Guided Reading
Ninety minutes of our day is devoted to guided reading instruction in small groups. Guided reading instruction is provided by Ms. Moon, Ms. Neuzil, Ms. Porter, Ms. Birr, Ms. Clark and Ms. Stevens. First graders receive developmentally appropriate reading instruction at their level in groups of 2 to 6 students. We work on such reading strategies as decoding, predicting, questioning, monitoring, evaluating, and summarizing. Phonemic awareness, letter/sound associations and sight word recognition are also important concepts. When not reading with a teacher, students participate in other independent literacy activities where they practice and develop skills which they are directly taught during large and small groups. Their first job is to choose a just-right book to read and write a book response in their reading journal. Then they move on to the following activities: word work, work on writing, read to someone, and listen to reading.
Anthology / Language Arts
Approximately fifty minutes of our day is devoted to large group reading and writing instruction. We read stories in our anthology book, which is a collection of stories and poems, and practice using the reading strategies learned in guided reading. We continue to work on phonemic awareness, letter/sound associations, sight words, spelling, handwriting, grammar, capitalization, punctuation, listening skills, and the writing process, including proofreading and editing.