The Fountas & Pinnel Literacy, Guided Reading Programme

Literacy, Guided Reading Programme’ a powerful and enriching literacy programme which supplements the classroom literacy.
Reading text is classified according to various parameters, such as word count, number of different words, number of high-frequency words, sentence length, sentence complexity, word repetitions, illustration support, etc. Small books containing a combination of text and illustrations are provided to Xaverians as per their reading level.

The Assessment System identifies a Xaverians reading level. Xaverians read a combination of fiction and nonfiction books, mistakes are recorded, and questions are asked to gauge understanding of the text. The assessment provides valuable information about reading accuracy, comprehension, fluency, and more.

Assessments
Assessments are done thrice in a session - Beginning of the year, Mid-year and End of the year.
i) Reading placement levels are determined for Xaverians and they are further grouped for instructions.
ii) Xaverians who need interventions are identified
iii) Xaverians’ progress is documented during a school year and over several years
iv) Parents are informed over a period of time.

St Xavier’s High School is delighted to introduce Fountas & Pinnell Reading Levels, a well-researched, internationally accepted and honoured literacy curriculum resource. Fountas & Pinnell are two of the biggest names in literacy from the US and have been operating for over four decades.

Introduced for the students of Pre Primary Wing, the Fountas & Pinnell Interactive Read-Aloud is a collection of high-quality picture books with engaging illustrations that represent a variety of authors and illustrators, topics, genres, themes, and text structures. The aim of this reading programme is to nurture each child's reading and writing skills in elementary classes.

The Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Interactive Read-Aloud sessions expand and refine children’s reading and writing powers. This context is implemented during whole-group literacy instruction where the teacher reads aloud a book from a text set and students share their thinking. Designed to nurture students’ ability to construct meaning in an interactive, talk-rich context, the interactive read-aloud books are organized into text sets to help students make connections among ideas and make connections between books in the text set.

This systematic reading-aloud method allows teachers to scaffold children & understanding of the book being read, model strategies for making inferences and explanations, and teach vocabulary and concepts. The techniques used in the programme have shown to be effective in increasing children & engagement, understanding, and appreciation of literature in preschool and kindergarten settings.