Educational resources for elementary students. Helping teachers, parents, and students become active thinkers and future leaders. We encourage giggles, grins, hugs, & high fives!
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
Sight Words, High-Frequency Words, Word Families, Spelling, Phonics, etc…
Before we start..
WHAT IS WORD WORK?
During Word Work, students experiment with spelling patterns, memorize high-frequency words, and develop a genuine curiosity for and interest in new and unique words. By playing with words, word patterns, word families, prefixes, suffixes, and so on, students hone their knowledge of words and increase their speaking and writing skills.
Word work is a hands-on time to explore the spellings and/or meanings of words (vocabulary). Making time for word work is vital because it helps patterns and words move into long-term memory. Word work can help our learners become better readers, spellers, and writers. Depending on our learners’ developmental stages, they might use this time to focus on letters and their sounds, read and spell words, or work on word meanings. At the same time, learners have time to explore sight words.
When or HOW do I teach WORD WORK?
Here are a few suggestions:
1. Before a Small Group Reading Lesson – Before small group reading lessons, I review a previous word study, based on my learners’ word work needs. Beginning sounds, short vowels, ending sounds, etc. The key to these is that they should be quick and easy.
2. Spelling word practice. During our guided reading lesson, I might focus on our spelling words for the week or the word families we have reviewed in previous lessons. I always start with what the kids know…and then add new information.
3. A Small Group Lesson – Frequently I have strategy lessons just to focus on a particular phonics or spelling strategy, especially if we notice several learners struggling with the same thing.
4. Whole Group Instruction – I recommend a simple phonics lesson for all learners in the classroom each day. This isn’t a long lesson (10-15 at most) and covers phonics material that is on grade level. I have a district required curriculum. I use the curriculum phonics as my MORNING MEETING lesson. I can expand on it during my small group time.
I incorporate word work mini-lessons into my writing lessons, when appropriate. If we are working on multi-syllabic words, we will edit our writing for those words, also.
Always be on the lookout for opportunities to support your students! When we are doing interactive writing, we incorporate MANY literacy practices!
Balanced Literacy does NOT isolate skills and strategies.
Best practices are integrated throughout the entire school day.
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
During the writing workshop, students are invited to live, work and learn as writers. They observe their lives and the world around them while collecting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing well-crafted narrative and expository texts. Students receive direct instruction in a minilesson, during which the teacher explicitly names a skill proficient writers use that is within reach for most of the class, then demonstrates the skill and provides students with a brief interval of guided practice using it. Students then have time to write, applying the repertoire of skills and strategies they’ve learned, while receiving feedback through one-to-one conferences and small group instruction designed to move them along trajectories of development.
The mini-lessons are short, focused, direct. They typically fall into the categories of classroom procedures, the writer’s process, the qualities of good writing, and editing skills. The lesson is 5-10 minutes of directed instruction. Start off your writing lessons by brainstorming ideas. This lesson will help set the stage for a year of writing by giving students a place to find ideas to put in their future writing pieces. If you use interactive notebooks or writing folders, each student needs a place to put ideas, writing pieces in process, and finished works.
In my first grade classroom, my students have a folder, a journal, and a Pictionary ( pictures and words ). At the beginning of the school year, we practice writing.
Our routines include:
First, they draw a picture with your PENCIL. ( No crayons, yet )
Next, they write the words. After one month of school, we are now beginning to write 2-3 sentences. NO— THEY ARE NOT PERFECT—- We are just beginning the process.
Last, they may color their picture …unless they would like to ADD MORE. And then they can ADD MORE words to match the picture!
I like to play classical music while my students are writing. I FEEL it helps them focus on their writing and gives them a quiet, calm atmosphere to create.
Right now our writing stamina is at about 10-15 minutes. As we become better writer’s, our stamina will increase to about 30-40 minutes.
My students are placed into 4 groups. 10-15 minutes before we dismiss, we ask the 6 team members if they would like to READ or PASS. If they choose to READ, they get their journal and come to the big “TEACHER CHAIR”. They choose 1 story to share with us. Our emergent readers can tell us the story and then they show us their picture.
Later in the year, we will give one compliment and ask one question to the “AUTHOR”. They LOVE this! It is important to discuss “beginning writer’s” and “advanced writers”, ahead of time.
No hurt feelings and EVERYONE’S work is appreciated!
Writer’s Workshop is a planned time during the day when students can create writing of their own.
During this time, guided writing small groups may be meeting with the teacher or individual conferences may be happening. Whatever your choice, embrace the attempts. The successes and the failures will make them better readers and writers. We learn from our mistakes. Hold them accountable. Quality work is always our goal.
These literacy posts may help in YOUR Balanced Literacy journey.
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
Shared writing is an instructional approach to teach writing to students by writing with them. The idea is to teach writing through writing. The process of writing is demonstrated by the teacher through a ‘write aloud’ process. The teacher acts as a scribe while the students contribute ideas.
