STANDARD 6: READING, WRITING, AND ORAL COMMUNICATION

Description: Word walls are an essential instructional tool. They help support literacy development, vocabulary acquisition, and overall language skills. Our word wall is superhero-themed to support our Superhero classroom theme. 

Connection: 6Q) integrates reading, writing, and oral communication to engage students in content learning; Regular interaction with words on the word wall helps students recognize and internalize words and can promote automated reading skills. Exposing them to a wide range of words, including high-frequency and content-specific vocabulary, can enhance their vocabulary development. Students can refer to the word wall for spelling assistance and reinforcement when completing activities.

Learned: Having a routine for introducing vocabulary can also help vocabulary development. Phonetic patterns, spelling rules, or word families can help guide how you organize a word wall. It can aid in fostering students' language and literacy development skills. 

Description: These are pictures of students engaging in center rotations on sight words in an ELA lesson. Students practice writing the sight word and engaging in hands-on activities. These activities include fishing for sight words and a Find It-Write It-Make It activity. 

Connection: 6A) understands appropriate and varied instructional approaches used before, during, and after reading, including those that develop word knowledge, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and strategy use in the content areas; Integrating reading, writing, and oral communication is a powerful instructional approach that engages students in content learning across multiple literacy domains. This integrated approach supports the development of essential language skills and enhances students' understanding and retention of content. Integrating these skills around a common theme or activity makes the learning experience more relevant and connected for students, increasing engagement and motivation.

Learned: Integrating reading, writing, and oral communication is essential for language and literacy development. You want your students to participate actively. All of these aspects are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Reading exposes students to diverse vocabulary and sentence structures, writing allows them to practice constructing sentences and paragraphs, and oral communication sharpens their ability to express thoughts verbally. You are allowing them to communicate better and express themselves more effectively. If students can see the connections between reading, writing, and oral communication in real-world contexts, they will become more personally invested in the life-long learning process.