First Through Third Grade GuidelinesLanguage Arts/Literacy

Webinar Guide

Lesley Mandel Morrow Rutgers the State University of NJ

Objectives of the Webinar

This guide to the webinar and guidelines for first through third grades is meant to enhance understanding of the guidelines and general information about Best Practice and Exemplary Teaching. Some of the material will build on the webinar activities as well as extend the activities. Participants will be presented with:

Information concerning the importance of being able to read fluently by the end of third grade Skills needed to achieve success Research based strategies and structures that are developmentally appropriate Interdisciplinary literacy experiences

Key Concepts and Content

Throughout the webinar, emphasis will be placed upon the necessity for skill development that is structured, challenging, explicit, and with time to practice. In addition activities will be differentiated, motivating, socially interactive, relevant, and provide for choice.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP).

There will be an emphasis on providing activities that include teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent practice. Activities will include whole group mini-lessons, small group guided instruction, and one on one meetings to be sure that all individual differences are addressed. There will be an emphasis on helping children to become independent workers so teachers can work with small groups and individuals therefore there will be an emphasis on structure routines.

Integration of Subjects. Reading is a skill not a content area. Therefore teachers must provide use of the language arts in content area subjects such as social studies, science, math, art, music, and play. When children use literacy in meaningful and in relevant situations they learn to understand its importance.

Ties to Curriculum. The strategies suggested within this webinar are applicable regardless of the curriculum, or materials being used in a district. The state of New Jersey does not suggest the use of one particular program for literacy development. The state relies on standards to provide information about what needs to be taught and when. It suggests skills to be taught and structures within the classroom to help teach those skills. This webinar walks

teachers through the process involved that are needed to create successful readers, and provide strategies that are research based.

Connection to Standards.

Throughout this webinar, connections are made to the Common Core State Standards. They provide the skills that need to be taught in grades 1, 2 and 3. By using the standards teachers throughout the state will be speaking the same language which brings continuity and consistency to literacy throughout the state.

Webinar Tasks and Reflections

Webinar Task #1 Creating a Literacy Rich Environment.

The environment supports instruction. In the webinar teachers are to begin this task by evaluating their own literacy rich environment and making suggestions about how it can be improved. To take this further, look at your entire classroom environment and identify other literacy rich artifacts outside of the literacy center. Draw your classroom and sketch in the literacy center and all that you would like to have in it and then fill in the rest of the room to make it as literacy rich as possible.

Webinar Task #2: Creating a Literacy DO NOWThe webinar starts by suggesting the classrooms have a DO NOW for children as they enter the classroom. The reason for this is to make children independent about beginning their work of the day and not to waste on minute of school time. The DO NOW in first through third grade should be literacy oriented with some accountability. There are many ways a teacher could choose to do their DO NOW time. Also, the DO NOW can change from time to time.

List different types of DO NOW literacy activities Identify skills to be accomplished as a result of a DO NOW activity Include accountability in the activity for children to demonstrate what they accomplished Describe the routine so children know where to find materials, to get settled quickly, where to return

materials and place the accountability artifacts.

Webinar Task #3 Vocabulary MeetingTo be sure that vocabulary stands out as a most important skill we are calling the time for vocabulary in the classroom a Vocabulary Meeting. If it has a title it is more likely to have a central spot in the literacy curriculum which it doesn’t seem to have. This activity is similar to what was described in the webinar however it is expanded upon. Teacher should discuss and do the activities in small groups.

Discuss how and when you provide time in your day for explicit vocabulary instruction? Create a Vocabulary Meeting using words for your grade. Vocabulary Meeting lessons should include (1) a mini-lesson, (2) guided practice, and (3) independent

practice and a share time. Share Vocabulary Meeting ideas to develop a large repertoire What strategies should teaching use when juicy vocabulary pops up in the classroom Share how you teach vocabulary created through themes.

See references for Vocabulary Development

Webinar Task #4 Comprehension Reading WorkshopReading workshop has often been misunderstood. Many have assumed that Reading Workshop was a total reading program and it has often been thought of as a substitute for guided reading. The purpose for Reading Workshop is: (1) for teachers to teach comprehension skills, (2) for children to learn to choose books to read independently or with a partner to practice the skills taught (3) for teachers and children to conference to enhance the reading experience through discussion and have the teacher provide guidance, and (4) for children to learn to discuss what was read and demonstrate understanding of the skill. In the Reading Workshop the teacher selects a comprehension standard to teach based on the grade level. The teacher creates a mini lesson to teach the comprehension skill. She selects several pieces of children’s literature that are of different levels and genres. The books can be based on a theme being studied in the classroom. Children choose a book to read alone or with a partner to practice the skill. Be sure to limit the number of book choices. Too many books can be overwhelming. The teacher will have conferences with some children who need guidance. The group then shares what they read and the skill is reinforced. The following task asks you to engage in all of the parts of a reading workshop in detail. It begins with asking you to create a comprehension mini-lesson. Include in the lesson:

A comprehension literature standard for your grade level and create a mini-lesson for the skill. Begin the lesson with a read loud.

