" The student shouted out, "Jealous!" "I couldn't believe it," Fry says. "That sold me, right there."
In fact, many of Fry's students have been making gains in literacy. Their state assessment requires knowledge of reading concepts, and the WOVEN WORD program "really helps out. Before I read, I say, 'Where do I read? Where are the words? Where's the front cover?' and they know that so much better now."
They also comprehend story lines better and are more able to answer questions about the story than they were before they started the WOVEN WORD program. Indeed, says Fry, "This is one kit that actually lived up to what it said it would do."