Language Arts and Reading

Early Childhood and Kindergarten

Goals:

• Organize and make sense of experiences through use of oral language.
• Engage daily in meaningful reading and writing activities.
• Read, write, speak and listen for pleasure and information.
• Integrate language and reading into the content areas.

Observable Guidelines:

• Recognizes: name, colors and shapes, upper and lower case letters, rhyming sounds and words, consonant sounds, and simple sight words
• Begins to use story mapping
• Retells stories
• Makes circle stories and sequences events
• Understands ‘concepts’ of print - (e.g. left-right-top-bottom, front-back)
• Uses letter forms in writing (precommunicative) and letters that represent sounds (semiphonetic)

• Clearly expresses thought through small group/large group interactions
• Predicts outcomes in stories
• Retells stories
• Discusses circle stories and sequences events orally
• Uses background experiences to make predictions

• Songs, chants, rhymes, fingerplays
• Big books
• Journal writing
• Use of fiction
• Use of nonfiction
• Shared readings
• Creative drama/interpretation
• Harcourt ‘Trophies’ - Kindergarten reading series

First and Second Grade

Four Block Model

Words

• Phonemic awareness necessary for success
• Guided phonics instruction in letter-sound relationships
• Use of familiar word families to form high frequency words (e.g at, hat, scat, scratch)
• Transfer of important phonetic understandings to spelling development

• Display of high frequency words on bulletin boards or walls
• Children are expected to read & spell words correctly at their developmentally appropriate level

Guided Reading

• Reading skills and strategies
• Decoding words in context
• Comprehending and using story grammar
• Listening comprehension
• Storytelling

• Use of publishers’ materials - Harcourt ‘Trophies’ (2003) Anthology and accompanying resources
• Big books
• Trade books (fiction/nonfiction)
• Poetry
• Classroom or student created texts

Writing

• Prewriting activities
• First draft
• Beginning revision
• Editing
• Final draft
• ‘Publication’ of selected pieces

Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade

Objectives

• Read, write, speak and listen for comprehension and enjoyment
• Develop effective comprehension and decoding strategies
• Use oral and written language to develop topics, problems, questions and themes
• Read selections appropriate to individual needs/interests
• Develop effective strategies as writers
  Incorporate study skills and strategies

Written Language - Reading:

• Use context and graphophonic clues to gain meaning
• Develop oral fluency and expression
• Enhance comprehension development
• Generalize and draw inferences and conclusions
• Apply study skills to daily work
  Identify and interpret various types of literature
• Apply reading strategies to narrative and expository text
  Incorporate study skills and strategies

Written Language - Writing

• Use proper grammar and mechanics in written work
• Write for a variety of purposes and audiences
• Use a variety of sources for information
• Enlarge writing vocabulary
• Begin to use notetaking and outlining skills
• Develop the ability to organize information into paragraphs and short reports
• Use paraphrasing

Written Language - Speaking:

• Express thoughts clearly and succinctly
• Demonstrate a sense of responsibility for participation in discussion and conversation
• Maintain discussions toward given subject
• Respect questions, comments and suggestions from others
• Apply reporting skills

Written Language - Listening:

• Follow oral directions
• Listen attentively to gain information
• Determine the purpose for listening

Materials Used:

• Harcourt ‘Trophies’ (2003) reading anthology
• Tradebooks
• Nonfiction
• Reference selections/grammar
• Computer technology

Assessment Tools Used:

• Harcourt ‘Trophies’ (2003) Assessment
• Lexile Assessment Framework
• District Reading Comprehension Test
• Teacher Observation
• Classroom Assessment
• Six Trait Writing Analysis
• Standardarized Testing:
  • Wisconsin Reading Comprehension Test (WRCT)
  • Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Test (WKCE)