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Parent Guide to Comprehensive Literacy
Word Study
Todevelopphonemicawarenessandspellingproficiency
Includesthefollowingactivities:
Introductionofthe43+phonemicsoundsusedintheEnglishlanguage
TheWordWallhighfrequencyvocabularyisintroducedusingavarietyofactivities
andthenprominentlydisplayedintheclassroom
Spellingactivities(incontextofreading)andwordgamesrelatedtothewordsonthe
wall
MakingWordsactivitiesdesignedtodevelopanunderstandingofwordpatterns
Useofcharts,rhymes,songsandsoundplay.
Shared Reading
SharedReadingtoprovideanopportunityforchildrentoparticipatewiththeteacherinreadingbigbooks,charts,etc.SharedReadingincludesthefollowingtypesofactivities:
Choralreadingandchimingin
Largegroupinstructionaboutreadingstrategiesandprintconventions
Guided Reading
GuidedReadingtoworkwiththeteacherinasmallgroupsettinginordertodevelopafullrangeofreadingstrategiesthatwillallowthestudenttobecomeanindependentreader.GuidedReadingincludesthefollowingtypesofactivities:
Directreadinginstructioninasmallgroup
Readingmaterialthathasbeenespeciallyselectedforthechildreninthegroup
Withinthisblockthestudentswillalsobeengagedinavarietyofadditionalreading
activitiesdesignedtostrengthentheirliteracyskills.
Independent Reading
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Toproduceindependentreaderswhoareexcitedbyreadingandseeitasavalued,worthwhileactivityIncludesthefollowingtypesofactivities:
Teacherreadstothestudentsdaily
Awidevarietyofmaterialsatvariouslevelsforthechildrentoread
Opportunitiestore-readfavouritestories
Booktalksgivenbychildrentotheclass,agrouporafriend
Teacherconferencingwithindividualstudentsaboutthebookstheyhaveread
Runningrecordassessment.
Writing
ToenablestudentstoviewwritingasarealandpurposefulmeansofcommunicationIncludesthefollowingtypesofactivities:
Teachermodelingofwriting Timefordailywriting Awritingcentre
Sharedwritingexperiences Languageexperiencecharts
Teacherand/orpeerconferencing.
Comprehensive Literacy: The Home-School Connection
SomeHelpfulSuggestions
Readtoyourchildasoftenasyoucan.
Encourageyourchildtojoininandread.Pointtothewordsasyouread.
Drawattentiontoprintthatisintheenvironment.(labels,signs,etc.)
Readandwritebirthdaycards,messages,grocerylistsandletterstogether.
Encourageyourchildtofindwordsthatbeginwiththesamelettersashis/hername.
Askquestionsbefore,duringandafterreading.(eg.Whatdoyouthinkwillhappen
next?)Occasionallyasksomewhyquestionsaboutthestory.
Whenreadingaloud,ifyourchildmakesamistake,allowtimeforself-correction.Ifthe
mistakemakessense,ignoreit.
Askyourchildwhatwordwouldmakesensewhenshe/hebecomesstuckonaword.
Encourageyourchildtohave-a-go,tousethepictures,tore-read,ortosounditout.Morefluentreaderscanread-on,togettheoverallmeaning.
Aboveall,bepositiveandhavefun!
