StoryBook Treasures - Lecanto, Florida

This year, StoryBook Treasures conducted a program assessment comparing student comprehension skills using the SBT program books compared to a similar book used in the classroom. The results... amazing! Here's a letter from Shabana Shah, one of our teachers administrating the assessment with students.

Dear Denise,

 I wanted to share my observations as I was administering the SBT First and Second Grade Comprehension and Impact Assessment informally and I will provide a formalized summary as part of the full testing report and quantitative data collected from each test.

I've administered reading assessments for several years and conversing with the students about SBT was very powerful.

• First, the joy. When I met with the first graders to talk about The Very Hungry Caterpillar, every single student smiled with joy, demonstrated enthusiasm, and easily engaged in conversation regarding the program and the books they've read through the program. (As a teacher, I can tell you it can be difficult to have your whole class excited about a book.) During this assessment, every single student wanted to share why they love SBT and the books. SBT has impacted every one of these kids in a different way, whether it's finally giving them books to keep at home, exposing them to new titles, or just finally showing them how easy it is to love reading and to love a book.
• Second, the retells were mesmerizing! Overall, almost all the first graders assessed were not only able to retell the story, but the level of detail in their retelling was like nothing I have ever witnessed. The kids used Eric Carle's language down to the days of the week, how many of each food the caterpillar ate, and even making sure to include minor words like 'popped' and 'moon' from the first page. It was evident these kids knew the Hungry Caterpillar inside out and they wanted to give the book justice with a really good retell explaining every detail they could remember.
• In contrast, for The Very Lonely Firefly, the same author and a similar plot, the students struggled with sequencing the pictures and retelling. They couldn't recall characters, settings, nor did they use any important vocabulary to make the retell meaningful and quantifiable to prove there was true comprehension of the story.

To my surprise, I saw very similar results during the second grade assessment as well. Students presented very similar behaviors of joy and excitement when asked about the SBT book compared to the Lonely Firefly. The data results were the exact same in 2nd grade as 1st grade. After one year, students were able to recall the SBT story with ease proving that SBT is making a huge impact on the lives of these children. The SBT longevity impact on students is something I’ve never seen another book impact on literacy skills, the love of reading and books. Students who are typically challenged with the English language and literacy in general, have proven with this assessment to find confidence, joy and a love of reading through the SBT program and SBT books.

Sincerely,

Shabana Shah

Shabana Shah

M.Ed Curriculum & Instruction-Elementary Ed.

Sugarland Elementary School

Your support makes this possible! Thank you from everyone at SBT for your support!!