Our Vision of Excellent Instruction
Our Vision of Excellent Literacy Instruction: ECE (PK-2)
In our literacy classrooms, we strive to build readers, writers, and communicators prepared to meet the future demands of college and career and to engage as
productive citizens of the world by setting them up to be ready to read to learn by 3rd grade. In our classrooms:
Students read and engage with worthwhile texts and learn how to access those texts on their own. By reading rich, challenging texts that build our students’
understanding of the world, we empower them with the understanding that reading is their pathway to knowledge. We put meaningful, complex texts at the heart of nearly
every lesson and set students up to do lots of reading on their own so that all of our students, regardless of their reading level, build their knowledge of the world, gain
confidence with challenging texts, and develop the critical thinking skills and vocabulary necessary for long term success.
Students ground daily writing and discussion in evidence. Our students need daily practice discussing and writing about informational and literary texts and other media in
order to be successful in later grades, college, and their careers. We give our students the support they need to read texts closely, then challenge them to speak and write about
what they have read or viewed using evidence to back up their positions. Supporting our students’ ability to read critically, build arguments, cite evidence, and communicate
ideas today prepares them to be better citizens tomorrow.
Students do the thinking. We know how to read, write, speak, and think about our content, and we also know that our students won’t gain these skills if we do the work for
them. We check the ratio of teacher work to student work in each and every lesson and ensure that our students get many more opportunities than we do to be critical thinkers,
readers, writers and speakers.
Students learn the foundational literacy skills for them to read to learn in 3rd grade. Students develop a foundational set of skills in K-2 that set them up for success in
future grades. These include: motivation to read, print concepts, knowledge of different text features, decoding words, phonological awareness, fluency and comprehension, and
reading strategies (such as making connections, making predictions, making inferences on characters’ feelings and choices). We build students’ understanding of print concepts
and different text features so they are not challenged by this in later grades.
Student Actions
Teacher Actions
ask questions
-quality texts to prepare for instruction
about the choices the author and illustrator made
and respond to texts for large portions of class time
Understand and use tier 2 (high frequency/multiple meaning) vocabulary across
content areas to build their “language of power” databases
and developmental level and
across a wide variety of genres
worthwhile text, not as isolated skills
content knowledge and students’ knowledge of themselves and the world
-quality texts at the center of lessons with scaffolds that can promote
independence (e.g. read alouds, small excerpts)
rich interactions with texts such as read
alouds and reinforce student efforts to use academic vocabulary
knowledge, reading proficiency, and vocabulary
nal literacy skills, like phonics and fluency, as gateways to
Our Vision of Excellent Instruction
textual evidence to support their arguments in
discussion and writing
subjects and in multiple forms
(persuasive, narrative, informative, etc.)
s ideas through written or spoken discussions
skills, independently and with teachers and peers
ace of challenging work
Use reading strategies (making predictions, connections, and inferences) and
decoding skills as a tool to access texts at their level
Learn to structure a piece of writing (both narrative and informational)
-level in 3rd grade
comprehending worthwhile texts, not as isolated skills
-fiction texts by linking to fiction texts and also
seeking to address a question students have asked rather than teaching non-fiction
texts as solely a genre study
-dependent and worth answering
daily formal and informal opportunities to write for a purpose
-based conclusions
independently and with teachers and peers
-quality performance assessments
and language they are developing in meaningful ways
Know and utilize student data in reading (reading levels, fluency, comprehension) to
design instruction that meets students’ needs
Use high quality literature as mentor texts for narrative writing and high quality
primary resources as mentor texts for persuasive essays and speeches
What this Looks Like
Our Vision of Excellent Instruction
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Literacy blocks which include:
o Shared and interactive reading
o Guided reading
o Literacy centers
o Writer’s workshop that includes modeled and shared writing and mini-lessons
o Strategically planned phonics and phonological awareness instruction
o Multiple read alouds of the same text
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Sophisticated literature and non-fiction read alouds
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Read alouds to build engagement and reading stamina
Use of purposefully planned tier 2 vocabulary instruction during the literacy block
A print-rich literacy environment that includes purposeful displays of writing that is designed to develop students’ understanding of how reading and writing are relevant to
students’ lives
Integration of technology into lessons to show students how to access text and gather information from a variety of media sources
Providing students with access and exposure to different tools and materials for writing and reading
o Writing: Different papers, pencils, pens, appropriate-sized lines, journals, picture dictionaries, “illustrator toolkits” and “author toolkits”
o Reading: Storybooks, non-fiction texts, poetry, newspapers, magazines, leveled readers, book boxes, Big Books
o Technology: online newspapers and articles, listening stations to hear fluent readers
Use of texts and read alouds in all subject areas to create connections to literacy in all areas
o Social Studies: Read Cinderella from different cultures in a unit on culture or read biographies about historians
o Science: Reinforce non-fiction texts, biographies, and scientific vocabulary
o Math: Read texts about grouping or patterns
Giving students a purpose in all the reading and writing they do—students should always be able to answer “Why is this useful for me? Why am I doing this?”
Use of K-W-L charts and other graphic organizers and shared reading experiences to develop students’ understanding of why we access and how we use non-fiction texts
Habits of Discussion used in the literacy block to agree with, disagree with, or build on other students’ ideas
Enduring Understandings as well as Essential Questions that students seek to answer are posted and discussed in the classroom as “aha” moments arise
Author studies to allow students to dig in deeper to how an author develops his/her voice and to build student knowledge and opinions of different authors and illustrators
(these also can serve as mentor texts for how students develop voice in their own writing)
Our Vision of Excellent Instruction
Our Vision of Excellent Instruction