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My Comprehensive Balanced Literacy Program

Within A 2nd Grade Classroom

Andy Young

Lesley University

Literacy: The Integration of the Language Arts

Gwen Blumberg

March 12, 2009


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Question: What will a comprehensive balanced literacy program looklike in your 2nd grade classroom?

That is an excellent question and one that I have given

considerable thought to during my studies and preparation for

becoming a full-time 2nd grade teacher. The ability to read, write, and

communicate effectively is fundamental for success in life and,

accordingly, must be the primary focus of early childhood education. I

believe, and many experts will agree, that there are four major pillars

of an effective and comprehensive literacy program:

Reading aloud to children

Shared reading and interactive writing with the entire class

Guided reading and writers workshop within small groups or asindividuals

Independent reading and writing.

In my classroom, each of these four components will include

exercises and activities that will focus on daily word study, will provide

student choice, will be appropriately modeled, will be collaborative, will

be well-organized, will become part of a daily routine, will be based on

student need, will include numerous diverse forms of student

assessment and reading resources, will ensure that communication is

continually provided to each childs parents/guardians, and will ensure

that these evolving reading and writing skills will be consistently

integrated across all subject-matter areas. Above all, I will create a

safe environment built on trust that will challenge my students to

strive for greatness, encourage an inquiry-based approach to learning,

and promote risk taking.

Now, Im sure you are saying to yourself, that sounds great, but

how exactly are you going to create such an environment and what will

it look like? Let me explain in detail what my classroom in your school

will look like. Before the school year has even begun, I intend to reach

out to the students and parents of my students to provide my

expectations for the upcoming year. Within my communication and

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accompanying brochure, I will emphasize the importance that will be

placed on literacy within my classroom and will provide specific

examples of what will be taught at school. I will also include my

expectations for the parents and the significant role they play in their

childs development process. I will use Regie Routmans brochure from

her book Conversations (Appendix A-2) as a template. In doing so, I

hope to immediately empower the parents to take ownership and

become actively involved in their childs learning progress and feel

connected to the work done at school.

On day one, minute one of the school year I will begin modeling

our daily literacy program along with my expectations for each student

and the purpose of my instruction. By establishing a routine from that

initial introduction, the children will quickly become comfortable with

this schedule and know what is expected of them. Each child will be

made aware of the classroom library that is available to them and the

book sign-out process. This extensive library will contain picture books,

trade books, chapter books, big books, magazines, poetry, anthologies,

and fiction and non-fiction books. I will level each of our classs

supplemental books accordingly and place them in bins marked for

each guided reading level. Within my library will also be anchor books

and basals that will be used as the basis of whole-class instruction for

the weeks theme. Upon determining each childs reading level (which I

will discuss further when I talk about my formal assessment

techniques), students may select a book within their appropriate bin,

be given an anchor book, or may ask for a recommendation of me or

other students. Each morning all students will begin the first twenty

minutes of each day in sustained silent reading (SSR). During this

independent reading time, I may read silently to model proper reading

techniques or move around the room listening to each student reading

softly while assessing their reading abilities and strategies. I will be

paying close attention to specific skills that should be addressed in

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guided or shared reading exercises. Meanwhile, every day students will

record what they have read in their reading journals. These reading

journals will contain a full list of books read and the dates complete.

I will review these journals and schedule teacher-led or student-

led conferences once a new book has been completed. I, or another

group member using the questions created during our shared writing

exercises, will conduct these interviews with children that have

completed books during the previous days independent reading time

to, initially, check for comprehension and to answer any lingering

questions. Later in the year, student interviews will be characterized

more as book talks or conversations in which a student provides a

review of the book and determines whether or not to recommend that

others read it.

Each day, following the independent reading time, our class will

meet in our whole-class area of the room to review the morning

message posted at the front of the class. We will then have a 10

minute conversation as a group about the days message; its words, its

meaning, and its value to the class. Some of the activities I can

perform with the morning message include covering parts of words,

drawing pictures to represent words while asking the children to

interpret the missing word, work on spelling, grammar or punctuation,

celebrate special events, and asking my students to fill-in-the-blanks.

These exercises will quickly allow me to assess my students reading

abilities and comprehension skills such as using context cues to derive

meaning and their ability to self-monitor.

Following the morning message exercise, I will demonstrate my

passion of reading with the students by reading aloud to them. In

addition to teacher-led reading, guest readers will also be involved in

this process as I will encourage school administrators, parents, and

other school staff or older students to participate in oral reading. This

will truly reinforce the notion that our school is an extended family and

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tight community of learners. Students may also be asked to share their

own reading with the class or to participate in shared reading with the

expert reader. Books will often be the genre read each morning but, on

occasion, I will photocopy poems that will be placed in each childs

poetry notebook and will either read them myself on the overhead or

have one of the children read it for the class. One of Regie Routmans

ideas, Poet of the Day, will also be included in this shared reading time.

Poets of the day are students that volunteer to read a poem for the

class after having practiced reading it beforehand. Within the read

aloud block, I will be prompting the students to make predictions,

asking students to fill in the next word, summarizing what we have

read, and rereading sentences for clarification.

