Novato Unified School District
Course Description
Comprehensive Literacy
Reading and Composition 2
Course Title
Reading and Composition 2
Department or Discipline
History/Social Studies
English/Language Arts
High School
Mathematics
Novato HS, San Marin HS, Marin Oaks HS
Laboratory Science
Language other than English
District
Visual & Performing Arts (for
Novato Unified School District
2003)
City
College Preparatory Elective:
Novato, California 94945
Subject Area: _______________
Contact Person
Grade Level(s) for which course is
intended
Director of Secondary Instruction
9-12
Contact information
Phone: 415-897-4288
Fax: 415-892-1622
Length of Course
Semester
Year
Other
Unit Value
0.5 (half year equivalent)
1.0 (one year equivalent)
2.0 (two year equivalent)
Other: _________________
Seeking “Honors” distinction?
Yes
No
Date of School Board Approval
December 1, 2009
Course Number Assigned:
Was this course previously approved by UC?
Yes
No
If so, in what year?
Under what course title?
Pre-requisites
This course is designed for students whose grade 8 CST performance fell into the Below
Basic or Far Below Basic classification and whose literacy skills indicated placement in
Reading and Composition 2 or students who completed Reading and Composition 1.
Brief Course Description
This course brings the structure of the English language to students. Reading and
Composition 2 teaches students about the phonological, morphological, and grammatical
bases for reading and writing. This course addresses all dimensions that contribute to
literacy: word identification, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and usage, reading
comprehension, and composition.
Comprehensive Literacy-Reading and Comprehensive 2
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Novato Unified School District
Course Description
Comprehensive Literacy
Reading and Composition 2
The purpose of this course is to assist students in acquiring knowledge of the structure
and function of the English language for the purpose of giving students the best
opportunity for accelerated literacy gains.
Course Content
A. Course goals and/or major student outcomes
Students will develop their skills in reading, thinking, writing, listening, and speaking
through a highly integrated curriculum. This course of study addresses the California
content standards for grade ten.
 To acquire phonological and morphological skills needed to read and spell words,
 To acquire knowledge of grammar and syntax needed to speak and write
accurately,
 To increase comprehension skills,
 To develop written expression at the level of paragraph, multi-paragraph
compositions, expository (opinion) essays, business letters, personal narratives,
and literary analysis essays.
B. Course objectives—specific student learning objectives
Objectives
Standards
Students will:
Prerequisite content and skills for access to
 Develop fluent oral language for
the reading and writing standards:
conversational and academic English
 Oral development of academic
vocabulary
 Grammar and syntax development
 Application of oral language in an
academic environment

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Acquire knowledge of the phonological
basis for words in English. Reading and
Composition II will focus on the sound
structure of all syllable types.
Prerequisite content and skills to assure
access to the 10th grade standards in
reading and writing:
 Phonemic, syllable and morpheme
awareness
 Sound-spelling correspondences
 Syllable types
Develop fluency in reading and spelling Prerequisite content and skills to assure
words composed of the phonological
access to the 9th grade standards in reading
elements of the course scope and
and writing:
sequence.
 Word recognition fluency
Master recognition and spelling of high  High frequency words
frequency words that comprise a
 Contractions
significant percentage of words in print.  Spelling rules
Comprehensive Literacy-Reading and Comprehensive 2
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Novato Unified School District
Course Description
Comprehensive Literacy
Reading and Composition 2

Develop their personal vocabularies
through study of word relationships
(e.g., multiple meanings, synonyms,
antonyms) and through knowledge of
inflectional morphological markers
(e.g., endings signaling time, person,
possession), and Latin roots, prefixes
and suffixes.
Grades 9 & 10 Reading 1.1, 1.2

Develop facility with the basic
elements of sentence structure,
including compound and complex
sentence, and sentences with predicate
nominatives.
Develop understanding of text structure
to increase reading comprehension.
Acquire comprehension strategies to
access the meaning of key vocabulary
in context, main ideas and supporting
details, and transitions that signal text
organization.
Identify signal words to interpret
questions based on all levels of
Bloom’s taxonomy.
Provide for extended content for single
and multi-paragraph compositions
featuring topic sentences, supporting
detail sentences with transitions, and
concluding sentences.
Follow the writing process, including
the analysis of prompts, completion of
graphic organizers prefatory to writing,
and correct application of English
language conventions.
Write various types of compositions to
include: expository (opinion) essay,
business letters, personal narratives,
and literary analysis essays.
Write answers to questions in complete
sentences or paragraphs based on all
levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
Grades 9 & 10 Written and Oral English
Language Conventions 1.2, 1.3


