The Grade One Program

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The Grade One Program

• Essential Elements

Terry Campbell Nipissing University
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Understand literacy development

• Grade one learners range from the emergent to
  the early stage
• Emergent learners demonstrate approximations of
  reading/writing behaviours
• Early learners are beginning to control these
  processes

3
Identify your goals

• You want your students to
• Become strategic readers
• Read and appreciate a variety of genres, for a
  variety of purposes
• Use writing as a tool
• Appreciate the power of reading and writing

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Organize

• Design your classroom with principles in mind
• Simple
• Practical
• Purposeful

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Schedule

• Uninterrupted blocks
• Predictable structures
• Allow time to work with
• Individuals
• Small groups
• Whole class

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Assess Strengths and Needs

• Concepts about Print test
• Reading and Writing Conferences
• Records of oral reading (running records)
• Retellings and discussions

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Plan Whole Class Teaching

• Read alouds
• Shared Reading
• Modelled Writing
• Shared Writing

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Plan small group teaching

• Guided reading
• Shared reading (especially for ESL)
• Word study groups
• Interactive Writing

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Plan one-on-one teaching

• Reading conferences
• Writing conferences
• Start with what the child is doing well.
• Teach one thing.
• Send the child off to practice.

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Provide time and opportunities for practice

• Match the child with just-right (properly
  levelled) books
• Include familiar and easy books
• Include some self-selected books

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Provide time for response

• Oral retellings, discussions drama and
  storytelling activities
• Written and visual responses (reading log,
  response sheets, story maps, cartoon sequences,
  etc.)
• Reflections on their own progress as readers and
  writers

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What to teach

• Concepts about print (during Shared Reading
  Modelled, Shared, and Interactive writing)
• How to read patterned, predictable books
• How to use picture clues
• High frequency words

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What to teach

• Tracking print
• Sound-symbol correspondence
• Using first and last letter clues
• Word analogies and patterns
• Grouping words into phrases (fluency)
• Thinking about the story

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What to teach

• Self-monitoring
• Does it make sense? (meaning)
• Does it sound right? (syntax)
• Does it look right? (visual)

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An Early Intervention program using Reading
Recovery Principles

• Early assessment and identification (suitable for
  students who are at risk or significantly
  behind for whatever reasons)
• Partnership with parents (child practices
  re-reading familiar books at home)
• Intense daily instruction you may adapt for
  small groups if Reading Recovery is not
  implemented in your school, but it is most
  effective one-on-one

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Instructional sequence

• 10 min. re-reading familiar books (take a running
  record)
• 10 minutes writing a message (may be just one
  sentence, but insist on high quality take time
  to work on 1 or 2 high frequency words, using
  sound boxes for 1 or 2 words, using
  analogy/pattern to figure out a new word)
• 10 minutes for new book introduction, reading a
  book at instructional level, during which you
  teach one strategy (as you would in guided
  reading).

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Resources

• On Solid Ground Strategies for Teaching Reading
  K-3, Sharon Taberski (2000)
• Teaching Children to Read and Write, TDSB (2000)
• Concepts About Print, Marie Clay (2000)
• Guided Reading Good First Teaching for All
  Children, Fountas and Pinnell (1996)
• Word Matters Teaching Phonics and Spelling in
  the Reading/Writing Classroom,
• Pinnell and Fountas (1998)