Literacy and Learning

Literacy: understanding and communicating through 

the written word

In our class, literacy is learning about reading and writing.

We do this in different ways and focus in different areas.
(Click on each area to learn more about that part of our learning.)

• Phonemic Awareness: recognizing and identifying the sounds of a word
• Phonics: connecting the sounds in a word to letters
• Fluency: reading text smoothly, accurately, and with expression
• Comprehension: understanding and gaining meaning from what we read
• Vocabulary: learning and knowing words that we read
• Writing: communicating ideas through words and pictures

To grow in our reading, we should be reading books that are "just right." Help your reader choose a book that is just right. Look at the first 1-2 pages of a book. Can your reader read all of the words or miss just 1 word on those pages? It's probably too easy. Did your reader miss 5 or more words on those pages. It's probably too hard to read independently. 

Choose a book that has some challenging words, but not too many. Also, the book should be interesting to your reader.

Words that we use when talking about literacy---

Genre: the different kinds of text

Realistic fiction: an imaginary story that is based on real life; the events in this type of story could really happen

Fantasy: an imaginary story that contains impossible things (magic, talking animals); the events in this type of story could not happen in real life

Informational text (nonfiction): text that gives facts and information about a topic

Biography: the story (facts) about a real person's life

Fairy tales and folktales: stories that are passed down from one group to another through history, usually connected to a particular culture; also called traditional literature

Poetry: text that creates an emotion or mood; usually uses rhythm and sometimes rhyme