Writing
Kindergarten – Second Grade Saline Area Schools elementary students learn how to become writers using the Lucy Calkins: Art of Teaching Writing curriculum adopted in 2008-2009. Below is a brief description of just a few of the strategies that our students use between kindergarten and fourth grade. Essential to the program is the continuity of the writer's workshop structure that the students use for the entire five years. The program builds on prior learning and allows for adaptations in instruction as the sophistication of writing skills increases year-to-year. Other hallmarks of the Lucy Calkins curriculum include extensive use of literature, author studies, teacher modeling, on-demand writing and published work. The state of Michigan has adopted the Common Core, click here to see the "I Can - First Grade Writing" statements and click here to see the "I Can - First Grade Language statements. Unit of Study: Launching the Writing Workshop • Help children see themselves as authors • Establish writing workshop • Choose topics – plan for writing – drafting • Independent so teacher can move about/conference Unit of Study: Small Moments • Value tiny moments in their lives • Writer’s hold moments in hearts • Focus: Good Writing/Sense of Story • Hearing and recording sounds/tackling words • Risk taker in spelling Unit of Study: Writers for Readers • Writing so others can read • Spelling, punctuation, grammar, spacing, penmanship • Word walls/blends Unit of Study: Nonfiction • Writing as a tool for teaching others • Sequence a story • Keen attention to audience • Explicitness, clarity, sequence • All about (links to essay) • How to stories Unit of Study: Poetry • Significance in ordinary details of life • Explore and savor language • Language creates images • Introduction to figurative language metaphor and simile Unit of Study: Authors as Mentors • You are writers. Like writers the world over. • Look closely at one writer as a mentor. • Ties in with gifted authors and book studies • Lives as a writer • Multiple uses of craft technique |
Reading
Saline Area Schools elementary students learn how to become readers using the Lucy Calkins: Units of Study for Teaching Reading Grade 1. Click here to see the "I Can - First Grade Reading" statements and click here to see the "I Can - First Grade Speaking & Listening" statements. Unit of Study: Building Good Reading Habits • Habits for Reading Long and Strong • Habits for Tackling Even the Hardest Words • Partners Have Good Habits, Too! Unit of Study: Learning About the World: Reading Nonfiction • Getting Smart on Nonfiction Topics • Tackling Super Hard Words in Order to Keep Learning • Reading Aloud Like Experts Unit of Study: Readers Have Big Jobs to Do • Readers Have Important Jobs to Do • Readers Add New Tools to Read Hard Words • Readers Use Tools to Understand Their Books • Readers Use Everything They Know to Get the Job Done Unit of Study: Meeting Characters and Learning Lessons • Going on Reading Adventures • Studying Characters in Books • Learning Important Lessons • Growing Opinions About Books |
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