Reading
The rope graphic above represents what the Science of Reading research tells us about how readers learn to read.
The programs we follow to teach the different components of the word recognition side of the rope are as follows.
Phonemic Awareness- Heggerty
Decoding (Phonics)- Reading Horizons
Sight Recognition- The Most Common Word List from Reading Horizons. Taught using the process of Orthographic Mapping.
The resources we use to teach the language comprehension side of the rope are as follows.
Most of the components are taught using the topics of study in our science and social studies curriculum.
We also use Read Alouds to enhance comprehension and vocabulary. Class discussions center around language structure, vocabulary, meaning, etc. The texts chosen are intentional per genre, content, theme, author and/or complexity.
Writing
In second grade children learn how to write a good simple sentence advancing to complex sentences and ultimately to a short paragraph.
The genres of writing that are focused on are Opinion, Informative, and Narrative.