After winter break, it can feel like your newcomers forgot every routine you built in the fall. A short reset can quickly rebuild confidence and participation. If you use any of Vista’s Get Ready! or Get Ready & Get Reading! programs, you already have the tools to bring cheer to the new year. Here are four strategies to activate and rejuvenate across grade levels.
- Restart with a familiar piece of text
Begin the week with a short story, dialogue, or passage students already read about themselves or school life. Reread it together and ask what feels easier now than it did in September, so students notice their growth. Review reading strategies they already know and activate listening skills using the audio feature of the Student vText.
What to look for/where to find it: Use Connect to Reading activities from Units 2, 3, or 4 and corresponding Get Reading! content-area readers. Connect to Reading follows the Phonics lesson in the Student Edition and Student vText. Get Reading! readers are on the Supersite (in each unit) or in print.
- Reteach the instructional routine for Get Ready!
Choose an early lesson and explicitly model each step (explore, learn, practice, communicate, assess). Think aloud so you reteach both language and behavior.
What to look for/where to find it: Use the margin notes in your Teacher’s Edition (print or Supersite) and pair with another early lesson to stimulate recall.
A quick note for SLIFE students who are just joining
While returning newcomers revisit familiar material, SLIFE students may be seeing everything for the first time. Offer a lighter onboarding track using the most visual, routine-heavy Get Ready! lessons: picture vocabulary from Connect to Language, choral/echo reading, and very short copied or labeled writing with a supportive buddy when possible.
Where to find it: Start with early Unit 1 lessons and Level A Get Reading! texts; reference SLIFE margin notes in the front matter and unit introductions of the Teacher’s Edition; use audio; assign individually in the Supersite.
- Build quick wins with short vocabulary, listening, or fluency tasks
Plan success-forward tasks like choral/echo reading, quick vocabulary games (bingo), or a one- or two-question listening check.
Where to find it: Short listening/speaking from Connect to Phonics, the Practice Book, and Get Reading! passages. Use audio from Decodable Readers in Sail and Soar. Older students can access PDF versions of these readers in the Supersite Resources tab.
- Reboot core classroom vocabulary
Revisit high-frequency words and phrases that run your classroom: greetings, materials, directions, and participation stems. Practice out loud with visuals and gestures.
Where to find it: Picture vocabulary from Connect to Language, simple language frames (Units 2–4), and the High Frequency Vocabulary page in the Teacher’s Edition front matter. Get Reading! books include visual vocabulary for all titles in Levels A and B.
A few days of this reset work can restore momentum for returning newcomers and give SLIFE students a gentle, supported entry into the second half of the year.
By Katalyn Vidal Loveless, Ed.M.
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