ASW students visit with John Coy.
There are many components to our Reading and Writing Curriculum. Every day, the students in 1-H will be involved in a variety of literacy activities, including: Word Study, Shared Reading, Guided Reading, Independent Reading, Writers' Workshop, and Literacy Centers. However, the lines between these components are often blurred. We may have a quick spelling mini-lesson in the middle of reading. We may apply a strategy from reading while we are writing. We will write about what we read, and we will read what we write. This is the heart of balanced literacy.
Each week we add several focus words to our word wall. Now our word wall looks like this: 1-H Word Wall. Word wall words are generally high frequency words that we use often in reading and writing. We use our word wall throughout the day so that the students will truly master these words. We also play games with our word wall words and use them to find connections to other words.
Every day we take time for an interactive read aloud. This is a chance for the children to enjoy a quality selection of literature while developing reading comprehension skills such as visualizing, making connections, making inferences, predicting, and summarizing. Often we will engage in a writing activity that reflects on the story we shared together during our read aloud time.
Another component in our daily literacy routine is shared poetry reading. We start a new poem on Monday. During the week, the children read the poem together and independently. We practice searching for word wall words or other language arts skills that we have studied. We also discuss new vocabulary and challenging words. I usually choose poems with rhyming patterns, since recognizing rhyming words is such an important skill at this age.
We also have time for reading every day. I meet with students in small guided reading groups to tailor instruction to the individual needs of each child. In guided reading, I encourage the students to read books at their instructional level. This is the level that is slightly more challenging than the level the student is able to read on her own, but not so difficult as to be frustrating. During guided reading, we practice many strategies for decoding tricky words and comprehending the text. When the children engage in independent reading, however, I expect that they will read books at their "just right" level. Independent reading should not be stressful! One way to determine whether a book is "just right" is to turn to any page in the book. If there are more than 5 words on the page that the student has difficulty reading right away, than that book is not just right - yet. Be careful! We grow so much and so quickly in first grade that sometimes a book that was too difficult one week is just right the next!
While I am working with small guided reading groups, the remaining students are actively involved in literacy centers. Literacy centers are activities that the students complete independently or with a partner, and they reinforce literacy skills that we have studied previously. Some examples of literacy center activities are: handwriting practice, making a small book, putting words in alphabetical order, using magnet letters to practice spelling word wall words, reading the room for words that meet a certain criteria (long o sounds, for example), browsing for books in our classroom library, completing an art project related to our content area, completing a sequencing or sorting activity on the interactive white board, and - of course - completing a literacy-related task on the computer.
Writing is incorporated throughout our day. We write summaries of books that we have read, and we write about the subjects we study during our content (science and social studies) time. In addition, we enjoy a writing workshop time. During writing workshop, the students experience the complete writing process from hatching an idea all the way to publishing. Instruction and support is provided so that each student is successful. I hope you will truly be impressed by the wonderful writing from our first graders.