Literacy Instruction In The Classroom

Literacy is integrated into various parts of the school day at Shoesmith Elementary. It begins with morning work instructions on the SMART board leading into math. "Literacy" is taught after lunch - we do this by introducing a new topic of instruction to focus on for the week. Students have 10 spelling words a week and 6 vocabulary words which the are tested on every Friday. I teach the students their vocabulary words through "Text Talk" which is a Scholastic program that provides a read aloud book and comprehension that go along with each page. This keeps the students engaged and checks for their progress. The teacher's guide provides the vocabulary words the students will work on for the week giving examples and questions to make sure the students understand the language - these words are found in the book that is read-aloud. Following the "Text Talk" lesson students are required to read independently for approximately 30 minutes. During this time (starting this week) I pull a group of readers along with my CT. These groups are broken into students at the same reading levels. We gathered these results from the Scantron tests that the students had taken the first week of school. Currently, I am working with the (2) higher level groups. I am having them focus on "reading" the punctuation and reading with fluency while comprehending what it is the are reading. They practice their skills both orally to the group and quietly to themselves. We will be working on sharing opinions and ideas about the book(s) as we continue. This will give the students the opportunity to share their ideas and to listen to their peers - possibly opening up their understanding of the material. The students have not yet begun writing on their reading but should be starting within the next week - this will give me even more insight into what they are thinking and understanding. Considering this is the first month of school I think that my CT and I have worked hard to integrate some of the aspects of Book Club Plus into the classroom. We will be building on these as the year continues and I hope to see confidence in my students as they learn to share their work with their classmates. I believe that this model for literacy instruction is great to use in the classroom it helps students work together, talk about their books, and collaborate with one another to build social skills.