Effective literacy teachers present the demonstration, explanation, and models needed by naïve writers in order for them to understand how and why to incorporate genre and text structures (and such transcription skills as punctuation and spelling) into their own writing behavior. ReadWriteThink.org
During shared writing, the teacher transcribes the entire text while engaging students in a rich discussion about how the text should be composed.
Shared writing is taught to small groups or a whole class in briskly paced, 5- to 20-minute lessons.
Plan lessons for types of writing that present particular challenges to your students.
First, develop and extend children’s background and language knowledge on a topic or experience of interest.
Establish a purpose for the writing and an intellectually engaging opportunity for students to apply new learning. Students might write a letter to a local newspaper or write directions for a new game they have developed.
Write the entire text yourself in front of students (using chart paper or document viewer) while requesting input from students regarding aspects of the writing where they most need to expand their expertise. Consider, for example, whether your students need to focus attention on paragraph structure, word choice, or sentence expansion.
During the writing, model processes needed by your students. Have a small whiteboard available, for example, to demonstrate to students how to say a word slowly and write sounds heard into “sound boxes” (Clay, 2006) before writing a phonetically regular word into the text for them. For older students, begin with a root word and demonstrate how to add prefixes or suffixes to a new word.
Demonstrate in-the-moment revision during shared writing as necessary to construct a strong draft. Reread the text to students from time to time to discuss what needs to be written next or to monitor whether or not the text conveys information clearly. Add a word using a caret, for example, or delete unneeded text.
Do not deliberately make errors during shared writing. Model the immediate construction of a high-quality draft.
Read the completed text to students. Take a few minutes to have students orally summarize what has been learned about writing during this session.
Post the text in an accessible spot in the classroom, and provide opportunities for students to read or use the text multiple times over the next several days or weeks.
I use large paper that looks just like the paper the children use during writing workshop. I write on chart paper or perhaps a SmartBoard so the whole group can easily read it.
The children are engaged and involved in telling the story (or essay, song, poem, or other kinds of text).
I restate/scaffold children’s language by modeling rich language and coach them when they storytell.
Over time, children see each step of the writing process modeled:
Coming up with ideas
Planning across the pages, rehearsing how the text will go
Drafting words and sentences
Revising
Editing
Publishing
Over time, children see qualities of good writing modeled:
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
This week we jump into Shared & Interactive Writing!
You can’t THINK of Writing without thinking …
LUCY CALKINS!
Shared Writing
During shared writing, the teacher transcribes the entire text while engaging students in a rich discussion about how the text should be composed.
Shared writing is taught to small groups or a whole class in briskly paced, 5- to 20-minute lessons.
Plan lessons for types of writing that present particular challenges to your students.
First, develop and extend children’s background and language knowledge on a topic or experience of interest.
Establish a purpose for the writing and an intellectually engaging opportunity for students to apply new learning. Students might write a letter to a local newspaper or write directions for a new game they have developed.
Write the entire text yourself in front of students (using chart paper or document viewer) while requesting input from students regarding aspects of the writing where they most need to expand their expertise. Consider, for example, whether your students need to focus attention on paragraph structure, word choice, or sentence expansion.
During the writing, model processes needed by your students. Have a small whiteboard available, for example, to demonstrate to students how to say a word slowly and write sounds heard into “sound boxes” (Clay, 2006) before writing a phonetically regular word into the text for them. For older students, begin with a root word and demonstrate how to add prefixes or suffixes to a new word.
Demonstrate in-the-moment revision during shared writing as necessary to construct a strong draft. Reread the text to students from time to time to discuss what needs to be written next or to monitor whether or not the text conveys information clearly. Add a word using a caret, for example, or delete unneeded text.
Do not deliberately make errors during shared writing. Model the immediate construction of a high-quality draft.
Read the completed text to students. Take a few minutes to have students orally summarize what has been learned about writing during this session.
Post the text in an accessible spot in the classroom, and provide opportunities for students to read or use the text multiple times over the next several days or weeks.
Shared writing is a process teachers use to help children to understand how to write a particular kind of text and to provide them with a model piece of writing to emulate. It involves a teacher producing some text on the board with input from the class. The students ” discuss and collaborate” while the teacher is the scribe.
The main difference between shared and interactive writing is who is holding the pen. In shared writing, the teacher holds then pen and serves as the scribe. The teacher also serves the roles of… summarizer of ideas, questioner, and prompting for quick decisions on spelling and print concepts.
Interactive Writing
Interactive writing is a cooperative event in which
teacher and children jointly compose and write text.
Not only do they share the decision about what they
are going to write, they also share the duties of
scribe. The teacher uses the interactive writing session to model reading and writing strategies as he or she engages children in creating text.
Through questioning and direct instruction, the teacher focuses
the children’s attention on the conventions of
print such as spaces between words, left-to-right
and top-to-bottom directionality, capital letters,
and punctuation. Clay (1979)
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
DEAR, SSR, Silent Reading, RAH, etc.. Whatever you call it…we call it
INDEPENDENT READING!