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


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Grades 9 & 10 Reading 1.1, 1.2
Reading Comprehension 2.1
Literary Response and Analysis 3.4
.
Grades 9 & 10 Writing Strategies 1.1,
1.2, 1.4, 1.9
Writing Applications 2.1, 2.3
Written and Oral English Language
Conventions 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Comprehensive Literacy-Reading and Comprehensive 2
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Novato Unified School District
Course Description
Comprehensive Literacy
Reading and Composition 2
C. Course Outline Topics/Units/Themes
The course is divided into twelve crossdisciplinary units (Invent It, Make Art, Be a
Hero, Cheer an Athlete, Go to Egypt,
Explore a Continent, Go With Speed, Play
On, Join the Family, Solve the Puzzle,
Power Up!, Have a Dream) that form the
subject matter upon which students build
and apply their reading, writing, listening
and speaking skills. Each unit of instruction
is based on a target word that links together
multiple non-fiction and fiction reading
selections. Analysis of text structure and
features forms the model for students’ own
writing.
Sample Activities/Assignments
Each unit is divided into ten lessons; each
lesson is composed of an oral language
lesson followed by a 6-step progression:
phonological awareness, phonics and
phonics applications; word recognition and
spelling; vocabulary and morphology;
grammar and usage; listening and reading
comprehension; and speaking and writing.
The reading selections are used for
application of decoding, fluency,
vocabulary and grammatical skills taught
as part of the unit. In all units the text
selections are used as models for writing
and the text selections provide a source of
information for content and ideas for
writing compositions.
The instructional design of the course is
based on a daily lesson structure to develop
prerequisite content and skills for improved
reading comprehension and writing.
Activities include but are not limited to:
 Syllable Awareness drills
 Word fluency practice
 Explore It using a graphic organizer
 Masterpiece Sentences
 Reading Independent, Instructional and
Challenge Text selections for skill
application, vocabulary development
and comprehension
 Mapping and outline text structure
 Writing answers to questions (Answer
It ) through the use of signal words
from Bloom’s Taxonomy – higherorder thinking
D. Texts and supplemental materials


Readings are excerpts and articles which are included in each of the 12 units.
Selections are in LANGUAGE! Student Text, Books C and D
LANGUAGE! California Edition Instructional Planning Tools, which includes
planning and pacing guides and homework options
Comprehensive Literacy-Reading and Comprehensive 2
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Novato Unified School District
Course Description
Comprehensive Literacy
Reading and Composition 2
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LANGUAGE! Words for Teachers—a teacher technology tool to develop tailored
instructional activities according to student need
eReader – an interactive version of the Instructional Text with links to strategic
vocabulary and note-taking capability
Sortegories –an interactive technology component
Additional fiction and non-fiction selected from the California Department of
Education Recommended Literature List for Grades 9 – 12.
E. Instructional methods and strategies
Primary methods/strategies
 Explicit, direct, highly interactive instruction
 Gradual release model (“I do, We do, You do” following the progression of
teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent practice)
 Pair-Share
 Discussion
 Use of visuals, graphic organizers and physical responses
 Reading aloud/Think aloud
Lesson design
 Unit, Daily Lessons, Steps included
 Activities listed
 Agenda acknowledged as activities are finished
(items checked off, erased, flipped over, etc)
Student engagement
 Choral response
 Random response (name sticks or cards)
 Think. Pair. Share.
 Table talk
 Thumbs up
 Displayed response
(white boards, total physical response, etc)
Cognitive preparation
 Instruction is clear and concise
 Concepts are known and understood
 Questions are anticipated/answers are prepared
Secondary methods/strategies
 Technology support, ie.: Sortegories, Words for Teachers, eReader, and Kurzweil
3000
 Prescriptive teaching boxes: Differentiated reinforcement or re-teaching as
indicated through frequent assessment information
Comprehensive Literacy-Reading and Comprehensive 2
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Novato Unified School District
Course Description
Comprehensive Literacy
Reading and Composition 2
F. Assessment methods and/or tools
 Content Mastery –assessments designed to determine student mastery of unitlevel content and skills. Tests consist of multiple-choice, short answer, and free
response formats.
 Summative Assessments – assessment designed to determine student mastery and
growth at the end of Book C and Book D. These consist of:
o End-of-Book Content Mastery tests focus on mastery of book-level
content and skills.
o Progress Indicators, normed assessment tools, provide interim
measures of students’ progress toward end-of-year goals in reading
fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension. Writing is also assessed
using a rubric system as part of the Progress Indicators
G. Assessment criteria
 Baseline Assessments
 80% mastery of skills as indicated on assessments
 Rubric scores on writing assignments and assessments.
Comprehensive Literacy-Reading and Comprehensive 2
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