ELA
English Language Arts
At Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School No. 9, we use a variety of programs,(Comprehension Toolkit, Units of Study: Reading, and Units of Study: Writing)to teach English Language Arts (ELA). To support the implementation of our instructional program, the following overview provides a guide to daily classroom work. It is a configuration of our vision, mission, values, and goals. Our expectations for classrooms are as follow:
Classroom
• Flexible seating – desks in small groups
• Organized Classroom Libraries (genre/level) & writing supplies
• Common meeting area
• Readers’ Notebooks/Folders/Bins
• Anchor Charts (mini-lessons, student thinking, reading/writing strategies, writing
topics, rituals & routines, )
• Reading Logs
• Word Walls / Content Word Walls
• Assessment Notebooks
• Organized Classroom Libraries (genre/level) & writing supplies
• Common meeting area
• Readers’ Notebooks/Folders/Bins
• Anchor Charts (mini-lessons, student thinking, reading/writing strategies, writing
topics, rituals & routines, )
• Reading Logs
• Word Walls / Content Word Walls
• Assessment Notebooks
Students
• Work and follow-on tasks independently
• Work in groups and independently
• Engage in guided and independent reading/writing at correct levels
• Confer with teacher on reading/writing progress
• Use the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, & publishing)
• Use rubrics to track and keep records of their writing progress
• Track and keep records of their thinking
• Write responses to their reading
• Discuss and support their viewpoints
• Use graphic organizers
• Develop their letter and word knowledge
• Use technology to support reading/writing
Teachers
• Construct anchor charts
• Model/demonstrate reading strategies and skills
• Utilize flexible groups to differentiate instruction
• Use thinking aloud
• Ask open-ended questions
• Maintain assessment notebook
• Confer with students
• Collaborate with colleagues to plan units of study
• Integrate of content areas & technology
Standard-Based Student Work
• Reading Logs/Writer's Notebooks
• Journal Responses/Reflections
• Anchor Charts
• Graphic Organizers
• Readers’ Notebooks/Writing Notebooks/Writing Portfolios
• Written Responses to Literature & Prompts
• Charts & Story Maps
• Illustrations of Thinking
• Post-It Notes – Thinking Squares