Balanced
Literacy:
A Framework
for Closing the
Reading Gap
A classroom environment that offers
opportunities and space for whole-class,
small-group, and independent work. The
classroom environment supports students
at their instructional level and includes
activities that allow them to take risks.
It matches the research on effective reading
instruction…
Research shows the following factors are attributed
to reading motivation and/or achievement:
•Access to high-interest texts.
•Giving students choice in reading.
•Texts available at different levels of difficulty.
•Providing more time for students to read at home
and school.
Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, C. (2012). Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Phonemic
Awareness
Hearing and
identifying
individual sounds
In words.
Comprehension
Phonics
Constructing meaning
from text.
Understanding and
using letter-sound
relationships.
FIVE ELEMENTS
OF EFFECTIVE
READING
INSTRUCTION
Fluency
Vocabulary
Words and
their meanings
Reading with
accuracy,
momentum,
phrasing, and
intonation.
It provides students with the necessary support to
meet the high expectations of Common Core…
“…pedagogy focused only on higher-order or
critical thinking was insufficient to ensure that
students were ready for college and careers: what
students could, read, in terms of its complexity, was
at least as important as what they could do with
what they read.”
Because the complexity of texts increase, the
explicit instruction of Foundational Reading Skills –
phonics, fluency, literal comprehension - cannot
stop at first or second grade.
Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, C. (2012). Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
It matches the new instructional expectations of RTI2…
Tier 1 Instruction:
•120-150 minutes of ELA instruction, this includes language/writing.
•Approximately 30 minutes of whole group instruction, which includes close
reading, shared reading, read alouds, mini-lessons.
•Approximately 60 minutes of small group instruction. Teachers should meet w/
3-4 groups daily for 15-20 minutes each. Each student should meet with the
teacher a minimum of every other day, but struggling students should meet with
the teacher everyday.
•Small group instruction focused on reading/discussing text, rereading text,
skill work, and word work.
•When not meeting with a teacher, students should be engaged in purposeful
practice, such as learning stations, skill practice, word sorts, reader response,
novel studies, writing activities, and independent reading.
•Includes content area texts.
•Strong emphasis should be placed on the Reading Foundational Skills found in
Common Core.
•Reading units should include close reading, speaking/listening about text, textdependent questioning, vocabulary development, and writing-to-sources.
BALANCED LITERACY
FRAMEWORK
Reading
I Do
We Do
You Do
•Read Aloud
•Shared Reading
•Guided Reading
•Independent Reading
Writing
•Modeled/Shared Writing
•Interactive Writing
•Guided Writing
•Independent Writing
Word Study
I Do
We Do
You Do
READING INSTRUCTION
Students need to be reading:
•At least 45 minutes during school and more time at home.
•Materials they can manage with 95% accuracy, fluency,
and comprehension.
Calkins, L., Ehrenworth, M., & Lehman, C. (2012). Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
FIVE FORMATS FOR
READING INSTRUCTION
Read Aloud
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Literacy Workstations
Independent Reading
Read Aloud
Purpose:
•Provide enjoyment.
•Motivate students to read.
•Model proficient reading.
•Build background knowledge.
•Help students internalize sentence and story structure.
•Develop vocabulary.
•Build comprehension skills.
•Introduce genres and writing styles.
•Increase attention span.
•Help ELLs become familiar with the sounds of English.
Quality read alouds include:
•Purposeful book selection that is on
or above grade level.
•Interaction between students and
text.
•Modeling and Think Alouds
•Cross-curricular integration
•A text that has been previewed by
the teacher.
•A purpose for reading stated
ahead of time.
Shared Reading
Purpose:
•Create a natural teaching of skills/strategies within
the context of reading.
•Reinforce concepts of print.
•Build fluency and oral expression.
•Enhance meaning and comprehension.
Things to keep in mind:
•Use a variety of texts at or above grade level. This can be stand
alone texts and/or textbooks.
•Whole group reading/instruction, but this can be accomplished
through partners and small groups. The important part is
everyone is interacting with the same text.
•Everyone should have a copy of the text.
•Shared reading can pair well with Real Aloud for
modeling/instruction.
