Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Fluency

Vocabulary

Comprehension

Student Time in Text 

Exposing students to challenging texts that are appropriate for their grade level is crucial for their academic development. Providing students with opportunities to grapple with complex texts helps them build critical reading skills, expand their vocabulary, and improve comprehension. 

Making Thinking Visible:

Text Annotation

Text Annotation is an active and effective reading strategy that promotes deeper comprehension and engagement with the material. Annotating involves highlighting key points, jotting down questions, making connections, and summarizing important ideas, which helps students interact with the text, retain information better, and develop critical thinking skills.

Students write every day for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Text Annotation Student Tool

Annotate, Pair, Share Routine

Speaking and Writing Response Protocols

The Writing Process

Daily Writing

Students write every day for a variety of purposes and audiences.

• Provide daily time for students to write.

• Teach students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes.

• Teach students to become fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, typing and word processing.

• Create an engaged community of writers.

• Provide opportunities for students to share writing.

Small Group Instruction

Teachers provide small group, skill-based instruction every day. 

Small group reading instruction in grades 3-5 is designed to provide differentiated instruction based on students' individual needs and progress. Using diagnostic and formative assessments, small groups are formed to target specific skills in the areas of phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension and ensure that students receive evidence-based, targeted support to become skilled and proficient readers.

Conferencing and Feedback

Conferences are an opportunity for the teacher to have one-on-one or small group interaction with students.  Teachers should conduct writing conferences with students frequently and at multiple points of the writing process.  Teachers should keep records of student conferences and track student feedback and goals.  (Fletcher & Portalupi, 2001)  

Teachers provide students with immediate and corrective feedback during literacy instruction to facilitate effective learning. Prompt feedback allows students to correct their mistakes and build upon their successes in real-time, leading to faster progress and increased motivation. By addressing misconceptions and offering specific guidance, teachers support students in developing a deeper understanding of literacy concepts, stay actively engaged in their learning and fostering their confidence and growth as competent readers and writers.

Writing Conferences

Corrective Feedback Prompts for Word Reading