JONATHAN DROOKER
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literacy block structure


This pedagogically sound primary literacy block structure has been organized to include both partial and whole language teaching on a daily basis and emphasizes the gradual release of responsibility (modelled, shared, guided and independent reading and writing).
 
The *morning* literacy block can be broken down into 6 sections:

UPON ENTRY
Did you bring your homework bag into the classroom?
Did you complete a book exchange and/or return guided reading books? 
Did you place Drooker’s Deliveries on your desk for me to collect?
Did you log into a classroom computer?
Do you have a highlighter, marking pen, sharpened pencil, eraser, dry erase marker? (If not, check the green bin for extras)
Is your desk neatly organized?

SECTION #1
MORNING SONG/ANTHEM/ATTENDANCE
yrdsb.edsby.com/p/BasePublic/

SECTION #2
CLASS UPDATES

SECTION #3
WHAT'S TRENDING
​www.drooker.ca/whats-trending.html

SECTION #4
PARTIAL LANGUAGE LEARNING
"Drooker's Daily Drills (3D)"
SEPTEMBER
Our Spelling Strategies, CUPS, Our Proofreading Plan (OPP), Use of the Writer’s Toolkit, Types of Sentences, Run Ons, UWQSA, Transition Words, Contractions, Homophones, Plural Rules, Parts of Speech
MONDAYS
​
Our Proofreading Plan/Sentence Editing 
Picture
TUESDAYS
​
Reading Comprehension 
WEDNESDAYS
6 Trait Writing
SEPTEMBER: Ideas
OCTOBER: Ideas/Word Choice
NOVEMBER:  Ideas/Word Choice
DECEMBER: Voice
JANUARY: Voice
​FEBRUARY/ EARLY MARCH:  Sentence Fluency
MARCH: Sentence Fluency
APRIL: Voice Revisited
MAY: Consolidation of Skills
JUNE: Consolidation of Skills
THURSDAYS 
Mixed Grammar Practice
FRIDAYS
​
Partial Language Learning Mini Units
1) Adjectives
2) Nouns
3) Vocabulary
4) Adverbs
5) Usage
6) Sentences

​Note: Occasional EQAO and Reading Practice is interspersed on Fridays throughout the year 

SECTION #5
GUIDED READING
(Offset by Daily 5/Literacy Circles/Hybrid Approach)
www.drooker.ca/readers-toolkit.html
TERM 1: DAILY 5

Passport approach 


MONDAY
Word Work
TUESDAY
Listening to Reading
WEDNESDAY
Independent Reading
Read at your desk and silently. Once complete, work on your reading journal
THURSDAY
EEKK Reading 
Elbow, elbow, knee, knee. Taller person reads first out loud for 10 minutes. The listener sits on their book and assists with their decoding strategies. They can also comment on the reader’s pace, phrasing, and their expression. Roles are then reversed
FRIDAY
Writing Work

TERM 2: LITERACY CIRCLES

Students are subdivided into literacy circle groups. Each group has an assigned book. Group members will find a spot in the room to sit down in a circle facing one another. Members will take turns reading and will complete as much as they can in a 15 minute period. Subsequently, each member will take a post reading role. There is a chart that can be referenced on the whiteboard showing the rotation of roles. One member will take on the role of the discussion director (done orally), another as literary luminary (done orally), another as vocabulary enricher (completed on sheets available in the bins) and another as the group checker (completed on sheets available in the classroom bins). If you are unfamiliar with Literacy Circles, a more thorough explanation is available here: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/literature-circles-getting-started-19.html#resources


HYBRID APPROACH
Students have been paired up and have been assigned a computer. During this 25 minute block of time, students will take turns reading a book from within their joint Raz Kids Reading account. Prior to reading, students are asked to consider the day's guided reading question/prompt: X Using their "Guided Reading Response" sheet (left in the white Guided Reading bin on my desk), they are to respond to the question/prompt, record any challenging and/or potent words they encountered and to offer the book a rating. Note: Should the day's question/prompt be unsuitable for the genre of book they chose to read, they are permitted to write N/A (Not applicable) in the answer space provided.
guided_reading_assessment_sheet.docx
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wordworkfavourites.doc
File Size: 128 kb
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literacy_circle_roles.docx
File Size: 14 kb
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literacy_circles.docx
File Size: 49 kb
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guided_reading_response_sheet.docx
File Size: 14 kb
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SECTION #6
WRITING
www.drooker.ca/writers-toolkit.html
Since the school has yet to establish a writing continuum representing writing text forms taught in each grade (exposed and/or mastered), I have used my teaching expertise and models from other schools to create a monthly writing continuum appropriate for third grade (for the sake of this literacy block model). If you compare these foci to previous long range plans that I have submitted whilst teaching primary grades, you can see the progressive approach.
DAILY WRITING FOCI 

