Mrs' Blakes 4th Grade Balanced Literacy Program

1
Mrs. Blakes 4th Grade Balanced Literacy Program
2
My Philosophy of Teaching Reading

• Reading is necessary for a child to do well
  throughout their lifetime.
• It is important to encourage children to read and
  write.
• The classroom environment needs to be a
  comfortable setting for the students to read.
• Reading will be taught through reading aloud,
  shared reading, guided reading, cooperative
  reading, and independent reading.
• Teachers should provide activities for all parts
  of reading, before, during, and after.
• Students need constant positive reinforcement
  from both home and school.

3
Balanced Literacy

• This reading approach is a flexible way to teach
  reading and writing
• The teacher is able to use on-going assessments
  to carefully plan individual classroom
  instruction for each student.

4
An Introduction to My Reading Program

• My language arts block will be two and a half
  hours long.
• Students will rotate through five different
  learning centers.
• Students will be given three weeks for the
  completion of their trade book and culminating
  activities.

5
Guided Shared Reading

• Students will be placed in cooperative groups to
  read a book and complete assigned tasks.
• Students will not be assigned to groups according
  to their reading levels.
• They all have a lot to learn from each other!

6
Independent Reading Library

• Students will select their own books from our
  classroom library to read by themselves.
• Students may also go to the schools library to
  check out and renew books.
• The books students read during this time may
  count for Book It.

7
Writers Workshop

• Students will work through the writing process to
  create their own stories.
• When they complete a story they may choose to
  publish it for everyone else to read.
• They could create
• A book
• An internet page
• A Hyper Studio project

8
Spelling

• They will have new spelling words each week to
  study.
• They will practice their words in class through
  different activities.
• Pre-test, Post-test
• Creative Writing
• Back Writing
• Overhead activities

9
Vocabulary

• They will learn many new vocabulary words, which
  will mostly come from their reading.
• The larger their vocabulary background is, the
  better they will be able to comprehend what they
  are reading.

10
Assessment and Evaluation

• Students will be assessed through many different
  activities.
• Teacher observation, records, and conferences
• Projects and extension activities
• Reading logs and journals
• Rubrics

• Students will also keep a portfolio for their
  writing and other important samples of their
  growth.

11
Parental Involvement

• Parents are the most important teacher for their
  children.
• They have the most influence on them!

12
How Can Parents Help?

• Parents are important for their childrens
  literacy development, because the groundwork for
  reading begins during the early years of life.
• Parents can show an interest in reading, it will
  encourage the children to read, too. They learn
  from observation.

• Parents can help improve childrens reading and
  writing skills by
• Reading to them
• Run your finger under the line of print
• Leave out words as you read
• Discuss what you read together
• Having older siblings read to the younger ones.

13
Activities for Parents to Use

• These are some ways to enrich your childs
  reading development
• Compare and contrast different books
• Tell stories using only the illustrations
• Read and reread stories together
• Listen to books on tape
• Go to the library weekly
• Ask them questions about the book

14
What Parents Can Do If They Notice Their Child
Having Trouble with Reading

• You can help your child by
• Helping them choose the correct bookno more than
  3 5 errors per page
• Asking them to look at the picture and think
  about the story
• Telling them to reread or read on
• Asking them to pronounce the word they dont know
• Not interrupting them while they are reading
• Calling Mrs. Blake whenever you need anything!