• Literacy
    Literacy
    Greenacres 4th grade uses the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project.
     
    In writing the units include Narrative, Literary Essay, Persuasive Essay, and Informational Writing. The goal of our writing program is to lift the level of students' writing. Lessons are taught using the Workshop Model. Mini-lessons are centered around the teaching of a specific skill or strategy. These are introduced with explicit teaching, mentor texts, modeling, and the active engagement of the students.  Progress is assessed frequently during conferences, and goal-setting is an important part of the students' growth.
     
     
    In reading, the units include Character/Heart of the Story, Reading the Weather, Reading the World, Interpretation Book Clubs, Poetry, and Reading History. The focus of our reading program is reading with deep engagement & comprehension.
     


    Learning to read and write is the focus of the elementary school English Language Arts curriculum. This year we will be taking a balanced approach to literacy, an approach that is built on a comprehensive view of literacy instruction. Literacy is not solely reading. Students learn to read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding. They will develop and sharpen their skills in comprehension and critical analysis while immersed in various genres. Students will explore literacy with various levels of support and independence. Writing will be taught as a process, not as disconnected skills. Students will engage in thinking and talking about literacy and will observe modeling of good reading and writing skills and habits. A well balanced literacy program includes several components: read alouds, shared reading & writing, guided reading & writing, and independent reading & writing.

     
    We read books together as a whole class and also in small groups, and in literature circles.  Students also read independently daily, at home and at school.  Logs, Must Read Lists, Responses, Whole Class Book Discussion Questions, Skills and Strategies Work, Checklists, and Rubrics are all used to support and monitor student's growth as readers. Students conference with me regularly to share what they are reading, discuss how it's going, and ask any questions they may have. Students recommend good books to each other during Book Talks in class and in our online class community, our class blog.
     
     
    Students gather ideas and write freely in their Writer's Notebook throughout the year.  


    Grammar mini-lessons are taught daily.  Daily Fundamentals practice helps students improve their editing skills. 

    • Parts of Speech
    • Sentences
    • Mechanics
    • Editing
    • Writing
    • Research Skills

    We will be using Words Their Way for our word study program this year.  Words Their Way is an online developmental approach to phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction.  

    • •Differentiated based on individual spelling inventories.
    • •The heart of the program is the sort, the process of grouping words or pictures that represent sounds into specific categories.
    • •Students learn to examine, manipulate, and categorize words while focusing their attention on the critical features of the words-their sound, spelling, and meaning.