Cooper’s Crossing teacher enhances reading skills with daily activity

Grade one students are enjoying a morning literacy skills boost at Cooper’s Crossing School.

According to Rocky View Schools (RVS), thanks to the efforts of teacher Ashley Burndred, some of the youngest students at Rocky View Schools are becoming more proficient readers in a Grade 1 classroom at Cooper's Crossing School in Airdrie.

"Burndred brings her passion for literacy to her classroom – it’s infectious and proving to be very engaging for her students. Each morning, she provides her students with bags containing sounds and sight words tailored to their individual needs."

Together, the kids then read the morning message for the day, filling in the blanks with the letters and sounds from their bags. Because it links spoken language to printed words, using a flip chart to type down the morning message also aids in developing print awareness in the new readers.

"Burndred models interactive writing in front of the students – they circle letters and sounds or suggest words to fill in the blanks. The activity is also a way for Burndred to observe her students and provide feedback – and to track their progress over time. Every blank in the morning message has been designed with the needs of individual students in mind."

RVS shared that completing and reading the morning messages reinforces sound segmentation, a key skill for phonemic awareness. This daily practice helps Burndred’s young students build fluency engagingly and interactively.

"The activity is tailored to the literacy level and readiness of each student, fostering inclusivity and ensuring no student is left behind on their literacy journey. Burndred can speed up or slow down the activity to best suit the skills of the group and of the individual students."

Every Friday, Burndred informs parents and guardians about the lessons taught and the morning messages the pupils studied that week. Parents and guardians can be involved in their children's education in this way, and Burndred said that they had shown a great deal of interest in and support for the approach.

"Reading morning messages together is highly collaborative and encourages Burndred’s students to share the strategies they are working on individually with the group. Using morning messages to teach makes literacy meaningful and personalized to every student in the classroom."

In closing, RVS stated that Burndred finds the greatest reward in seeing how this practice strengthens her students' literacy skills. She hopes other Grade 1 teachers will incorporate the activity, as her students love the engaging approach that makes learning more enjoyable.

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