Make a list of books for children to choose from for independent reading Provide 3 to 4 grade levels of books from appropriate genres for the skill Provide a routine that teaches your children how to choose their books for

independent reading and how to practice the skill taught Describe or roleplay a conference with a teacher and child about the book. Describe what share time would be like

One of the most important parts of a reading workshop mini-lesson is the Read Aloud of a piece of children’s literature. Be sure the book suits the skill. If you are using an informational book and teaching children to remember details, you could begin with a KWL graphic organizer and ask and write down: what the children know about the topic, and what they want to learn. Be sure to practice reading the book before reading it to the children so you read it well. Before you read discuss with the children the purpose for your lesson. After reading have a discussion about what the children learned and what they still want to know. This should be written on the KWL chart. Teachers should read with expression and at an appropriate pace. Share the pictures while reading. Do not stop frequently when reading for discussion since it interrupts comprehension. Save the discussion for after the book is read. Teachers can also tell stories, which is an engaging technique familiar to the many diverse cultures. When telling stories teachers can us puppets, props, figures, music, digital tools to enhance the presentation. For more information about storytelling see references below:Click on the link to watch a teacher telling a story from an informational piece of literature. The children are learning some details about Polar Bears and some of the vocabulary in the text. The teacher has selected a section of the book since it is too long for the children. She engages the children with her delightful manner of story telling. After watching this storytelling, try this technique yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yZCwEfY7nI

Webinar Task #5 Word WorkWe all know that word work is necessary for children to gain automaticity in decoding. The skills to be taught at each grade level can be found in standards. The more generalizable the phonics skills the more important they are to learn. Initial and final consonants are crucial along with the consonants that have hard and soft sounds. Consonant digraphs are also important such as sh, th, and ph as well as blends. Although often taught in

kindergarten long and short vowels are reinforced in first and second grade. In third grade children will work with structural analysis such as syllables, prefixes, suffixes and roots. There are many rules related to vowels such as the silent e rule at the end of a word that makes a vowel long. A consonant vowel consonant combination makes the vowel short. When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking, is a rule that is quite regular, as well as “r” controlled vowels. Word families, often called chunks or phonograms are important to teach since children can build words from them with an initial consonant. The following research based activities will help children with phonics:

Sort and classify frequently, for example sort words by long and short vowels, by blends, digraphs, etc. Build words with word family endings such as it, an, at and add an initial consonant at the beginning Build words using prefixes, roots, and suffixes Teach lots of sight words Teach children to use context clues and syntactic clues to figure out words. Encourage children to look at pictures in the book to figure out words Play bingo, lotto and other board games that have children engage in learning phonics When you can’t get the word fill in with a word that makes sense. Encourage children use multiple strategies There must be accountability for manipulative activities. Children need to write down words they build.

Basic phonics should be learned by the end of third grade. If children aren’t getting it by then they may never get it. Therefore one has to teach sight words, the use of context clues, syntactic clues, and picture clues. In addition when a child cannot decode a word say “think of a word that makes sense here.” Teaching phonological awareness and phonics is important; however the teaching period should not be long. It begins in preK and goes through third grade. At that point, other ways of getting words needs to be used more than dwelling on additional phonics. Word work will help children to achieve fluency. A child is fluent when they can decode automatically, read with appropriate expression and speed. In the webinar many strategies are mentioned that will create fluent readers. Following is a reader’s theatre to help children practice reading with fluency. Have the children read the entire story first. Then assign parts to them. Let them listen to a tape recording of other children reading it well. This provides them with a model. Have the children practice their parts. Then have them read the reader’s theatre piece and record the reading. Let them analyze what they think was good about the reading and what could be improved.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER (Aesop's Fable)

Parts (5): Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Narrator 3 Ant GrasshopperNarrator 1: On a beautiful summer day a grasshopper sat and sang a sweet song.Narrator 2: The grasshopper saw an ant working hard carrying grain to his house.Grasshopper: Look at that silly ant. All day long he works hard and never enjoys thesunshine.Narrator 3: The grasshopper laughed at the ant and then he continued his song. Hebasked in the warm sun all summer long without a care in the world.Narrator 1: As summer turned to autumn the grasshopper continued to sing his song andenjoy the sunshine. The ant, on the other hand, continued to gather foodand store it in his house.Narrator 2: When winter came the cold winds blew hard and the snow covered the meadowwith a thick blanket of white.Narrator 3: The grasshopper tried to find food, but of course he found nothing.Narrator 1: It didn't take long for the grasshopper to knock upon the ant's door and beg...Grasshopper: Please help me! I have nothing to eat! I shall starve without your help.Ant: My dear Mr. Grasshopper, all summer long I worked hard carrying food to my

home while you played in the sunshine. I will not share my food with someonewho is so lazy.Grasshopper: I was busy singing my song. I was making beautiful music. What should Ido now?Narrator 2: The ant thought for a moment and then said...Ant: I suggest you dance.Narrator 3: And the moral of this fable is...Ant: You must do the work before you take the time to play.All: The End.

