Literacy Instruction Overview

In 2013, the Literacy instruction will be highly differentiated and individualised due to the wide range of abilities in the classroom. This overview however, will focus on whole class activities and some specialised activities for children that are capable completing some individual work.

Use of Movement
The use of movement in the classroom will be used as an opportunity for children to move about and switch on. The rationale behind this thinking lies in research that has positively linked movement with academic performance. Students will use movement songs from more.starfall.com and other instructional Youtube videos to complete different exercises prior to the beginning of the day. Movement will also be embedded in other parts of the day such as a gross motor program in the middle session.

Fine Motor activities

Emphasis will be placed on fine motor activities and the strengthening of muscles in the hands so that students can begin to make pencil movements independently. Each day students will Participate in the Box activities. Complete activities such as scrunching up paper. Complete brain gym activities using figure 8 worksheets. For more, go to the resource section of mrbaltetsch.weebly.com password skeleton

Talking and Listening

News News is seen as a vital component of the classroom as it allows unique talking and listening opportunities that might not occur in other situations. News consists of those children that are willing to speak, an opportunity to talk about a familiar topic, usually as a recount of what may have happened during the afternoon before. The structure of news is 1. 2. 3. 4. Student greets class with Good morning everyone. Class responds. Student tells news; prompts will be given by teacher if necessary. Student then asks for questions. Students wanting to ask questions must raise their hand. Student then thanks the class for listening, class responds.

Other opportunities for talking and listening include use of the iPad to record voice, use of speech therapy apps and the Carenne Language Program.

Reading
Due to the wide arrange of abilities within the classroom, there will be several reading programs in the classroom this year. Students will complete various themes located in the Orange County Down Syndrome sight word reading program. Students will complete Direct Instruction lessons with the class. Students will complete the phonics program as a whole class and say the sounds associated. Students will complete various themes located in the Orange County Down Syndrome sight word reading program. Students will complete the Carenne Language Program as part of a whole class group. In addition to the above activities students will complete: Phonics based sensory activities. Shared reading activities. Direct Instruction CVC word activities. Flash Card reading activities.

Phonics Instruction
The following is the letter introduction sequence for 2013. amtsifdroglhucbnkvewjpyTLMFDINARHGBxqzJEQ New letters are introduced every 3 days and repeated often. The script for letter introduction is as follows. Teacher: This letters sound is (letter sound). What sound? Children: (repeat sound) Teacher: Yes (repeat sound) Teacher then calls on individual This script allows for explicit instruction. Zero guesswork. Whole class participation. Positive reinforcement and opportunities for the teacher to listen to and respond if a child is not answering correctly. After 3 letters are known, students are introduced to VC and CVC words using a visual approach and a similar script providing similar opportunities. The word is written on the board as:

cat

The script for teaching CVC and VC words is as follows. Teacher: Watch me say this word the long way. Ready? (Teacher sounds out word, holding continuous sounds for at least 2 seconds. As the teacher says each sound, the teacher should move their finger to each corresponding dot.) Teacher: Your turn to say this word the long way ready. (Repeat as before with students) Teacher: Watch me say this word the fast way ready. (Say word) What word? Students: (repeat word) Teacher: Yes, (repeat word) Teacher then calls on individual students to repeat word.

Sight Word Instruction

Students practice sight words daily and must achieve each word 5 times before word is replaced. Script. Teacher: (Points to word) This word is (say word). What word? Student repeats word. Teacher: Yes, (repeats word) Allow student to practice independently.

Writing
Students participate in 1:1 sentence writing activities. Students practice writing their name.

Spelling
Students are tested and given 5-8 words to write and read each day based on diagnostic tests. Students are formally tested weekly to ensure competency. If a student does not write the word correctly after 5 days, they are given the same words until competency is achieved.