A balanced literacy program allows students the opportunity to interact
with meaningful and authentic learning experiences. How can we expect our
children to learn if we don't allow them time to explore? Throughout our day, we are
engaged in a balanced literacy framwork that is effective and meaningful.
No Language, No Literacy ~Lester Laminack
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Children come in a
variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. They speak a variety of dialects and
languages. Even at the beginning of first grade, they vary greatly in
their entering
literacy levels.Children also come with a variety of personalities
and learning preferences. Some children are strong visual learners and
can see a word once or twice and remember it forever. Other children
are better auditory
learners and can easily hear and blend sounds to figure out many words. Some children need a lot of structure and guidance; other children are very self-directed and learn best when they can choosetopics about which they want to read and write. Some children like stories and fanciful tales; others want to read and write about nonfiction—things that really happened. |
The Four-Blocks literacy framework was developed
to meet the diverse needs of all children.
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The |
Overview
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| Guided
Reading |
In Guided Reading, teachers choose material for children to read and a purpose for reading, and then guide them to use reading strategies needed for that material and that purpose. Teachers provide guidance in a variety of whole class, small group, and partner formats. Guided Reading is always focused on comprehension. Children learn to predict what might happen or what they might learn. They learn about the story elements of characters, setting, and plot, and they learn how to organize and compare information learned from informational text. |
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Writing |
Another way children learn to read is by writing. For some children, their own writing provides the first successful reading experience. Many children love the combination of writing and illustrating that leads to a published work. Children's writing samples, prior to the publication stage, serve as a rich portrait of how well young minds are applying important language skills and strategies, as well as what they know about words. |
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Working with Words |
The purpose of this block is to ensure that children read, spell, and use high-frequency words correctly, and that they learn the patterns necessary for decoding and spelling. |
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Self
Selected
Reading |
For many of us, being read to as a child or reading a little before “lights out” was a familiar bedtime ritual. In homes today, television, computers, and video games have all but replaced this reading event. How much a child reads is the best indicator of how well that child reads—the best readers read a lot. Children who don't like to read simply haven't found the right book yet! |
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Parent
Resources |
| Parent Center |
| PBS Parents |
| Help Your First Grader Suceed |
