Literacy
Our Vision of Literacy
Rockville Centre School District is committed to supporting our learners to develop as skilled and knowledgeable readers, writers, and communicators. Our Kindergarten through Fifth grade teachers crafted a literacy vision for the district based on the Science of Learning:
We are all teachers of literacy. Our vision is to support learners in developing a passion for reading and writing by cultivating the skills and dispositions necessary to become effective listeners, speakers, readers, and writers. Our ultimate goal is to empower learners to become independent, productive problem solvers, and lifelong learners who can successfully meet the challenges of an ever-changing diverse and global society.
We believe:
All children have the ability to learn,
Learning is a lifelong process,
Literacy is at the core of all learning and each component of literacy is equally important,
Literacy can empower our ability to communicate,
Differences and successes are celebrated,
Incorporating learners’ histories, experiences and identities into reading and writing experiences is crucial,
Teachers and students together set attainable goals to become proficient, confident learners that perform to their fullest potential
Our Literacy Instruction
Literacy instruction is designed to introduce our learners to foundational reading and writing skills based on the science of reading. Our focus in Kindergarten is to foster a love for reading and language, develop basic phonological awareness, and build a strong foundation for future reading and writing abilities.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken parts of words. The levels of phonological awareness are, from simplest to most complex: syllables, onset–rime, and phonemes. Phonemic awareness is identifying and manipulating individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.
Heggerty Scope and Sequence for Kindergarten
Kindergarten-_Heggerty-Newsletter.pdfPhonics
Phonics is a method of teaching reading and spelling that focuses on the relationship between sounds and letters. It helps learners understand how letters and letter combinations represent specific sounds in words. Phonics instruction involves teaching letter-sound correspondence, blending sounds together to form words, and segmenting words into individual sounds. Studies have shown that explicit, systematic instruction in how letters represent sounds (phonics) is the most effective way to teach kids how to read words.
Fundations is a structured and systematic phonics program. Fundations incorporates multisensory techniques to help our learners build their phonics skills and develop a strong foundation in reading and spelling.
Fundations Scope and Sequence for Kindergarten
Home-School Connection
LK Home Support Orientation.pdfOrientation
Fundations Unit 1 Home Support.pdfUnit 1
Level_K_Home2.pdfUnit 2
Level_K_Home3.pdfUnit 3
Level_K_Home4.pdfUnit 4
Level_K_Home5.pdfUnit 5
Decodables
Decodable readers are designed to help Kindergarten children learn to read by practicing phonics and decoding skills. These books focus on a phonetic concept, gradually increasing in complexity to build reading skills. Decodables are used in class and can be practiced at home to improve fluency. They play a supplementary role alongside other reading materials and can be read aloud by parents to model proper reading. The goal of using decodable readers is to help children develop strong decoding skills to transition into reading more complex texts with confidence.
Fluency
Developing fluency in Kindergarten is a crucial aspect of a child's language development, acting as a bridge between decoding words and comprehending text. Fluency entails reading or speaking effortlessly and accurately. When children achieve fluency as readers, they can better focus on understanding the content they encounter. As our children become more fluent readers, they can deeply engage with the text. One highly effective method to enhance a child's fluency is repeated oral reading, which includes echo reading, choral reading, and partner reading. Research indicates that combining this approach with a listening model of a fluent reader further amplifies its effectiveness (National Reading Panel, 2000).
Home-School Connection:
Read Aloud
Reading aloud to kindergarteners exposes them to the sounds and rhythms of the language. Choose age-appropriate books with engaging stories and vivid illustrations to capture their interest.
Repeated Readings
Encourage children to read the same book multiple times. Repeated readings help reinforce sight words, improve word recognition, and build confidence in reading.
Create a Reading Environment
Surround the child with reading materials. Have a diverse collection of books, magazines, and other reading resources accessible in the classroom and at home.
Model Reading
Be a role model by demonstrating your love for reading. Let your children see you reading books or stories.
An interactive reading program that provides hundreds of interactive, leveled books in school, at home or on the go. This program has a vast number of online decodable books.
An engaging and safe digital research tool that provides multimedia informational articles and ready-made literacy activities for all abilities.
Through familiarity and repetition, these rhymes are the stepping stones to helping our learners develop key developmental and language skills.
An interactive online reading platform with over 40K children's books that will build curiosity and reading confidence by letting kids freely explore their reading interests.
Comprehension
Teaching comprehension to Kindergarteners involves various strategies to build their foundational reading skills, enhance fluency, and integrate linguistic and cognitive processes. By generating questions, monitoring understanding, summarizing, understanding inference and text structure, building background knowledge, targeting vocabulary, and promoting writing about reading, educators can effectively develop comprehension skills in young learners.
Encouraging children to write about what they read serves to deepen their understanding. This includes expressing personal reactions to the reading material, conducting analysis and interpretation, and creating summaries. Additionally, techniques like top-down topic webs, column notes, summarization, and answering questions further enhance children's comprehension skills.
These evidence-based methods are crucial in developing comprehension skills and cultivating confident readers.
Top-Down Topic Web and Two Column Notes
Top-down topic web and two-column notes are powerful tools for fostering comprehension skills. Kindergartners are better equipped to process information by providing a visual overview and encouraging active note-taking.
Retell and Summarizing
Kindergartners use retelling as a strategy to arrange and present information about a story's events. They also identify the main ideas and provide a basic summary of the story.
Generating Questions
Kindergartners benefit from learning to ask their questions while reading. Answering questions helps students stay focused and think actively while reading.
Vocabulary
Although teaching vocabulary may not be an immediate priority at the primary grade level, it is crucial to acknowledge that research strongly advocates exploring word meanings when learners are just starting to read. Early exposure to a diverse range of words helps learners develop a deeper word knowledge, ultimately leading to improved reading comprehension in later grades. Learners must be exposed to new words to enhance their vocabulary. Moreover, research indicates that repeated exposure to a word used in various contexts facilitates the transfer of that word into their active vocabulary.
Home-School Connection:
Children's books are a valuable resource for families to cultivate language development, comprehension, and a love for reading in Kindergarten-age children at home. Read-aloud books that nurture language development, comprehension skills, and a passion for reading.
“If you don’t see the book you want on the shelves, write it.”