Early Year's Literacy Project (JK to Grade 3)

Kingslake was part of the Toronto District School Board's Early Year's Literacy Project in 2005. Since then we have been building our book rooms that house a wide variety of resources for teachers and students to support a balanced literacy program in every classroom. Students are involved in Guided Reading, Shared Reading, Read Aloud, Independent Reading, and Writing workshop activities. Teachers use a variety of assessments to diagnose literacy levels and create programs to support the individual needs of students. 

We strive to help our grade 1 students to achieve a DRA level of 16 by the end of June. In addition to the many instructional strategies that the classroom teachers are already using, our school has implemented a Reading Buddy lunch program and a Parent Volunteer Reading Coach program to provide extra practice and opportunities for our students to read. We also encourage parents/guardians to read to their children and to listen to their children read to them, for additional practice and to instill a love of reading. Reading in one's first language is strongly encouraged as well. 

Junior Literacy (Grade 4 - Grade 5)

The Report of the Expert Panel on Literacy in Grades 4-6 in Ontario, is the first in a series of reports that provides teachers, parents and administrators the framework for teaching literacy in Ontario. The Report provides sound pedagogy for teachers to use when planning their literacy program. The focus of this report specifically outlines how junior students will learn to read for meaning and comprehension.

Our Junior grade classrooms continue to support our students using regular assessments to focus their instruction for improvement in reading, writing, oral and media literacy strands. Teachers have been provided access to a wide variety of resources to support their literacy programs. 

How Parents Can Help

Here are some suggestions that you can try with your child when it comes to reading:
 

• recognize and be proud of your child’s successes in reading
• encourage your child to go to the public library regularly
• continue to read to your child on a regular basis
• ensure that your child knows that you enjoy reading and that they have an opportunity to watch you read (even if it is the newspaper or a magazine)
• encourage your child to read to younger siblings
• read books that have been made into movies and encourage your child to discuss the differences and similarities between the books and the movie
• encourage your child to retell stories that they have heard
• have them read labels in the grocery stores
• continue to discuss ideas, statements and underlying beliefs which are evident in newspapers, books and television programs (Adapted from First Steps: Reading)