There are five elements that make up effective reading and
instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension. Teachers use research based instructional methods and
activities to address these five elements and to engage students in
meaningful learning. The instruction is carefully aligned to the
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.
We provide a balanced
literacy program in which informal conversations enrich more formal
discussions and interactive "read-aloud" sessions. Our approach to
teaching reading consists of research-based activities that are designed
to help children build the skills they need to become fluent,
confident, enthusiastic readers.
Read Alouds
Teachers
read aloud to the whole class or small groups. Teachers carefully
select Read Aloud literature to reflect curriculum themes and children’s
interests, as well as to expose children to ideas, genres, cultures,
etc. that will broaden their thinking.Teachers facilitate conversations
that require students to use higher order thinking skills. The children
may turn and talk with a partner or the teacher may lead a whole group
discussion about the text.
Shared Reading
Shared
reading is an integral part of a comprehensive literacy program. It is
an instructional approach that can be used with a whole class or with a
small group. Using big books and poems and songs on chart paper, the
teacher involves the children in reading together as they follow the
text with a pointer. During shared reading, the teacher explicitly
teaches proficient reading behaviors through modelling and think-alouds
and begins to share with students the responsibility for reading.
Guided Reading
Children
participate in small, guided reading groups at their instructional
levels. The role of the teacher is to help students learn more about the
reading process. Children learn how to use various reading strategies
and engage in meaningful discussions about the text.
Letters, Sounds, and Words
Children
receive explicit whole group, small group and independent instruction
in alphabet recognition, phonemic awareness, and phonics. When children
first work with the letters of the alphabet, they use sandpaper letters
as part of activities in which they simultaneously hear the sounds of
the letters, and see and trace the shape of the letters. When children
know enough letters , they are introduced to the moveable alphabet made
out of wooden or cardboard letters. Children use the letters to compose
and write down their own words, phrases, sentences and finally discover
that they can read their own writing especially when the movable
alphabet work is accompanied by activities that provide children with
structured opportunities for decoding practice. They soon transfer their
skills to reading books, both to themselves and others. They are later
introduced to word study materials and materials for exploring spelling
patterns. To increase reading fluency and comprehension, children work
with materials that draw their attention to the grammar patterns of the
language.