Mrs. Beck, Mrs. Geswell, & Mrs. Ginexi

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The Grade 3 curriculum in English Language Arts reflects the integrated 
nature of a balanced approach to literacy. Instruction is provided in 
reading and word study, and engagement in reading.  Listening and speaking 
are integrated into allcomponents of a comprehensive balanced approach to 
literacy instruction.The Grade 3 program builds on the skills from second 
grade and advances those skills through exposures to developmentally more 
difficult texts.

Reading

Phonics
• Uses phonics skills to read multi-syllabic words
• Vocabulary skills
• Uses context clues, suffixes and prefixes to determine word meanings
• Begins to acquire new vocabulary from reading

Reading comprehensions strategies
• Reads grade level text fluently and accurately
• Reads for different purposes
• Applies appropriate grade level strategies to text
• Makes predictions based on background knowledge
and previewing text
• Visualizes or makes mental pictures to understand
text
• Determines importance of information in text
• Uses strategies to fix what does not make sense
• Understands characters, setting, conflict and plot when reading literature
• Revisits texts to think about what was learned
• Responds to reading through discussion and writing summaries of text
• Selects and independently reads at least 25 grade level appropriate books

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Balanced Literacy
 
          Balanced Literacy is a framework designed to help all students 
learn to read and write effectively.  The program stands firmly on the 
premise that all students can learn to read and write. This balance between 
reading and writing allows students to receive the teaching needed in order 
to reach grade level status, while allowing students to work at a level that 
is not frustrating for them.

The Literacy Collaborative Model
 
          The Literacy Collaborative is a model for teaching children in a 
child-centered classroom, providing many opportunities for real life reading 
and writing experiences. It is based on the research of Marie Clay, Irene 
Fountas, and Gay Su Pennell. Children read and write each day independently 
and in group settings (both large and small). Literacy Collaborative 
classrooms focus on four different types of reading experiences:

Reading aloud to children  
Shared reading - whole class  
Guided reading - small group  
Independent reading

Additionally, during many daily reading and writing experiences, children 
are taught about letters, sounds, words and how they work.  Listening and 
speaking are also emphasized in this integrated language approach.  All 
experiences meet New York State Standards for Language Arts Instruction.

The goal of The Literacy Collaborative is to help children become readers 
and writers who enjoy and value literacy. Children quickly learn that what 
they say they can write and what they write they can read. The home-school 
connection is also an important part of The Literacy Collaborative. 
 
Read Aloud
 
In "Read Aloud" someone reads a story, book of fiction, news article, 
picture book, essay, poem, or trade book to another person. Usually this is 
a practice of parents who want to develop the enjoyment of reading in their 
young children who want to develop the vocabulary knowledge, focused 
listening skills, or critical thinking skills of children. Since children 
usually ask questions about the Read Aloud selection, and these questions 
lead to explanations, making connections and questions by the reader, 
informal discussion skills are indirectly developed through Read Aloud 
activities.

In Interactive Read Aloud teachers verbally interact with students before, 
during and after reading to help them understand and make a variety of 
connections with the read-aloud selection. The selection can be a non-
fiction or fiction narrative, a poem or picture book.

During an interactive read-aloud the teacher engages in a series of 
activities, including: pre-viewing the book; asking students to make 
predictions and connections to prior knowledge; stopping at purposeful 
moments to emphasize story elements, ask guiding questions or focus 
questions; and using oral or written responses to bring closure to the 
selection.

Shared Reading
 
   Shared Reading is a link in helping students become independent readers. 
It allows the teacher to model and support students using prediction and 
confirming skills. It allows less confident students the chance to share 
stories/articles/poetry in a non-threatening situation. It focuses on the 
meaning, fun, enjoyment, characters and sequence of a story and allows them 
to relate it back to their own experiences. It promotes discussion, problem-
solving and critical thinking by students.

Shared Reading is an interactive reading experience. An integral 
component of Shared Reading is an enlarged text that all children can see. 
Children join in the reading of a big book or other enlarged text such as 
songs, poems, charts, and lists created by the teacher or developed with the 
class through Shared and Interactive Writing. During the reading the teacher 
involves the children in reading together by pointing to or sliding below 
each word in the text. The teacher deliberately draws attention to the print 
and models early reading behaviors such as moving from left to right and 
word-by-word matching. Shared reading models the reading process and 
strategies used by readers.

