City of Fairfax Schools: Road Map to Reading and Writing Success

Road Map to Reading and Writing Success

Taking the most challenging reading and language arts classes at each grade level prepares students for classes that are required in the following years. Starting in Kindergarten, following are the classes and skills required — along with the courses that are open to students as they progress to 12th grade.

Elementary School
Grades K-6

Curriculum is defined by the Program of Studies (POS) of Fairfax County Public Schools and the Standards of Learning (SOL) by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Content includes: oral language, reading, wriitng

Middle School

Grade 7: English 7 Honors or English 7
Grade 8: English 8 Honors or English 8

High School

Grade 9: English 9 Honors or English 9
Grade 10: English 10 Honors or English 10
Grade 11: AP English (Language and Composition) or English 11
Grade 12: AP English (Literature and Composition) or English 12

Note: Honors English is recommended for any student interested in taking AP English.

START Reading for Success
From City Schools Close-Up, April-May 2003

How much do students really need to read? A lot, says educator Richard L. Allington, as he explains in his book What Really Matters for Struggling Readers?.

“A potential relatonship exists between the volume of reading student do, and reading achievement,” says Allington, pointing to a Department of Education study called The Reading Report Card for the Nation. “Researchers found that at every age, reading for longer periods of time is associated with higher achievement scores.”

That’s why students need to read at school and at home, says Peter Noonan, (now the assistant superintendent for instruction for Fairfax County Public Schools, who in 2003 was the principal of Lanier Middle School.) “There’s so much data available that tells us students who read for more than 40 minutes a day do better on standardized tests, and have a larger vocabulary, than students who do not. It seems only logical to make sure our children are reading for chunks of time throughout the day.”

To help students read more often — and more efficiently — Lanier’s reading specialist Gail Schwarz devised the START chart (short of Strategies to Activate Reading and Thinking, see more below). “We encourage parents to keep a copy of the chart close by, and refer to it regularly, so they can help their children read more and improve reading comprehension.”

Noonan also offers three simple ways for parents to help kids clock in more reading time:

1. Keep books and magazines in the car for easy access during spare moments between appointments and practices.

2. Don’t turn on the TV at least one evening a week after dinner. Sit with your child and both of you curl up with a book.

3. Plan a 60-minute “Family Read In” once a month. “When families read together, everyone benefits,” Noonan insists.

Check out this chart: HOW READING VOLUME FOR 5th GRADERS AFFECTS LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT
From What Really Matters for Struggling Readers?

Minutes read per day: 40.4 / 12.9 / 1.6
Words read per year: 2,357,000 / 601,000 / 51,000
Achievement percentile: 90th / 50th / 10th

The Lanier START CHART: 9 steps to successful reading skills

Before reading, active readers ask:
1. What will this story be about?
2. What do I already know about this topic?
3. Active readers also: preview and survey the text, connect what they are learning to their prior knowledge, question what they are reading, predict what will happen, and set a purpose for what they expect to learn from the book.

During reading, active readers ask:
4. Does this make sense?
5. How does this connect to what I already know?
6. Active readers also: reread portions of a book, especially if they don’t understand what they’ve read; use context cues to understand new works or ideas, and analyze unfamiliar words to try and figure out meaning. They also self-monitor themselves as they read along and confirm or revise their predictions as the plot unfolds.

After reading, active readers ask:
7. What did I learn?
8. What can I do with the information I’ve learned?
9. Active readers also: review and reflect on what they’ve read, summarize the plot, themes and setting, organize their thoughts, and evaluate what they’ve read to make connections between the new material and previous ideas.

THE WRITING LIFE
From City Schools Close-Up, April-May 2003

In her famous New York Times bestseller, The Writing Life, Annie Dillard explains how she approaches the writing process.

“When you write, you lay out a line of words. This is a miner’s pick, a wood-carver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory. Is it a dead end, or have you located the real subject? You will know tomorrow, or this time next year.”

And that is the charge for students in Jodi Brown’s 8th grade English class, where everyone is given the job of crating a daily log of their thoughts, ideas, and feelings — never knowing when what they jot down today will become fodder for tomorrow’s essay, poem, or letter.

