Fourth Grade Literacy Schedule

Ms. Jones' 4^th Grade Daily Schedule

• 7:40 – 8:00 School starts. DOL/Morning meeting (Roll, lunch count)
• 8:00 – 9:25 Math
• 9:25 – 9:30 Restroom break
• 9:30 – 10:00 Special areas (art, computer, music)
• 10:00 – 11:00 Guided reading + centers
  • Center 1: Guided reading with teacher. (20 minutes)
    • Guided Reading schedule:
      • Discussion/APK
      • Minilesson
      • Guided reading
      • Implementation of strategy or skill taught in minilesson
  • Center 2: Vocabulary/Spelling games or worksheets (20 minutes)
  • Center 3: Reading skills and comprehension (making inferences, fact vs opinion, etc) (20 minutes)
• 11:00 – 11:20 Lunch
• 11:20 – 11:40 Recess
• 11:40 – 12:00 Read Aloud
• 12:00 – 1:00 Writing Workshop/Journaling
  • Writer's Workshop schedule:
    • Minilesson
    • Writing (30 - 40 minutes)
    • Conferencing/sharing
• 1:00 – 1:10 Restroom break
• 1:10 – 2:10 Science/Social Studies (day rotation)
• 2:10 – 2:15 Homework folders and clean up
• 2:15 – 2:40 SSR (Fridays – Book discussion group)
• 2:40 Dismissal

Rationale

Literacy instruction will begin each day with guided reading and center time. Students will receive 20 minutes of small group instructional time from the teacher. Each group will have their own specific text that correlates to their guided reading ability. “At the heart of the learning process is the child’s ability to use a gradient of difficulty in texts by which he can pull himself up by his bootstraps: texts which allow him to practice and develop the full range of strategies which he does control, and by problem-solving new challenges, reach out beyond his present control.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2010), guided reading provides the means to offer children challenging texts. Students will learn fluency and comprehension strategies in minilessons and then get the chance to use the strategies themselves while reading the text. Centers will focus on areas of student weakness, with groups receiving their specific reading level or activities. The vocabulary station will feature activities such as finding and using multiple meanings of words, homophone, antonym, synonym, and homonym games, word sorts, exploring figurative meanings, as well as word-study activities. The reading skills and comprehension center will focus on strengthening students comprehension strategies (as well as test taking strategies) by having the students focus on short passages and using comprehension activities and skills such as inferencing, text connections, questioning the author, visualizing, setting a purpose, determining importance, and many more.

Following their break the students will get a chance to unwind and listen to a slightly above reading level book during read aloud time. Read aloud also offers the teacher opportunities for modeling strategies and think alouds. Read Alouds benefit students by hearing more complex text in context and allowing students that may be struggling with fluency to work on comprehension skills such as visualizing. After the read aloud students participate in 'writer's workshop'. Writer's workshop will begin the school year with assigned topics with more choice and less rules slowly given over time. This will orientate the fourth grader from the more structured third grade to the larger amount of writing freedom they are allowed in the fifth grade. Minilessons in writing will be taught at the beginning of the lesson and writing for that day should utilize the strategy used. Individual conferencing will be conducted at a designated time for each student following the drafting step. This will allow the teacher to focus on a students writing and offer individualized and differentiated goals and instruction. Designated conference times also provides students with a deadline. At the end of writer's workshop students that have reached the 'publishing' stage can share their works in the 'author's chair'. Journaling will provide a break in between writer's workshop assignments and allow for more 'free write' time. During journaling the student will spend the hour writing from their choice of several prompts and can write as much as they want without having to prewrite, edit, or publish. 

For the last thirty minutes of the day all students will participate in sustained silent reading (SSR) with a book of their choice. This practice builds intrinsic motivation by providing the student with choice as well as fostering the students personal vocabulary, interests, and educational goals. It is important for the teacher to spend this time on reading to model reading behavior and also provides the teacher an opportunity to share and introduce books to the class on book discussion Friday. On Fridays students will be able to talk about the books that they have read or been reading in small groups. This will help other students choose books that appeal to them as well as provide students an opportunity to reflect and critique the books that they have read.

References

Fountas, G. S., & Pinnell, I. C. (2010). Research base for guided reading as an instructional approach. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading

Tompkins, G. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach. (5 ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Resources:

Center Activities From the Florida Center for Reading Research   

Bloom's Taxonomy Cards for Guided Reading Instruction

SSR Time Signs from Teach123