We will be starting Literacy Block soon...

During these first few weeks we have spent a lot of time getting used to the expectations and routines of second grade.  Now that the students are feeling more confident we will begin to set up our 90 minute literacy block.   Below is a brief summary of the work that your child will be doing in literacy.  It is a lot of reading but I think it is good for you to have an understanding of the work you see come home.

A Preview of some of the literacy work you will see in Second Grade

It is important to understand that a lot of this work is done during the 90 minute Literacy Block.  The work is intended to be engaging and at an independent level.  The work is practice to follow up on instruction that has occurred.  We are fortunate to have other adults in the room to provide assistance while I am working with reading groups, however the children are expected to work independently or with peers as much as they can. 

I collect the work at the end of each week and look through it to be sure it continues to be appropriate.  I don’t send it home every week but I will send it home every few weeks so that you can take a look at it too.  You will see that sometimes the work is not complete.  This is ok because I hope to provide them with enough work to keep them busy and even with good work habits they might not finish.  If there is a concern about their work habits I will address that with them and I might send the work home to be completed.

Word Ladders- This activity is a fun way to manipulate words and sounds.  Quite often students will be introduced to new vocabulary with the word ladders.  They will also practice alphabetizing, rhyming, word definitions, dictionary work and using the vocabulary in sentences.

Spelling- The words we work with and the activity sheet is from the Rebecca Sitton Spelling Program.  There are 35 no excuse words in second grade that many of our students are comfortable with already!  Each week that we have spelling I will introduce five new words.  Many of these words are chosen for their frequency of use in second grade writing, their use in building larger words and for their demonstration of vowel patterns that are a part of second grade.  Remember when you see these words they are for spelling.  Most of the words are easy for second graders to read, not always so easy to spell.  The spelling work during Literacy is a variety of word works.  They use the words in sentences, sort the words by sounds and correct sentences that have errors.

Mad Libs- Later in the year I will add Mad Libs to our program.  This is not a weekly activity but I have seen the value in the work over the years.  Of course children love Mad Libs and this makes them work at them over and over again.  I love them because students learn nouns, verbs, adjectives and more parts of speech in a way that other instruction just doesn’t achieve. 

Fluency- Part of improving a students reading is to listen to good quality reading.  Through this they hear how to pace their reading, how to add emotion or characteristics through their voice.  To provide this opportunity we will use books on CDs, Tumble books (a website) and e-books through Follett Books.  There is follow up work after a book so that I can check for comprehension.

Reading Groups- I meet with reading groups each day during the Literacy block.  Many of our second graders at BES are very good at decoding.  I continue to work with all students on decoding more and more challenging text.  I also spend a lot of instruction time on comprehension strategies.  Being able to read the words is just part of reading.  Understanding what they have read and being able to discuss it will create life long readers.  The work you see come home will be work the students have done in group with me and as a follow-up extension activity when they leave reading group.

Important Literacy work that won’t come home;

Read to Self- practice, practice, practice.

Read to Someone- develops skills different than read to self.  Children are encouraged to discuss the books they are reading to each other.

Writing- We have a specific Writing Instruction program that is separate from our Literacy block.  The writing during Literacy is more child-directed.  They can write and draw about any topic.  They need to be writing the whole time and I do check in on what they have written but it is a time for them to freely write what they want.