QCSD K-5 Literacy Buzz
January, 2019
QCSD K-12 ELA Vision Statement
All students in QCSD will become productive citizens with a command of literacy that prepares them for the challenges of being “College and Career Ready” and enables them to achieve their personal and professional goals.
Table of Contents
Can't Miss Celebrations
- Focused Independent Reading and Small Group Instruction - Stephanie Cucinotta
- Independent Learning and Small Group Instruction - Kristen Martin
- Independent Reading, Building Stamina, and Volume of Reading - Amanda Goldcamp
- Module 2 Fun - Josh Mason, Rachel Miller, Trum Grade 3
Implementation News
- Imagine Learning - Grade 1
- Mid Year Assessment Grades K-5
- Exploring the Volume of Reading Library - Grades 3-5
Instructional Shift
- Isolated Test Prep to Engaging in High Quality Text - Grades 3-5
- Assigning Writing to Teaching Writing - Grades 3-5
Content Area Literacy
- High Impact Practice - Summarizing
- Sentence Frames - Peggy Smith, Stacey DiCicco, Mark Hewes
Coaching Corner
- Classroom visits
Can't Miss Celebrations
Stephanie Cucinotta - 2nd Grade
Kristen Martin - Full Day Kindergarten
Amanda Goldcamp - 3rd Grade
Heading into Module 2! Wit and Wisdom Fun!
Join the learning in SeeSaw!
Implementation News
Grade 1 Imagine Learning
First grade teachers and building coaches will have the opportunity to learn more about Imagine Language and Literacy at the upcoming non instructional day in January. More information to come!
Reading and Writing Mid Year Assessments
Volume of Reading Library Grades 3-5
What is it?
In each module, Appendix D contains a curated Volume of Reading text list, which includes quality texts (and lexile levels) that add to the module's knowledge puzzle and offer students choices at varying levels of complexity.
Why is this important?
In addition to close reading of core and supplementary text, the Wit and Wisdom learning design emphasizes the need, as highlighted in CCSS Reading Anchor Standard 10, for students to read a volume and range of texts.
What else should I know?
Based on the Content Framing Questions, a set of Volume of Reading Reflection Questions appear in the Student Edition of each module, giving students guidance and structure to apply the Content Framing Questions independently to books of their choice.
Click here for How To get started!
Instructional Shifts
Move from Isolated Test Prep - to - Engaging in High Quality Text
The Wit and Wisdom webinar, Acing the Test: Strategies for Supporting Student Achievement, discusses how book-based lessons engage all learners, build knowledge, and set students up for academic achievement. The webinar shares how the Wit and Wisdom curriculum supports academic achievement by integrating these 5 principals everyday:
Read Excellent texts
Read them again and again
Talk and write about compelling questions
Explore words
Examine and discuss fine art
Click here to read Kelly's notes from the webinar.
Worthwhile Webinar!
Move from Assigning Writing - to - Teaching Writing
Worthwhile Webinar!
Content Literacy
Foss Grade 4 Trimester 2
W&W Grade 5 Module 1
ReadyGen Grade 2 Unit 3
High Impact Practice - Summarizing
Core Practice Description - Students summarize texts, or sections of longer texts, and reflect as they summarize to determine the main topic/idea or central idea of what they are reading.
Progression of Practice - Students may begin practice working with graphic organizers. The goal is for students to achieve independence, ultimately no longer needing the structured organizer to summarize text and distinguish main ideas/themes/plot points from details.
Value For Students - Summarizing a text, or portion of text, after reading helps readers to:
- think about texts more deeply, at the word and sentence level, and the text as a whole;
- identify main and central ideas and key and supporting details;
- distinguish between more relevant and less relevant details; and check their comprehension of what they have read.
- To summarize, a reader must make determinations about the following:
- The main or central ideas (in informational texts) and plot points and/or themes (in literary texts)
- The key ideas versus details
- Relevance
Value For Teachers
Student summaries are valuable assessment tools, providing insights into students’ understanding of texts, their ability to distinguish important versus unimportant details, and their comprehension of the central message or theme of a text.
Summarizing Strategies Across Grades 2-5 Curricular Areas
Foss
Summarize and Synthesize
Model how to pick out the important parts of the reading selection. Paraphrasing is one way to summarize. Have students record summaries of the reading, using their own words. To scaffold the learning, use graphic organizers to compare and contrast, group, sequence, and show cause and effect.
TCI
Sum It Up
Have students use section headings to sum up the content of each section.
Create a Hand Summary
Have students trace the outline of their hand on a piece of paper. Tell them to write the subject or main idea of the chapter or of the Reading Further segment inside the outline of the thumb. Have them use their fingers to list details that help tell about, illustrate, or explain the subject or main idea.
W&W
Boxes and Bullets help students practice summarizing and recording the main ideas and key details in informational texts.
1. Tell students that the box represents the main idea and the buttons represent the key
details.
2. Students label the box with the main idea and add buttons (or bullets) as they state
each key detail, rereading the text as needed. Depending on the text and learning goal,
students start with either the key details or the main idea.
3. As students progress, they can add bags, which represent the main ideas of subsections of text, to their boxes. Each bag can hold its own details (buttons).
W&W
Quick Write (Individuals) A Quick Write is a brief written response that helps students reflect on a topic and teachers to assess comprehension. It can be used at the beginning of a lesson as a warm-up, during the middle of the lesson in response to an idea or section of text, or at the end of the lesson to summarize key ideas.
Provide a question or open-ended prompt. Allot 2–10 minutes for students to write.
The Power of Using Sentence Frames
Reading Specialist and Literacy Coach Peggy Smith, First Grade Teacher Stacey DiCicco, and Fourth Grade Teacher Mark Hewes presented at Trum's December factulty meeting about the work they are doing in their classrooms with sentence frames. Click here to review the slides presentation. The slides highlight how the Craft Stages used in Wit and Wisdom can really be applied to writing in all grade levels and content areas. Sentence frames can be a powerful strategy to scaffold for for students when speaking and writing. Sentences frames also support students when summarizing.
First Grade Writing Sample, Stacey DiCicco's Class
Fourth Grade Writing Sample, Mark Hewe's ELA Class
Kelly's Share
Happy New Year!
Quick Links to Documents
Links to Past Editions of the QCSD K-5 Literacy Buzz
Authors
Erin Oleksa-Carter
Supervisor of Literacy, Fine Arts, and ELD
Kelly Cramer
K-5 Literacy Coach