Guided Reading

This section is teacher-directed and includes a wide variety of reading selections. Fiction selections include short stories, poetry, novels, and drama. Nonfiction selections include books/biographies, essays, journals, and articles.
 

Self-Selected Reading

This section has students choosing their own books to read. Keeping a Reader's Log and sharing their reading experiences are included in this part.

Writer's Workshop

This section is often linked closely with what the students are reading, but it also includes writing assignments that are separate from the reading sections. The Six Traits of Writing are the skills that are stressed in this section. Students are often asked to write an extended response (a question that requires high-level thinking skills) about what they are currently reading. Major writing activities include three 5-paragraph essays--the expository, the narrative, and the persuasive. Other writings, not directly tied to their classroom reading, include personal experiences, letters, and the creative writing of stories and poems.  This section includes the most direct teaching of grammar and usage skills.

Working with Words

This section emphasizes vocabulary strategies, spelling, and word histories and roots.
 

Regular use of our library/computer lab, films, and special projects (collages, posters, presentations, etc.) also enhance and enrich our Language Arts curriculum.