In addition to these activities, students are given time to read independently every day. Classroom libraries include a variety of genre related to chosen topics and at a range of reading levels. Daily teaching and learning activities ensure that reading is taught throughout the day in all subject areas. Connections between reading and writing are purposefully designed into weekly lesson plans as teachers model writing for the students, provide focus lessons on conventions of writing, and guide students as they write each day. Writing takes place in all areas of the curriculum.
Students write daily in learning logs, writing folders, or journals.
Writing can include a curriculum area of study or a topic of choice. Students are encouraged to write responses to reading on paper and on the computer. By providing many sets of experiences where writing can occur, and by providing direct instruction of writing skills, our teachers support the literacy development of their students. Teachers make observations during individual conferences and by reading children's writing. From these observations, teachers determine what students know and what they are ready to be taught next in accordance with the Program of Studies.