Christina Jones & Team – Pinewood Elementary – Marysville School District
Project title: “Intermediate Reward Phonics Program”
Fourth grade teachers at Pinewood Elementary in the Marysville School District are a tight knit group. This team is unique and special, they listen to each other, honor each other as professionals, and they are invested in the success of their students.
When educators Christina Jones, Brian Schultz, Paige Elwell, Jason Ballew (technology teacher), and Paige Liukko began to realize that the phonetics program at their school was not robust enough, they teamed up for what they called a “Phonetics Intervention.”
The teaching team learned that 49% of current 3rd grade students at Pinewood were one to two grade levels behind on their school reading based on the February 2021 “I-Ready” assessments. Students need stronger foundational skills, especially to read unknown vocabulary words. Learning to read is a two-part process of foundational skills and comprehension skills.
The grant application process was led by Christina Jones and once they secured the funding, they were able to purchase a curriculum, Rewards, that would help students decode multisyllabic words designed specifically for 4th and 5th grade students. he team hopes that this new program will help students to decode words they are reading, freeing up their mental space to be able to think about what they are reading. The team is optimistic that by diligently tracking the student data they will be able to learn and grow their knowledge base and better support student learning for years to come.
Four NWESD Schools were named as 2021 recipients of Ellison Education Grants. This year the foundation funded 15 grants worth $75,000.
