Connect with low-literate families: A three-tiered approach
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=783
A lesson plan for Grades K–2 English Language Arts
This ReadWriteThink lesson involves giving children from low-literate families stories to read at home to enhance the home-school connection. Following Smith and Piper's three-tier scaffolding model, the teacher prepares students to read the story unassisted, avoiding the possibility of placing low-literate caregivers in the potentially alienating position of having to act as literacy instructors; yet, the model still enables caregivers to celebrate their child's achievement and to contribute their insight and understanding in ways that are most comfortable to them. This lesson includes links to student materials and to related websites.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 1
- Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
- Objective 1.05: Increase vocabulary, concepts, and reading stamina by reading self-selected texts independently for 15 minutes daily. Self-selected texts should be consistent with the student's independent reading level.
- Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.01: Read aloud independently with fluency and comprehension any text that is appropriately designed for emergent readers.
- Objective 2.02: Demonstrate familiarity with a variety of texts (storybooks, short chapter books, newspapers, telephone books, and everyday print such as signs and labels, poems, word plays using alliteration and rhyme, skits and short plays).
- Objective 2.03: Read and comprehend both fiction and nonfiction text appropriate for grade one using:
- prior knowledge.
- summary.
- questions.
- graphic organizers.
- Objective 2.04: Use preparation strategies to anticipate vocabulary of a text and to connect prior knowledge and experiences to a new text.
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.01: Select and use new vocabulary and language structures in both speech and writing contexts (e.g., oral retelling using exclamatory phrases to accent an idea or event).
- Objective 4.04: Extend skills in using oral and written language:
- clarifying purposes for engaging in communication.
- using clear and precise language to paraphrase messages.
- engaging in more extended oral discussions.
- producing written products.
- completing graphic organizers.
- Objective 4.05: Write and/or participate in writing by using an author's model of language and extending the model (e.g., writing different ending for a story, composing an innovation of a poem).
- Objective 4.06: Compose a variety of products (e.g., stories, journal entries, letters, response logs, simple poems, oral retellings).
Grade 2
- Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
- Objective 1.04: Apply knowledge of all sources of information (meaning, language, graphophonics) to read a new text silently and independently.
- Objective 1.05: Use a variety of strategies and skills to read self-selected texts independently for 20 minutes daily. Self-selected texts should be consistent with the student's independent reading level.
- Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.01: Read and comprehend both narrative and expository text appropriate for grade two by:
- determining purpose (reader's and author's).
- making predictions.
- asking questions.
- locating information for specific reasons/purposes.
- recognizing and applying text structure.
- comprehending and evaluating author's decisions and word choice.
- determining fact and opinion.
- recognizing and comprehending figurative language.
- making inferences and drawing conclusions.
- Objective 2.02: Use text for a variety of functions, including literary, informational, and practical.
- Objective 2.03: Read expository materials for answers to specific questions.
- Objective 2.06: Recall main ideas, facts and details from a text.
- Objective 2.07: Discuss similarities and differences in events, characters and concepts within and across texts.
- Objective 2.01: Read and comprehend both narrative and expository text appropriate for grade two by:
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.03: Read aloud with fluency and expression any text appropriate for early independent readers.
- Objective 4.05: Respond appropriately when participating in group discourse by adapting language and communication behaviors to the situation to accomplish a specific purpose.
- Objective 4.06: Plan and make judgments about what to include in written products (e.g., narratives of personal experiences, creative stories, skits based on familiar stories and/or experiences).
- Objective 4.07: Compose first drafts using an appropriate writing process:
- planning and drafting.
- rereading for meaning.
- revising to clarify and refine writing with guided discussion.
- Objective 4.08: Write structured, informative presentations and narratives when given help with organization.
Kindergarten
- Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies to read and write.
- Objective 1.04: Read or begin to read.
- Read or attempt to read own dictated story.
- Attempt to read/reads simple patterned text, decodable text, and/or predictable texts using letter-sound knowledge and pictures to construct meaning.
- Objective 1.05: Interact for at least 10 minutes daily with self-selected texts that are consistent with the student's independent reading level.
- Objective 1.04: Read or begin to read.
- Goal 2: The learner will develop and apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
- Objective 2.07: Demonstrate understanding of literary language; e.g., "once upon a time" and other vocabulary specific to a genre.
- Goal 3: The learner will make connections through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
- Objective 3.02: Discuss concepts and information in a text to clarify and extend knowledge.
- Objective 3.03: Associate target words with prior knowledge and explore an author's choice of words.
- Objective 3.04: Use speaking and listening skills and media to connect experiences and text
- listening to and re-visiting stories
- discussing, illustrating, and dramatizing stories
- discovering relationships.
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.01: Use new vocabulary in own speech and writing.
- Objective 4.02: Use words that name and words that tell action in a variety of simple texts (e.g., oral retelling, written stories, lists, journal entries of personal experiences).
- Objective 4.03: Use words that describe color, size, and location in a variety of texts: e.g., oral retelling, written stories, lists, journal entries of personal experiences.
- Objective 4.06: Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language.



