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As teachers, we feel that interactions serve as a key role in instruction and students learning. The knowledge transferred from us to your children that is embedded through language is a vital interaction. Furthermore, the social dialogues between your children and their peers in the classroom are imperative to your students learning and understanding. Through interactions with peers, your children will become readers, writers, speakers, and listeners. We aim to engage your children through language and social interactions to help your children grow as critical thinkers and problem solvers with their own unique opinions and perspectives. We want your children's voices to be heard within the classroom!

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Examples of Classroom Literacy Interactions

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Examples of Classroom Literacy Interactions

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In our classroom, your children will have a plethora of opportunities to interact amongst their peers.  Some ways in which they will interact with their peers include literature circles and shared reading activities. In literature circles, your children will choose their desired books. They will read the book independently based upon their own roles and pacing guides, and then they will form a small group to analyze and discuss  the story. This will allow your children to share their thoughts and opinions on the book, as well as hear the opinions of others within the classroom.

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Hello parents, and welcome to your child's new literacy classroom! We are so excited to have your child in our classroom this year.

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Hello parents, and welcome to your child's new literacy classroom! We are so excited to have your child in our classroom this year.

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In this classroom, our program is designed around a balanced literacy program. Which means that our literacy instruction will use a variety of instruction, including the following:

explicit instruction

guided reading practice

collaborative/group learning

independent reading & writing

A balanced literacy program is kind of like a multivitamin- it has a little bit of everything good!

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As you continue to look over this page, you will learn more about the different ways your children will learn to read and write in our classroom! If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Enjoy!

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As teachers, we will use explicit instruction to teach skills of becoming a better reader such as teaching mini-lessons about skills such as summarizing, recalling details, and other comprehension skills. However, not only do we strive to create good readers, but we also strive to create confident readers!
As your child becomes a better reader, their confidence will become apparent in their behavior. We hope you look out for this in your child.

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Since each skill builds upon the one above it, practice is crucial! We will be providing practice of reading skills through games, worksheets, and even some for homework.
Since we want to make sure each child builds each skill, students will mainly be working independently during these practice times.

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Any time a student gets an 80% or higher on practice activity, they will receive a gold star on their practice chart. Once a student receives 5 gold stars, they are able to pick from from our Great Reader Prize Box!

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As teachers, we believe learning occurs when children integrate information with their existing knowledge. By engaging students in experiences that connects new information with old information, each child will be able to make better sense of the information. We are setting up your child for success!

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KWL charts are a great way to activate background knowledge and review information. Children first list things they already know about the topic before the lesson begins. Next, they list things they are curious about and want to learn about the topic. After the lesson is over, children lists things they have learned.

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Literature focus units is an approach to reading instruction where the whole class reads a piece of writing together, and then responds to it.

Word sorts is having children sort different words into different categories. Categories can range from similar beginning or ending sounds, rhyming words, or even similar meanings.

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In shared reading, we will begin the readings, and your children will join in reading along with us the familiar words and phrases.  Your children are able to reaffirm what they already know, and then through our scaffolding they can begin to curiously learn new words and phrases.

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You, too, can play a vital role in your child's education and understanding of literacy, and we encourage you to do so! At home, there are many ways in which you can can promote literacy with your children. Besides physically bathing your children, "bathe" them in language! Any time an opportunity presents itself, be vocal, read, and instruct your child. When you are writing a grocery list, have your children help you write it, no matter how long it may take. Your children will be thrilled to help you, and they will truly benefit from it because they are listening to your words, speaking your words, and then writing your words! When you go grocery shopping and you are walking up and down the aisles, read them the titles of the aisles and help them associate words to images as you place an item in your cart. Read books to your children as often as you can, and do not be afraid to re-read a book a few times. Re-reading a book to your children will help them become familiar with certain words and phrases, and before you know it, you can partake in shared reading with your child like we are emphasizing in the classroom.

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Literacy in the Early Grades A Successful Start for PreK-4 Readers and Writers - (Common Edition) - Gail Tompkins

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As teachers, we believe reading and writing are integral parts of a child’s education. A great way to get students involved with a certain text is by interacting with it and doing literacy activities. Reading is a great way to educate a child. It serves as a way to emphasize a variety of literacy strategies that are suitable for many children. To further survey a child’s understanding of a text, simple writing tasks can be assigned so that a child can reflect on different texts as well as develop their own writing style. Writing is vital for a child's growth because it expresses their creativity and gives them their own freedom.

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Workshops are a great way for a teacher to give a student feedback on the progress they are making. A teacher can give a student tips on how to overcome their personal reading struggles or how to improve their writing style. This is a great time for a student to assert their independence.

Mini-lessons are another helpful teaching tool. This allows for a teacher to introduce a new topic or concept so that students can test out whether they like to write a certain way or learn how to read different types of texts in a more general sense.

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To encourage students to write it is helpful to give them idea's to write about. The "Build-A-Story" activity is a chance for students to pick a setting, a character, and an event from a chart given to them by the teacher. The student picks one choice from each of the three categories to write a story about. This activity gives students a chance to open up their imagination to all different stories to write about.

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Center-Build-A-Story-2137711?utm_source=Pinterest.com&utm_campaign=Build+a+Story+Writing+Center+Promoted+Pin&pp=0

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Kids are always wanting to be entertained. So why not give them something that keeps them entertained and educated? Little Spelling Boxes are easy to make, cheap, the size of your hand and can be used anywhere. These little boxes have little foam letters in them. When you open the box, the top part of the box has little stickers to stick the foam letters on. The boxes also have words that kids try and spell by placing the foam letters onto the stickers to create the words given to them. The link to help make these boxes is at the end of the page and below is an image to give you a better understanding of that these little spelling boxes look like. This little spelling box is great way for kids to interactively practice spelling while at home, at restaurants, shopping, etc.!

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https://www.teach-me-mommy.com/little-spelling-box/

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One way to promote literacy at home is to encourage all family members to engage in storytelling. This is good because it teaches children about their past and their family's history, and it also engages all members of the family. A great idea is to have an older family member tell a story, then ask a younger family member to re-tell the story back to them. This activity builds vocabulary, understand sequencing, and recall information.

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http://www.getreadytoread.org/early-learning-childhood-basics/early-literacy/promoting-family-literacy-raising-ready-readers

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This activity is good for students because it gives them the opportunity to comprehend what they just read, and answer prompts based on what they have read. This also gives students the opportunity to interact with each other and compare what they wrote. For example, after the students finish answering the prompts, the teacher could have the students pair up and they could talk about their favorite part, what the book reminded them of, etc.

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https://sites.google.com/site/stephaniewhalenportfolio/home/reading