STANDARD 3.1 (READING) ALL STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND AND APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE OF SOUNDS, LETTERS, AND WORDS IN WRITTEN ENGLISH TO BECOME INDEPENDENT AND FLUENT READERS, AND WILL READ A VARIETY OF MATERIALS AND TEXTS WITH FLUENCY AND COMPREHENSION.

 

 

Descriptive Statement: A primary reading goal is for students of all grades to read independently with fluency and comprehension so that they become lifelong readers and learners. In order to achieve this goal, students benefit from "daily opportunities to read books they choose for themselves, for their own purposes, and their own pleasures" (Calkins, 2001). Students should read grade-level appropriate or more challenging classic and contemporary literature and informational readings, both self-selected and assigned. In order to grow as readers and deepen their understanding of texts, students need many opportunities to think about, talk about, and write about the texts they are reading. A diversity of reading material (including fiction and nonfiction) provides students with opportunities to grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially as they consider universal themes, diverse cultures and perspectives, and the common aspects of human existence.

 

In early reading instruction (preK-2), children need rich experiences with oral language and learning about sounds, letters and words, and their relationships. Phonemic awareness, knowledge of the relationships between sounds and letters, and an understanding of the features of written English texts are essential to beginning reading. Direct systematic phonics instruction enables many students to develop their knowledge of phonics, and provides a bridge to apply this knowledge in becoming independent and fluent readers. Systematic phonics instruction typically involves explicitly teaching students a pre-specified set of letter-sound relations and having students read text that provides practice using these relations to decode words (National Reading Panel, 2000). Additionally, direct instruction and time to practice these skills should be provided in comprehension, strategy, reading fluency, and vocabulary development at all grade levels. It is important to help students become fluent readers in the early years, and then help them expand their literacy abilities as they progress through the middle and high school grades.

 

The reading process requires readers to respond to texts, both personally and critically, and relate prior knowledge and personal experiences to written texts. Students apply literal, inferential, and critical comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading to examine, construct, and extend meaning. In becoming fluent readers, students must draw on the word meaning and sentence structure of text and sound/symbol relationships, and use these cueing systems interchangeably in order to comprehend and gain meaning. Students need to recognize that what they hear, speak, write, and view contributes to the content and quality of their reading experiences.

 

Cumulative Progress Indicators

 

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in preceding grades, by the end of Grade 8, students will:

 

A.     Concepts About Print/Text

1.         Identify and use organizational structures to comprehend information. (e.g., logical order, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, chronological, sequential, procedural text).

 

B.     Phonological Awareness (includes phonemic awareness)

No additional indicators at this grade level.

 

C.     Decoding and Word Recognition

1.         Distinguish among the spellings of homophones to determine meaning (e.g. cite, site, sight).

2.         Apply spelling and syllabication rules that aid in decoding and word recognition.

3.         Continue to use structural analysis and context analysis to decode new words.

4.         Apply knowledge of word structures and patterns to read with automaticity.

 

D.    Fluency

1.         Read grade-level text orally with high accuracy and appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression.

2.         Read increasingly difficult texts silently with comprehension and fluency.

3.         Apply self-correcting strategies automatically to decode and gain meaning from print both orally and silently.

4.         Adjust reading rate in response to the type of text and level of difficulty (e.g. recreational reading vs. informational reading).

 

        E.     Reading Strategies (before, during, and after reading)

1.         Monitor reading for understanding by automatically setting a purpose for reading, making and adjusting predictions, asking essential questions, and relating new learning to background experiences.

2.        Use increasingly complex text guides to understand different text structure and organizational patterns (e.g. chronological sequence or comparison and contrast).

 

F.      Vocabulary and Concept Development

1.         Develop and refine an extended vocabulary through listening and exposure to a variety of texts and independent reading.

2.         Clarify word meanings through the use of a word’s definition, example, restatement, or contrast.

3.         Clarify pronunciations, meanings, alternate word choice, parts of speech, and etymology of words using the dictionary, thesaurus, glossary, and technology resources.

4.        Expand reading vocabulary by identifying and correctly using idioms and words with literal and figurative meanings in their speaking and writing experiences.

5.         Explain relationships between and among words including connotation/denotation, antonyms/synonyms, and words with multiple meanings.

 

G.    Comprehension Skills and Response to Text

1.         Differentiate between fact/opinion and bias and propaganda in newspapers, periodicals, and electronic texts.

2.         Compare and analyze several authors’ perspectives of a character, personality, topic, setting, or event.

3.         Analyze ideas and recurring themes found in texts, such as good versus evil, across traditional and contemporary works.

4.         Locate and analyze the elements of setting, characterization, and plot to construct understanding of how characters influence the progression and resolution of the plot.

5.         Read critically by identifying, analyzing, and applying knowledge of the purpose, structure, and elements of nonfiction and providing support from the text as evidence of understanding.

6.         Read critically by identifying, analyzing, and applying knowledge of the theme, structure, style, and literary elements of fiction and providing support from the text as evidence of understanding.

7.         Respond critically to text ideas and the author’s craft by using textual evidence to support interpretations.

8.         Identify and analyze literary techniques and elements, such as figurative language, meter, rhetorical, and stylistic features of text.

9.         Identify and analyze recurring themes across literary works.

10.     Read critically and analyze poetic forms (e.g., ballad, sonnet, couplet).

11.     Identify and understand the author’s use of idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes in prose and poetry.

12.     Understand perspectives of authors in a variety of interdisciplinary works.

13.     Interpret text ideas through journal writing, discussion, and enactment.

14.     Demonstrate the use of everyday texts (e.g., train schedules, directions, brochures) and make judgments about the importance of such documents.

15.     Compare and analyze the various works of writers through an author’s study.

 

H.     Inquiry and Research

1.         Produce written and oral work that demonstrates comprehension of informational materials.

2.         Analyze a work of literature, showing how it reflects the heritage, traditions, attitudes, and beliefs of its authors.

3.         Collect materials for a portfolio that reflect personal career choices.

4.         Self-select materials appropriately related to a research project.

5.         Read and compare at least two works, including books, related to the same genre, topic, or subject and produce evidence of reading (e.g., compare central ideas, characters, themes, plots, settings).

 

Link to Standard 3.1 Grade 7

 

Link to Standard 3.1 Grade High School

 

Back to Main Page

Click on the House to Return to the CD-ROM Home Page

 

New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS)

CD-ROM (Version 1.0)

 

Project done in Cooperation with Newark Teachers Union (NTU) and Seton Hall University (SHU)

Copyright © 2006 - All Rights Reserved

 

For feedback, more information, or recommendations for future versions of this resource,

contact Mitchel Gerry - mg@ntuaft.com or Mike Maillaro - mm@ntuaft.com.

 

Local 481

AFT/ AFL-CIO