Each month we will explore a different literary genre. Students will be
required to do outside reading at their recommended SRI level for this
monthly assignment. This reading will be in addition to regular homework
assignments.
Students should read 30 minutes nightly to prepare for their weekly
Literacy Letter. The Literacy Letter, a two-paragraph personal letter about
their book, replaces the monthly book report or book talk. We have been
working together on the first literacy letter, which focuses on the
reading/writing strategy of summarizing. For Nov. 13, the Literacy Letter
will be about setting.
The letters are part of a new competency assessment, along with regular
computerized FOCUS testing, on language arts strands. These assessments are
not part of a student's letter grade but serve as a benchmark to ensure that
each boy/girl is keeping up with the curriculum. These assessments help me
create individualized learning strategies for students and provide ongoing
progress monitoring.