The Waunakee Community School District uses a balanced approach to literacy, which includes the following components: Whole Class Reading, Individualized Guided Practice, Writing, and Word Study.
All of the first grade teachers at Arboretum use the Daily 5 model to structure much of their literacy time. This structure teaches independence and gives children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. During Daily 5 time, the teachers do guided reading lessons with small groups while the rest of the children participate in 5 tasks: Read to Self, Work on Writing, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, and Word Work. We have found that the Daily 5 allows teachers to meet the needs of individual learners effectively and gives students the opportunity to increase their stamina and intrinsic motivation.
During large group reading lessons, we use a curriculum called Making Meaning. Making Meaning is a program designed to help students build their reading comprehension and social skills. The students hear books read aloud and discuss them with partners and with the class. They learn several comprehension strategies, including making connections, retelling, visualizing, and wondering. They also practice reading independently each day during Individualized Daily Reading (IDR). In addition to helping each student individually, the program is also helping our class become a community of readers in which everyone feels welcome and safe. In addition to the Making Meaning reading program, we use the Making Meaning vocabulary lessons in our classroom. In the vocabulary lessons, students learn useful and interesting words selected from the books used during reading lessons. Children of all ages enjoy learning new words, and research shows that learning words boosts children’s speaking, reading, and writing skills. Students are also taught strategies for unlocking word meanings when they read independently, such as using context clues and recognizing synonyms, antonyms, words with multiple meanings, and shades of meaning.
Our writing curriculum is called Traits Writing. This model is based on seven qualities, or traits, of good writing:
1. Ideas: the content of your child’s piece — its central message
2. Organization: the internal structure of the piece
3. Voice: the tone of your child’s piece — his or her personal stamp
4. Word Choice: the vocabulary your child uses to convey meaning
5. Sentence Fluency: the way the text looks and sounds as it flows through your child’s piece
6. Conventions: the mechanical correctness of your child’s piece (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, basic grammar)
7. Presentation: The physical appearance of your child’s piece
During first grade, students use their growing knowledge of these traits to become powerful, skilled writers.
To teach spelling, we use a program called Guided Spelling which focuses on blending and segmenting words and learning high frequency words. We teach other phonics and phonological awareness skills using Fountas and Pinnell's Phonics resources.
All of the first grade teachers at Arboretum use the Daily 5 model to structure much of their literacy time. This structure teaches independence and gives children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. During Daily 5 time, the teachers do guided reading lessons with small groups while the rest of the children participate in 5 tasks: Read to Self, Work on Writing, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, and Word Work. We have found that the Daily 5 allows teachers to meet the needs of individual learners effectively and gives students the opportunity to increase their stamina and intrinsic motivation.
During large group reading lessons, we use a curriculum called Making Meaning. Making Meaning is a program designed to help students build their reading comprehension and social skills. The students hear books read aloud and discuss them with partners and with the class. They learn several comprehension strategies, including making connections, retelling, visualizing, and wondering. They also practice reading independently each day during Individualized Daily Reading (IDR). In addition to helping each student individually, the program is also helping our class become a community of readers in which everyone feels welcome and safe. In addition to the Making Meaning reading program, we use the Making Meaning vocabulary lessons in our classroom. In the vocabulary lessons, students learn useful and interesting words selected from the books used during reading lessons. Children of all ages enjoy learning new words, and research shows that learning words boosts children’s speaking, reading, and writing skills. Students are also taught strategies for unlocking word meanings when they read independently, such as using context clues and recognizing synonyms, antonyms, words with multiple meanings, and shades of meaning.
Our writing curriculum is called Traits Writing. This model is based on seven qualities, or traits, of good writing:
1. Ideas: the content of your child’s piece — its central message
2. Organization: the internal structure of the piece
3. Voice: the tone of your child’s piece — his or her personal stamp
4. Word Choice: the vocabulary your child uses to convey meaning
5. Sentence Fluency: the way the text looks and sounds as it flows through your child’s piece
6. Conventions: the mechanical correctness of your child’s piece (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, basic grammar)
7. Presentation: The physical appearance of your child’s piece
During first grade, students use their growing knowledge of these traits to become powerful, skilled writers.
To teach spelling, we use a program called Guided Spelling which focuses on blending and segmenting words and learning high frequency words. We teach other phonics and phonological awareness skills using Fountas and Pinnell's Phonics resources.