•It is appropriate to work with the same text(s) for multiple days,
but not always necessary.
•Shared reading will probably need to spill over into your
Science/SS time.
•50-60% of the texts should be nonfiction.
•A full-length text is not always necessary. Sometimes an
excerpt is appropriate.
Teachers and students are reading/experiencing a
text together. This can be done through:
• Fluency modeling and practice.
• Choral reading.
• Reader’s Theater
• Follow-up activity from a read aloud.
• Close Reading
• Text annotation/discussion
• Socratic Seminar
Guided Reading
Purpose:
•Students use and develop strategies while they are
reading to facilitate independence.
•Provides opportunities to observe reading behaviors
and scaffold instruction.
•Students read, while teachers provide individualized
and group feedback during and after reading.
Things to remember:
•Groups should be small. No more than six students.
•The lowest group should be the smallest group.
•Students are grouped according to their instructional
reading level, which is determined with a Leveled Reading
Assessment.
•Groups should change as needs change.
•Students should be reading for the bulk of the group time.
•If a lone student’s reading level is too far below/above the
other students, don’t be afraid to find a group match with
another a teacher.
•Teachers need to preview the text ahead of time.
Selecting an Appropriate
Reading Level
Based on accuracy, but fluency should
also be taken into account.
•Independent = 95-100%
•Instructional = 90-94%
•Hard = below 90%
Sight Word Practice
20 Box Grids:
Fry’s Phrases: flashcards, apps, Powerpoint slides
Fry Word App:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/frywords/id470926345?mt=8
Working with Words
Word Chains: hat, bat, but, bus, us, use. Student write each
new word after teacher gives instruction, such as, “change
/h/ to /b/.”
Making Words: Give letters (a, e, n, k, s, s). Students list all
words can make – a, an, as, ask, Ken, sea, seas, etc. Work
until discover “mystery word” that uses each letter.
Roll a Word: Use dice with beginning word parts and a dice
with ending word parts. Roll one of each and write the word.
Sort the words into real and nonsense.
Sentence Dictation: Select a sentence from the book that
would allow students to practice sight words and/or phonics
skills. Read the sentence twice. Have students write the
sentence on their own.
Working with Words
Sound/Spelling Mapping
(Elkonin Boxes):
Sound/Spelling Picture Cards:
Working with Words
Letter/Sound Chips: Sound/spelling mapping using color chips.
Students use Elkonin boxes and colored chips to represent
sounds in a word. For example: blue = consonants, red =
vowels, yellow=vowel teams. The letters for each sound may
be written on the chips, to facilitate phonics or phonemic
awareness instruction.
Mini-Lessons and Scaffolding
Decoding Words
•Cover prefix/suffix – read the root
•Point out vowel teams, digraphs, etc – reference picture sound card
•Remember phonics rules (closed syllable = short vowel, silent e, etc.)
•Check the picture, look at first letter
•Rhymes with ______
•Reread and think about what makes sense – context clues
Fluency
Speed, Accuracy, Smoothness, Expression, Punctuation
•Choral Read
•Whisper Read (Whisper Phones)
•Echo Read
•Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
•Practice expression, character voices, appropriate pauses
Mini-Lessons and Scaffolding
Vocabulary
•Context Clues
•Roots, prefixes, suffixes
•Background knowledge/connections (pictures, videos, virtual field
trips)
•Use illustration
•Know words that are similar
•Revisit time after time
Comprehension
•Use text features
•Make connections – Self, World, Text
•Question
•Summarize – Main ideas
•Predict/confirm
•Compare/contrast
•Stop-Think-Paraphrase
•Visualize
•Determine Importance
Mini-Lessons and Scaffolding
Writing
•Spinner w/ 6 colors
•Yellow – I already knew this
•Purple – I learned this
•Red – I like this part
•Blue – This did not make sense
•Green – AHA! The BIG IDEA – Main Idea/Theme
•Write 3 facts about______________
•Describe the difference between _______ and __________.
•Use the vocabulary words in sentence - context
1
Fluency
2
Vocabulary
3
Facts
4
Text Features
5
Comprehension
6
Comprehension
Reread the paragraph on page 11.
gas
space probes
planet
telescopes
Write a fact in your own words
using a complete sentence from
the information on page 4.
