Integrated Language Arts
We want our students to choose to read and write. We want our students to view literacy as a way to raise the quality of their lives and the quality of the many communities that they belong to.
On Balanced Literacy
The District takes a balanced literacy approach to the teaching of reading and writing. Teachers use a blend of modeling, guiding and independent literacy work by students to build reading and writing skills. Children are assessed and instruction is planned based on the their instructional literacy levels.
Each classroom has a library of multileveled interesting fiction and nonfiction books. The schools also have book sets to facilitate small group instruction. Teachers use instructional planning resources such as the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking System, Writing Fundamentals, Making Meaning, anthologies, websites, magazines, etc…
We are always striving to improve on the success of our students. To support our teachers in reaching the highest level of literacy instruction, the District has had held many excellent professional development opportunities for teachers. These expert consultants have supported our staff in teaching the many components of balanced literacy. In addition, the District has a literacy coach that guides teachers on an ongoing basis on implementing quality literacy instruction. The District will continue to support our teachers with training and resources in order to ensure that all of our students reach their potential in reading and writing.
Some Components of our Balanced Literacy Program:
Read Aloud – Whole class instruction during which the teacher reads aloud a book to model reading strategies, fluency and to develop a love of reading. Often students are paired together and are able to respond to the text to their partner in a structure called “Turn and Talk.”
Shared Reading – Whole-class instruction that involves a text that all can see; on a chart, overhead, big book or individual copies. This teaching strategy is used to introduce or reinforce a reading strategy or skill that the children can use when navigating text independently.
Guided Reading – Small-group instruction using leveled books at the child’s instructional level. The teacher supports the students in navigating the text and by determining and delivering instruction that will move each student to the next level.
Independent Reading – Each child reads a just-right book* by him/herself. The teacher uses this time to conference with students to determine whether or not the student has been able to utilize the strategies taught during whole class or small-group instruction when reading independently. Teachers often observe students’ strengths and weaknesses during guided reading and independent reading to plan future instruction.
Fundations – Students in K-2 use a multisensory reading program called Fundations. Through engaging instructional activities, core spelling and reading skills are taught to mastery through repetition and kinesthetic learning. It is taught daily in each classroom.
NYS English Language Arts Core Curriculum Guide:
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/ela/pub/ccela.pdf
Web Resources
1. A note to parents: You'll need to search this site to find activities that match your child.
http://rbeaudoin333.homestead.com/sightvocab_1.html
2. A wonderful site for interactive web stories. It is very colorful and has audio to match the words.
http://www.starfall.com/
3. A matching game to review sounds and letter names. http://www.candlelightstories.com/Games/UnderseaABCgame.php
4. This game has students make as many words as they can from a list of letters. Parents, this might be one you'll enjoy too!
http://www.primarygames.com/langarts/chicktionary/index.htm
5. This is a site with lots of great educational games for students. One of the favorites is paintball punctuation. It's under language arts. There is also no need to register; you can play all the games without registration.
http://www.iknowthat.com/com
6. In every grade level, students think critically about characters in the stories they read and hear. Try this activity with your child to bolster their skills at thinking critically about characters. http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson175/RWT186-1.pdf
7. A site dedicated to helping guys choose books to read, by the author John Scieszka, to “help boys find stuff to read.” http://www.guysread.com/
On Just-Right Books…
1. The student has chosen it because she finds it interesting and wants to read it.
2. There are no more than about three words per page that the child has to sound out, or try to figure out the meaning of.
3. The story should challenge the reader a bit. It should make them stretch their reading skills, but not to the point of frustration.
4. Just-Right books are extremely important. Children will not really read or interact with the book in their mind if they do not like the topic. If the book is too easy they will not grow. If the book is too hard they will not grow. A just right book will engage them and make them practice reading skills they are learning because they will have to use them to maintain meaning.
How to help your child choose one: Start with the child's interests. Then try to find the right level. A librarian or teacher would love to help you with this.
A Writing at Home Tip
Shared Writing of Personal Small Moments
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Hello Parents,
This is a great way to help a student learn how to come up with small personal stories. It is also a great way to bond with your kids and to collect memories in writing. Maybe you could keep them all in one special journal.
In this activity the parent holds the pen and does all the writing.
The goal is to come up with a story that makes sense with the help of your child. After you write it you will read it together a few times, and maybe save it in a special place to read together once in a while.
They will get practice planning and thinking through a story idea. Remember to keep it fun. Try to let them tell it. Coach them along when they get stuck. Tell some/most of the story if you have to the first couple of times.
Try to keep the moment short. Not the whole trip to Splish Splash but the moment when the lightning started. You might get an idea by thinking about:
"Let’s write a story together about the time we _______."
"Remember last week...It was a lot of fun. Something funny happened."
"Let’s write about ___________ and the time he______."
Some things to say when you get writer's block.
"What should we write first?"
"What happened next?"
"Describe the restaurant."
"Who was there?"
"What did she say?"
"How did we feel?"
Here is an example of a small personal story.
I liked fishing alone. There was no pressure from my father to catch a fish. I walked slowly down the sandy road to the creek in the inlet to do a little snapper fishing with a bamboo fishing pole. Maybe I'd catch a few and bring them home for my cats to eat. I went to my usual spot on the beach, a stretch of clean white sand that was right next to an iron bulwark. The water was strong, dark and deep there. I set up my pole, threw out the line, and laid back on the sand looking up at a clear blue sky. I must have fallen asleep because I was woken up by a two foot long striped bass landing and flapping on the beach next to me. He was beautiful with scales that played catch with the sunlight in a hundred different colors. I froze. Still in shock, I grabbed him by the gills, threw him in my bucket, and ran home. I told my family I caught him with my little snapper pole. A little lie maybe, but I did impress my father that day!
By G. Poole