Laura Schultz
3/3/16
Literacy Block Overview
The school that I work in for Practicum A is Bensley Elementary School in
Chesterfield County. I work in a first grade classroom with 19 students and their teacher,
Mrs. Barnes. Mrs. Barnes is a relatively new teacher and has been working at Bensley for
four years. She loves working at Bensley Elementary, as it is a title 1 school; she told me
on the first day that I was with her, that you either love Bensley or you hate it. She said
that she wouldn’t want to work anywhere else and finds this school rewarding in every
aspect of teaching. From the beginning, Mrs. Barnes has told me that literacy is a huge
part of their day. With most of the population being Hispanic, this is crucial to the
children’s development.
The literacy block is scheduled in different blocks during the day. She does small
group from 9:25 – 10:00, whole group reading from 10:00 – 10:20, and writing from
10:20 – 11:00. Then the students have recess and lunch before having word work and
fluency from 12:10 – 12:40. A few other subjects are taught after this and then from 1:50
– 2:00 is independent reading and then finally, is word study from 2:00 – 2:40 before the
students go home for the evening.
During these different times, many different instructional techniques are used.
During small group, three more teachers come into Mrs. Barnes room and each work with
about a group of 4 – 7 students. Mrs. Barnes works with the group on the lowest level, as
does the ESOL teacher that comes in to work with another group. I have never seen this
done in a classroom, so it is neat to see how the students adapt so well to this. While
small group is going on, the students are using white boards and markers to spell words
that each of their individual teachers want them to know, they are reading books that are
on their current reading levels, they are inferring about what these different books will be
about just by what the title is, and they are whisper reading to themselves as each of the
teachers are listening on to their specific groups. Next, when it is time for whole group
reading, the three teachers leave and the students and Mrs. Barnes gather on the colorful
carpet. The students are told to face her as she goes over the book that they will be
reading. Mrs. Barnes told me that they spend about four days on each book before they
do some kind of assessment. While on the carpet, the students are asked some questions
about the book and then Mrs. Barnes reads. After this is done, the students start the
writing portion of their day. They do it right after whole group reading because generally
writing is connected to what they have just read. The couple of times that I have been
there for this, she is teaching them a new vocabulary word that goes along with the story
they just read. So each student gets a sheet that has a diagram on it and they write the
vocabulary word, the definition, draw a picture, and a then write a sentence using the new
word. When lunch is over, the students come back to the classroom and start their word
work and fluency block of the day. During this time, the students are working with new
word wall words, they learn five a week, and also do some poetry work that helps with
fluency. This is all done with a sheet of paper that has the poem on it and some crayons
so that the students can circle the words that Mrs. Barnes is teaching about. I have not
seen the last two blocks of the day, but plan on observing those later in the month.
Next, I will go over the materials that are being used during the literacy blocks.
During small group, I am seeing the progression of the level of stories. As mentioned
above, there are different groups that are on different levels. Mrs. Barnes told me that
they are striving for each group to advance every one to two weeks. The students read
four different books for each DRA level and then are assessed to make sure that they can
move up to the next level. Word knowledge and spelling are taught everyday. An
example of this would be the word wall that is up all year around and the five new words
they learn a week that are then added to the word wall. Mrs. Barnes has the five new
words posted, in alphabetical order, on the board all week and then the students have a
spelling test each Friday to make sure they know what these words are. She has them
write the words and then they have to write a sentence using each word. Fluency is taught
and learned when the students are given their poems each day. They work on each poem
two days in a row and then put them in their writing notebooks. Mrs. Barnes also
mentioned Fluency Friday. She said that one student a week gets to read a poem to the
whole class. The student gets to pick the poem they want to read and then the student gets
two glows from his/her peers and one grow. Mrs. Barnes said that this does wonders with
their fluency. Independent reading is also part of fluency and is done every afternoon.
After reading a book four days in a row during whole group reading, Mrs. Barnes gives a
comprehension assessment. This is done in the form of a worksheet that looks like a test.
She asks multiple-choice questions and then at the end she tells the students to write a
sentence about their favorite part of the story. So on paper she is able to see if each
individual student is comprehending what he or she is learning. Vocabulary is worked on
during the writing block. I mentioned this part above, when each student is given a
diagram and they write the definition of the word and a sentence using the word. This
exercise is done over the course of the week, which really instills each vocabulary word
into their brains. And last but not least is writing, this coincides with vocabulary on most
days. The students writing always connects back to the story that is being read during
whole group time. These methods and materials being used day in and day out really set
each student up for success.
In conclusion, each classroom is set up in different ways. Seeing how Mrs. Barnes
sets up her literacy block really made me think. On the first day, when she told me that
there were so many different blocks, I didn’t really understand why it was set up that
way. Now, after seeing how well this works, I would definitely set up my literacy block
like this. The students get tired of just reading and writing if it is done for three hours
straight. I love the idea of breaking it all up, so that the students get the break they need,
but then are excited to come back to it when it is time. I like how independent reading is
done at the end of the day so that each student has a little bit of time to just sit and read to
themselves, and kind of reflect on how their day went. This whole set up it perfect for
little minds to be productive throughout the day and not get tired or bored while they are
at school.6