In the shared reading model there are multiple readings of the books over 
several days. Throughout, children are actively involved in the reading 
(Yaden, 1988). During the initial reading, the teacher:

Introduces the book (shares theme, examines title, cover, illustrations, and 
makes predictions)

Relates prior experience to text

Concentrates on enjoying the text as a whole

Encourages students to use background knowledge to make predictions

Encourages spontaneous participation in the reading of the story

Discusses personal responses to the book

Texts are usually read multiple times over a period of days or weeks. The 
first reading emphasizes reading for enjoyment. Subsequent readings aim to 
increase participation, teach about book characteristics and print 
conventions, teach reading strategies, help develop a sight vocabulary of 
high frequency words, and teach phonics. During subsequent readings, the 
teacher:

Directs children's attention to various aspects of the text, and reading 
strategies, and skills.

Identifies vocabulary, ideas and facts,

Discusses author's style

Experiments with intonation and expression

Discusses colorful phrases or words.

Students participate by:

choral reading

dramatization

masking activities

word work such as "Be the Words" or sorting the words

Through repeated readings and the predictable text, children become 
familiar with word forms and begin to recognize words and phrases (Bridge, 
Winograd, & Haley, 1983; Pikulski & Kellner, 1992).

During Shared Reading...

Rich, authentic, interesting literature can be used, even in the earliest 
phases of a reading program, with children whose word-identification skills 
would not otherwise allow them access to this quality literature. 
Each reading of a selection provides opportunities for the teacher to model 
reading for the children. 
Opportunities for concept and language expansion exist that would not be 
possible if instruction relied only on selections that students could read 
independently. 
Awareness of the functions of print, familiarity with language patterns, and 
word-recognition skills grow as children interact several times with the 
same selection. 
Individual needs of students can be more adequately met. Accelerated readers 
are challenged by the interesting, natural language of selections. Because 
of the support offered by the teacher, students who are more slowly 
acquiring reading skills experience success.

Guided Reading 
 
Guided reading is an instructional reading strategy during which a teacher 
works with small groups of children who have similar reading processes and 
needs. The teacher selects and introduces new books carefully chosen to 
match the instructional levels of students and supports whole text reading. 
Readers are carefully prepared when being introduced to a new text and 
various teaching points are made during and after reading.  Guided reading 
fosters comprehension skills and strategies, develops background knowledge 
and oral language skills, and provides as much instructional-level reading 
as possible.  During guided reading, students are given exposure to a wide 
variety of texts and are challenged to select from a growing repertoire of 
strategies that allow them to tackle new texts more independently.  Ongoing 
observation and assessment help to inform instruction and grouping of 
students is flexible and may be changed often.

Independent Reading
 
Independent Reading is a time when students self-select and independently 
read appropriate books.  
Independent Reading provides an opportunity to apply strategies that are 
introduced and taught during teacher read aloud, shared reading, and guided 
reading. When materials are appropriate and students can read independently, 
they become confident, motivated and enthusiastic about their ability to 
read.

Children make great contributions to their own learning when they are given 
some control and ownership of the reading process. The self-selection 
process of Independent Reading places the responsibility for choosing books 
in the hands of the student. This teaches them that they have the ability to 
choose their own reading materials and that reading by themselves is a 
valuable and important activity.

While students are free to choose what they like, they must be encouraged to 
select a variety of literature and to select materials at their independent 
reading level. Independent means 95% to 100% accuracy as defined by running 
records. These materials should be able to be read without teacher support. 
It is at the independent level that comprehension, vocabulary extension, and 
fluency are improved.

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Comprehensive Strategies Good Readers Use

Current literacy research has identified the following strategies proven to 
raise students' levels of reading comprehension.

Prediction/Prior Knowledge: 
Use of relevant prior knowledge to predict when reading helps students.
*Bring Knowledge from life experiences to their reading.
*Form predictions based on this prior knowledge
*Engage more actively with the text

Questions and Questioning:
Fluent readers acrively and strategically engage when reading by asking 
questions.
*Focus on their reading
*Clarify meaning
*Critically reflect what they have read

Think Aloud: By thinking aloud students learn to:
*Monitor their own thought process
*Adjust their reading to achieve meaningful comprehension.
*Clarify meaning as they continue to read

Text Structures and Features:
Students who focus into text structure and meaning are able to:

*Comprehend and recall texts more effectively
*Analyze and synthesize written texts
*Think critically about their reading

Visualizing: 
The use of visualizing techniques and visual representations 
help students to:
*Use mental imagery as a comprehension strategy (Thinking Maps)
*Focus on concepts and relations between concepts, as they read
*Learn how to view information critically and thoughtfully

Summarization:
Summarization is an essential comprehension strategy that 
enables students to:
*Focus on the major points of the texts
*Establish in their own minds what they think the text is saying
*Deepen their knowledge of what they read

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