Grants help students in math and reading fluency

It has been nearly a year since two grants were awarded by the Tipp City Foundation to Bethel Elementary School to support fundamentals of learning in math fluency and reading comprehension, and the results speak for themselves.

Melinda Campbell has been a teacher for 24 years – 11 of those years at Bethel. She teaches fifth-grade math. She used her grant money to buy a three-year subscription to Reflex Those Math Minds. Reflex is an online platform that engages students to learn basic math facts like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

“It has helped ease the burden of finding engaging activities, so students become fluent in their math facts,” explained Campbell.

She says her students have seen greater gains in fluency this school year than any other year.

“Students are engaged, want to do Reflex, thus preparing them to be more successful and confident in learning math concepts across the board,” said Campbell.

She explains how it works.

“Students begin each day by doing a warmup to practice the set of math facts they are working on,” Campbell said. “Then they start practicing the math facts they need to become fluent with in a fun game-style lesson. Once they have answered enough facts correctly for the day, they receive a green light. Each students’ goal is to receive at least three green lights a week.”

There’s another bonus: helping with their confidence.

“Each week we have Milestone Mondays,” Campbell said. “Students receive recognition for the number of facts solved, new facts solved, total problems solved, percent proficient. This is great as all students have an opportunity weekly to get recognized for their work.”

The grant has increased engagement and the overall excitement of students to practice and learn their math facts, Campbell said.

Teacher Christina Randall also received a grant, this one to help with reading comprehension. She used her grant money to buy a tool called Read Naturally, an evidence-based curriculum used to intervene with students who are struggling to read fluently.

Randall says Read Naturally provides intensive reading intervention, differentiated instruction for a wide range of readers, motivating informational text for reluctant readers, feedback to students and teachers through graphs of individual progress, and nonfiction reading opportunities as required by state standards.

Randall says that so far, the software has increased reading accuracy, comprehension, and vocabulary.

She explains how it has been helping her in the classroom.

“Teachers can differentiate instruction easily using Read Naturally, a reading fluency intervention that accelerates reading achievement by using the research-based Read Naturally Strategy using printed materials and audio CDs,” Randall said. “Students become confident readers by developing fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary while reading nonfiction reading passages with questions. This intervention program engages students with interesting nonfiction stories and yields powerful results.”

According to Randall, Read Naturally allows students to work at their own pace. The student works through the steps and masters a story by reading along with audio and then practicing the story until he or she can read it fluently and comprehend the subject matter.

The grant was paid out of the Bethel Community Fund and the Radle Family Fund for Science Education.

“The grants awarded to Bethel Elementary provide tools proven by evidence-based research to improve fluency in reading and math,” said Jim Ranft, Tipp City Foundation Distribution Committee Chairman. “It is critical for students to master these skills, as they are the building blocks for their success in all areas of study. The Foundation prioritizes grants that allow schools to adapt the most innovative new programs and technology.”