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The South Windsor Public Schools literacy program adheres to the beliefs articulated by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Literacy Association (ILA):
“All students must have the opportunities and resources to develop the language skills they need to pursue life’s goals and to participate fully as informed, productive members of society. …Curriculum and instruction must provide ample room for the innovation and creativity essential to teaching and learning.”
The primary goal of the literacy program is to produce reflective, critical and creative thinkers through the language experiences of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Teachers meet the needs of learners by creating an interpretive community in which students are engaged in transforming information and experiences into knowledge and understanding.
Thoughtfully selected shared and mentor texts provide students with a wide variety of models for reading and writing. All students work with meaningful, grade-level fiction and nonfiction texts, in addition to practicing and applying literacy skills and concepts to other authentic texts, chosen based on interest, reading level, and/or thematic relevance. Strategic guided and small group reading pairs students with texts at their instructional level and provides a ladder for continuous literacy progress. Students construct and share meaning derived from texts through discourse and written response. Extended written pieces develop through a process, including prewriting, rehearsing, composing, conferring, revising, editing and sharing. Teachers incorporate varied and strategic instructional strategies to support the individual needs of students, continually scaffolding learning to involve reading and producing increasingly complex texts.
The Connecticut Core Standards for English Language Arts outline seven critical “capacities” or “habits of mind” of a “literate individual.”
Helping students to exhibit these capacities and “increasing fullness and regularity as they advance through the grades” is central to our literacy program.
Demonstrate independence
Build strong content knowledge
Respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline
Comprehend as well as critique
Value evidence
Use technology and digital media strategically and capably
Learn to understand other perspectives and cultures
Skills and Student Outcomes
What students should know and be expected to do by the end of the unit
Reading: Foundational Skills
Reading: Foundational Skills
Understand how books are organized and used (print concepts)
Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables and sounds
Demonstrate letter-sound knowledge by producing each consonant and vowel sound
Use strategies to read words accurately
Literature and Informational Text
Literature and Informational Text
Recognize common types of texts
Actively engage in group reading activities
With prompting and support:
Name the author and illustrator in a text
Ask and answer questions about key details in a text
Identify the main topic and details of a text
Retell familiar stories including character,
setting, and major events
Use strategies to determine the meaning of unknown words
Describe the relationship between illustrations and the text
Compare and contrast details in a text
Writing and Language
Writing and Language
Communicate ideas in writing (pictures, letters, words)
Demonstrate grade-level conventions of standard English
Speaking and Listening
Speaking and Listening
Participate in collaborative conversations
Describe familiar people, places, things, and events
Express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly
Additional Resources
Where to go for additional information and support
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