Frances Perretti Dr.

Burke EDUC 414 December 5, 2013 Comprehensive Plan: Third Grade Governing principles: Literature is the true depiction of human life in all eras and throughout the centuries. It provides an insight to human life. The most important component of any literacy program is promoting positive attitudes toward reading to instill in children a lifelong reading habit. Literature offers a way of linking the emotional with the intellectual. High-quality narrative and informational literature provides the basis for a consistent read-aloud program in which children are read to daily. Literature is used as an important vehicle for language arts instruction. Literature offers the best way of teaching extensive reading skills. Discussions of literature among students and teachers should be commonplace. Through literature a student can: o experience the pleasure of escaping into a fantasy world or an exciting adventure. o become familiar with story and text structures. o stimulate and expand their imaginations. o stretch attention spans. o empathize with other people's feelings and problems. o learn ways to cope with their own feelings and problems. o widen horizons as they vicariously learn about the world. o develop an interest in new subjects and hobbies.

Class activities: Students are provided with sustained time for both independent and collaborative book sharing, reading, and writing activities. Opportunities are provided for students to listen to and read books of their own choosing Readers Workshop- two to times a week, 40 minutes Sustained Silent Reading at least once a week for 20 minutes Book Trade- every student brings in a book they enjoyed reading that they can potentially trade with a peer Poem of the day, read each morning by the teacher. Second half of the school year students can each have a chance to bring in and read their own poem of the day. Readers Theater/ Puppet theather- 2 or 3 times throughout the year. Length would vary based on text used. Student Generated Fairy Tale/ Fractured Fairy Tales

Classroom set up: Reading Corner something similar to photo below: many titles visible with variety of themes, comfortable and inviting, but visible for the teacher. No place for students to hide instead of actually reading. Reading Posters: I love this self-monitoring poster. I want to replicate something just like it. These are essential questions to be thinking about while reading. I would also put up one or two fun colorful posters with positive quotes about reading on them.

Classroom library: o Will not put out all books at the beginning. Add "new" books throughout the school year o Fiction and nonfiction: one-fourth each o broad range of reading levels o some easy chapter books o some children's magazines

Teacher / parent relations: Celebrate progress at a family reading night, special reading celebration, or book fair. Make parents feel like part of the team by providing monthly or weekly newsletters about what we are reading/learning about in class. Send lists of needs and opportunities home with students.

Have students sign their childs reading log. Have at least one homework a month that students parents/caregiver must take part in. o Eg. Having the child and a parent/caregiver respond to a poem. What do they both like/dislike about it?

Integrating childrens literature into other subjects: Young adult literature provides teachers with a way to capture students attention and engage them authentically in classroom activities. The themes covered in young adult literature may be ones that are difficult to discuss (eg. The Watsons go to Brigham, To Kill a Mockingbird), and the barriers between subjects are often difficult to break through. A thoughtful integration of young adult literature is a sure way to address issues and topics that are of interest to students while encouraging creative thinking across the subjects, and meeting curricular objectives. Put out supplementary books on content being studied to grab the children while the interest is high. Incorporate historical fiction into social studies. Incorporating literature into mathematics allows children to create a previously unknown imaginative relation between the two subjects. Whereas mathematics is often restricted to textbook study, literature can create new approaches to mathematical problem solving o Make a class graph of favorite fairy tales. o Create word problems using fairy tale characters, settings, and problems.

Resources: Getting more books for classroom library: Use paperback bookclubs with students. They give bonus points for each dollar spent by your students. The points can be used to get books for my library. Talk to the librarian or whomever runs the school bookfair. See if you can leave a list of books that parents can voluntarily purchase as a donation to your classroom. This could be a school-wide project. Convince the parent organization in your school to raise money for classroom libraries. Ask relatives and friends with older children if they have books around their houses that their children have outgrown. Ask my public library about a loaner program. In my hometown, the local public libraries allow teachers to check out books for an extended period of time to use in their classrooms. The downside to this is that the teacher is responsible for any lost or damaged books. Supplement your own books by checking out books from the school library.

Online resources:

Curriki Free Learning Sources for the World: English Language Artshttp://www.curriki.org/welcome/subjects/english-languagearts/?gclid=COjgvqiwmbsCFYNxOgod2ysA3w Carol Hursts Childrens Literature Cite- http://www.carolhurst.com/ Childrens Literature: http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/index.htm Poetry4Kids: http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/poetry-writing-lessons/ Cynthia Leitich Smith's Children's & Young Adult Literature Resources http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/cyalr_index.html Perfection Learning: http://www.perfectionlearning.com/literature-based-teacherresources-literature#