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Four Block Literacy
The Four Block Reading Program utilizes four approaches to teach children to read and write.The four blocks include Guided Reading, Self-Selected Reading,Writing, and Working Woth Words. Each block concentrates on a specific set of skills and involves group work and individualized teacher instruction.
Guided Reading:
During this time the students become aware that the ultimate objective of reading is to gather meaning from print. If students only learn to decode words and say those words with precision but don't have any understanding of what the print means, then all is lost. The Guided Reading Block is the time teachers guide students to apply reading skills and strategies in the context of "real" reading..The goals of this block are to build background knowledge, vocabulary and comprehension skills through before, during and after reading activities. The block generally begins with teacher-led discussion to review concepts or activate prior knowledge. Students are presented with material both at reading level and below reading level. Comprehension skills are a main focus and are addressed through small multilevel groupings such as book club groups.
Self-Selected Reading:
Research points strongly to the fact that kids who read most, read best. The self-selected reading block is a 30-minute daily block of time that consists of a teacher read-aloud followed by independent conferences with the teacher.while students silently read AR books at their level. Goals of this block are to improve book selection skills, reading comprehension and decoding. During the independent conferences, teachers address individual student needs.
Writing:
Each writing block is about 40 minutes long. The goals of the writing block are to enhance students' independent writing skills as well as expressive language skills as they share the pieces they have written. The block begins with a short five- to 10-minute mini-lesson that focuses on one aspect of the writing or editing process. Students then write on self-selected topics and conference with the teacher. Sharing is the final component of this block. Students should have ample opportunity to share the pieces they are working on and receive peer feedback.
Working with Words:
The working with words block is another 30-minute portion of the classroom literacy block. The goals of this block are for students to increase recognition and fluency of high-frequency words and to improve spelling and decoding skills. Components of the block are word wall activities, where students are introduced and gain practice with pre-selected words, and decoding and spelling activities. Decoding and spelling activities consist of rhyming activities, making and sorting word families, and using spelling patterns and context clues to decode unknown words.