READING AND WRITING

At Longfellow School, we believe reading and writing are two parts of an integrated learning process. They go hand in hand.

Reading instruction at Longfellow encompasses phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. The essence of reading is to gain meaning from text. Children learn to read by reading. Maximum growth occurs when students read at their instructional level. At this level, readers use reading strategies and need some teacher support. All grades focus on the following reading comprehension strategies:

	Making Connections      • Text to Text      • Text to Self      • Text to World
	Asking Questions
	Visualizing
	Predicting and Inferring
	Determining Important Ideas
	Summarizing/Synthesizing

The essence of writing is to communicate ideas in written form. Children learn to write by writing. Longfellow teaches and assesses writing through the 6+1 Traits of Writing.

	IDEAS - the heart of the message
	ORGANIZATION - the internal structure
	VOICE - the heart and soul, the feeling
	SENTENCE FLUENCY - rhythm and flow
	CONVENTIONS - spelling, grammar, and punctuation
	PRESENTATION - pleasing to the eye

Longfellow believes that reading and writing happen in every area of the curriculum. There is a school-wide commitment to keeping reading and writing alive, joyous, and relevant. We make use of community and parent volunteers through the CAP, STARS and America Reads programs to promote reading success so that no Longfellow child is left behind.