Meet Sam! She’s the adolescent character featured in our new Early Literacy Skills Builder for Older Students curriculum. Your older students with significant intellectual disability or autism, who still need to develop the foundations of literacy, will have Sam to help them along the way.
Using the same scope and sequence as ELSB, this version was specifically designed to give older students who have not been exposed to foundational reading skills, age-appropriate activities to learn them. Seven levels present skills in 14 objectives including the conventions of print, phonemic awareness, letter-sound correspondence, listening comprehension, vocabulary, and writing. Skills increase in difficulty as students progress from Level 1 to Level 7.
The curriculum is delivered primarily via software or an app. Ideas are provided for blending instruction with print activities. The program incorporates the best practices of systematic and direct instruction. The software directs the student, provides feedback, and gathers data on the student’s performance. Instruction can be conducted with individual students or with groups. Students love creating an avatar to represent them. Avatars also appear on screen to indicate whose turn in the group it is to respond.
Sam Stories, describing the adventures of Sam, her family, and her friends, are read to students in the software. They can follow along using the spiralbound book provided. A writing activity focuses on new vocabulary. End-of-level assessments—scored instantly— help determine when to move students to the next level.
The Teacher’s Guide describes the underlying principles of the curriculum, the scope and sequence of ELSB for Older Students, how to use the curriculum, and the background and research supporting the curriculum. It also includes samples of the scripts used to teach objectives and includes reproducible pages for extension activities.
Several teaching resources are provided with the downloadable resources:
- PDF files of the Sam Stories book and the appendixes in this Teacher’s Guide are provided as downloadable resources. The files come with a Classroom License for printouts and are provided for easy and convenient printing.
- PNG files of original art from the book Sam Stories are also provided. The illustrations can be printed and used for multiple purposes: decorating bulletin boards, adding to letters for families, making mini “Sam” books, creating activity pages, designing scrapbooks about Sam, etc. They can also be used to add images to a student’s AAC device. An index is provided on the flash drive to help you choose the best illustration for your purposes.
- A blank card template (Blank Card Template.docx) is provided for creating response options if you choose to complete some activities in print form. This document is provided as Word document (you must have Word to read and use this file)
- PDF files of the response options included in the software if you choose to complete some activities in print form (Level X Print Cards.pdf). These files will print as full pages of response options found in the software.
The Curriculum includes: 1 device license for any platform (Windows, Mac, iPad, Android), 1-year subscription for web-based software, Sam Stories, Teacher's Guide, downloadable resources, and sight word and alphabet cards.
| Subject | English Language Arts, Literacy |
|---|---|
| Age Group | Secondary |
| Author | Diane Browder, PhD; Susan Gibbs, PhD; Lynn Alhgrim-Delzell, PhD; Ginevra Courtade, PhD; Angel Lee, PhD. |
| Format | Blended |
| Number of Pages | Sam Stories: 78 pgs.; Instructor's Guide: 182 pgs. |
| Copyright | 2017 |
