English Language Arts

Textbooks:

• Heggerty: Bridge to Reading

• Heggerty: Decodable Books )student readers that incorporate learned sound-spelling relationships and sight words)

• Heggerty: Bridge to Writing

• Individual picture books, chapter books, and poetry selections

First and Second Grade

Reading: Students will work on phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading strategies to decode and encode words. They will be exposed to a variety of genres including poetry, biographies, and informational text. Students will transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Instruction in phonemic awareness will help students master the individual sounds of our language and then match the letter or letters to each sound. Phonics instructions will include, but is not limited to, a review of consonant letters and short vowel sounds, long vowels, vowel teams, consonant clusters, digraphs, the schwa sound, and r-controlled vowels. Students will also learn 1-5 high frequency words each week using activities to help build automaticity.

Writing: Students will receive instruction in grammar and writing strategies and be given meaningful writing experiences and authentic writing tasks. They will practice all stages of the writing process including: brainstorming/planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing. They will progress from writing one-paragraph papers to writing a three-paragraph paper.