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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
In second grade, children build upon their foundational literacy skills from earlier grades, transitioning from learning to read to reading to learn. As second graders enhance their accuracy and fluency, they will gain their ability to comprehend texts, recognize diverse vocabulary, and read independently. They discuss stories, identify key aspects, make predictions, and grasp various text structures. They form proper sentences, express ideas clearly, understand writing styles, use details, and improve editing. Communication skills involve class participation, attentive listening, asking and answering questions, and clear presentations. Second grade literacy fosters academic growth, lifelong learning, complex text engagement, effective communication, and critical thinking.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness instruction is a teaching approach that focuses on developing children's ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It involves activities that help children identify and manipulate sounds, such as blending sounds together to form words, segmenting words into individual sounds, and manipulating sounds to create new words. Phonemic awareness instruction helps children develop strong phonological awareness, which is essential for reading and spelling.
Our second graders will continue with the Primary Heggerty program, a crucial phonemic awareness program for reading success. Reinforcing these skills in second grade enhances literacy development. The program boosts phonemic awareness through interactive activities andhoning skills like segmenting, blending, rhyming, and sound manipulation.
Heggerty Scope and Sequence for Primary (Weeks 9-24)
2022 Parent Newsletters _ English _ Primary _ Yellow.pdfPhonics
Phonics instruction in second grade is essential for early literacy education. It teaches children the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent, which is crucial for word decoding, spelling, and writing. Phonics also contributes to vocabulary growth and confidence building. Moreover, it enhances reading comprehension by helping children understand how words work together in sentences. Additionally, phonics equips second graders with the skills they need to read independently and serves as a bridge to other literacy skills.
Second Grade Fundations is a comprehensive literacy program enhancing reading and language skills by building on previous knowledge. Using a structured approach and multisensory techniques, it emphasizes phonics, phonemic awareness, spelling, and fluency. Concepts covered include phoneme segmentation, word structures, syllable types, vowel distinctions, and handling irregular words. Students also learn about affixes, high-frequency words, and constructing meaningful sentences.
Fundations Scope and Sequence for Second Grade
Home-School Connection
Fundations_Home_Support_Pack_-_Level_2.pdfSyllable Types
Short and Long Vowel Sounds
Vowel Teams R Controlled Vowels
Spelling Options
Fluency
Developing fluency is crucial to a child's language development, acting as a bridge between decoding words and comprehending the 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 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 your 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 your 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.
An engaging and safe digital research tool that provides multimedia informational articles and ready-made literacy activities for all abilities.
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 our second graders comprehension 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. Our children are better equipped to process information by providing a visual overview and encouraging active note-taking.
Retell and Summarizing
Our children 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 story summary.
Generating Questions
Our children benefit from learning to ask their questions while reading. Answering questions helps learners stay focused and think actively while reading.
Vocabulary
Second grade vocabulary instruction involves introducing and expanding word knowledge for young learners. They use diverse and contextually rich words to help students understand deeper meanings and improve their language skills. Early exposure is the foundation for better reading comprehension and communication skills in later grades. Research indicates that encountering words in various contexts aids their integration into their active vocabulary.
Home School Connection:
Children's books are valuable for parents to cultivate language development, comprehension, and a love for reading at home. Read-aloud books that nurture language development, comprehension skills, and a passion for reading.
“Reading is the passport to countless adventures”
Mary Pope Osborne
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