QCSD PK-5 Literacy Buzz
February 2020
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
Celebrations and Learning for ALL
- Neidig, Share by Building Coach Stacey Dicicco
- Pfaff, Share by Building Coach Aly Kriner
Implementation News
- SQLR Win District Summary
- Resource Share - K2 ReadyGen Tradebook Posters
- Decodable Readers
- Fluency
- Fundations Grade 3
Content Area Literacy
- Strategy Spotlight - Anticipation Guide
- Math Language Routines
- Content Area Literacy Guide
What the Research Says
- Know Better, Do Better by David and Meredith Liben
- Mathematical Mindsets, Jo Boehler
Save the Date for PD
- Fundations Grade 3
- The Why and How of Direct, Explicit, Systematic, and Multi-sensory Literacy Instruction
Neidig
Pfaff
Year 2 Implementation News
SQLR WIN District Summary
Each elementary building participated in an SQLR during WIN time between the dates of October 2019 and January 2020. As a result of the data and takeaways that were shared with each building, here you will find an overview of district trends. As you will see, there are many celebrations, some wonderings to work through together, and a few practices to reconsider. Please don't hesitate to reach out to your building coach or an OTL coach to further explore any of the trends shared.
K-2 ReadyGen Poster Resource
K-2 Which Texts for Teaching Reading
In the book, Know Better, Do Better, it states, in a systematic phonics program that uses decodable texts early in students' reading instruction, it is more likely that students will be attentive to the letters and the sounds they represent.
Here is a decodable reader instructional protocol . Fundations, Imagine Learning, and ReadyGen has decodable text available.
2-5 Fluency in the Content Areas
Why Fluency?
As students become able to read a greater number of words per minute with increased understanding, they read more. The more they read, the more they build knowledge.
What makes a quality fluency activity?
Quality Texts
Passage can be anything short enough for repeated reading with in a period of 15 or so minutes. It can be an article, a poem, or an important excerpt from something longer you’re reading in class.
Oral Reading
Text must be read aloud. Fluency practice should be oral, so students can hear what good reading sounds like. Authentic practice in oral reading will not only improve fluency, but also silent reading skills.
Feedback
Students should receive teacher feedback. Sometimes feedback comes from their own observations as they tap into the metacognitive skills and think about how they sound as they read. *Fluency evaluation form (Thank you Melissa Reidi for making the form student friendly!)
Repetition
For fluency to improve, repeated reading is strongly encouraged.
Motivation
Repeated readings = success! The option to perform is also motivating for some students.
Example of a Daily Fluency Practice Plan
Click here to find an easy to use daily fluency practice plan that can be used with any high quality grade level text any time of day!
Fundations Grade 3
Level 3 of Fundations® builds on the basic skills that were learned in Fundations Levels K-2 and progresses further into the study of word structure, focusing on advanced spelling rules and morphology.
As you know, Fundations Level 3 will be arriving to buildings shortly. Teachers and coaches will be exploring the materials and lesson contents for the remainder of the school year. Click here to see a detailed list of skills and knowledge our 3rd graders will be exposed to through Fundations. Wow!
Content Literacy
Strategy Spotlight ~ Anticipation Guide
An anticipation guide is a comprehension strategy that is used before reading to activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading, students listen to or read several statements about key concepts presented in the text; they're often structured as a series of statements with which the students can choose to agree or disagree. Anticipation guides stimulate students' interest in a topic and set a purpose for reading.
See Page 12 of the QCSD Content Area Literacy Guide Grades 2-5 below for more information.
Click here to read more about Anticipation Guides from Reading Rockets.
Literacy in Math
Mathematical Routines
As in other subjects, math students must be able to read, write, listen, speak, and discuss the
subject at hand. Often, these multimodal ways of learning and using math skills are given too
little attention in curricular materials, and teachers may want to supplement with classroom
activities that provide opportunities for students to use language to discuss the math content
they’re learning.
Click here to find routines that are designed to support a variety of language-focused skill growth: from reinforcing mathematical terminology to scaffolding conversations to providing opportunities for students to deepen their conceptual understanding by describing their work. These routines, done regularly, can benefit all students!
What the Research Says
Know Better, Do Better
It's our goal that every child in every elementary school in America can read fluently by the end of second grade. This book explains how to make that happen - for all children in all classrooms. ~ Meredith and David Liben
The Libens have poured through the research, pedagogical movements, and deeply entrenched classroom myths to find the literacy practices and instructional materials that actually improve student learning outcomes. Through their work, the Family Academy reading scores rose to the highest of any non-gifted school in Harlem. The best of intentions aren't enough to make children literate; educators have to know better so they can do better.
Mathematical Mindsets
In January, teachers attended a session focused on enhancing the math curriculum. The presenter shared the work of Jo Boaler. Boaler created youcubed to give teachers, parents and students the resources they need to excite students about mathematics.
Boaler's Mathematical Mindsets provides practical strategies and activities to help teachers and parents show all children, even those who are convinced that they are bad at math, that they can enjoy and succeed in math. Jo Boaler—Stanford researcher, professor of math education, and expert on math learning—has studied why students don’t like math and often fail in math classes.Save the Date
The Why and How of Direct, Explicit, Systematic, and Multi-sensory Literacy Instruction
June 23, 2020 or August 20, 2020
Facilitated By: Alexis McCullough, BCIU Program and Training Specialist
Time Needed: One Full Day
Participants: Elementary PK-2 Staff and Specialists
Overview of Topics Include:
- The neurobiological influences connected to literacy acquisition and factors linked to reading failure.
- Examine a developmentally appropriate scope and sequence of literacy skill, including a breakdown of phonemic awareness, phonics, and accuracy/fluency skills.
- Brief overview of informal assessment tools to determine ability in the areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, accuracy/fluency, and sight word recognition.
Fundations Grade 3, June 24, 2020
Quick Links to ELA Documents
Links to Past Editions of the QCSD PK-5 Literacy Buzz
QCSD Early Childhood News Editions
Authors
Erin Oleksa-Carter
Supervisor of Literacy, Fine Arts, and ELD
Kelly Cramer
PK-12 Instructional Coach
ELA Content Specialist
Guest Authors
QCSD PK-5 Building Coaches