Mrs. Brenda Kelly & Mrs. Jennie Calnan

Reading Specialists

Literacy is more than just being able to read and write.

It is the ability to understand and communicate information and ideas

by others and to others clearly,

and to form thoughts using reason and analysis.

At Emerson School, teachers believe that to be successful in teaching all children to read and write, we have to do it all! Doing it all means implementing The Four-Blocks Multimethod, Multilevel Literacy Framework (Cunningham, Hall and Sigmon). In every class, students are exposed to the four different approaches to teaching children to read – Guided Reading, Self-Selected Reading, Writing, and Working with Words. Daily instruction in all Four Blocks provides numerous and varied opportunities for all children to learn to read and write. Doing all Four Blocks acknowledges that children do not all learn in the same way and provides substantial instruction to support every child’s individual learning personality.

A primary focus of our work as reading specialists is to collaborate with classroom teachers and support them in creating classrooms which exhibit “Best Practices” for teaching and learning reading (Best Practice: New Standards for Teaching and Learning in America’s Schools, Zemelman, Daniels, Hyde). This philosophy reaches across the curriculum and is characterized by some of the following principles:

• Reading aloud to students at all grade levels
• Time for independent reading
• Children’s choice of their own reading materials
• Exposing children to a wide and rich range of literature
• Teacher modeling and discussion of his/her own reading processes
• Primary instructional emphasis on comprehension
• Teaching reading as a process that involves:

ü Using strategies that activate prior knowledge

ü Helping students make and test predictions

ü Scaffolding work during reading to meet individual student needs

ü Providing after-reading applications

• Social, collaborative activities with much discussion and interaction
• Grouping by interests or book choices (e.g., literature circles)
• Writing before, during and after reading
• Use of reading in content fields
• Evaluation that focuses on holistic, higher-order thinking processes
• Measuring success of reading program by students’reading habits, attitudes, and comprehension

This year, one of the goals Emerson School has targeted is “Writing Across the Curriculum.” During weekly grade level meetings, rich discussions between teachers, specialists, and support staff serve to drive curriculum and writing instruction while offering suggestions for assisting children who require additional support as well as providing challenges for more proficient writers.