Built around MAP Spring 2026 data. Summer 2026 + first-term Grade 3 plan. 30 minutes a day, English comprehension as the centre of gravity.
MAP Spring 2026 — at a glance
End of Grade 2 · National norms · NWEA 2025
Math RIT
209
91st percentile · +13 growth (proj. 12)
Reading RIT
186
60th percentile · +5 growth (proj. 10)
Lexile range
320–470L
Early chapter books
Comprehension
LoAvg
21–40th percentile — the gap
Reading sub-strands
Strand
Score
Read
Foundational Skills Phonics, decoding, word recognition
Avg
Fine. She can decode at grade level. Not exceptional, but not the bottleneck.
Literature & Informational Text Reading comprehension — extracting meaning, inferences, main idea
LoAvg
The weak spot. She's reading the words without efficiently extracting meaning from extended text.
Language & Writing Sentence structure, grammar, mechanics
High
Genuine strength. Use writing as a tool to reinforce comprehension.
Vocabulary Use & Functions Word knowledge and word use
HiAvg
She knows words. Vocabulary is not the bottleneck for her comprehension — engagement with text is.
The diagnosis (what this data means)
The mismatch is the story. Strong vocabulary + strong language/writing intuition + weak comprehension is a classic profile, and it tells us specifically what to fix:
It's not a vocabulary gap. She knows the words.
It's not a decoding gap. She can sound out grade-level text.
It's a thinking-while-reading gap. When she reads extended text, she isn't actively making meaning — predicting, questioning, visualising, connecting, summarising. Her eyes move but her mind doesn't engage.
This is common in bilingual kids whose conversational and vocabulary skills outpace their experience with extended written texts. They have the raw materials for comprehension but haven't built the habits.
The slowed growth rate (5 RIT vs. 10 projected) is the warning. Without intervention, she'll arrive in Grade 3 still in the LoAvg band on comprehension, just as the curriculum shifts from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." That gap widens fast. Closing it this summer is the highest-leverage move available.
What to observe over the next two weeks (the data tells us what, not why — these observations sharpen the plan):
Does she rush through reading without pausing?
If you stop her mid-page and ask "what just happened?" — can she tell you?
Does she re-read when something doesn't make sense, or push through?
Does she ask questions during a story, or only at the end (or not at all)?
Can she picture what's happening in her head when you read to her?
Where Grade 3 needs her to be
Grade 3 is the year reading shifts from learning to read to reading to learn — kids read longer texts to extract information, and comprehension becomes the bottleneck for every subject. The targets:
Dimension
Where she is (Spring 2026)
Target for Sep 2026 (G3 start)
Target for Spring 2027 (next MAP)
Reading RIT
186
~190
195+ (typical G3 growth)
Lexile
320–470L
~500L
520–820L (G3 range)
Comprehension strand
LoAvg (21–40%)
Avg (41–60%)
Avg+ / HiAvg
Reading stamina
To baseline
20 min sustained, independent
30 min sustained, independent
Comprehension strategies
Implicit / undeveloped
Familiar with all 5 (predict, question, visualise, connect, summarise)
Using strategies independently without prompting
RIT targets are realistic if she hits the growth projection (~9 points G2→G3); the comprehension strand target is the meaningful one and is the explicit goal of this plan.
The 30-minute daily plan
Mon–Fri · plus a weekend block
A 1-page version of the plan you can pin up or paste into a note.
Emi · Daily English plan · 30 min
Mon–Fri · Grade 2 → 3 transition · built on MAP Spring 2026
0–5 min
Vocabulary warm-up
Review yesterday's word. Introduce 1 new Tier-2 word in context (observe, predict, gradually, despite, consider, however, similar). She uses it in a sentence she invents.
5–20 min
Active reading (15 min)
Read at her Lexile (320–500L). Stop every 2–3 pages with one comprehension prompt: predict · question · visualise · connect · summarise.
20–25 min
Comprehension talk
Retell with "Somebody — Wanted — But — So — Then" (fiction) or "First — Then — Next — Last" (info). Add: "Why do you think ___?" + "Has anything like that happened to you?"
25–30 min
Quick write
2 sentences in a small notebook: 1 fact + 1 thought. Capitals and full stops are the only correction points.
