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Washington Elementary previews preteaching strategy to boost second-grade reading
Summary
At an April 28 working session, Washington Elementary staff described a preteaching strategy for second grade that gives students vocabulary and background before whole-class lessons to reduce future intervention needs.
At the Washington County School District working session on April 28, Stephanie Seals, a learning coach at Washington Elementary, and second-grade teacher Angie Davis described a preteaching approach the school is using for second graders.
Seals said the school adapted a preteaching strategy from Jennifer Swanson that “teaches learners about concept or skills before they encounter them in the classroom” so students have the language and skill building blocks needed when the unit is taught to the whole class. "The primary objective of preteaching is to establish the foundations for a single lesson or unit of work," Seals said.
Davis described the classroom practice: higher-readers are sent to reread the weekly grade-level text in the library or computer lab while teachers keep lower-readers together to review vocabulary and read the upcoming text as a group. "We preteach it the week before…and then we talk about it. So they have a little bit of background in it before we go over it as a whole class," Davis said. In short exchanges recorded in the session, students told teachers that prereading helped them remember vocabulary and feel more confident.
Board members and staff framed the approach as an example of proactive team collaboration inside professional learning communities (PLCs). One board member said the strategy helps students “before we get to intervention” and praised it as an example of planning to support learners anticipated to struggle with upcoming content.
No formal action was taken; the presentation was a staff-led PLC showcase and informational item. The board thanked Washington Elementary staff for sharing classroom practices and indicated similar PLC training will continue at future meetings.
