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Reading and Language Arts
The main element of the Just Read, Florida reading initiative
is the solution of 5+3+ii+iii=NCLB (No Child Left Behind).
All of the elements of that solution are included in our Reading
Program as set forth in the following paragraphs.
As a differentiated strategy for below-level readers, we
have chosen to use Reading Mastery, which is one of the six
scientifically-based reading programs chosen by the State
of Florida to be used to implement the solution. For those
children reading at grade level and above we have chosen the
 Montessori reading program, which is a proven effective reading
curriculum that incorporates all elements of the No Child
Left Behind solution.
Through the use of direct instruction
and a multitude of reading activities the five essential components
of reading are taught in the Montessori program: phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and comprehension.
We will be purchasing a complete professionally designed Montessori
curriculum from the North American Montessori Center, which
includes a specific reading curriculum.
Reading serves as a building block for the entire curriculum
and is interwoven throughout all aspects of it, making reading
a primary focus of the student’s activities. Our reading
program will include daily reading requirements, Drop Everything
And Read time daily, storytelling, and bookmaking activities.
A specific 267 item Montessori Language Arts Scope and Sequence
includes items such as phonetic sounds, phonetic writing and
reading, irregular or sight words, phonograms and blends,
which lead to fluent (total) reading. Journal keeping, creative
writing, whole language, poetry and many other activities
are also part of the program. In addition, we will be purchasing
a guide from Montessori Made Manageable (www.mmm-inc.com)
that will correlate all of the Montessori curriculum with
the Sunshine State Standards, including reading.
The Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program,
approved and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, has
named Montessori as a research-based program supported by
reliable research and effective practices. Two applicable
quotes are:
“Montessori students consistently outperform
their peers in reading and math; even those who only attend
Montessori preschool continue to outscore peers in reading
and math.”
“Montessori magnet schools have a track record
of having accomplished the goals of desegregation, parental
choice, and student achievement. They typically rank in the
upper one-third of the schools in their district on achievement
test scores, and they usually reflect the ethnic and racial
makeup of their communities.”
We have also attached evidence from the Montessori Public
School Consortium which includes reading research statistics.
“Montessori achieves results. Magnet school
test scores indicate a significant percentage of students
scoring in the “high performance” category (77th
through 99th percentiles) in vocabulary, reading, and math.”
In reference to the Montessori reading program and
gifted students – “The methods used in Montessori
schools are highly effective with both learning-disabled and
gifted learners; the reason for their effectiveness, however,
is that the learning environments have been designed to ensure
success for all children.”
The Montessori Reading Curriculum
is an enriching program for gifted students – the depth
and breadth as well as the individualized nature of the Montessori
curriculum ensures that the needs of gifted children will
be met. Students in the Montessori classroom are active participants
in the learning process and are intrinsically motivated to
achieve higher levels of reading; they read because they want
to, not because they have to.
The three types of assessment in the No Child Left Behind
Solution will also be part of our Montessori reading program:
screening, diagnosis, and progress monitoring. The program
will incorporate initial instruction (ii) along with immediate
intensive intervention (iii).
For screening, diagnosis, and progress monitoring we will
use a combination of the following instruments:
- Diagnostic Assessment of Reading (DAR)
- Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment (ERDA)
- Fox in a Box
- FCAT/SE-SAT/SAT-9
A copy of each student’s results will be placed in
the cumulative folder and a copy will be given to parents.
These instruments will be used to aid in the measurement of
learning outcomes and for monitoring student mastery.
Ongoing reading assessment will be used to monitor student
mastery and to determine needs for immediate intensive intervention.
Examples are:
- Checklists will be maintained regularly that judge the
child’s progress and effort towards mastery of phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and
comprehension.
- Checklists will be maintained to track the child’s
usage and mastery of the Montessori reading materials and
activities.
- Checklists will be maintained that judge the child’s
progress and effort towards mastery of the 8 reading essential
Sunshine State Standards in each grade level.
- Process-focused reading assessments like interviewing and
work plans will be developed together with the student.
- Observations of reading ability by the faculty will be documented.
- Student self-evaluation reading reports will be required.
- We will have performance assessments such as oral reading
presentations and demonstrations.
- We will have written reports prepared at least twice per
year based on each student’s Personal Education Plan.
The PEP will outline how the child has succeeded in meeting
their individual outlined reading goals and objectives.
These goals and objectives will be reevaluated throughout
the year with the teacher, student and parents.
- We will have Student Portfolio’s which will include
samples of student reading work and product (work and product
that document reading development in other areas of the
curriculum, such as science and geography projects will
also be included).
All of these items, along with similar ongoing assessments
in other curriculum areas, will also be used to provide documentation
to parents concerning their child’s progress in achieving
learning goals.
Pre-Reading
Due to our multi-age classroom design, our youngest students
are constantly exposed to the older children in the class
who are already reading. The total environment of the Primary
classes (3 to 6 years-old) tends to create and reinforce in
our young children a spontaneous interest in learning how
to read. We begin to teach reading as soon as that interest
is first expressed.
- Using a total immersion approach, we help the youngest
children to develop a highly sophisticated vocabulary and
command of the language.
- The children are taught through many early approaches
to listen for and recognize the individual phonetic sounds
in words.