MONDAYS
 Media
SEPTEMBER: Introduction to Media
OCTOBER: Target Audiences/Focus Group Surveys, Logo Design: Typographic, Graphic, Hybrid
NOVEMBER: Print Advertisement Design: Logo, Slogan, Bribes, Colour as Feelings, Memorable Concepts
DECEMBER: Media Analysis: Audience, Text, Production Values
JANUARY: Media Analysis: Audience, Text, Production Values
FEBRUARY: Radio Advertisement Design, Script Writing
MARCH: Television Commercial Design, Script Writing
APRIL: Commercial Design
MAY: Commercial Design
JUNE: Review/Consolidation of Media Skills
TUESDAYS
​
Monthly reading focus work 
(Fiction/Non Fiction Retells, "Relates", "Reflects", Connections, Visualizing, Inferencing, Predicting, Questioning, etc.)
SEPTEMBER: 5 Alive Rule, Introduction to Decoding/Deciphering Strategies, Genres, Reading Diagnostic Tests
OCTOBER: Questioning, Intro to Fiction Retells
NOVEMBER:  Predicting, Fiction Retells, Intro to Non-Fiction Retells
DECEMBER: Inferring, Fiction Retells, Non-Fiction Retells
JANUARY: Visualizing
FEBRUARY/ EARLY MARCH: Connections
MARCH: Connections
APRIL: Determining Importance
MAY: Summarizing/Synthesizing
JUNE: Consolidation of Reading skills
WEDNESDAYS, THURSDAYS AND FRIDAYS
​
Monthly writing text form work
(Poetry and Grammar interspersed throughout the year)
 SEPTEMBER:, Diagnostic Testing, One by One Writing (“Give Me 6”), Basics of Descriptive Writing: Telling vs. Showing, Similes
OCTOBER: Intro to paragraphing, Descriptive Writing, Fiction Retells
NOVEMBER: Letter/Email Writing, Non-Fiction Retells
DECEMBER: Letter/Email Writing, Explanatory/Procedural Writing
JANUARY: Narrative Writing
FEBRUARY: Narrative Writing
MARCH: Writing in Role, Script Writing
APRIL: News Article Writing
MAY:  Review Writing, Persuasive Writing
JUNE: Consolidation of Writing Skills
Picture

AMBIENT STUDY MUSIC
​mynoise.net/

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  • Home
  • Gallery/Highlights
  • Routines
  • Remote Learning
  • Birthdays
  • Daily Work
  • Animation
  • What's Trending
  • Literacy Block
  • Reader's Toolkit
  • Writer's Toolkit
  • 6 Trait Writing
  • Paragraphing
  • Descriptive Writing
  • Free Fall Writing
  • Letter Writing
  • Message in a QR Code Project
  • Narrative Writing
  • Explanatory Writing
  • Review/Persuasive
  • News Article Writing
  • Poetry Writing
  • Informational Writing
  • Discussion Writing
  • Procedural Writing
  • Script Writing
  • Media
  • Zipper Pull Media Project
  • 3D Printing Store
  • Visual Arts
  • Drama/Writing in Role
  • Dance
  • Music
  • Numeracy Block
  • Math Toolkit
  • Number
  • Data/Probability
  • Algebra
  • Spatial Sense
  • Coding
  • Financial Literacy
  • Health
  • Physical Education
  • The Playground Legends
  • The Playground Legends Store
  • The Chain Project
  • Communities 1780-1850
  • Changing Traditions
  • Communities
  • Early Societies
  • Political and Physical Regions
  • The Local Community
  • Roles and Responsibilities
  • Seasonal Changes
  • Needs and Characteristics
  • Materials, Objects and Everyday Structures
  • Energy in our Lives
  • Growth and Change in Animals
  • Properties of Liquids and Solids
  • Air and Water in the Environment
  • Movement
  • Soils in the Environment
  • Growth and Changes in Plants
  • Forces Causing Movement
  • Strong and Stable Structures
  • EQAO
  • Sample Units/Lessons
  • Indoor Recess
  • Educational Links