Webinar Task #6 Writing Workshop

Just as we need a rich literacy environment for reading, we also need it for writing. Be sure to have a place for writing that includes different types of paper, both large and small, that is lined and unlined. Also include lots of writing materials such as pencils, pens, and markers. Classrooms need to have ample computers.

Both Reading and Writing Workshop are similar in format. There is (1) an introductory mini-lesson by the teacher who teaches a writing skill, (2) children write something that involves use of the skill, (3) during writing the teacher will conference with some children to help with their ideas, (4) based on the conference the child will revise, and edit, (5) Children will share their writing by reading it to others, displaying the writing, or publishing it in a class made book or online. The following link outlines the parts of a writing workshop

A Day in the Life of Our Writing Workshop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPRM2ZXyrSO

Children need a lot of practice when writing. It is important to distinguish between writing for ideas and the mechanics of writing. Children must be taught the process approach to writing which includes (1) brain -storming, (2) drafting, (3) conferencing for constructive help, (4) revising (5) editing and (6) sharing. The process approach teaches children that a first writing is almost never the finished product.

In the webinar the mentor text concept was demonstrated. When a type of writing in a book matches the type of skill a teacher is working on, the book provides a model. In the webinar two different pieces of children’s literature were used to provide models for children. Children were asked to write about their Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day as Alexander did in the book with the same name. The second book was Little Red Riding hood and children were asked to make up their own Little Red Riding Hood story. The mentor text provided a setting and characters for a new story. In a social studies class they were learning about different cities. The teacher wanted children to select a city and write about it. She used the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See by Eric Carle as the style of writing for the children to use. This is a pattern book in which the sentences have similar formats, for example:

Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see? I see a Red Bird looking at me. Red Bird Red Bird what do you see, I see a blue horse looking at me. After introducing the pattern to the children, the children were to choose a city to write about in this format. One child selected New York City. She wrote:

New York City, New Your City What do you See?

I see the Empire State Building Looking at Me Empire State Building What do Your See I see the Statue of Liberty Looking at me Lady Liberty what do you see, I see Central Park looking at me Central Park what do you see, I see Times Square looking at me Times Square what do you see, I see Broadway looking at me Broadway what do you see, I see the Museum of Art looking at me.

Train Train what do you see, I hope you are stopping to pick up me. Sight seeing as you can see, gets everyone tired including me.

For your task, list writing skills students must learn in grade l, 2 and 3 that are based on the standards. Find a mentor text to help you teach that writing skill.Do this with informational and narrative literature.

Webinar Task #7 Guided Reading to meet Individual Needs

One of the most important teaching elements in the school day is to address individual needs. We do it to a certain extent in Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop. One of the best ways is the use of Guided Reading Groups. Groups are selected based on achievement levels. They are also selected based on skills needed. You can use a running record to determine grade level and skills. Using your district’s assessment system is fine. When selecting groups put them together based on how much they are alike in skill development. There should be no more than 5 children in a group. Meet with your strugglers everyday, meet with your grade level children 3 times a week and meet with those above grade level twice a week. Groups will meet for 5 to 20 minutes. Each group will have different materials to read, and working on different skills. Lessons can be in all areas of literacy such as phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, etc. Assess children during guided reading groups so you are familiar with their progress. Children should change groups if their achievement changes. During guided reading leveled books are used that are at the child’s instructional level.

Your task for this section is to select a guided reading lesson at your grade level on the Fisher and Frey’s utube teaching channel. Observe and describe the lesson. Evaluate the lesson for organization, materials used, methods of instruction, assessment, and accomplishments. Think about your guided reading and how you can improve it, or what you do better than the utube video.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FisherandFrey

Webinar Tasks #8 CentersCenters teach children how to work independently, they should include what children are learning so they can practice those skills, they should provide for differentiated activities for different levels of achievement. Materials in centers represent what children are learning. All center materials need to be presented in a lesson first so children know how to use the materials. Students need a specific routine to work in a center such as: Where do I go?, When do I go? When do I change centers? What work is required of me in the center? Where do I place my work for the center? The list below is in your webinar that mentions the types of center you should have in literacy. Some activities in the centers should match themes being studied in content areas.

