Elementary English Language Arts Curriculum

 READING AND WRITING PHILOSOPHY

Reading is a complex process through which readers actively construct meaning and connect with others’ ideas. The reading process requires readers to relate prior knowledge and personal experiences to written texts; respond to texts in aesthetic and critical ways; recognize and appreciate print as a cuing system for meaning; and understand words, their variations, and their contexts. Students should recognize that what they hear, speak, write, and view contributes to the content quality of their reading experiences.

Proficient readers use a repertoire of strategies (including phonics, context clues, and foreshadowing) that enable them to adapt to increasing levels of complexity, and develop lifelong habits of reading and thinking. A diversity of materials provides students with opportunities to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally as they consider universal themes, diverse cultures and perspectives, and the common aspects of human existence. The study of literature allows students to return to the materials and reconstruct meaning as they examine their own reading along with the writer’s shaping of text and the cultural, historical, and psychological contexts for composing.

Writing is a complex process that may be used for self or other communication, expression, and learning. Proficient writers have a repertoire of strategies that enable them to vary forms, style, and convention in order to write for different audiences, context, and purposes. The overall goal of our writing program is to prepare students to respond to any on-demand kind of writing an employer, an institution of higher learning or real-life experience requires of them.

Writing activities include opportunities for students to think about their ideas and feelings and the events and people in their lives. Through writing, students are able to describe experiences in the lives of others. Students taught to understand the recursive nature and shifting perspectives of the writing process, and are encouraged to take risks, collaborate, and reflect as they compose increasingly complex texts. Students are taught strategies that will assist them in writing clearly and in crafting their texts with appropriate conventions of spelling, grammar, and punctuation as they revise, edit, and publish. They learn to examine their writing not only as a product, but as a mode of thinking. They recognize that what they hear, speak, read, and view contributes to the content and quality of their writing. Writers need to be able to complete projects for a variety of purposes.

We strongly believe in fostering the love of reading and writing at Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School.  We want our children:

• To be exposed to various genres in both reading and writing.

• To develop an understanding of the interconnectedness of reading, writing and speaking.

• To increase fluency, expand vocabulary and develop comprehension strategies.

• To move from “learning to read" to "reading to learn.”

• To apply strategies and access skills to be successful readers and writers.

• To write for a variety of purposes and audiences.

• To participate in discussions that bring books alive! 

 

Our teachers have the opportunity to work with literacy consultants to look at long term goals and short term goals, organize and plan grade level curriculum, and strengthen best practices, and keep up-to-date with current research. They also plan as a team in order to ensure consistency throughout the grade level.