Academics: Language Arts
Literacy — Four Block
Four Block is an organizational tool that provides a well-balanced approach to literacy instruction (literacy includes reading and writing).
- The Four Blocks include:
Self-Selected Reading - Guided Reading
- Word
- Writing
Self-Selected Reading addresses students' independent reading levels. Students read books of interest to them at their individual levels while the teacher conducts individual reading conferences with the students. The Accelerated Reader Program can be used to support this block. The goals are to motivate students and assist with vocabulary development.
Guided Reading involves reading from a text (could be science, social studies, or a reading series) at grade level. All students follow in the book as the teacher reads or another student reads from the text. The goal is to teach comprehension strategies and for students to read for understanding.
Word includes spelling and decoding activities. The goal is to teach phonemic awareness using high frequency words and word patterns that help students learn to spell and decode words as they read.
Writing is one way that students learn to read. The approach to teaching writing used as SSDS is Six Plus One Trait. This approach teaches children to concentrate on the areas of ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation when writing. A variety of genres are used to teach writing including language experience, journal writing, research reports, poetry, and many more. While students are writing in class, the teacher circulates and conducts individual writing conferences helping students get their pieces ready to publish. A frequently used strategy for presentation of student writing is “Author’s Chair” in which several students each day share first drafts or a published piece with the class by reading aloud.
Overall student goals for the Literacy program include:
- Comprehending information that is read, heard, and observed
- Reading and recognizing a variety of genres
- Acquiring a variety of reading strategies
- Locating and using literature, content texts, and media according to purpose and function
- Demonstrating legible and consistent handwriting
- Applying critical thinking skills
- Communicating effectively through speaking and writing using appropriate grammatical and language conventions
- Applying the writing process for a variety of purposes