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Exeter presents Rifton "book club" and readies staff for state 'science of reading' requirements
Summary
District staff and Rifton reading specialists described a 30-minute daily "book club" for grades 5-6 intended to build reading stamina and integrate phonics, small-group work and independent reading; administrators said the new state rules require personalized intervention plans that must be uploaded to the state, adding clerical workload for reading specialists.
District teaching-and-learning staff and Rifton reading intervention specialists told the Exeter Township School Board on March 10 that a daily 30-minute "book club" for fifth and sixth graders is designed to increase reading engagement and build reading "stamina." They shared student videos, extension activities and how the model ties into assessment.
"Book club is a 30 minute block of time within every fifth and sixth grader's daily schedule where the focus is on targeted reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills," a presenter said. Reading intervention staff described mixing small-group phonics instruction, targeted small-group work and whole-class novels; students choose activities and complete extension projects such as podcasts or book covers.
During audience and board questions, staff emphasized that reading stamina is an explicitly taught skill. "It's kind of like running in a way," one presenter said. "We start maybe 5 to 7 minutes at the beginning of a year and then try to build that up so that they're able to attend longer." A Rifton student told the board, "I enjoy being able to, like, read with my friends, share with my friends, and just, like, overall read." That clip was part of several short videos presenters showed to illustrate student engagement.
Administrators connected the local program to recent state legislation promoting the "science of reading," and said the legislation requires districts to create individualized intervention plans for students receiving intervention and upload those plans to the state. Superintendent Dr. Christy Haller told the board the district already uses Acadience benchmarking and the UFLI phonics program and that "reading specialists are going to have a lot of clerical work" to produce and upload intervention plans.
The teaching-and-learning team said the district is "ahead" of many peers because prior local investments trained staff in structured approaches and that the upcoming April presentation will offer more detail comparing the district's prior balanced-literacy practices with structured/explicit instruction.
The board thanked the presenters and students; no vote was required for the presentation. Next steps include a fuller curriculum and resource recommendation to be presented ahead of any instructional adoptions.
