Mary is an eleven year old, sixth grader at Ft. King Middle School. She is an
average student with no apparent reading problems. She is in the general
education Language Arts program and receives no special instruction for reading.
Mary has perfect attendance and is "a fluid reader," as stated by her
Language Arts teacher. Mary lives at home with her mother, father, one brother
(age 20) and her brother's dog. Mary also has two other brothers (ages 23 and
30) who do not live at home, but visit regularly. Mary's mother is an avid
reader and many reading materials; including newspapers, magazines and books are
available at home. Mary has had no major illnesses during her life and her birth
was normal to the best of her mother's knowledge (Mary was adopted at age 3).
Mary enjoys dancing, watching TV, listening to music and playing with friends.
She states that she can read fine, but does not enjoy reading. Mary is not
forced to read at home unless directed to from school. Test Results: Word
Recognition: Independent level - grade 5 Instructional level - grade 6
Frustration level - grade 7 Silent Reading: Independent level - grade 4
Instructional level - grade 5 Frustration level - grade 6 Oral Reading:
Independent level - grade 5 Independent level - grade 6 Frustration level -
grade 7 Listening: Independent level - grade 4 Instructional level -grade 5
Frustration level - grade 6 Analysis: From the Informal Reading Inventory that I
administered to Mary, I found that she has no extreme deficiencies in reading
ability. Mary scored at or near her age and grade level averages for Word
Recognition, Oral Reading comprehension, Silent Reading comprehension and
Listening comprehension. Mary is a good reader for her age group and shows no
weaknesses. Teaching and/or Learning Activities: We "team" read James
and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl We wrote down any words we were unsure of and
looked them up after reading I had Mary write me a one-page story about a dream
or adventure she once had, using some of those new words I had Mary draw me a
picture of that dream or adventure We researched Roald Dahl on the Internet
Observations: During our sessions I felt that Mary was enjoying reading the
story. The sessions were meant to be reading for pleasure, so there was little
pressure and the story was fun. Mary was a fluid reader and showed no
weaknesses. She is also a good artist. Recommendations: Because Mary is a good
reader for her age group, the only strategy I can recommend is to allot time for
Mary to read for pleasure. I would suggest taking Mary to the public library
once every other week, to start, and allow her to pick a book to read. Continue
this until she wants to read more. I would also suggest showing her books that
deal with subjects she is into now, such as dogs, gymnastics or one of her
favorite music artists. Allowing Mary to read as many books as possible is not
necessary, but can only help to make her a better student in the future.