Reading and Writing Curricula

"Young children should engage in reading and writing experiences that integrate language and action in social context. It is in the social context of literacy activity that children are able to interpret their literary experiences and internalize knowledge about reading and writing. It is also in the social context that the teacher will be able to make decisions about her role in mediating early school literacy experiences for emerging readers and writers. Assisting children's performance so that the learning activity leads their development should be the focus of instruction for emerging readers and writers." - Martha Combs

Spelling Program Components

1.	Word Solving:	Teacher will provide a series of mini-lessons focused on word solving and on developing word meanings. Examples of these lessons are as follows: Making words that start or end in the same way. Making words that contain silent letters. Making words into contractions. Making compound words. Making words using prefixes and suffixes. Making words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Making words using Latin or Greek roots. Making words that use a common rhyme or word family part, such as ick, , un or ast. Counting sounds to make simple one-syllable words. Making words that have the same number of syllables. Sorting words into categories children can discover (open sorts) or into teacher-directed/predetermined categories (closed sorts) using sounds, spelling, or meaning as the basis for sorting. Making word meaning webs or semantic maps to organize words around meaning categories such as tools, colors, actions, and so forth.
2.	Word Lists:	Thematic word lists will be generated throughout the year. A student's individual spelling words will be kept in his/her dictionary.
3.	Dictionaries:	Each student has both an in-class dictionary and a take-home dictionary in which they record new words they they want to learn to spell. These are often words that they use frequently in their own writing and in which they, therefore, have a vested interest in learning. Parents should help them enter words correctly at home when the dictionaries are used.
4.	Phonics:	We use a structured workbook and games that directly support the Silver Burdette series. Phonics instruction is a daily component of the "word working" program.
5.	Making Words:	This component is the most important one. Brain research has demonstrated that we learn new words by searching through our memory for old words that resemble the structure of the new ones. In other words, our brain loves to look for patterns and apply them to new situations, much as we would look for sequential patterning in geometry or math algorithms. Our approach with young children is now to teach them consonant-vowel patterns in words by calling attention to how the words are constructed. We encourage them to take words apart and reassemble them using "word chunks". A chunk can be two or three letters that like to appear together - ch, sch, oo, eat, ake - and, when combined with other letters, create "word families". We begin by teaching long and short vowel sounds, then add consonant chunks to them. The purpose is for the children to begin to analyze and look for consonant-vowel patterns---both the general rules and exceptions to them. Along with chunking comes attention to rhyming, creating compound words, creating descriptive vocabulary, making up words, listening words texts such as Dr. Seuss books, predicting words by looking at parts of other words, recognizing homophones, etc. Chunking appeals to the need for the young child to "discover rules" of spelling in a way that is interactive and self-motivating. It is a highly creative process, in addition to being a highly structured one.
6.	Power Writing:	This is a program that our school is piloting in all grade levels. It is primarily an expository writing exercise in which the child learns to write a cohesive paragraph on a subject of choice by color-coding each sentence according to its function in the paragraph's structure. The child edits his or her writing in a formal way, with careful attention to spelling and punctuation. In all writing attempts, the child is encouraged to circle words that he or she suspects to be incorrectly spelled. Peer edits occur, in which the children suggest spelling corrections. As with all other writing, dictionaries are used in Power Writing, and corrected spellings are recorded for future use.

Second Grade Writing Matrix

Palo Alto Unified School District

WRITING PROCESS
Prewriting (brainstorming, "noticings," experiences, etc.), first draft, oral revision, supported written revision (revises original drafts to improve sequence and provide more descriptive detail), editing, publishing/presentation. Uses good models to practice writers' craft. Evaluates own growth by looking at portfolios, writing samples (including those of peers), rubrics, etc.
WRITING TRAITS/STRATEGIES
Ideas	Uses a narrow and focused topic with supporting details Writes from knowledge and experience Begins to use fresh, original ideas Clearly states the message
Organization and Focus	Has a recognizable beginning and ending Sequencing shows some logic Organization begins to support the main point or story line If appropriate, a title is present and reflects the message of the writing
Word Choice	Experiments with new and different words Attempts to use descriptive words to create images
Voice	Shows awareness of writing for an audience Writing sounds like the author Includes the author's thoughts and feelings Begins to write from the character's point of view
Sentence Structure/Fluency	Distinguishes between complete and incomplete sentences Recognizes and uses the correct word order in written sentences Begins to use declarative, exclamatory, and interrogative sentences Varies sentence structure, especially at the beginning of sentences
Conventions/Mechanics	Grammar Identifies and correctly uses various parts of speech, including nouns and verbs Expands knowledge and use of contractions and possessive nouns Punctuation Uses a period, exclamation point, or question mark at the end of sentences Uses commas in the greeting and closure of a letter, and with dates and items in a series Begins to use quotation marks to designate spoken language Capitalization Capitalizes all proper nouns, words at the beginning of a sentence and greetings, months and days of the week, and title and initials of people Spelling Spells grade level high frequency words correctly Spells basic short-vowel, long-vowel, r-controlled, and consonant blend patterns correctly Arranges words in alphabetical order.
Presentation	Creates readable documents with legible handwriting Uses a computer as a tool for presenting written work
TYPES OF WRITING
Expository	Research/Technology Understands the purposes of and begins to use various reference materials (e.g. dictionary, thesaurus, atlas) Informational Friendly letter complete with date, salutation, body, closing and signature Factual observations and explanations (science, social studies, math) Simple informational report Uses diagrams, charts, or illustrations as appropriate to the text Functional Establishes a context for the piece Identifies the topic Writes directions and procedures in logical sequence with enough detail to follow them Includes relevant information Uses language that is straightforward and clear Frequently uses pictures to illustrate steps in a procedure Analytic States and justifies positions Personally responds to test and begins to use text support: - Provides a retelling - Writes letters to the author, telling what he/she thought or asking questions - Makes a plausible claim about what he/she read (i.e. suggesting a big theme or idea and offering evidence from the text) - Writes variations on text (retelling from a new point of view) - Makes connections between the text and his/her own ideas and life
Narrative	Writes brief narratives based on experiences: - Moves through a logical sequence of events - Describes the characters, setting, objects and events in detail Begins to use specific details about characters and settings May tell not only what happened to a character but what the character wondered, remembered, hoped Writes in first and third person Begins to use dialog
Poetry	Writes with some poetic language and continues to experiment with literary techniques such as alliteration, simile, rhythm, poetic line breaks, and rhyme schemes
EVALUATION OF STUDENT WORK
Teacher uses writing continuum/rubric to evaluate student writing samples

Last Updated: 18 Aug 03