Look at the list of centers you could choose to have in your classroom. Name about 3 activities for each center to develop skills matched to the center goals. Add one more activity that matches the theme being studied in the classroom. For example if studying the seasons, there would vocabulary pertinent to the theme to write about, read about, etc. Integration of literacy into content makes literacy activities more meaningful

Classroom Centers

Vocabulary DevelopmentWord Study CenterListening/Comprehension CenterWriting CenterLibrary CornerDigital Tools for Literacy Development

Webinar Task # 9 Wrap UPSimilar to DO NOW at the beginning of the day, there is a WRAP UP at the end of the day.Both are meant to be sure that time is used well. When children are packing up their materials to go home, the teacher could be reading a story, reading riddles, or a chapter from a novel. Children can be asked to write on post-its their 3 biggest take aways for the day related to literacy. The post-its can be displayed on a board called WRAP UP. Task #9 for WRAP UP is to make a list of ideas, to do during WRAP UP. You might list reading poems, reading a newspaper article, a chapter from a book, etc.

Webinar Task #10 Integrating the Language Arts.It is crucial to integrate the language arts so that literacy has a purpose and is meaningful.Through the use of themes and project based instruction children have that opportunity. Themes are often designated by your school or you can select them with the children. The topic for the theme is not that important as long as it is relevant and interesting for the children. The themes introduce new vocabulary, reasons to read and write, view, and listen. Task #10 is as follows: (1) Select a theme, (2) list the vocabulary you will emphasize, (3) list the standards for reading and writing you want to accomplish, (4) list the appropriate activities to accomplish the standards, (5) list the books and genres of books you will include and (6) list the artifacts to display related to the theme to enrich the environment in your classroom.

Webinar Task #11 Creating our own Exemplary Literacy Day

The webinar identifies skills, strategies and structures to include throughout your school day. Literacy needs to be happening purposefully in grades one through three all day long. Look at the list below of structures and skills. (1) How many of these are you doing daily? (2) How often do you do each one? Do they need to be spread out over several days? Task 11 is to Outline a week long plan that incorporates the skills, strategies and structures described in the webinar and listed below.

Literacy Skills and Structures to Include Frequently in a School Plan

Describe the literacy rich environment in your classroom Do Now Vocabulary Meeting Comprehension Reading Workshop with a read aloud mini comprehension lesson and practice

with the skill, conferences with the teacher and a share time. Word Work Introduction to centers and how they are organized Guided Reading: how many groups do you have? How often do groups meet? How are children

placed in groups, Do children move from one group to another? Why? Writing Workshop including a mini lesson, a mentor text, guided practice in writing using the

skill taught, conferencing with the teacher to enhance the writing, revising, editing, and share time. Integration of the language arts into themes or project based instruction

Wrap Up

Appendix A

A sample day in the life of a first grade teacher including the elements focused on in the Webinar

Wendy’s daily schedule

8:45 - when children arrive at school, they have a do now which includes:Carrying out their jobsPartner readingMake entries in their journalsComplete unfinished work

9:00 to 9:15- morning meeting: as a whole groupMorning greetings are sharedThe calendar and weather are discussedThe schedule for the day is reviewed

9:15 to 10:00 - vocabulary meetingThere is a vocabulary lesson to match the theme being studied. Vocabulary words from the theme are

reviewed and some new ones added. With a partner, the children create sentences with the new vocabulary and illustrate it as well. In this vocabulary period, there also is grade level vocabulary that is introduced. 10:00 to 10:20 - comprehension reading workshop

The teacher does a read-aloud based on the theme being studied and does a mini-lesson to build comprehension using either an informational or narrative book dealing. After the lesson, children select from a group of books the teacher has provided. They read with a partner to practice the skill taught. The teacher conferences with children about their reading, offering guidance when necessary. The class shares what they learned from during partner reading based on the comprehension skill taught in the read aloud.

10:20 to 11:10 - small-group differentiated guided reading instruction and center activities

The teacher meets with small homogenous groups to work on individual needs

11:15 to 12:00 - writing workshop

The teacher does a mini-skill lesson for the whole group focusing on one writing skill. The children

write alone or with a partner to practice the skill. The teacher holds conferences with the children as they write.

The children share their writing.

12:00 to 12:45 - lunch and indoor or outdoor play

12:45 to 1:15 word work

1:00 to 1:40 - math

1:40 to 2:15 - Thematic literacy activities integrated in social studies or science

2:15-2:45 - creative arts, music, or gym (specials or classroom teacher—related to classroom theme studied

and tied into literacy skills provided by the classroom teacher)

2:45 to 3:00 -Clean up, Pack up and Wrap up: read-aloud or silent reading. Sharing and reviewing the most

important things learned that day planning for tomorrow.

