Abstract
This article details Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies for First-Grade Readers (First-Grade PALS), a type of Classwide Peer Tutoring designed specifically to help general education teachers prevent, or at least reduce, early reading failure by better accommodating the unique learning needs of a wide spectrum of students. We provide an empirically based rationale, a description of program components, a summary of empirical evidence, and case studies of three students who participated in PALS. In First-Grade PALS classrooms, all children are paired with other children from within their own classroom. Each pair simultaneously completes a tutoring routine that has been carefully taught by the teacher. What sets First-Grade PALS apart from other peer tutoring activities is the incorporation of critical content identified through research for effective early literacy instruction. Within each First-Grade PALS session, students (a) practice phonological awareness and phonological recoding and apply these skills in connected text and (b) share a trade book with a peer by making predictions, reading the text multiple times, and summarizing the text through retelling. The first routine, Sounds and Words, is a code-based set of activities incorporating critical phonological and alphabetic reading skills. The second routine, Story Sharing, is a holistic activity incorporating a basic strategy for interacting with text. All of this is accomplished during three weekly 35-min sessions composed of two tutoring routines.
