If a child is experiencing difficulty in an area of learning or requires additional support, Moanataiari school has a range of interventions, in class with our teachers and/or using our teacher aides to accelerate the progress of students to support them in experiencing success.
The Ministry of Education may also provide additional hours to support learners with special needs.
The following programmes are available to support students:
Rainbow Reading
The Rainbow Reading Programme has been designed to meet the needs and interests of struggling readers and students learning English. However, because of the wide range of high interest stories and articles included in the collection, the programme is of interest and benefit to all students.
There are over 300 books, colour coded at different reading levels according to the colours of the rainbow, starting at white level 5 - 6 years through to Violet 11 - 12 years.
Each book is accompanied by an audio tape. Students can be supported in their reading and provided with a clear model. Along with each book there are activity sheets that help the student in assessing and improving comprehension, writing, spelling and identifying words.
The books are graded according to the reading level. This makes them achievable and at an ideal level for students to receive just the right amount of challenge and not be frustrated by difficulty.
The Rainbow Reading Programme is encouraging, supportive, motivating and enjoyable. It is a system used with proven success worldwide.
Toe by Toe
Toe by Toe is a highly structured multi-sensory reading programme that will benefit any student with reading difficulties especially those who have been diagnosed with specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia).
The reading manual is written by Keda Cowling (Cert. Ed) and Harry Cowling (B.A Hons) and has been 25 years in the development. The end product is so finely structured they decided to call it Toe by Toe not Step by Step.
Alongside the reading coach, the students work at their own pace and need three consecutive ticks before a word can be considered learned. Each student has their own book which is all the equipment necessary for coaching to begin, the book in front of the student and a pen for the coach.
Toe by Toe is methodical, gradual, finely structured and above all highly successful.
If you feel your child would benefit from any learning support, please speak with their class teacher as they will be able to advise you and let you know if your child qualifies for the support, if not already receiving.
Quick 60
The Quick 60 programme was created as a result of research conducted by Iversen & Tunmer (1993) and published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, Volume 85. The purpose of the programme is to assist students considered at-risk of not keeping up with their peers, with their reading and spelling. Typically it is an intervention used to aide junior students where they are learning english as a second language and/or for those that for whatever reason, could use a little extra support.
At Moanataiari School, we run the Quick 60 programme as a Quick 30 programme with one lesson spread over two days, making up our sixty minutes that way. It is a common approach and means that students miss less in-class learning each day. We run our 30 minute sessions so that they are at the same time each Monday through Thursday for each student group. Our groups are made up of no more than three students and they are all at a similar ability level.
Maths
We have a teacher aide who assists any student who may be struggling with maths by filling the gaps in their learning using the maths programmes Pr1me and Numicon. The teacher aide will also take groups of up to four students from years 2 - 8 from various classes that the teachers identify for the programme. This is to accelerate their learning in place value, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions and decimals and all other areas of the curriculum using various means of equipment.
Students who attend these sessions show great progress and confidence which can also be seen across other subjects.
During lockdown, the teacher aide ran an online classroom with youtube clips of Pr1me Maths lessons she had created. These can now be used when students are absent and need a catch up lesson. Here is a sample lesson: (Prime 1B Chapter 15 Addition and Subtraction within 40, Lesson 1 Subtracting Ones Pg 80) Catch up lesson
Speech Therapist
A speech therapist from Group Special Education visits the school from time to time to work with students who require help. If the school or the parent/caregiver have a concern, a referral can be made.