A typical day in Wendy’s classroom

Wendy and her students are studying dinosaurs. In her classroom, reading, writing, listening, speaking,

and content-area subjects are integrated into the dinosaur theme.

Do Now. It is Monday morning and Wendy’s room fills with quiet chatter as her students arrive.

Classical music plays in the background as children complete their morning routines. Children know there are

Do Now jobs and go right to work. They move their name tags on the attendance board from the side labeled

not here to here and place their name stickers into the buy lunch or milk can. Some children cluster around the

easel, where Wendy has written the morning message and at the end included the question for the day. The

message says, “Good morning, children. Today is Monday, April 3rd. We have art this afternoon. Today’s

question is how many dinosaur names do you know? Write them in your journal to talk about later.”

Children check the helper chart for jobs such as feeding the animals, watering plants, and recording the

temperature on the weather graph. Wendy puts pictures next to each step on the chart which is helpful with for

struggling readers and English language learners.

Students know it is Do Now time and write their weekend news in their journals. On other days of the

week, they partner read three times and journal write one more time. Wendy greets each child as she circulates

among the readers or writers. A 2-minute warning bell ring letting children know that it is time to gather on the

rug for the Morning Meeting.

The Vocabulary Meeting. Wendy says, “good morning,” and the children repeat the greeting to each

other and shake hands around the circle. Because they are beginning the new month of April, they echo read

and then choral read a poem about the month that Wendy showed on the digital white board. She gives each

child a paper copy of the poem to put in their poem books, along with other poems for each month. Next,

Wendy leads the class in reading the morning message together. She asked the children to look at the morning

message and read it together. It said, “Good morning, children. Today is Monday, April 3rd. We will have art

today as our special. What dinosaurs did you write down? Can you tell me something about them? The

morning message is used to develop vocabulary. They discussed the dinosaurs and Wendy brought pictures to

show of them as they are mentioned. New dinosaur names were added to the themed word wall to continue

vocabulary development.

Comprehension reading workshop: (comprehension lesson and independent reading). Wendy has

her class move to another portion of the room for reading workshop. She will do a read-aloud and

comprehension mini-lesson. The book is an informational book about dinosaurs. They look through the pages

together and decide what the book will be about. It seems it might be about plant eating dinosaurs. Wendy tells

them to listen for all the types of plants that the animals eat. She tells the children to compare characteristics of

meat eating dinosaurs they read about recently and the plant eating dinosaurs she was going to read today. The

children have copies of the book and follow along as the teacher reads. After reading they discuss the facts in

the book and compare meat eaters to plant eaters.

After the discussion, children choose a book to read from a selection of dinosaur books. The books are

about meat eating dinosaurs and plant eaters. Children are to remember facts about the meat eating dinosaurs

and the plant-eating dinosaurs to compare. While they read with a partner, the teacher circulates and listens to

readers. She offers assistance if needed. She may even conference with some who seem to need additional help.

After partner reading, the class shares facts. They discuss the differences between plant and meat eating

dinosaurs in a Venn diagram and discuss things they have in common.

Center Time. Wendy spends a few minutes reviewing the center activities and describing new ones

placed in the centers for the exploration of dinosaurs. Centers have materials that there all the time, and they are

enriched with activities that reflect the current theme and skills that need to be practiced. Following is what was

added for the dinosaur theme.

Writing center: dinosaur-bordered writing paper, dinosaur-shaped books, a dinosaur dictionary, a

poster of dinosaurs with their names, colored pencils, and markers.

Literacy center: fiction and nonfiction dinosaur books, dinosaur books with accompanying CDs, a

dinosaur vocabulary puzzle, a dinosaur concentration memory game, a teacher-made dinosaur lottery game

Computer center: games, information about types of dinosaurs, and a video about

fossils:www.teacherplanet.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.kidsturncentral.com/links/

onolinks.htm

Science center: skulls and animal bones, along with a magnifying glass and rubber gloves to examine

the bones and draw what they think the entire animal may have looked like; dinosaur pictures to sort into meat

eaters and plant eaters; other pictures to be sorted into “walked on two feet” and “walked on four feet.” There

are recording sheets for all activities.

Math center: measuring tools in a basket and sheets to record the measurement of various plaster

bones of dinosaurs; dinosaur counters; little plastic dinosaurs in an estimation jar; a basket containing 50 little

dinosaurs numbered from 1 to 50 to be put in sequential order.

Blocks center: toy dinosaurs, trees, bushes, and some dinosaur books

Art center: dinosaur stencils, dinosaur stamps, clay models of dinosaurs, and many pictures of

dinosaurs to help students make their own sculptures.

