Allison Altenberger 2nd Blog Post

Describe how literature is included in the literacy curriculum in your classroom.  Based on today’s readings and your own ideas, what thoughts do you have about additional ways to incorporate literature into the curriculum?

In the Okemos curriculum, it says that in first grade students need to be able to know different genres, explain parts of text, make text to self and text to text connections, compare and contrast pieces of literature and to be enthusiastic about reading. 

Literacy is used across all subjects in my classroom. Every day my mentor teacher reads multiple children's books to the class. They always have story and snack in the morning. During that time she will usually pick a story that involves a lesson, a topic that relates to the current month, an upcoming holiday or is about what they are currently learning. Each child has their own "book bag" that contains between 3-5 books at their current reading level. There are at least two opportunities each school day for these students to practice reading their books. Depending on the day they either read them to themselves, have a buddy read or read to the MT or myself. My mentor teacher has an extensive collection of children's books. When teaching science or social studies she always has a book to accompany her lesson. By using books for those subject areas, the students are seeing a variety of genres. The students also have an at home reading program, where they are required to read at home for 1-15 minutes every night. There is a positive reinforcement system set up for that program. A significant part of the Okemos curriculum is to have reading be a key component of each student's school day and to incorporate reading as much as possible. To meet the district reading standards, the school has designed a program called "Good Fit Reading." Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the students in all four first grade classrooms go to their designated literacy rooms. One of the classrooms is for the Tier I students, two classrooms have the Tier II students and one classroom has the Tier III students. During those 40 minutes, the students work on reading and writing for their level. That program seems to really assist students with their reading skills and improving their reading. A large part of the reading from our class was about students reading at the appropriate level (for ELL) and using technology to keep students engaged. The students in my class take weekly reading assessments to monitor that they are progressing. Also, each Thursday the students in my class get an hour of computer time. 40 minutes is spent with them reading online stories from the program called RAZ-Kids. They read the book at the level they are currently at and take a quiz on it. The students get really excited about that program.  The students in my classroom are exposed to children's literature constantly. 

I feel that my mentor teacher and the school has the students engaged in reading and books as much as they can in the school day. I never hear students complaining about having to read and they always get excited when it is time for them to pick out new books. I think as long as it is continued to be combined with other subject areas  and my mentor teacher keeps having her in depth book talks, they will be on track to meet the curriculum standards. As a fellow enthusiast of children's literature, I can see myself using the same format that is used in this classroom. 

When taking the "digital denizen" quiz, I found that I am between a digital immigrant and a digital native.