“I encourage my students to write down anything and everything they can think to say in their journals,” says Brown, chairman of Lanier’s English department. “Eventually they come to see that those thoughts are part topics that can be mined and expanded on later.”

After all, she believes, writing makes students better readers — and reading well makes them better writers. So Brown encourages other teachers at Lanier to expose students to as much fiction, nonfiction and poetry as possible.

In Brown’s class, students also gather into small groups to discuss what they are reading. “We want students to find characters in the books that they connect with, and encourage them to through them see something new in themselves,” Brown shares. “After all, that’s what makes studying literature important.”

AT DANIELS RUN ELEMENTARY
“Libby” Makes Reading More Bearable
From the September-October 2004 issue of Close-Up

Robin Mathews has a secret weapon. It’s soft, smells nice, and deﬂects any problems that might pop up for the new librarian at Daniels Run Elementary. She calls her buddy “Libby the Library Bear,” and Mathews says it works like a charm when it comes to keeping the peace.

“Libby doesn’t like loud noises or pushing, and every week she sits with me and the students to read a story to our kindergarten through 3rd grade children,” Mathews
explains, noting older students don’t need Libby to work her magic. “The 4th, 5th and 6th graders can simply get down to the business of reading.”

This year, reading is the key, for all Daniels Run students will participate in the Virginia Young Reader Program. “Younger children will choose 10 books in three categories, and will have several of those books read to them,” Mathews notes. “Then, they’ll vote on their favorites.”

Similar programs are going on throughout the county and the state, and at the end of the year a list will be published noting the students’ favorite books.

“The idea is to make this a little competition, which will engage students that much more,” says Mathews, who seems truly tickled to be holding her new post. Her path to becoming a librarian, though, wasn’t traditional. Mathews, in fact, started her career as a scientist at the National Cancer Institute at the NIHin Bethesda. “I love science, but after my son was born in 1982 I soon realized I couldn’t properly tend to my experiments and be a good mom.”

So she quit and stayed home for a few years to raise her kids (she also had a daughter in 1984). But Mathews never gave up looking for a career where she could balance motherhood and work.

Eventually, she discovered she enjoyed teaching and books — and that led her to a job as an Instructional Assistant at Green Acres Elementary. She began taking education and library courses, and in 2000 graduated from the University of Maryland with a Masters in Library Science. Before landing her new job at Daniels Run, Mathews worked as the librarian at Belvedere Elementary.

“I am so excited to be back in the City of Fairfax,” she says. “I’m looking forward to getting to know all the students and work closely with the teachers. It’s going to be a great year.”

SHADES OF SUMMER at Providence Elementary
From the September-October 2004 issue of Close-Up

Was it tough to get your elementary school-aged child to read this summer? Parents of Providence Elementary School students had a little help, thanks to Donzella White, the energetic reading specialist who this summer inspired students to pick up a good book — lots of them actually — and participate in a cool reading program called Shades of Summer Reading.

“We gave each student a visor and told them to record all the books they read during the summer across the brim,” she says.

White knew the program would be a hit, but when she came back to school in September she was blown away by its success. “Most of the kids had each read dozens of books,” she notes. “Some couldn’t even ﬁt all the titles on their visor. I am so proud of them.”

All that reading earned the students an ice cream celebration in the cafeteria where several got to stand up and talk about their favorite stories.

“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of reading,” White says. “It opens up a new world for kids. Once they get hooked, they become lifelong lovers of books, knowledge and learning. “I’ll do just about anything I can to make sure I send these kids out into the world with that kind of passion.

Pictured here: Providence Elementary Reading Specialist Donzella White starts developing a love for reading and books in students as early as possible. Pictured here, she’s proudly posing with a group of 1st graders who each read a minimum of 25 books this summer, then listed the titles across the brim of their special “Shades of Summer” reading visors.

City of Fairfax Schools

Fairfax High School

Lanier Middle School

Providence Elementary School

Daniels Run Elementary

Road Map to Reading and Writing Success