Dramatic play center: the dramatic-play area is transformed into a paleontologist’s office with

chicken bones embedded in plaster of paris, carving tools, small hammers to remove the bones, safety goggles,

paper and pencils for labeling bones, trays that display them, dinosaur books, posters of fossils and dinosaurs.

After Wendy reviews center activities, she assigns children to centers. Activities that must be done are

skills that need practice, such as matching pictures with letters to reinforce long and short vowel sounds. When

they complete have-to activities, children may select any center.

Small-group differentiated guided reading instruction. Center time allows the teacher to work with

small groups and individuals while the children are working independently. Wendy’s first group is reading a

new book. She does a book walk to introduce the children to new vocabulary. Wendy and the children talk

about each page. During the book walk, the students are asked to find particular vocabulary words that are new

to them. They also discuss the names of the animals in the book. Wendy reads the story to the children first.

Next, the children are asked to whisper read the book at their own pace. As the group reads, Wendy notices that

one student reads the book quickly without making any errors. Wendy makes a note to think about moving him

to a more challenging reading group. After the children finish reading, Wendy asks everyone to turn to page 8.

“I noticed that James read, ‘we saw the pot bear’ and then changed it to ‘polar bear,’ since he looked back at the

letters and took into account the meaning of the sentence. He remembered that the words have to match the

letters and what you read has to make sense.”

While the children were reading, Wendy did a running record on one child. She noted that this student

read tooth instead of teeth and said winds instead of wings. Wendy will help this child pay more attention to the

print when working with him.

Wendy’s next group is reading a different and more difficult book. This group is more advanced than the

first. The group has worked with this book before; therefore, the lesson that Wendy will carry out will help her

children become more independent readers. She will teach them how to figure out unknown words by using the

meaning of a sentence and by looking at the letters in the words. They begin with a game called “guess the

covered word,” similar to an activity they used during the morning message. This time, the covered word in the

sentence “I can blank fast” is the word run. The children are encouraged to select a word that makes sense in the

sentence and then look at the letters in the word to see which the correct word is. Words generated for the

missing word were walk, eat, hop, sleep, and run. The activity is repeated throughout the book.

The next group is reading another book. In this lesson, Wendy focuses on teaching the children to look

at ending sounds to figure out words. Wendy wrote “I am go to the store” on the chart. She reads the sentence

and the children quickly point out that it does not sound right. Joan writes a second sentence, “I am going to the

store.” They identify the difference in the two sentences by pointing to the words go and going. Wendy reminds

the children to look at the ends and beginnings of words when reading. They read the book with special

attention to the word endings. After the first reading, she starts a discussion to demonstrate their ability to infer

and asks them if they could think of another way to end the story.

A Quick Snack: For a snack there are dinosaur animal crackers and what Wendy refers to as “dinosaur

juice.” Children read independently when finished with the snack.

Writing Workshop: The children gather for writing in the whole-class meeting area. Wendy prepares

them for a school-wide activity. They will survey all students in the school to find out what their favorite

dinosaurs are. Wendy does an interactive writing activity to draft a letter asking the teachers and children in

other classrooms to participate. She begins by reviewing the format of a letter, which was introduced during a

previous unit on the post office. They discuss how to begin and end a letter. Using the digital white board,

Wendy asks the children to offer suggestions to start the letter and write the letter. The children and their

teacher compose the text. Wendy types the letter and it appears on the board. She makes copies of it for the

children and others in the school. She distributes them to all classrooms. The chart will be posted on a door.

Next, Wendy introduces the writing activity for the week. The children will be writing informational

texts about dinosaurs. They are each to select their favorite dinosaur and answer the following questions before

they begin their writing.

What are the parts of your dinosaur? What does your dinosaur eat? Where did your dinosaur live?

What else do you know about your dinosaur?

Each child selects a partner and a dinosaur to study. Jim and Dan chose a tyrannosaurus. Wendy

provided books for looking up information in the categories outlined and has identified website for children to

review. Each child takes two sections of the book to write about.

Through this initial activity, the children have learned that brainstorming is a crucial step in the writing

process. Brainstorming helps children decide what they will write. On Tuesday, they will continue to browse

through dinosaur books for information and start to draft. Children will write the facts collected into

informational stories and illustrate them. When the activity is completed at the end of the week, children will

share their informational dinosaur stories.

Lunch and play: Lunch is in the cafeteria. After eating, if weather permits, the children play outside. If

not, they play in the gym or their classroom.

