A Comprehensive Literacy Framework

This week we looked at what a comprehensive literacy framework looks like. Components include reading to, with, and by children through Read Alouds, Shared Reading and Interactive Read Alouds, Guided Reading, and Independent Reading. 

We explored purposeful classroom design and different elements that we could include to engage our readers. We read How To Read a Story by Kate Messner.

As we continue to look at The Daily 5, we learned how to purposely teach students to choose a successful spot to engage in their literacy activities, including how to sit EEKK (elbow to elbow, knee to knee) with a partner for best viewing and interaction purposes.

Sample Week of the Daily 5 in Intermediate

The Daily 5	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Read to Self	Students can explore a book of their choice independently from their Book Bin.
Work on Writing	Journal	Grammar Tales activity	Blog Post comment on Class Blog	Creative Writing prompt using the book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg
Read to Someone	NewsELA article of interest - share with a classmate or make a recording of your reading and upload to digital portfolio
Listen to Reading	Literacy Circles - students are in groups studying different novels; each day a group meets with the teacher; groups read chunks of the text aloud
Word Work	Words Their Way: New words for each group. Colour, cut, and sort. Write in planner.	Activities from Word Work for Big Kids Vocabulary Activities: Sort. Write in notebook. Write the word, draw a picture, write a sentence for each word.	My Word Work Choices; for example: Bubble Words, Synonym Match, Antonym Match	My Word Work Choices; for example: Vocabulary Story, Make a Connection, 5 Clues

English Language Arts Curriculum Connections

Grade 4:

• Content
  
  • Story/text - literary elements
  • Strategies and processes - reading strategies; writing processes
  • Language features, structures, and conventions - paragraph structure; sentence structure and grammar; conventions
• Curricular Competency
  • Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing)
    • Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to deepen understanding of text
    • Apply a variety of thinking skills to gain meaning from texts
    • Respond to text in personal and creative ways

Grade 5:

• Content
  • Story/text - literary elements; literary devices; perspective/point of view
  • Strategies and processes - reading strategies; writing processes
  • Language features, structures, and conventions - paragraphing; sentence structure and grammar; conventions
• Curricular Competency
  • Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing)
    • Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing to guide inquiry and deepen understanding of text
    • Synthesize ideas from a variety of sources to build understanding
    • Respond to text in personal and creative ways

NewsELA

NewsELA is an online education platform that uses news as literacy and features high-interest articles on everything from current events to myths and legends. Every article is published at five reading levels. Use Class Code: 2PRXAS

Genius Hour

Some teachers who use The Daily 5 framework in the intermediate grades like to incorporate "Genius Hour" or "Passion Projects" as part of their literacy centres. You can read more about Genius Hour here.

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This week we had our first guest speaker - Barb Carriere, the Literacy Support Teacher from School District #6. She talked to us about Running Records and how they are used for assessment purposes in the classroom and throughout the district. Here are some of the takeaways from her presentation.