The Cedar Hill Elementary faculty will be presenting a workshop for parents following the October 5th PTO meeting. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. in the school cafeteria. The topic will be “Understanding dynamic intervention of basic early literacy skills” (DIBELS). This is a state mandated assessment for all kindergarten through fifth grade students. DIBELS measures critical foundations for reading.

In kindergarten, initial sound fluency, letter naming fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency and nonsense word fluency are measured. In first grade, letter naming fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency, oral reading fluency and retelling are measured. In second grade, nonsense word fluency, oral reading fluency, and retelling are measured. In third through fifth grades, oral reading fluency and retelling are measured.

These dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills are brief but powerful measures of the critical skills that underlie early reading success. Cedar Hill Elementary’s reading coach, Susan Mullins, will present an explanation of each indicator and its connection to lifelong reading success. Following this brief presentation, Mrs. Mullins and other Cedar Hill faculty will work with small groups to help parents understand individual student performance profiles that are sent home three times during the school year. Emergent literacy is defined as beginning at birth and continuing on throughout life. Therefore, it is essential that parents and teachers work together to insure the best possible pathway to strong reading development.

“All parents are invited to attend and are encouraged to participate in our first school wide parent-teacher workshop. We hope to see you there!” said Mullins.

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