Word Work: The school in which Wendy teaches a phonics program that they follow to be sure

that children systematically learn the skills they need to read automatically and independent. This

program includes many manipulative materials engage children in building words using initial

consonant blends and digraphs, and word families at the end. In addition to using the phonics program

Wendy always adds something that brings meaning to the lesson. For example, with the study of

dinosaurs that are meat eaters and plant eaters, she points out that meat follows the rule she has taught

that says when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking. She asks the children for other

words with ea. that follows that rule. Children mention treat, seat, and beat. They also look at the word

plant to notice the blend at the beginning of the word. They think of other words with the pl blend at the

beginning such as place, plot, and play.

Math: There is a specific math curriculum that Wendy follows in her school. She also ties her math to

her theme and literacy. Children are working on subtracting two numbers on top from one on the bottom. After

working on the skill, she asks the children to write a word problem that involves subtraction and dinosaurs.

James wrote the following “Fifteen dinosaurs went for a walk in the forest. They were plant eaters and

munching on plants along the way. Five of them at the end of the line got lost. How many dinosaurs were left in

the big group?

Science: Theme Activity and Center Time: Wendy planned a theme related art activity. Everyone will

contribute to a mural and construct a habitat for dinosaur sculptures the children will create in art class. To

introduce the mural and habitat activity, everyone listens as Wendy explains the details. Children talk about a

piece of the mural they would like to work on, such as trees, vines, a cave, a river, or plants. Wendy writes the

children’s names on a chart with the item they would like to draw.

One-third of the students remain on the carpet to work on the mural. These children huddle around

books depicting plants and trees from the time of the dinosaurs. Animated discussions take place as each child

draws food, shelter, water, and other elements necessary to sustain dinosaur life. The rest of the children use this

time to complete unfinished journal writing or center work. If they have completed all their work, they can

select any center activity they wish. This is a playful time of the day when children build with blocks, play in

the dramatic play area, do an art project, explore in the science area, or look at books. Students who did not

work on the mural will have a chance another day during the week.

Art, Music, and Gym: At this time of day, the class goes to a special teacher for art, music, or gym.

Wendy has coordinated with these teachers about the current class theme so the art teacher is working on paper-

mâché dinosaur sculptures with the children. The music teacher has found dinosaur songs and the gym teacher

has the students walk like dinosaurs.

Wrap up: At the end of the day, students gather in the meeting area for a read-aloud and a review of the

day. Wendy has selected an informational book about dinosaurs. This book will provide children with more

facts and vocabulary that they can use in their writing and for the mural habitat they are creating. Before she

reads it, she points out some of the features of this informational book. There is a table of contents that includes

each chapter and glossary of new words. There are labels on figures, captions describing pictures, headings

introducing new topics, and new vocabulary written in a bolder and bigger print than the rest of the words.

Wendy knows this book will introduce children to a topic not yet discussed in class: the differences between

dinosaurs that were plant eaters and those that were meat eaters. After reading, Wendy and the children list the

characteristics of plant-eating and meat-eating dinosaurs. There were new dinosaur terms to learn, such as

armored plates, carnivore, and extinct.

In another shared reading at the end of the next day, Wendy focused on finding facts in the

informational texts. When she read, she asked the children to listen for the facts about dinosaurs and the

elements in the book that make it informational.

After reading, Wendy asked, “What elements made this book an informational story?”

Student 1: There aren’t characters that have a story to tell.

Student 2: It is about real things.

Student 3: You learn a lot of facts.

After the discussion, Wendy made a web that included the facts in the text. She drew a circle on a chart

with the word dinosaurs written in the center. Then she drew lines radiating out from the center circle. Next, she

drew smaller circles connected to each line radiating out from the larger circle. As children recalled facts about

dinosaurs, Wendy wrote the words in the smaller circles. Wendy and the children read the web: Dinosaurs: Big,

Scary, Vegetarians, Meat Eaters, Dangerous, Extinct.

Wendy talked about how informational texts are also called nonfiction because everything is real instead

of make-believe. One student raised her hand and said:

Student 1: I think the book is make-believe, because the pictures are drawings. If it was an

informational book, there would be photographs that we take with cameras.

Student 2: But they can’t have real photographs because dinosaurs are dead, and they didn’t have

photographs since they had no cameras when they were alive. We don’t have any more dinosaurs. What

is that word, they are? Oh yeah, they are extinct.

The teacher gives each child a post-it to write the three most important things they learned.

They put the post-its on a bulletin board and make a copy for themselves to bring home. This reinforces what

was learned and lets the parent know what was learned as they share the post it with their family.

Tuesday: Learning More about Dinosaurs

Tuesday’s schedule is the same as Monday, but with new books and assignments. During the rest of the

week, the children followed the same routines with morning messages, Vocabulary Development, Reading

Workshop with a shared storybook readings, whole-group skills lessons, and reading practice. There is small-

group instruction, center work, writing workshop, and theme-related activities in social studies, science math,

art, music, and play.

