January 30, 2017 Curriculum Implementation Day for K-5 Teachers. Literacy and the New Curriculum: Success, Engagement and Joy for All

1. Literacy and the New Curriculum:
Success, Engagement and Joy for All
Delta Curriculum Implementation Day
January 30, 2017
Lisa Schwartz
lschwartz@sd38.bc.ca

2. Learning Intentions
• I can make connections between literacy strategies and instruction
and the re-designed curriculum.
• I can see how core competencies can be uncovered through
literacy experiences.
• I have one idea to take away and try.

3. What are you hoping to leave with today?

4. Every Child, Every Day: Six Elements of Effective Reading Instruction
A summary from Richard Allington, Educational Leadership, March 2012
1. Every child, everyday reads something they have chosen themselves.
2. Every child reads accurately. Research shows that reading at 98% or higher
accuracy is essential for reading acceleration.
3. Every child reads something he or she understands. This takes a lot of reading and
rereading of text that students find engaging.
4. Every child writes about something personally meaningful. When they write about
something they care about, they use conventions of spelling and grammar because it mat-
ters that their ideas are communicated.
5. Every child talks with their peers about reading and writing. Research has demonstrated
that conversation with peers improves comprehension and engagement with text.
6. Every child listens to a fluent adult reader read aloud. This increases students’ own flu-
ency and comprehension skills, expands vocabulary, background knowledge, awareness
of genre and text structure.
S.D. #71

5. Images Amazon.ca

6. Big Idea: Language and story can be a source
of creativity and joy
• Developing students’ reading identity
• Have students think about their reading
identities. What kind of reader are you?
• Teach students to make meaning from a
book even when they can’t read all of the
words.
• Look for the treasures in a book.

8. I can be a flexible thinker
• There is more to reading than sounding out and phonics.
• Let’s teach all of our students how to word solve and make
meaning while reading.
• Big Idea: Playing with language helps us discover how
language works.
Curricular Competencies Content
Read fluently at grade level
Use sources of information and prior
knowledge to make meaning.
Reading strategies
Metacognitive strategies
Word patterns, word families

9. Curricular Competencies

10. Meaning- Does that make sense?
Sound- Does that sound right?
Visual- Does that look right?
The Reading Process and
Word Solving

11. Source: Catching
Reader’s Before
they Fall
Pat Johnson &
Katie Keier

15. Skunky went to ___________ worms for his
breakfast

16. Skunky went to d_______ worms for his breakfast.

18. • Strategies Used:
• Thinking about the meaning of the sentence
• Your word choices were the same part of speech
• You knew what would sound right
• After I added the “d” you also used visual information
• **early readers have trouble using all sources of information and
tend to rely on one. Whichever one comes easiest for them

19. Whole Class Lessons Using Big Books
• Work with one or two pages (5-10 Minutes)
• Cover up one or two words
• Read the sentence together leaving out the missing word
• Ask them for all of the possibilities for the missing word
• Record their suggestions
• Try each word they suggested crossing out words that don’t make sense

22. Long
Long skinny
Sharp
Big
Pointy
the

24. Communicate
Coordinate
Mate
Look for
Talk
Tell
Share
Find

25. What About More Capable Readers?
• How do students make meaning while reading?
• How can we help students develop strategies to come to a deeper
understanding of what they are reading?
Curricular Competencies Content
• Use a variety of comprehension
strategies before, during and after
reading, listening or viewing to
deepen understanding of text.
• Apply a variety of thinking skills to
gain meaning from texts.
• Respond to text in personal and
creative ways.
• Reading strategies
• Metacognitive strategies

26. • Use thinking and reading strategies to go deeper in our
understanding of a text.
• Build language and vocabulary through whole class and small
group instruction
• Make connections between a text, ourselves, other books
and the world.
Image Source:
Amazon.ca

27. Explode a picture
With thanks to Faye Brownlie

29. Image Source:
Amazon.ca

36. Explode a picture. Explode a sentence.
• Hand out 5-7 photos to small groups.
• Explode the photo: What do you notice? What do you think? What do you
wonder?
• Before rotating the photos show cover of the book to support their inferences.
• After seeing at least two photos, display photos around room.
• Together explode a sentence from the book.
• On their own explode a second sentence from the book.
• 10 minute quick write.
• Highlight most powerful word, phrase or sentence
• Class organizes themselves to create a Found poem with their most powerful
parts.
• With thanks to Faye Brownlie

37. • How might you use some or all of this strategy in your class?

38. What is a Feedback Frame?
• A form of self-assessment and reflection
• An opportunity to keep teaching targets steady for students
• Formative assessment for the teacher to make a plan for next steps.

39. Goal: Eyes on print. Real reading for different
purposes.
Curricular Competencies Content
• Read fluently at grade level
• Use sources of information and prior knowledge to
make meaning.
• Reading strategies
• Metacognition
Big Idea: Language and story can be a source of creativity and joy

40. Every child reads something he or she
chooses.
• Just right for the brain
• Just right for the heart
3 Ways to Read a Book
Read the words
Read the pictures
Retell the story

41. Browsing Bags

43. Browsing Bags
• Early readers: Just right books, repeated reading of the
same books, expert books.
• More developed readers: A variety of genres.
• Read to self, read to a friend, read to an adult.
• Reflection: I liked. I learned. I am wondering about.

