Literacy
A Balanced Literacy program will be implemented in our classroom. A Balanced literacy program uses both whole language and phonics. The goal of a balanced literacy program is to include the strongest elements of each. There are five different components of a 'balanced literacy' program: The read aloud, guided reading, shared reading, independent reading, and word study .
Read Aloud: In Reading Workshops, skills are directly taught to students during interactiveread alouds. While the teacher reads the selection, s/he stops periodically to model the internal dialogue a good reader uses to help comprehend the work. For example the teacher might relate an event in the story to something that happened to him/her in real life (text to self), make a connection to a similar event in another book (text to text), or a connection to the wider world (text to world).
Shared Reading: Shared reading is when the students read from a shared text. Often this is a big book, a book projected on the white board using a website, mulitiple copies of a book or text, or our iPads. Students and the teacher read aloud and share their thinking about the text. During both interactive read alouds and shared reading the class will create anchor charts. These anchor charts remind students how and when to use different skills and strategies.
Guided Reading: Guided reading is a small group activity where more of the responsibility belongs to the student. Students read from leveled text. They use the skills directly taught during interactive read alouds and shared reading to increase their comprehension and fluency. The teacher is there to provide prompting and ask questions. Guided reading allows for great differentiation in the classroom. Groups are created around reading levels, and students move up when they note that the entire group is ready. During Guided Reading time the other students are working or reading independently.
Independent Reading: Independent reading is exactly what it sounds like: students reading self-selected text independently. The reading level of the text will often be slightly lower than the instructional level used in Guided Reading.
Word Study: As a part of the "Word Work," I will be using the word study program entitled,"Words Their Way." This is a developmental spelling, phonics, and vocabulary program. It was developed by Invernizzi, Johnston, Bear, and Templeton. "Words Their Way" is intended to be a part of a balanced literacy plan that includes fluency, comprehension and writing. Word study is implemented as a small component of the literacy plan but it is also interwoven in actual reading and writing texts. "Words Their Way" is an open-ended individual process. An assessment is given to determine where to begin instruction. Based on assessment results students are given words to study in order to discover the common attributes. In this manner students are actively constructing their own knowledge of spelling patterns. Students learn features by completing activities such as word sorting, word hunts, games and drawing and labeling. Students work individually, with partners, and in small groups to encourage cooperative learning and individual responsibility.
Writing
This year we will use the "Writer's Workshop" approach that was developed by Lucy Calkins, a renowned educator from Columbia Teacher's College. The goal of the Writer's Workshop technique is to allow children to see themselves as real writers because they have experiences from their own lives to share. Students will use the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing, evaluating) to compose personal narratives, letters, poetry, short reports, and other works. Students will read and analyze mentor texts (published works by authors) and emulate real authors throughout the year.
Math
Our math program will include an abundance of hands on learning. Topics this year include number sense, addition, subtraction, geometry, time, graphing, algebra, and fractions. Students will manipulate cubes, pattern blocks, clocks, calculators, shapes, and other math tools. Students will have access at school and home to games and the curriculum through daily problem solving strategies. Similar to guided reading, I will be meeting with small math groups daily to enrich and/or reteach important math concepts and skills. All students will be working towards basic addition and subtraction fact mastery. In some cases, students will begin to learn multiplication and division facts.
Social Studies
The key word in Social Studies this year is communities. We will study the roles of people, characteristics of citizenship, culture, economics, technology and changes in the context of community. With our new "Communities Here and There" program, students will use a hands on approach to learning about communities that are near and communities that are far. Students will use maps, globes, atlases and other materials to learn about our community and those around the world.
Science
Science is experiential and hands on! The main topics studied this year are: Weather, Sound, Matter, and Animal Life Cycles. Students will read and write about different topics and conduct experiments following the Scientific Process. Engineering and technology will also be integrated throughout the Science curriculum. Students will also be engaged in the same topics during their Science special area time.