Summary

Wendy’s classroom allows children to have the opportunity to explore and experiment while also

receiving explicit instruction. They are expected to complete work assigned to them during small-group

instruction or during whole-group lessons. However, they also have choices in the selection of activities a few

times during the day. A lot of information is introduced during whole- and small-group lessons, and information

is repeated and reviewed all week long. Children’s individual needs are met during small-group reading

instruction, writing workshop, and center time. Reading and writing are integrated in content-area learning.

Children in Wendy’s classroom read and write all day long in all of the content areas. Her classroom is arranged

so the children have access to varied materials and books. Most importantly, Wendy’s children come into the

classroom each day ready and excited to learn.

Appendix B: Children’s Literature for the ClassroomFavorite Well-Known Picture StorybooksThe following books represent a careful selection of somedistinguished authors and excellent children’s literaturenot to be missed.Allsburg, C. V. (2009). The polar express. Orlando, FL:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Bemelmans, L. (2000). Madeline. New York: Penguin Group.Berenstain, S., & Berenstain, J. (2002). The bears’ picnic.New York: Random House.Brown, M. W. (2005). Goodnight moon. New York:HarperCollins.Carle, E. (2007). The very hungry caterpillar. New York:Penguin Group.Dean, J. (2013). Freddy the frogcaster. Washington, DC:Regnery Publishing, Inc.Eastman, P. D. (2005). Are you my mother? New York:Random House.Freeman, D. (2008). Corduroy. New York: Penguin Group.Galdone, P. (2006). The little red hen. Boston: HoughtonMifflin.Henkes, K. (2007). Chrysanthemum. New York:Scholastic Inc.Hoban, R. (2009). Best friends for Frances. New York:HarperCollins.Johnson, C. (1981). Harold and the purple crayon. NewYork: Harper.Kraus, R. (2008). Leo the late bloomer. New York:HarperCollins.Lobel, A. (2005). Frog and toad together. Norristown, PA:Backpack Books.McCloskey, R. (2010). Blueberries for Sal. New York:Penguin.Piper, W. (2009). The little engine that could. New York:Penguin.Potter, B. (2006). The tale of Peter Rabbit. New York: Warner.Rey, H. A. (2006). Curious George rides a bike. Boston:Houghton Mifflin.Scieszka, J. (1996). The true story of the 3 little pigs. NewYork: Penguin Group.Sendak, M. (1988). Where the wild things are. New York:HarperCollins.Seuss, Dr. (2000). Horton hatches the egg. New York:Random House.Slobodkina, E. (2008). Caps for sale. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley.Steig, W. (2005). Sylvester and the magic pebble. NewYork: Simon & Schuster.Viorst, J. (2009). Alexander and the terrible, horrible, nogood, very bad day. New York: Atheneum.Willems, M. (2003). Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus.New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Willems, M. (2007). Knuffle Bunny. New York: Scholastic, Inc.Wood, A. (2010). The napping house. Orlando, FL:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Appendix C: Online Resources For TeachersAnnenberg Learnerhttp://www.learner.org/Edutopiahttp://www.edutopia.org/The Lexile Framework for Readinghttp://www.lexile.com/Read, Write, Thinkhttp://www.readwritethink.org/Reading Rocketshttp://www.readingrockets.org/audience/teachers/Scholastichttp://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/Teaching Channelhttps://www.teachingchannel.org/Thinkfinityhttp://www.thinkfinity.org/welcomeDouglas Fisher and Nancy Frey You Tube Teaching Channelhttp://www.youtube.com/user/FisherandFreySarah at Teaching Channelzhussain@teachingchannel.org

Appendix: DProfessional Associations and Related Journals Dealing with Early LiteracyAssociation for Childhood Education International(ACEI), 17904 Georgia Avenue, Suite 215, Olney, MD 20832, www.acei.org (journals: Childhood Education;Journal of Research in Childhood Education)International Literacy Association (ILA), 800 Barksdale Road, PO Box 8139, Newark, DE 19711, www.reading.org (journals: The Reading Teacher; Reading Research Quarterly)Literacy Research Association (LRC), 7744 S. 13th Street, Oak Creek, WI 531154(journal: Journal of Literacy Research; lraonline.org and nrconline.org)National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC), 1509 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036, www.naeyc.org (journals: Young Children; Early Childhood Research Quarterly)National Center for Family Literacy, 325 West Main Street, Suite 300, Louisville, KY 40202-4237, www.famlit.org (newsletter: Momentum)National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), 1111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801, www.ncte.org (journal: Language Arts)Reach Out and Read National Center, 56 Roland Street, Suite 100D, Boston, MA 02109,www.reachoutandread.org