Literacy

Strategy Instruction

Good readers use strategies to help them comprehend what they read. Following a specialized literacy curriculum that's aligned with the Common Core Standards, these are the strategies that we will focus on this year:

1. Making Connections: Readers pay more attention when they relate to the text. Readers naturally bring their prior knowledge and experience to reading, but they comprehend better when they think about the connections they make between the text, their lives and the larger world. We will practice making text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections.

2. Asking Questions: Questioning is the strategy that keeps readers engaged. When readers ask questions, they clarify understanding and make meaning. Asking questions is at the heart of thoughtful reading.

3. Visualizing: Active readers create visual images in their minds based on words they read in text. The pictures they create enhance their understanding.

4. Making Inferences: Infererring is a the intersection of taking what is known, garnering clues from the text, and thinking ahead to make judgement, discern a theme, or speculate about what is to come.

5. Determining Important Ideas: Thoughtful readers grasp essential ideas and important information when reading. Readers must differentiate between less important ideas and key ideas that are central to the meaning.

6. Synthesizing Information: Synthesizing involves combining new information with existing knowledge to form an original idea or interpretation. Reviewing, sorting, and sifting important information can lead to new insights that change the way readers think.

7. Monitoring Comprehension: If confusion disrupts meaning, readers need to stop and clarify their understanding. Readers may use a variety of strategies to "fix up" comprehension when meaning goes awry.

Fluency

We will focus on attending to punctuation, using expression/inflection, using appropriate phrasing, reading smoothly, and maintaining an appropriate pace while reading.

Wilson Fundations Instruction

Wilson Fundations for K-3 is a phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling program for the general education classroom. Fundations is based upon the Wilson Reading System® principles and serves as a prevention program to help reduce reading and spelling failure.

Rather than completely replace core curriculum, Fundations provides the research-validated strategies that complement installed programs to meet federal standards and serve the needs of all children.

Teachers incorporate a 30-minute daily Fundations lesson into their language arts classroom instruction. Fundations lessons focus on carefully sequenced skills that include print knowledge, alphabet awareness, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and spelling. Critical thinking, speaking and listening skills are practiced during Storytime activities.

Sight Words

We have updated our Sight Word lists to align with the Wilson Fundations program which is currently implemented in grades K-2. This will allow students to have multiple experiences with these commonly used words throughout the day. Repetition and practice at home are vital in helping with your child’s success of these words. Print the appropriate word lists for your child’s grade (this information will be given to you at Back to School Night). These words are located on our school webpage under:

- Forms & Documents

- Elementary

- Common Elementary Resources & References

- High Frequency Words Flash Cards

Below is also a PDF copy of the first 100 words: