Literacy

Indian River uses the literacy collaborative as a guide for reading and writing instruction. Each day, students will participate in a variety of activities where good reading and writing skills are modeled for students, practiced as a class, and then tried out by students independently. Through this, students will advance as readers and writers at their own pace and will continually receive instruction to meet their individual needs as learners.

A Parent's Guide to the Literacy Classroom

Reading

Word Study – During this time, students are shown how words “work”. The teacher helps students make connections between sounds, letters, and words.

Interactive Read Aloud – The teacher reads a story to the class. We encourage rereading, and model many of the different thought processes that a reader goes through when reading. Students are encouraged to share their thoughts about the stories and to make connections between books, their own lives and the world around them.

Shared Reading – The teacher introduces and reads a piece of enlarged text (usually a poem, chart, or a small selection from a book). The children will join in after the introduction. Often, the pieces are reread for fluency or to teach other reading strategies.

Guided Reading – The teacher works with small groups of children at their own reading level. (This does not often happen until November, as “center time” must be in place and the individual reading levels take time to assess. Your child’s Guided Reading group does not necessarily have to meet every day.)

Independent Reading – Students read on their own, at their own level. This is practiced during “browsing bag” or ”browsing box” time. Students also get independent practice when at the library center within the classroom.

Writing

Shared Writing – The teacher and the children come up with a writing task. The teacher thinks aloud as he/she writes, so the children can hear what good writers have to think about when they are writing. (This should contain all conventional spelling.)

Interactive Writing – The teacher and the children come up with a writing task. The children share the pen with the teacher to complete the task. The children and the teacher talk about their writing and how they completed each part. (This should contain all conventional spelling.)

Writer’s Workshop – This independent writing is supported by individual conferences. During this time, children choose their own topics for writing. The teacher conferences with 3-4 children per day, focusing on one thing that will lift that child as a writer. (This writing will have invented and conventional spelling. We want to allow the children the freedom to express themselves as writers, so we encourage them to “say the words slowly, and write the sounds they hear.”)

Independent Writing – During center time, the students may be assigned to the writing center. This is independent writing for an assigned task. (This writing will contain the students’ unedited work. We expect them to be able to say the words slowly and write the sounds they hear on their own.)

Centers

Centers are a big part of the literacy classroom. During this time, the students will work independently on assigned tasks. The teacher will pull students in small groups for Guided Reading.