Literacy is such an important part of our world, and I am thrilled to be a part of this instruction in these children's lives. My goal is to create an environment where students feel enthusiastic, engaged, and confident in their reading. I want the children to LOVE reading and be excited about the different genres and to develop a habit for reading so they will become life-long readers. 

The following is a description of the Language and Literacy Program that will be implemented in my classroom program this year.

1. Reading Comprehension Instruction: Students will learn and practice the reading strategies and comprehension skills necessary to become lifelong readers. The materials we will use include the reading basal, leveled guided reading books, picture books, novels, SRA, fiction and nonfiction books, poetry, "National Geographic for Kids," and "Time for Kids."

2. Guided Reading Groups: Flexible groups are formed according to specific needs to teach skills and strategies. Students will be supported as they think, talk, and question their way through texts as they read. Students will be assessed throughout the school year to assure individual needs are being met in Guided Reading Groups.

3. Literature Circles: Small temporary groups are formed based upon students' reading interests. Students will take turns reading aloud in the group and engage themselves in conversations about the text. Together, they will predict, question to clarify meaning, summarize, and discuss how it may compare to their own lives.

4. Daily Read Aloud: A variety of genres at different levels will be read to the children to expand their reading focus. Books will be chosen to relate to a them, topic of study, or just because it is one of my favorites! The students will listen to appropriate expression and phrasing to excite their imaginations to make reading come alive for them. During read alouds, children will build visual images that they can later use when they try to decode words and when they are trying to understand meanings of words. It gives me the opportunity to stop-and-start to discuss theme, main idea, characters, confusing parts, humor, colorful phrases, and vocabulary. Together, we will share the excitement, suspense, emotion and the understanding that reading is truly FUN!

5. Building Fluency: A fluent reader does not mean a fast reader. Fluency is building accuracy in reading by learning how to decode words smoothly and independently. However, fluency is also developing the appropriate expression, volume, phrasing, intonation, and pace when reading. If a reader does not practice and learn how to read with meaningful expression, she/he may have difficulty comprehending the deeper meaning of a text. This can apply to struggling readers as well as the proficient readers. We accomplish fluency through songs, choral readings, paired readings, poetry readings, reader's theater, short plays, and fluency lessons. These expressive language activities are a great way to build confidence and enthusiasm for strengthening the students' oral language skills, comprehension skills, and other related skills.

6. Independent Reading: Students will self-select, "just right" quality literature for pleasure reading to build stamina, motivation, and to apply the skills and strategies being taught. Students will be required to respond and share some of the literature they read. The students will also be required to read a certain amount of minutes at home each month.

7. Word Study: Word study is actively engaging the learner in understanding the way words work and building word knowledge that can be applied to reading and spelling. Students will use the dictionary, thesaurus, sort word patterns, play games and interact with one another to increase thier abilities in phonics, word recognition and vocabulary.

8. Reading Response: Students will be encouraged to respond by oral and written expression throughout all areas of the curriculum. This allows readers to reflect and extend their thinking to create a deeper understanding of the text.