44. WHAT:
• Students are reading a variety of genres
• Authentic reading
• Students are having fun while reading
• Gives opportunities for the teacher to do some small group,
explicit reading instruction or reading conferences
Literacy Centres/Reader’s Workshop

45. WHY:
• Practice reading strategies and lessons that have been taught in
whole group or small group
• Real life applications for reading
• Read for different purposes
• Finding joy in different reading experiences
• Increase choice and motivation
• No busy work. No worksheets. No added marking.
• 30 minutes of eyes on print a day
Purpose of Literacy Centres/Reader’s
Workshop

47. Read Like a Rock Star

48. Read Like a Scientist

49. Possible Read Like a Scientist Mini Lesson
• How to access non-fiction books with a lot of print or difficult
vocabulary?
• Use pictures and headings to make meaning
• Model how to infer from pictures

50. If we don’t have gravity, we will fly up to the sky

52. How to Reading
• Michelle Hikida- Diefenbaker Elementary. How to inquiry projects.

53. Joke Books: Read Like a Comedian

54. Would You Rather?

56. Read Like an Artist

58. Read to a Stuffie

59. Listening to Reading

60. What are some things that you do that support joyful
literacy in your classroom?

61. Core Competencies
Personal Awareness and Responsibility:
• I can persevere with challenging tasks.
• I can implement, monitor, and adjust a plan and assess the results.
Communication:
• I am an active listener.
• I can give, receive and act on feedback.
• I can recount experiences and activities and tell something I learned.

62. Lollipop Moment
• Watch the video: “Lollipop Moment”
• Use C-S-I strategy to share the message:

64. Drew Dudley Video: TedX Toronto: “Lollipop
Momement

65. CSI…

66. Mix and Mingle
Instructions:
• Walk around to music.
• When the music stops, find a partner.
• Discuss the question given by teacher.

67. Thinking About C-S-I and Mix and Mingle
• How does Mix and Mingle support students?
• What is the difference between a symbol and an image?
• How do/would you use C-S-I in your classroom?
• What tool would you ask your students to use to create their C-S-I?

68. My Blue is Happy
Source: Amazon.ca

70. For Read A Louds
• heart = a part I like a lot
• exclamation mark = a part with a strong feeling
• smiley face = I agree
• hmm = interesting, made me think

75. Inquiry in Language Arts
• What could a literacy inquiry look like in a classroom?
• Using guiding questions, how can we get our
students to think deeply about what they are reading?
• How do we build an inquiry unit in language arts while providing
time for conferencing, networking, thinking, choice and big
ideas?

76. Connections to the Curriculum

77. Big Idea: Stories and other texts help us learn
about ourselves, our families and our
communities.
Curricular Competencies Content
• Reading fluently at grade level.
• Using sources of information and prior knowledge
to make meaning.
• Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared
understanding.
• Plan and create a variety of communication forms
for different purposed and audiences.
• Metacognitive strategies
• Oral language strategies
• Reading strategies

78. Focus
• Eyes on print
• Rich discussions around big ideas
• Social responsibility, social emotional learning and self
regulation woven throughout.
• Different access points and opportunities for all learners to
make thinking visible:
• Say something
• Make something
• Write something

79. How We Began
We began our inquiry by developing questions and text sets
that supported the questions.
E.g.
What can stories teach us about friendship?
How do these stories help us think about friendship?
What is a true friend?

80. Our Launch
• Whole Class
• Read Aloud/Think Aloud- Show students the possibilities when
thinking about a book
• Model leaving tracks of our thinking in different ways (words, images,
phrases)
• Book Talk a few books in the collection (show cover, talk about book,
show inside of book)

83. Say Something: Wrap Around
Everyone shares their thinking about their reading and its connection
to the inquiry question being explored.

84. Say Something
Knowledge Building Circle

85. Make Something

87. Write Something

88. Why do some people
choose evil or mean?

89. Illustrator Inquiry
• How do illustrations communicate stories?
• What messages do the illustrations give us?
• How does the colour help us understand the story?
• How does an illustrator represent sound, movement and
emotion?

90. Other Possible Questions
How important is creativity?
What does it take to be a hero?
Can one person really make a difference in saving the planet?
How important is it be different?
How do authors create images in our heard while we read?

91. Turn and Talk
Brainstorm Possible Questions

92. Data Sets to Support Language Acquisition
With thanks to Brooke Douglas and Leyton Schnellert
Brooke Douglas

93. Data sets – not as boring as it sounds 
• Image about four– about 4
• Words – student generated from images
• Texts – related to the big idea
• Recursive – let’s take another look as we learn
• Evolvable – let’s keep adding as we learn
• Expandable – let’s go deeper as we learn

94. What do you notice?

95. What do you notice?

96. What do you notice? What do you wonder?

97. What do you notice? What do you wonder?

99. Components of the Unit
(and the curriculum)
Let’s look!
• Big Ideas – Wonder & Explore & Explain
• Competencies – Thinking, Communicating, Personal & Social
• Teaching Strategies
• Upside down triangle – low floor/high ceiling
• Skills

100. Word Data Set
• Wheelchair
• habitat
• fish
• camouflage
• survival
• helping
• eating
• Long beak
• bird
• bike
• reptile
• endangered
• dangerous
• adaptation
• colours

101. Types of texts
• Diverse, ranging in topic, level of difficulty, text to image ratio, number of
words
• Expands our understanding of big ideas
• Opportunity to layer in reading strategies
• How we use texts allows students to process information and then
transform it

102. What to do with texts?
• Book talk
• Select a text
• Identify the strategy
Each group creates
a post-it summary to
share with the class

103. Critical Thinking
Making judgments based on reasoning:
• Consider options
• Analyze options using specific criteria
• Draw conclusions
• Make judgments
A set of abilities used to examine one’s own thinking, and that
of others, about information gained through observation,
experience and forms of communication.

104. Facets of Critical Thinking
1. Analyze and critique

105. 2. Question and investigate