I had the pleasure last year to spend a day in a first-grade classroom to witness this education firsthand. The kids seemed to all be happily and actively engaged. It was exciting to see that all the students were reading and writing, helping each other with spelling and vocabulary lists, engaging in a group activity connecting phonemes and graphemes, comparing and contrasting two pieces of literature, and recording their observations. I was impressed by the effectiveness of the teaching approach. Literacy is the key to children’s education, and the ability to read and write unlocks all doors for a lifetime.
Literacy, as a general term, is defined by both the Oxford and Merriam-Webster dictionaries as the ability to read and write. When “literacy” applies to subjects (for example, “computer literacy” or “financial literacy”) it connotes having “knowledge or skills in a specific area”.
Reading for comprehension and communicating ideas clearly in writing are the objectives of literacy. Students must learn the rules and conventions of language (spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization). In addition to mastering these mechanics, they must also learn to format written compositions. Building vocabulary is another component of language learning. When you think about it, students internalize a massive amount of information to become proficient readers and writers.
You may have heard or read about recent research in the science of reading which shows that phonics
instruction is vital to new readers. For elementary students, Ferndale School District uses American Reading
Company (ARC) materials. In recent years, this has been supplemented with
UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) phonics.
There is additional material provided through i-Ready, which is also used to administer formative assessments of
reading throughout the year. Starting this school year, the board will be provided with results of these real-time,
in-process tests, as well as the Smarter Balanced Assessment (the state’s summative annual assessment, SBAC), so
that we have a better picture of student progress in ELA (English language arts).
The Smarter Balanced Assessment is the measuring tool that is familiar to most Washington parents.
At the end of last school year how did we measure up?
