Donelson Christian Academy knows the importance of a strong, balanced literacy program. Teachers incorporate guided reading, self-selected reading, writing and working with words to provide a program that meets the needs of all students.
Into Reading by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is used as the basal text in second grade. The twelve modules cover responsibility, exploration, traditions, creative ideas, our changing world, and working together and are 50% fiction and 50% nonfiction. Progress is monitored on five success predictors: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Weekly story assessments and fluency fresh reads are given. The program provides a connection with leveled readers that teach science and social studies standards. The basal text, leveled readers, and assessments are all available online for teachers to assign for student and parent access.
Star Read is used to assess reading levels through the year. It provides each student with a reading range, an individualized program and goals. Accelerated Reader is used to track the goals set and as a reading incentive. Renaissance for AR testing is used. Renaissance Home Connect is provided for school-to-home connection. This allows parents and students to log in and view their child’s reading practice and progress toward the goals. Parents receive emails with automatic updates on their student’s progress.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt writing, grammar, research and study skills are all connected and taught daily to coincide with each week’s literature selection. Sentences, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, capitalization, and punctuation are taught throughout the units. A unit assessment is given to check mastery. The students learn to write a personal narrative, a descriptive writing, and to write to express an opinion. The writing process is a wonderful part of the second grade program. The students culminate the year by writing their own hardcover book. The complete writing process is followed from rough draft to final copy.