Independent reading is a time when students read text with little or no help from the teacher. They are usually at their seats or in comfortable places around the classroom.
In my classroom they may be at their desk, on a stool, in a rocker, or even…under a table or desk. Only one rule… You MUST be reading!
Independent reading is children’s reading of text — such as books, magazines, and newspapers — on their own, with minimal to no assistance from adults. It can consist of reading done in or out of school, including purely voluntary reading for enjoyment or assigned reading for homework. There are strong associations between independent reading and reading achievement, and many researchers believe that independent reading plays a key role in the development of reading fluency (speed and ease of reading), vocabulary, background knowledge, and even spelling. Not surprisingly, motivation also is associated with independent reading; children who are interested in and motivated to read tend to do more independent reading. Unfortunately, children with learning disabilities in reading often do not read independently, because they tend to find reading effortful, may have trouble obtaining books at their reading level, or may have generally negative attitudes toward reading as a consequence of repeated failure.
IR involves the full participation of the teacher. This means the teacher is instructing, scaffolding, and conferring with students (Reutzel, Fawson, & Smith, 2008) during IR time. For example, the teacher educates students in how to select appropriate books, scaffolds student understanding of specific text types, and confers with students to assess their understanding of what they have read.
If you’re really looking for independent reading to be successful with your students, you’ve got to commit class time to it. Students always see what we value by how we approach it during class. And if we want to be certain students get something done, we have to do it during class.
How you make this time is up to you. Elementary classes that tend to have students all day long can have a special fixed time each day allocated to independent reading. Middle and high school classes can allot a small portion – perhaps 10 or 15 minutes – of a class period towards independent reading each day before putting the book away and focusing on the day’s lesson. Others might prefer to wait until Friday and spend the whole class period reading that day.
Tips to Bring Independent Reading Into The Classroom
So, how do you realize the benefits of independent reading in your own classroom? Here are a few ideas:
Build independent reading time into each student’s day whether in school or at home. Class time is especially effective since it provides students a distraction-free time in their day to read.
Offer a selection of books at each student’s reading level and from different genres and help them find books they might enjoy.
Let each student make a reading list of five books they want to read and set reading goals.
Find creative ways for students to share books with one another, including things like book clubs, video projects, blogs or discussion time.
If you’re like most people, after reading a really good book you want to tell someone about it; you want to share. Let students share their excitement over books!
Here are 8 activities that will engage students in sharing what they read.
Illustrate an important character or event in the story.
Create an advertisement to promote the book.
Have students pick out words they are unfamiliar with and make a word wall.
Make a bookmark that represents the theme or main idea of the book.
Write a question to the author or a character in the book.
Have them illustrate their favorite part of the story.
They can write a letter to a character.
Have them make a connection to a life experience.
In summary…
Allow students CHOICE..choice of books & choice of reading area.
Build in time for independent reading EVERY day..model reading, too!
Debrief their independent reading time. DISCUSS it!
Tools that may be helpful:
Book Boxes for Independent Reading
Gallon Zip-Lock Bags for Independent Reading books.
HOW TO GET BOOKS for Independent Reading?
Use SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUBS, Donor’s Choose, and/or garage sales to add to YOUR classroom library for independent reading books.
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
Guided reading is subject to many interpretations, but Burkins & Croft (2010) identify these common elements:
Working with small groups
Matching student reading ability to text levels
Giving everyone in the group the same text
Introducing the text
Listening to individuals read
Prompting students to integrate their reading processes
Engaging students in conversations about the text
The goal is to help students develop strategies to apply independently. Work focuses on processes integral to reading proficiently, such as cross-checking print and meaning information, rather than on learning a particular book’s word meanings. (For example, a student might see an illustration and say “dog” when the text says puppy, but after noticing the beginning /p/ in puppy, correct the mistake.) During guided reading, teachers monitor student reading processes and check that texts are within students’ grasps, allowing students to assemble their newly acquired skills into a smooth, integrated reading system (Clay, p.17)
It varies based on reading level, but here’s a general structure for a 15-20 minute lesson.
Students re-read familiar texts for several minutes. This is a great way to promote fluency!
For just a minute or so, the students practice previously learned sight words.
The teacher introduces the text.
The students read the text out loud or silently while the teacher coaches. They do not take turns reading; instead, each child reads the text in its entirety.
The teacher leads a discussion of the text.
The teacher makes 1-2 teaching points.
If time allows, students do a few minutes of word work or guided writing.
Establish Routines. Routines for The Lesson format ( this helps with TIME constraints ), routines for when Guided reading happens, AND routines for what the OTHER students are doing while the teacher is teaching at the table.
2. Make SMART text choices. The text should provide multiple opportunities for students to apply strategies and skills you have identified for the group.
3. Dive into INSTRUCTION. Before, during & after reading.
3. Assess and Be Flexible. Your groups should be fluid and should change as your students’ instructional needs change. That’s where informal and formal assessments come in handy.
