Elementary
Reading Language Arts
Program Overview
- Reading
Reading
is the process of constructing meaning from written
text. It is a complex skill requiring the coordination
of a number of interrelated sources of information.
Reading is based upon five principles:
Reading
is a constructive process.
Reading
must be fluent.
Reading
must be strategic.
Reading
requires motivation.
Reading
is a continuously developing process.
Reading involves the interrelatedness of the five components of reading:
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
It is an interactive process in which students construct and extend
meaning from life’s experiences, language, print, and non-print
materials. Students read for literary experiences, to gain information,
and to perform tasks.
Students read for a variety of purposes: Reading for a Literary Experience
involves reading stories, plays, or poems; Reading To Be Informed involves
reading informational text, articles, resource material, and procedural
material. Reading instruction involves teaching the skills and strategies
to decode and comprehend text by helping students develop effective
and efficient processing systems. Strategy-based reading instruction
provides students with a plan for monitoring and problem-solving difficulties
with text before reading, during reading, and after reading. Word study,
which includes phonics, structural analysis, and vocabulary study is
integral to decoding and constructing meaning. The teacher read-aloud
provides a model for good reading, a model for good writing, introduces “book
language,” and supports listening and comprehension instruction.
The shared reading and guided reading components of balanced literacy
provide support as the student becomes more confident in applying skills.