In addition to spending 10-15 minutes reading aloud, 15-20

minutes will be used conducting shared reading activities that reinforce

specific reading strategies or key lessons for the day. Exercises that

may be included during the shared reading time are: word hunts,

Readers Theatre, separating onsets from rimes, rhyming, riddles,

developing character traits, introducing or reciting word wall words,

matching games, letter recognition and phonemic exercises, tracking

activities, brainstorming, categorizing pictures and words, creating

songs, hangman, among many others. All of these activities model the

process of thinking aloud and interacting with written text.

Upon completion of our class reading and writing, students will

be grouped according to their current reading and spelling needs and

each of the four groups will begin working on a series of reading and

spelling exercises that are displayed on the pocket chart at the front of

the room and in their individual pocket folder. On this chart will be a

series of exercises or mini-lessons, represented by symbols that the

students must work on during their 25-30 minutes at one of the four

learning centers. After the first 25-30 minute block is over, children will

rotate to the next learning center listed for that day or to their desks

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for individual seat work. During seat work, students will focus on key

topics covered in whole-class discussion through writing in their word

study notebooks, practicing sorting words, performing word hunts,

drawing and labeling pictures, cutting and pasting, and completing

speed sorts or blind sorts in pairs. Assigned reading groups will

continuously change throughout the year so that all students have

worked with each other.

My learning centers will include a listening center, a computer

center, an area for independent or group reading, writing, or artwork,

and a conference area where I can meet with students. At the listening

center students will listen to books, music, or poetry. The computer

center will have multiple computers where students will be able to play

interactive educational games or perform research for projects. The

reading, writing, and art center will have couches, chairs, tables,

manipulatives, easels, and a plethora of art supplies accessible to

students. Finally, the conference center will have a large table and

chairs at which I can meet with the groups to concentrate on specific

reading or spelling skills or to review any issues that the students may

raise to me. During this conference time, I will concentrate on the

specific needs of the group members through exercises that strengthen

skills. Some of which include: word or picture sorts (based on patterns,

sounds, meaning, categories, etc.) from Patricia Cunninghams Making

Big Words & Making Words books, reviewing common errors on formal

assessments or in writing journals, group reading, word study games,

and reviewing word banks.

Conference time (or SSR time) will occasionally be spent

performing formal assessments such as running records, spelling

inventories, DIBELS exams, or full observation surveys of my children;

this is especially true during the beginning of the year when I need to

determine each students needs and their appropriate groups. These

assessments will be scored, progress will be graphed using MS Excel or

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PowerPoint, and paperwork will be filed within each childs portfolio,

which will be available to parents during conferences. These student

portfolios will also include writing samples, significant projects

completed during the year, formal test results, documented behavior

issues during the year, and notes that I have written about the student.

Following lunch and recess time, the class will engage in

interactive or shared writing activities. During this 15 minute block

students will assemble at the front of the room and I will model proper

writing and editing techniques on the board or scribe words that

students say aloud. In addition, students may also participate in the

writing process in front of the class or on their individual whiteboards.

This whole-class writing time will also be used for activities such as

writing our monthly newsletter, building story maps, developing

questions for student-led interviews, discussing and writing about

other subjects covered the previous day (i.e. science experiments),

writing and editing a classroom story or poem, designing web charts,

brainstorming ideas for writing, reviewing and practicing the word wall

words, reviewing spelling and punctuation rules, or on mini-lessons to

develop skills such as writing with voice, developing themes, and using

descriptive words within writing.

After the mini-lesson and shared writing is complete, students

will participate in 25 minutes of writers workshop or independent

writing time at their own desks. At the beginning of the year I will

model the type of writing I expect from the children. Each student will

be given a journal in which they will record their daily writing. Writing

topics will often be chosen based on student interest. On the side of

each students desk will hang a small clipboard where the student can

write down a future writing topic. At the back of these journals I will

insert a personal word wall consisting of words the students may

struggle with or need to focus on in their writing. Journals will be

collected each week based on their color grouping and I will review and

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provide feedback in each folder nightly. Within this feedback I will also

respond to any questions asked by the student or even ask questions

of the child to be responded to before the journal is collected next

time.

While students continue to write in their journals, I will move

around the room and have meetings with specific individuals to discuss

writing samples, solidify writing strategies, brainstorm ideas, discuss

topics, or assist with spelling questions (paying special attention to

words misspelled from our word wall). Before the writing block has

ended, I will leave enough time for volunteers to read their writing

samples to the class. During this time I am emphasizing the weeks

lessons, reinforcing proper writing techniques, and celebrating each

childs work.

In addition to time blocked specifically for reading, writing, and

spelling, literacy will continue to be emphasized within each additional

subject block throughout the day. I hope to instill my passion for

reading and writing in each of my students through fun exercises,

proper modeling, and collaboration among all class and school

members. This balanced and comprehensive approach to literacy

should provide my 2nd grade class with the necessary tools to be

successful throughout the school year as well as in future grades.

References

Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words Their Way. New

Jersey: Pearson Education.

Cunningham, P. & Hall, D. (2001). Making Big Words:Multilevel, Hands-On Spellingand Phonics Activities. New York: Good Apple.

Routman, R. (2000). Conversations: Strategies for Teaching, Learning, and Evaluating.

New Hampshire: Heinemann.

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