A Balanced Literacy program will be implemented in our classroom. A Balanced literacy program uses both whole language and phonics. The goal of a balanced literacy program is to include the strongest elements of each. There are five different components of a 'balanced literacy' program: The read aloud, guided reading, shared reading, independent reading, and word study .
Read Aloud: In Reading Workshops, skills are directly taught to students during interactiveread alouds. While the teacher reads the selection, s/he stops periodically to model the internal dialogue a good reader uses to help comprehend the work. For example the teacher might relate an event in the story to something that happened to him/her in real life (text to self), make a connection to a similar event in another book (text to text), or a connection to the wider world (text to world).
Shared Reading: Shared reading is when the students read from a shared text. Often this is a big book, a book projected on the white board using a website, mulitiple copies of a book or text, or our iPads. Students and the teacher read aloud and share their thinking about the text. During both interactive read alouds and shared reading the class will create anchor charts. These anchor charts remind students how and when to use different skills and strategies.
Guided Reading: Guided reading is a small group activity where more of the responsibility belongs to the student. Students read from leveled text. They use the skills directly taught during interactive read alouds and shared reading to increase their comprehension and fluency. The teacher is there to provide prompting and ask questions. Guided reading allows for great differentiation in the classroom. Groups are created around reading levels, and students move up when they note that the entire group is ready. During Guided Reading time the other students are working or reading independently.
Independent Reading: Independent reading is exactly what it sounds like: students reading self-selected text independently. The reading level of the text will often be slightly lower than the instructional level used in Guided Reading.
Word Study: As a part of the "Word Work," I will be using the word study program entitled,"Words Their Way." This is a developmental spelling, phonics, and vocabulary program. It was developed by Invernizzi, Johnston, Bear, and Templeton. "Words Their Way" is intended to be a part of a balanced literacy plan that includes fluency, comprehension and writing. Word study is implemented as a small component of the literacy plan but it is also interwoven in actual reading and writing texts. "Words Their Way" is an open-ended individual process. An assessment is given to determine where to begin instruction. Based on assessment results students are given words to study in order to discover the common attributes. In this manner students are actively constructing their own knowledge of spelling patterns. Students learn features by completing activities such as word sorting, word hunts, games and drawing and labeling. Students work individually, with partners, and in small groups to encourage cooperative learning and individual responsibility.
Writing
This year we will use the "Writer's Workshop" approach that was developed by Lucy Calkins, a renowned educator from Columbia Teacher's College. The goal of the Writer's Workshop technique is to allow children to see themselves as real writers because they have experiences from their own lives to share. Students will use the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing, evaluating) to compose personal narratives, letters, poetry, short reports, and other works. Students will read and analyze mentor texts (published works by authors) and emulate real authors throughout the year.
Math
Our math program will include an abundance of hands on learning. Topics this year include number sense, addition, subtraction, geometry, time, graphing, algebra, and fractions. Students will manipulate cubes, pattern blocks, clocks, calculators, shapes, and other math tools. Students will have access at school and home to games and the curriculum through daily problem solving strategies. Similar to guided reading, I will be meeting with small math groups daily to enrich and/or reteach important math concepts and skills. All students will be working towards basic addition and subtraction fact mastery. In some cases, students will begin to learn multiplication and division facts.
Social Studies
The key word in Social Studies this year is communities. We will study the roles of people, characteristics of citizenship, culture, economics, technology and changes in the context of community. With our new "Communities Here and There" program, students will use a hands on approach to learning about communities that are near and communities that are far. Students will use maps, globes, atlases and other materials to learn about our community and those around the world.
Science
Science is experiential and hands on! The main topics studied this year are: Weather, Sound, Matter, and Animal Life Cycles. Students will read and write about different topics and conduct experiments following the Scientific Process. Engineering and technology will also be integrated throughout the Science curriculum. Students will also be engaged in the same topics during their Science special area time.