Weekly content rotation — non-fiction-led (per Saint Maur teacher guidance)
Mon
Non-fiction — new (text features + main idea)
Tue
Same non-fiction text re-read (key details + vocab)
Wed
Fiction — new chapter (narrative comprehension)
Thu
Non-fiction — new (text structure: cause/effect or compare)
Fri
Free choice + book talk (summarising)
Sat/Sun
20-min parent read-aloud at stretch Lexile (650L+). Audiobook in car.
Non-fiction at her Lexile (320–500L): National Geographic Readers · DK Readers · Magic Tree House Fact Trackers · Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science · Scholastic News · Time for Kids · Wonderopolis. Fiction to keep: Magic Tree House · Mercy Watson · Junie B Jones. Target by Sep 2026: 500L+ texts, 20-min stamina, 3+ comprehension strategies used unprompted.
Structure stays the same every day; content rotates. The 30 minutes is tight on purpose — sustainability beats intensity at her age. Detail and "why" for each block:
0–5 min
Vocabulary warm-up
Review yesterday's word in a quick sentence. Introduce 1 new Tier-2 word in context (academic words like observe, predict, gradually, despite, consider, however, similar). She uses it in a sentence she invents.
Why: keeps vocab (already a strength) sharp, and pre-loads words she'll meet in reading. Tier-2 words are what Grade 3 tests reward.
5–20 min
Active reading (15 min)
Read a portion of a book in her Lexile range (320–500L). Stop every 2–3 pages and prompt with one of the comprehension strategies (see next section). Not a full Q&A every time — just one beat to keep her mind engaged.
Why: this is the core. Reading while thinking, not reading-then-thinking. The stops are the intervention.
20–25 min
Comprehension talk (5 min)
Use a retell structure: "Somebody — Wanted — But — So — Then" for fiction, or "First — Then — Next — Last" for informational. Add one inference question: "Why do you think ___?" Add one personal connection: "Has anything like that happened to you?"
Why: forces her to organise meaning, not just recall facts. The "why do you think" question is the inference muscle Grade 3 demands.
25–30 min
Quick write (5 min)
2 sentences in a small notebook: 1 fact + 1 thought. ("The fox tricked the chickens. I thought he was mean because he lied.") Capitals and full stops are the only corrections.
Why: writing crystallises thinking. This is also where her Language & Writing strength (High) gets to reinforce her comprehension (LoAvg).
Weekly content rotation (non-fiction-led per Saint Maur teacher guidance)
Day
Reading type
Strategy focus
Mon
Non-fiction — new article / chapter (animals, science, history, current events)
Text features + main idea
Tue
Same non-fiction text, re-read
Key details + Tier-2 vocabulary in context
Wed
Fiction — new chapter (kept to build narrative comprehension + engagement)
Predicting + visualising
Thu
Non-fiction — new (different topic from Mon)
Text structure: cause/effect or compare/contrast
Fri
Free choice + book talk (she chooses — bias toward non-fiction if she's open to it)
Summarising in her own words
Sat/Sun
20-min parent read-aloud at stretch Lexile (650L+) — Who Was, DK Eyewitness, or longer non-fiction. Audiobook in the car.
Vocabulary & world knowledge exposure beyond her independent level
Ratio is roughly 3 non-fiction : 1 fiction : 1 free per week. Fiction stays in the rotation because narrative comprehension is a distinct skill she still needs, and because story can keep the routine sustainable when she's tired. Bias to non-fiction on her free day if she's open to it.
The five comprehension strategies to teach
Introduce one per week for the first 5 weeks. After that, mix them in active reading. These are the research-backed "Big 5" — kids who use them outperform those who don't, regardless of starting ability.
1Predicting
Before / during reading, she guesses what happens next based on what she knows so far. Doesn't have to be right — has to be reasoned.
"What do you think will happen next? Why do you think that?"
2Questioning
She generates her own questions about the text — things she wonders. Builds active engagement vs. passive consumption.
"What's one question you have about this part?" or "What are you wondering right now?"
3Visualising
She makes a mental picture of what's being described. If she can't, the text isn't going in. This is huge for bilingual kids whose mental imagery may be more attached to Japanese words.
"Draw a picture in your head of what just happened. What does it look like?"
4Connecting
Three kinds: text-to-self ("this reminds me of when I..."), text-to-text ("like in that other book..."), text-to-world ("this is like what happens when...").
"Does this remind you of anything? Something that happened to you, another book, or something in the real world?"
5Summarising
In her own words, what's the main idea + 2–3 key details. Hardest strategy — leave for week 5 once others are familiar.
"If you had to tell someone what this chapter was about in 3 sentences, what would you say?"