What is the purpose of the
picture on page 19?
What are the parts of the Milky
Way?
What are the differences
between the sun and the moon?
1
Fluency
Reread the paragraph on page 4.
Documenting, estimated, period,
2
valuable, vessels, ecosystem, organic,
Vocabulary limestone, species, habitable,
population, habitat, harvest
3
Summaraize
4
Think and
Compare
5
Evaluate
Summarize what you learned about
coral reef.
Reread pages 5-6. What facts did you
learn about coral? Now write your
opinions about coral.
Why is it important for people to
learn about endangered areas?
P = Prediction
I predict that…
Q = Questions
I wonder…
S = Summarizing
I learned that…
M = Monitoring
I don’t understand…
W = Words
I was able to figure out
what the word meant,
because…
C = Connections
This reminds me of
another text…
V = Visualize
When I read this, I
visualized…
SAMPLE WEEKLY GROUP SCHEDULE
MONDAY
9:00-9:15 Group A
9:15-9:20
9:20-9:35 Group B
9:35-9:40
9:40-9:55 Group C
TUESDAY
Group A
Group B
Group D
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Group A
Group A
Group A
Transition
Group B
Group B
Group B
Transition
Group C
Group D
Group C
Groups A/B – below grade level
Group C – on grade level
Group D – above grade level
Groups C and D should work with their guided reading materials
independently on the days their group doesn’t meet.
Literacy Workstations
Purpose:
•Gives the teacher time to meet with
guided reading groups.
•Reinforces skills taught.
•Allows students to work at their own
rate and on their own level.
Different models:
•Whole class – All students are doing the same activity while
teacher meets with groups.
•Station-a-Day – There are five literacy stations each week.
Each student does a different station each day.
•Multiple Rotations – Each day, students rotate between a
literacy workstation, guided reading, and independent
seatwork/reading. (Matches RTI the best.)
•Menu – Students are given a menu at the beginning of the
week. They have to complete an assigned number of
activities by the end of the week. Example:
http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/literacy/PDFRead/
menusamples.pdf
Questions to ask when planning stations:
•Is this activity strengthening reading and/or
writing?
•Are students spending most of their time
reading/writing or cutting/gluing/assembling?
•Writing that involves responding to a text should
be text-dependent instead of reader-dependent.
•Is it an activity that students can practice
independently with success?
Key to Success:
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
•Organize materials well.
•Plan routines and procedures.
•Clearly communicate and post expectations.
•Model, model, model.
•Practice, practice, practice.
•Have we mentioned practice?
•Introduce new stations through guided or shared reading.
•Practice volume expectations. Remember: the louder you talk,
the louder the students will talk.
•Pay attention to interruption patterns. If students are continually
interrupting your groups for the same reasons, time may need to
be spent retraining on routines or a particular station.
•Use a timer.
Organizing Groups
Possibilities:
•Set up a chart http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy
_centers/management.html
•Chart on the Promethean board –
http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/li
teracy/PDFRead/rotations.pdf
Accountability:
•Folders – can be used for works in progress
or as a log.
•Weekly/Daily log
•Journal
•Reader response questions
•Fluency charts
•Artifacts from the Literacy Stations
Independent Reading
Purpose:
•Students learn to read by reading.
•Allows students to practice strategies.
•Promotes fluency.
•Builds confidence.
•Builds vocabulary.
•Enjoy reading.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
STAMINA! STAMINA! STAMINA!
Take the time at the beginning of the year to build a
student’s reading stamina by gradually increasing the
amount of time students read independently.
Recommendation:
2nd grade should start with 2-3 minutes.
3rd grade should start with 3-5 minutes.
4th/5th grade should start with 4-6 minutes.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
BOOK SELECTION
•Most students need to be taught how to select an
appropriate book.
•Initially, you may want to provide students with a small
selection of appropriate materials that are on the
appropriate level.
•It might be helpful to create a poster and/or bookmark
that reminds students how to make good reading
choices.
A
”JUST RIGHT””
BOOK…
•Looks interesting.
