Welcome back! I am excited to begin this school year in my new position as intermediate resource teacher of English Language Arts for grades 3, 4, and 5.
What exactly does that mean? I will attempt to explain, but it is a new position and I know it will be ever changing and evolving!
Last year, we began adapting our curriculum for English Language Arts to bring it into line with the newly adopted California State Common Core Standards. It is difficult to summarize what that means, but in essence the standards are focused on developing college and career readiness in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language. The Common Core State Standards raise the bar for what students need to know and what they should be able to do to have the skills needed for college and, just as important, to lead rich lives with strong background knowledge of a diverse array of events, places, people, and ideas. Whereas subject matter for English Language Arts has typically been taught as single subjects, it makes sense that reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling would be taught together.
In implementing the ELA standards, we will now be teaching reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and even spelling in themed “units”. Each unit will include reading and discussing several “exemplar texts”. These are works listed in the CCSS that meet the rigor and complexity of the standards. The themed units incorporate both literary and informational texts that include novels, short stories, poetry, essays, speeches, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, fables, folktales, and mythology. Students will join together with about 7 or 8 other students and the teacher/facilitator, allowing for a more personal instructional focus.
My new position at Sacred Heart School will be to work with our third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers in designing and implementing themed ELA units. We will begin exploring unit one next week. For example, in fourth grade the title of the first themed unit is “Tales of the Heart”. In this unit students examine a mixture of emotions that accompany the transition to fourth grade. Students will independently read a Judy Blume novel while having opportunities to discuss the book with several classmates as they determine how the characters in the story are like the members in their own families. Each student will be guided through the process of writing a narrative when the book is complete. Fourth graders will also read and discuss works of poetry as they learn terms such as alliteration, meter, metaphor, and rhyme scheme. Love that Dog, by Sharon Creech, will be read aloud while students use sticky notes to point our examples of similes and metaphors. Students will write their responses to a variety of poems in their personal journals. This unit introduces the poetry of Robert Frost, William Blake, and Carl Sandburg (just to name a few!) Finally, they will write their own poems, imitating a poet of their choice, and share them with their groups.
Now you know why I am excited to have this position! I am involved in the planning of each unit, and I still get the privilege to work with students. Please feel free to email me at the address below if you have any questions. I am also including a website for you to explore if you want to know more about the Common Core Standards.
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf
Mrs. Sharon Redmond
intermediateresourceteacher@sacredheartschoolventura.org