Non-fiction comprehension — different muscles
Per teacher guidance — Grade 3 leans heavily on non-fiction
The five strategies above work for any text, but non-fiction also asks for skills that don't apply to stories. These are the ones to add over the summer — they're where Grade 3 academic reading lives.
AText features
Headings, subheadings, captions, bold words, diagrams, photos, table of contents, glossary. Non-fiction tells you what's coming before you read it — fiction doesn't. Teach her to preview before reading.
"Before we read, look at the headings and pictures. What do you think this is going to be about?"
BMain idea + supporting details
What's this paragraph mostly about? What are the 2 or 3 facts that tell us that? Different from story retelling — there's no "what happened next." Build with a 1-paragraph article first, then a full page.
"What's the most important thing this paragraph is telling us? What facts back that up?"
CText structure
Non-fiction is organised in patterns: description, sequence, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution. Teaching her to spot the pattern makes comprehension dramatically easier.
"Is this telling us how something happens (sequence), why something happens (cause/effect), or what something is like (description)?"
DEvidence-based answering
Grade 3 starts asking "where does it say that?" — kids have to point back to the text. Train this early. Phrase her answers as: "I think ___. I know because the text says ___."
"Show me the part in the book that tells us that. Now say it as: I think ___ because the text says ___."
How to layer these in: introduce one per week in weeks 5–8. By end of summer, she should preview non-fiction with text features (A), state the main idea (B), and answer with evidence (D) unprompted. Text structure (C) is harder — week 8 onward.
12-week summer plan
From end of Grade 2 (now, June 2026) to start of Grade 3 (September 2026). Three phases.
Weeks 1–4Routine + non-fiction text features + strategies 1–3
Daily 30-min routine running by end of week 1. Pick a fixed time slot (suggest: after Saint Maur, before dinner).
Stock the shelf with non-fiction at her Lexile (320–470L): National Geographic Readers Level 1–2, DK Readers Level 2, Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Stage 1, Magic Tree House Fact Trackers. Keep 2–3 fiction in rotation: Magic Tree House, Mercy Watson, Junie B Jones.
Introduce strategies 1–3 (predicting, questioning, visualising) + strategy A (text features) — one per week.
Habit: on every non-fiction text, preview the headings, captions, and pictures before reading.
Observe and note: her current reading speed, where she stumbles, whether she rushes, when she disengages — and whether non-fiction or fiction is harder for her.
Output target by week 4: she previews non-fiction with text features unprompted; predicts and visualises on most reads.
Phase 2 — Weeks 5–8 (mid Jul – mid Aug 2026)
Add strategies 4–5 (connecting, summarising) + strategy B (main idea + supporting details) and strategy D (evidence-based answers) — one per week.
Increase stamina: push reading block from 15 min toward 20 min by end of phase. Use a timer she can see.
Bring in current-events non-fiction: Scholastic News, Time for Kids, Wonderopolis. Short, daily, low-friction. Builds the background knowledge that Grade 3 non-fiction assumes.
Move toward upper end of her Lexile: add some 450L–550L non-fiction (longer DK Readers, Who Was series — partial).
Output target by week 8: can state main idea of a paragraph + give 2 supporting facts. Answers questions with "the text says ___" unprompted at least sometimes. 20-min sustained reading.
Phase 3 — Weeks 9–12 (mid Aug – early Sep 2026)
Add strategy C (text structure) — start with sequence and cause/effect; compare/contrast and problem/solution later.
Bridge into Grade 3 Lexile: 500–650L non-fiction — Who Was series (with light support), DK Eyewitness, Scholastic Discover More. Some 500L+ fiction (Stink, Geronimo Stilton) for narrative balance.
Reduce prompts: ask one comprehension question per chapter, not per 2–3 pages. She should be initiating strategies herself.
Add a weekly "book talk": she presents what she read for 2 minutes — bias to non-fiction so she's practising "this is what I learned" mode, not "this is what happened in the story".
Output target by week 12: can preview non-fiction, identify main idea, give evidence-based answers, and recognise at least 2 text structures (sequence, cause/effect). Reading 500L+ for 20 min without prompts.
Grade 3 ongoing (Sep 2026 – Apr 2027)
Once Grade 3 is underway and her routine is locked, shift from active intervention to maintenance. But don't drop the daily 30 min — the bridge year is short, and the April 2027 Japanese-school transition means weekday English exposure drops afterward.
Keep the same 30-min structure but at a higher Lexile (550L+).