- We introduce the children to literature by reading aloud
and discussing a wide range of classic stories and poetry.
- We help our youngest students to recognize the shape
and phonetic sounds of the alphabet through the 'sandpaper
letters:' a tactile alphabet.
Reading
The development of the concept that written words are actual
thoughts set down on paper. (This takes children much longer
than most people realize.)
- Sounding out simple three or four-letter phonetic words.
(Typically before age 5)
- Early exercises to practice reading and to gain the concept
of a noun: labeling objects with written name tags, mastering
increasingly complex words naming things that interest them,
such as dinosaurs, the parts of a flower, geometric shapes,
the materials in the classroom, etc.
- Learning to recognize verbs: normally exercises in which
the child reads a card with a verbal "command"
printed out (such as run, sit, walk, etc.) and demonstrates
his understanding by acting it out. As the child's reading
vocabulary increases, verbal commands involve full sentences
and multiple steps: "Place the mat on the table and
bring back a red pencil."
- Reading specially selected or prepared small books on
topics that really interest the child, such as in science,
geography, nature or history.
- Interpretive reading for comprehension at ever increasing
levels of difficulty, beginning in the early elementary
grades and continuing until high school graduation.
- Use of the library and reference books on a daily basis
for both research and pleasure.
- An introduction to the world's classical children's literature
at increasing depth and sophistication.
Handwriting
Control of the hand in preparation for writing is developed
through many exercises, including specially designed tasks
in the use of the pencil. Such exercises begin with very young
children and extend over several years so that mastery is
gradually, but thoroughly, attained.
- The young children practice making letters from the time
of their first initial "explosion into writing"
at age 3 or 4:
- Moveable Alphabets' made up of easily manipulated plastic
letters are used for the early stages of phonetic word creation,
the analysis of words, and spelling. They facilitate early
reading and writing tasks during the period when young children
are still not comfortable with their own writing skills.
Even before the children are comfortable in their handwriting
skills, they spell words, compose sentences and stories,
and work on punctuation and capitalization with the moveable
alphabets (Age 4-6).
- At first, by tracing letters into sand.
- Later, by writing on special tilted, upright blackboards:
unlined, wide-lined, and narrow-lined.
- Later, by writing on special writing tablets, becoming
comfortable with script.
- Cursive writing (Typically around age 5)
- Word Processing (Normally beginning around age 6)
- Calligraphy (Whenever the child is interested, often around
age 10)
Composition
At an early age, before handwriting has been mastered, the
children compose sentences, stores, and poetry through oral
dictation to adults and with the use of the moveable alphabet.
Once handwriting is fairly accomplished, the children begin
to develop their composition skills. They continue to develop
over the years at increasing levels of sophistication.
- Preparing written answers to simple questions.
- Composing stories to follow a picture series.
- Beginning to write stories or poems on given simple themes.
- Preparing written descriptions of science experiments.
- Preparing written reports.
- Learning how to write letter s.
- By age 9, research skills and the preparation of reports
become major components of the educational program. Students
research areas of interest or topics that have been assigned
in depth, and prepare both formal and informal, written
and oral reports.
- Creative and expository composition skills continue to
develop as the children advance from level to level. Students
are typically asked to write on a daily basis, composing
short stories, poems, plays, reports, and news articles.
Spelling
Children begin to spell using the moveable alphabet to sound
out and spell words as they are first learning to read. They
'take dictation' - spelling words called for by the teacher
- as a daily exercise. The sequence of spelling, as with all
language skills, begins much earlier than is traditional in
this country, during a time when children are spontaneously
interested in language. It continues throughout their education.
- Learning to sound out and spell simple phonetic words.
- Learning to recognize and spell words involving phonograms,
such as ei, ai, or ough.
- Developing a first "personal" dictionary of
words that they can now spell.
- Learning to recognize and spell the "puzzle words"
of English: words that are non-phonetic and are not spelled
as they sound.
- Studying words: involving compound words, contractions,
singular-plural, masculine-feminine words, prefixes, suffixes,
synonyms, antonyms, homonyms.
Grammar
The study of grammar begins almost immediately after the
child begins to read, during the sensitive period when he
is spontaneously interested in language. It continues over
several years until mastered. The idea is to introduce grammar
to the young child as she is first learning how to put thoughts
down on paper, when the process is natural and interesting,
rather than waiting until the student is much older and finds
the work tedious.
- We introduce our children to the function of the parts
of speech one at a time through many games and exercises
that isolate the one element under study. Montessori has
assigned a geometric symbol to represent each element of
grammar. (For example, verbs are represented by a large
red circle.) The children analyze sentences by placing the
symbols for the appropriate part of speech over each word.
- Once students have mastered the concrete symbols for
the parts of speech, they perform more advanced exercises
for several years with grammar boxes set up to allow them
to analyze sentences by their parts of speech.
- Sentence analysis: simple and compound sentences, clauses,
verb voices, and logical analysis of all sorts of sentences
are studied using many different concrete materials and
exercises. This normally begins about age 5 and continues
over several years.
- Students continue their study of language from the mid-elementary
years onward, reviewing as well as engaging new concepts
and skills: tenses, moods, irregular verbs, person and number,
the study of style, the study of grammatical arrangements
in other languages.
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