Mrs. Lidster’s September Newsletter Page 2
BALANCED LITERACY
PROGRAM
School Supoor pplies
What Is The Balanced
Literacy Program?
The balanced literacy program consists of:
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read alouds
Jolly Phonics
shared reading
guided reading
word study (working with words)
writing
independent reading
Read Alouds
Read alouds are seen as the most influential
factor in a young child’s success in learning
to read. The teacher or other experienced
reader reads aloud to students for
enjoyment and meaning. Favourite stories can
be read aloud many times. Read alouds
provide opportunities for students to
experiment with listening and speaking skills.
As students observe and listen to
experienced readers reading, they develop
strategies important for a variety of
listening and speaking situations. The
teacher provides a high level of support while
the students are the listeners, experiencing
books they cannot yet read.
Read Alouds At Home
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High Teacher Support
Read Alouds (modeled instruction)
 teacher does…student watches
Shared Reading (explicit instruction)
 teacher does… students helps
Guided Reading (guided instruction)
 teacher helps…student does
Independent Reading (independent)
 teacher watches…student does
Low Teacher Support
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value all forms of reading – joke books,
comic books, magazines etc.
understand that variety matters to kids
(go with their interests)
access the KW library and involve your
child in selecting reading materials
read with them and to them – students
learn to become better readers by
listening to a fluent reader
discuss the book
Balanced Literacy Program Page 2
Jolly Phonics
Jolly Phonics teaches the letter sounds in a
multisensory way. In Jolly Phonics, the 43
main sounds of English are taught, not just
the 26 letters of the alphabet. The letters
are not introduced in alphabetical order.
The sounds are in seven groups. Some
sounds are written with two letters, such
as: ee and or. These are called digraphs.
Children should sound out the digraph (sh),
not the individual letters (s-h).
1. s, a, t, i, p, n
2. ck, e, h, r, m, d
3. g, o, u, l, f, b
4. ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or
5. z, x, ng (ing), v, oo, oo (Note that oo
makes 2 different sounds as in book
and moon)
6. y, x, ch, sh, th, th (Note that th
makes 2 different sounds as in that
and three)
7. qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar
I teach the students that vowels say 2
sounds (the short and long vowel sounds).
In Jolly Phonics, each sound has an action
which helps children remember the
letter(s) that represent it. We will learn 3
phonics sounds each week. The first group
(s, a, t, i, p, n) has been chosen because
they make more simple three letter words
than any other six letters. The letters b
and d are introduced in different groups to
avoid confusion. Sounds that have more
than one way of being written are initially
taught in one form only. For example, the
sound ai (rain) is taught first, and then the
alternatives a-e (gate), ay (day) follow
later. Some words in English have an
irregular spelling and cannot be read by
blending such as said, was and one.
Jolly Phonics helps to develop the five basic
skills for reading and writing:
1. Learning the letter sounds.
2. Learning letter formation.
3. Blending.
4. Identifying sounds in words.
5. Spelling “tricky words”.
Jolly Phonics At Home
Blending is the process of saying the individual
sounds in a word and then running them together
to make the word. For example, sounding out
d-o-g and making dog. It is a technique that every
child will need to learn and it improves with
practice. The easiest way to know how to spell a
word is to listen for the sounds in that word.
Start by having your child listen for the first
sound in a word. Next, try listening for the end
sounds, as the middle sound of a word is the
hardest to hear. Begin with simple three letter
words such as cat or hot. You could have your
child clap the sounds. Three claps means three
sounds. Take care with digraphs. The word fish
for instance, has four letters but only 3 sounds:
f-i-sh.
Shared Reading
Shared reading is an interactive experience that
occurs when students join in or share the reading
of a big book or other enlarged text while guided
and supported by a teacher or other experienced
reader. Students observe an expert reader
reading a text with fluency and expression. The
text must be large enough for all the students to
see clearly, so they can share in the reading of
the text. It is through shared reading that the
reading process and reading strategies that
readers use are demonstrated. It helps students
make connections between their background
knowledge and new information and encourages
making predictions.
Balanced Literacy Program Page 3
Shared Reading At Home
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read books with your child that
he/she may not yet be able to read
on his/her own
as you are reading, have your child
point out words, phonics sounds and
punctuation marks that he/she knows
assist your child in learning where to
look and/or focus his/her attention
track the print as you are reading
talk about the story
Guided Reading At Home
Your child will take home a book every Friday that
is around his/her independent reading level. If
your son/daughter comes across an unfamiliar
word, talk about what reading strategies to try
(e.g., reading on, skipping an unfamiliar word,
making a good guess, looking for little words inside
bigger words etc.). Discuss the story with your
child before, during and after reading. Encourage
your son/daughter to read with expression. After
he/she has read the story, have him/her retell
the story.
Word Study
Guided Reading
Guided reading is small group instruction of 4-6
students who are at about the same instructional
level or who have similar learning needs as
identified through a variety of assessments (e.g.,
daily observation, current reading
records/independent reading level). The
groupings are flexible because they change
according to students’ needs. The teacher
supports each reader’s development of effective
strategies for processing texts at increasingly
challenging levels of difficulty. The teacher
selects and introduces the text to the students.
The teacher provides a short introduction of the
text to be read. The teacher works briefly with
individual students as they read through the
book. The other students who are not
participating in the guided reading group are
engaged in literacy activities such as word study
activities, reading responses and listening to
books aloud at the listening centre.
Word study activities incorporate phonics. It is an
alternative to traditional spelling instruction. It is
based on learning word patterns rather than
memorizing unconnected words. It focuses on
student recognition of language patterns. Word
study focuses on high frequency words (words
that appear most often in books appropriate for
the grade level), rhyming words and word families.
Word Study At Home
Try:
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word searches
crossword puzzles
making words (e.g., out of alphabet
pretzels)
reading nursery rhymes
bingo games
Balanced Literacy Program Page 4
Reading At Home
When learning to read, students read at
two levels:
Instructional level:
 The reading material is somewhat
challenging.
Recreational level:
 The student must be able to read the
book completely on his/her own.
 Students must have many
opportunities to read recreationally
in order to become confident
readers.
 Students need to feel successful.
 It is this type of material that builds
confidence and consolidates the
reading skills which will allow the
students to tackle more difficult
reading materials.
 The more a child experiences reading
success the more easily the child will
be able to take future risks with
print.
How To Help At Home
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Develop a habit of reading and create a love
of books. This is more important than learning
to read tough texts.
Find a quiet spot and a consistent time to
read together.
Let your child see you reading a variety of
materials (e.g., novels, magazines, newspapers
etc.).
Encourage your child to read environmental
print (e.g., menus, street signs, labels at a
store, store names etc.).
Value all forms of reading (e.g., joke books,
comic books, picture books etc.).
Look at the cover of the book. Talk about the
title and what the book might be about.