•Doesn’t have
more than five
tricky words on a
page.
•Has a few words
for me to learn.
•Is one I can
retell.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
STRUCTURE AND PROCEDURES
Think about things like:
•How long should students read?
•Where can students read?
•What can students read?
•How do they get new materials?
•How will students be held accountable for what they read?
•Is partner reading permitted?
Routines should be explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Accountability Suggestions:
•Share Time – allows students to showcase books
that others may enjoy and/or strategies they have
successfully used.
•Reading Conferences – teachers hear each
student read periodically, which can guide future
instruction.
•Journaling – Students record books they have
finished and write a summary and/or things they
liked/disliked about the text.
WORD STUDY
What is Word Study?
Instruction that focuses on the sounds, spellings, and
meanings of words
Why is Word Study important?
There is strong evidence that suggests that the direct
instruction of phonics and vocabulary are important
factors in learning to read.
Rasinski, T. & Zutell, J. (2010). Essential Strategies for Word Study: Effective Methods for
Improving Decoding, Spelling, and Vocabulary. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Vocabulary Instruction
•Devote time each day to “harvesting” words from texts. These
can be added to a word wall, folders, etc.
•Play review games.
•Use visual cues to help students associate words and their
meanings.
•Let students develop their own definitions.
http://www.routledge.com/eyeoneducation/blog/2700/
KEY TO SUCCESS
Review, Review, Review
There should be time each week for students to
revisit words that have been studied throughout the
year.
This can be done through:
•Review games
•Cloze passages
•Literacy Stations
•Writing
•Speaking/Listening activities
VOCABULARY REVIEW GAMES
Puzzles
Use a blank jigsaw puzzle. Create two pieces for each review word.
One piece has the word. The other has a sentence that has a blank
where the word would fit in the sentence. Trade puzzles and put
puzzles together.
Clue Review
Create four clues for each word. Make the first clue meaning-based.
See if students can figure out the word with as few clues as possible. If
they solve with one clue, they get 4 points. If they need 2 clues, they
get 3 points…and so on. Clue examples:
1.a leg covering
2.Janice put on _________ as part of her outfit for the party.
3.begins with an s
4.two syllable word
Word: stockings
VOCABULARY REVIEW GAMES
Ball Game
Students form a circle. Bounce the ball to a student. Show the student
a word. The student has to read the word and use it in a sentence.
They earn 1 point for each correct word. The student bounces the ball
to someone else in the circle.
Swat It
On two posters or large sheets of paper, write the review words. Place
the students in two teams. The first person for each team should have
a fly swatter or pointer. Give clues. The first person to swat the word
gets a point for their team.
Password
Select one student to be the contestant. Show a word to the other
students. They have to give clues to help the contestant figure out the
“password.”
WORD WALLS
Because revisiting words that have been studied is
an important part of vocabulary instruction, word
walls or folders can be very helpful.
MANAGEMENT
Space
Materials
Expectations
Time
SPACE
Things to consider:
•Where will we meet for guided reading?
•Can the students move comfortably between work
areas?
•Are materials accessible to all students?
•Will students stay in their seats or move to the floor
for read alouds and/or shared reading?
MATERIALS
Things to consider:
•How will you organize materials for the learning
stations?
•What items will you consistently need during
guided reading and how will they be organized?
•What materials will students need on a regular
basis?
EXPECTATIONS
Things to consider:
•Noise level
•Working independently to avoid Guided Reading
interruptions.
•Movement around the room during Literacy
Stations.
•Accountability – tracking progress, quality,
unfinished work
•Maintaining materials
TIME
Time management is the most important
component of Balanced Literacy.
•Use a timer.
•Practice transitions until students can rotate in less
than one minute.
TIME ALLOCATIONS PER DAY
Read Aloud
5-10 minutes
Shared Reading
15-25 minutes
Guided Reading/Stations
45-60 minutes
Wordy Study
15-25 minutes
Independent Reading
5-20 minutes
Writing
30-45 minutes
For questions or more information
please contact:
Jennifer Garrett - garrettj@rcschools.net
Lorie Gober – goberl@rcschools.net