Read+and+Write+All+About+It,+Literacy+(Reading,+Writing,+Skills+Block)

__**Reader's and Writer's Workshop & Skills Block **__ Our year starts with Launching the Reading and Writing Workshops. We also begin the workshop model (minilesson/mentor text, work/independent time, closure) as 3rd graders! This first unit of study focuses on establishing procedures for the Reading and Writing Workshops and developing habits of mind and skills and strategies of effective readers and writers.

Big Ideas for Reading Workshop : • View themselves as readers and know what good readers do • Read books of different genres Read literature and compare themes from various cultural perspectives • Use strategies to solve reading problems and comprehend text (e.g., make predictions, draw conclusions, figure out unfamiliar words) • Listen and discuss stories with partners and in small groups • Use classroom rituals and routines to work independently and with others

Big Ideas for Writing Workshop: -View the world as writers and keep a writer's notebook -Use writing notebooks to generate and collect ideas and try writing techniques -Take an idea through writing cycle to a published piece of writing -Tell and write a piece focused on one idea -Use classroom rituals and routines to work independently and with others -Apply spelling, grammar, and punctuation strategies daily (taught during Skills Block) to their writing

__ Poetry Study Starts in December for Reader's and Writer's Workshop! __ Check here for poetry websites to share! //** Big Ideas for Reading Poetry: **// • Read poetry that reflects diverse human experiences. • Make inferences about poems’ language and structure to understand the message. • Understand poetry elements, including word choice, rhythm, rhyme, and imagery. • Create mental images by visualizing text. //** Big Ideas for Writing Poetry: **// • Write about ideas that are personally interesting or important. • Select language carefully to create images and mood. • Use poetry techniques (e.g., awareness of word sounds, rhythm of phrases, poetic structure) to craft poems.

__**Reading: **__  Our reading work in class and in homework will involve __**The Five Components of Reading:**__  (in no certain order of importance)  1. **Phonemic Awareness**- the manipulation and knowledge of the sounds in spoken words  2. **Phonics**- the relationship between written and spoken letters and sounds  3. **Vocabulary**- knowledge of words, definitions, and context  4. **Fluency**- the ability to read with accuracy, expression, appropriate rate, and phrasing  5. **Comprehension**- the understanding of meaning in text

 Please support your child's reading by reading with or to him/her. Listening to you read can be fun for you and your child as you choose books of interest together! Siblings can often listen to books together. Part of your child's weekly homework will be a book bag that targets each of __**The Five Components of Reading**__. This is by all means not the only reading you can do. It will be very specific to each strategy and "short and snappy" for practice each night. A good balance between the book bag reading and choice reading will be valuable to your child as a reader.

 __**Audiobooks**__:  Audiobooks can be a wonderful way for your child to listen to fluent readers read. Often you can find books the whole family can enjoy on a long car trip or even just at home.

 __**Writing:**__  **Our writing work will involve the following projects through the year!**  **1. Personal Narrative**  **2. University Park Visitor Guide (non-fiction writing)** <span style="color: #12ab5f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **3. Poetry** <span style="color: #12ab5f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **4. CSAP Reading and Writing Unit** <span style="color: #12ab5f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **5. Fiction Picture Book** <span style="color: #12ab5f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **6. Non-fiction Report** <span style="color: #12ab5f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **7. Allen Say Author Study** <span style="color: #12ab5f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #12ab5f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> **Each of these units will have a published product that will be coming home for you to enjoy! Your child may be bringing some writing home to work on that needs an adult's eye for editing or revising.**


 * <span style="color: #9d0cc6; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 156%;">__Skills Block:__ **
 * <span style="color: #9d0cc6; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 120%;"> Skills block will be the "nuts and bolts" of sounds, sound patterns, and making words. The important part of skills block is to help students feel confident that they have strategies in their "toolboxes" to solve the mystery of unknown words. These are valuable skills for __<span style="color: #9d0cc6; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 120%;">all __** **<span style="color: #9d0cc6; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 120%;">students, no matter what their reading/writing level might be. We will be __studying__ words with a certain pattern and manipulating those patterns in many ways to help the brain keep those patterns strong. Children will be writing the words in their planners so you can see what they are. You may practice them in __any way you wish__ at home. I will send a list of 25 ways to practice at home and you may choose what works best for your family. **

<span style="color: #ea3e3e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">__**Handwriting:**__ <span style="color: #ea3e3e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> Your children will be learning cursive handwriting this year! We will start with letter formation at the beginning of the year.