Scott Foresman Language Arts Curriculum

The National Reading Panel issued a report in 2000 that identified skills and methods that were central to reading achievement. Five areas of reading instruction were addressed: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. Of course, our understanding of best practices is fluid and subject to ongoing review and assessment done through research.

The following data correlates the Scott Foresman language arts curriculum used by Valley Christian School with the National Reading Panel findings.

Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Children need to notice, think about and work with sounds in spoken language. This includes phoneme isolation, identity, categorization, blending, segmentation, deletion, addition, and substitution.

Phonemic awareness is part of the core instruction every day in Grades K-2.

The panel report cited that “children who became poor readers entered 1st grade with little phonemic awareness.”

Phonemic Awareness helps children decode words, improve fluency, and improve comprehension. Separating words into segments helps children learn to spell.  Scott Foresman incorporates weekly spelling lists that are tied to the phonics skills in grades 1-3. In grades K-2 children compare and contrast the sound-spellings they are learning to increase their phonemic awareness. Children are taught blending and segmenting of sounds in grades K-3. 

Phonics Instruction

Scott Foresman teaches phonics skills progressively moving from simple words to complex words. Instruction begins with vowel letter-sounds and moves to syllabication to decoding longer words.  Instruction is explicit with substantial practice in reading decodable text in Kindergarten through grade 2.  Phonics readers are available in grades 1 through 3.  The phonics programs provide correlations between the spelling and writing skill practice. The systematic phonics instruction enables the children to grow in their recognition and spelling of increasingly more difficult words as they move through Kindergarten and Grade 1. Scott Foresman provides skills to read text accurately and quickly to enhance comprehension. Opportunity is provided for children who may be at-risk or who have various backgrounds such as English as Second Language learners. The reading panel results cited that phonics instruction should begin early and with that Scott Foresman begins in the seventh week of Kindergarten.  Phonics instruction is not an entire reading program but a part that also includes mastering the alphabet, phonemic awareness, listening, reading silently and aloud, and writing. In accordance with the recommendation of the Reading First panel results, explicit instruction in reading fluency, comprehension, and spelling is given every week for grades 1 through 6.

Fluency Instruction

Scott Foresman provides fluency practice in grades 1 and 2 with repeated oral readings. Grade 3 also has oral rereading activities each week. Tapes or CDs may be listened to for a model of fluent reading. 

Vocabulary Instruction

In grades K-3 there are daily opportunities to engage in oral language activities. Oral reading by the teachers is encouraged and materials are provided. Kindergarten listens to a Big Book or a trade book read aloud every day.  Every grade has daily selected reading options. Story vocabulary is taught by direct instruction prior to reading and Grade K-2 are introduced to high-frequency words as well. Repeated exposure to vocabulary is given in other context aids.  In Grades K-2 children work with their high-frequency words every day through ABC Wall or Word Wall activities.  Instruction in base words, inflected endings, suffixes and prefixes begins in Grade 1 and progresses up the grades. Syllabication for decoding begins in first grade. Using context clues to determine meaning of unfamiliar words begins in Kindergarten and becomes increasingly more important moving up the grades. Reading aloud to your students and encouraging them to read extensively on their own increases vocabulary.  Students are engaged in a variety of word play activities and by third grade they begin to research word origins.

Text Comprehension

In Grades 1 and 2 students are asked to reflect and answer questions about their reading.  Grade 3 includes weekly instruction in metacognitive strategies that helps students evaluate their comprehension. In Grades 1-3 graphic and semantic organizers are used to help students focus on concepts and how they are related to each other.  Teacher questioning advances students’ learning and uses such techniques as setting a purpose for reading, monitoring comprehension during reading, and summarizing during reading. At all grade levels students are encouraged to ask questions as a pre-reading strategy to help improve their comprehension. The story elements of character, plot and plot structure, setting, and theme are taught in all grade levels. In Kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2, children are taught to recall and retell the story and Grade 3 is taught the skill of summarizing. Readers must understand that the ultimate goal of reading is comprehension.  Simply reading words is not “reading”. Two additional strategies that aid comprehension are use of prior knowledge and creating mental imagery while reading.

Good readers are actively thinking as they read. They engage while they are reading by using their experiences, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. Good readers make sense of the text and get the most out of their reading.  The goal is to understand what you read, remember what you read, and communicate with others what you have read.  Valley Christian School has chosen the Scott Foresman language arts program because we believe it is equipping students with the skills to learn to read and enjoy a life long skill.