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
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 alouds
•    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