Add a weekly tutor session (Japan Tutor / Inter-TOMAS / Kikoku Shijo per the parallel decision on Emi's main page). Tutor should reinforce strategies + introduce harder text.
Watch the Fall 2026 MAP score closely. If reading RIT is at or above 192 and comprehension strand has moved out of LoAvg, plan is working — stay course. If not, revisit (see "If progress stalls" below).
Plan a deliberate book bridge into Japanese school transition: in Q1 2027, start building a take-home English book library so reading habits continue after she leaves Saint Maur.
Math — light maintenance only
She's at 91st percentile and exceeding growth projections. Don't waste her time on drilling. Light routine to keep her sharp into Grade 3:
10–15 min daily on Khan Academy Kids or similar — Grade 3 prep (multi-digit operations, intro to fractions, longer word problems).
Times tables — start memorising 2s, 5s, 10s by end of summer. Grade 3 expects fluent recall of small times tables.
Word problems out loud — read a math word problem to her, she has to explain what it's asking before solving. This is reading-comprehension training disguised as math.
Resources
Non-fiction at her Lexile (320–500L) — primary focus
National Geographic Readers — Levels 1–2. Photo-rich, single topic per book (penguins, sharks, volcanoes, etc.). Ideal entry point.
DK Readers — Levels 1–2. Strong text features (captions, diagrams, fact boxes) — perfect for teaching strategy A.
Magic Tree House Fact Trackers — non-fiction companions to the Magic Tree House series. If she's already reading the fiction, the parallel non-fiction is a hook.
Charlotte's Web (~680L), The BFG (~720L), Ramona series (~860L) — fiction read-aloud for narrative balance.
Apps
Epic! — leveled digital library. Filter by "non-fiction" to dial up her exposure; many books have audio.
Raz-Kids — leveled readers with explicit comprehension quizzes; non-fiction and fiction both, filterable.
Reading Eggspress — comprehension-focused, includes non-fiction passages with question scaffolding.
Khan Academy Kids — math maintenance + some non-fiction reading content.
If progress stalls
If by end of Phase 2 (mid-August) you don't see meaningful change — she still rushes, can't retell, can't visualise — the diagnosis was probably incomplete. Things to check:
Ask Saint Maur for a teacher observation — they can flag whether she's been doing this in class too, or if it's improving with the home routine.
Get an eye exam. Vision issues sometimes hide as comprehension issues. Quick to rule out, easy to miss.
Consider a structured reading program (Reading Eggspress, Lexia Core5, or a Saint Maur recommendation) for 1 month — more directed practice than self-guided routine.
Re-check engagement. If she's bored, the books are wrong (too easy, wrong topic, or both). Switch to topics she's deeply interested in — even if it's manga in English or Pokemon books.
Be honest about uncertainty: the MAP tells us what the gap is (extracting meaning from text), not why. The first 2–4 weeks of this plan are also a diagnostic — your observations of how she reads should sharpen the plan from week 4 onwards.
Grade 3 readiness checklist — September 2026
Reading independently for 20 min at 500L texts (mix of fiction and non-fiction)
Previews non-fiction with text features (headings, captions, pictures) before reading
Can state the main idea of a non-fiction paragraph + give 2 supporting facts
Answers with evidence ("the text says ___") at least sometimes unprompted
Recognises at least 2 non-fiction text structures (sequence, cause/effect)
Can retell a chapter using Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then (fiction)
Uses 3+ comprehension strategies without prompting
Knows 2s, 5s, 10s times tables fluently
Writes 3+ sentences unprompted on a topic she chooses
Reading routine running 5+ days a week, sustainable without daily push
Has a personal reading "next up" shelf of 5+ books (lean non-fiction)
Updates log
2026-06-28
Page created from MAP Spring 2026 results. Curriculum built around comprehension gap (LoAvg) + maintenance of math (91st pct), vocab (HiAvg), writing (High) strengths.
2026-06-29
Added printable / copyable 30-min plan card. Added prominent "Current focus" banner on Emi's main page.
2026-06-29
Rebalanced toward non-fiction per Saint Maur teacher guidance: weekly rotation flipped from 3 fiction : 1 info to 3 non-fiction : 1 fiction : 1 free. Added 4 non-fiction-specific comprehension strategies (text features, main idea + details, text structure, evidence-based answering). Resources section now leads with non-fiction. Phase plan updated to layer non-fiction strategies in across weeks 1–12.