SPU 316 Photo Literacy Journal

Lauren Miller
March 7th, 2016
4th Grade Class

Pre-Activity Reflection:

Classrooms need to be carefully and appropriately set up so that they

can foster the development of each student and help them to learn
effectively. Teachers need to have materials such as posters and charts that
are on display in appropriate places for the students to see and easily
access, even from sitting at their desks. They also need a variety of activities
and materials available for the students to manipulate and explore in order
to learn literacy skills and increase their knowledge. By fostering literacy,
especially at a young age, it can better prepare the students for future
learning. I know that it is important to set an example by writing and using
all lowercase letters rather than all uppercase letters in order to help young
students learn to read and write. This will help them so that they will not
begin writing with all capital letters. This makes learning much easier on the
student later on down the road. It is really helpful for teachers to make
posters or charts about current topics or skills that they are learning. This will
provide a reference for the student and allow them to access the information
without relying on the teacher to provide it to them again. Charts and
information on display is definitely one of the most effective resources for
the students to have available to them.

Title: Reading Corner and Carpet Squares

Description/Location: The reading bean bag is located in a corner by the
library and the carpet squares are located in another corner area on a shelf.
During silent reading time, the students are given the opportunity to place
the carpet squares anywhere throughout the room to sit on as they read and
they take turns using the bean bag.
Purpose: It provides an opportunity for students to foster their development
of comprehension, vocabulary, fluency. This can be used at any reading level
and is very flexible and can be used with a variety of subject areas. This
activity could be independent or peer to peer.
Why this activity: These are meant to provide a new, comfy space or
location for the students to do some reading. This encourages intermediate
readers and provides time for silent reading with larger texts. The carpet
squares can also be used for partner activities and partner reading. The
reading corner with the bean bag is also used for silent reading if a student
finishes an assignment early. This will allow students to move around to a
new location and hopefully allow them to focus on the book that they are
reading. These students are typically at the end of the transitional level and
shift into the beginning of the intermediate level of development, which
shows that the students are focused more on comprehension and fluency.

Title: Post-It Codes Poster

Description/Location: This Poster is located near the corner above the
small frog chair and where the carpet squares are located. This is a perfect
location because this is an activity that the students typically do during silent
reading time, which is also when they would walk over to pick a carpet
square.
Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to really focus on comprehension. If
the student is reading and comprehending the material, they will be able to
write down questions, things the story reminds them of, connections,
visualizations, wonders that they have, background knowledge, predictions,
and inferences. This is a universal activity that can be used during silent
reading time or with text from any subject area.
Why this activity: This is an activity that allows for purposeful reading time
and also provides an opportunity for their teacher to collect their post-its to
see what their thoughts are about the story they are reading. She mentioned
that sometimes she will walk around with a clipboard to check their thoughts
or observations and that this is a great formative assessment and to monitor
student progress. This activity is for intermediate readers and allows them to
practice silent reading with larger texts and allows the students to gain

meaning from the text, to process through personal connections and to

practice reading strategies.

Title: Classroom Library

Description/Location: The library of books can be found primarily in bins
on the left-hand side of the classroom and all along the front of the room
beneath the chalk board. There are bins of books pretty much wherever
there is room in the classroom with a variety of different genres and levels.
Purpose: The purpose of this activity/center is primarily focus on fostering
fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. There are a variety of options for
the students to choose from based on their interests and levels which will
allow them to find a story that is best suited for them and that they can
really enjoy during class activities or free time.
Why this activity: The teacher made the library easily accessible to the
students and provided a variety of books that are organized based on level
and genre throughout the room and in open places that the students can
easily find. At this age, the library is generally meant for intermediate level
students and is generally focused on silent reading with the larger sets of
text. The variety of options allows the students to have more opportunities
and not be restricted on book choices. This is appropriate for this age group
because it typically promotes student growth in fluency and reading
strategies.

Title: Reword the Question Chart

Description/Location: This chart is presented on the front chalk board so
that the students have easy access to it. It is referenced often because it can
relate to any subject and a necessary skill required for CORE testing, so it
was strategically placed in front of the room.
Purpose: The literary component that is addressed with this activity is
comprehension. This is an activity that requires the students to focus on the
material that is in front of them and to understand what they are reading so
that they can provide examples and evidence into the graphic organizer. This
activity also provides the students with an opportunity to practice creating
paragraphs.
Why this activity: The teacher broke this chart into three blocks so that the
students could separate the three different parts and so that it was easier to
see what the graphic organizer entailed and kept it in front of the classroom
for easy access. This poster focuses on the syllables and affixes stage of
writing and spelling. This is helpful to the students because it helps them to
easily form paragraphs from almost any topic and is a helpful reading and
writing strategy. This is also something that is necessary for the students to
learn because of standardized testing.

Title: Cursive Letters and Cursive Poem

Description/Location: The cursive letters are displayed in the front of the
room above the chalk board. Each week, there is also a new poem that is
displayed on the front board as well.
Purpose: The purpose of this activity is mainly to focus on phonemic
awareness of cursive letters but the poem also ties in comprehension. This
classroom does not have the standard alphabet presented on the front board
above the chalk board, but the cursive letters are presented instead. The
purpose of this is for the students to further develop their knowledge and
phonemic awareness as well as developing fluency and comprehension of
the cursive alphabet through rewriting the poem.
Why this activity: The cursive letters and the cursive poem are both
presented in the front of the room by the board so that all the students can
easily access it. This focuses on the intermediate readers and emergent
readers/writers only because they are still practicing forming the correct
letters but also touch into the other stages or reading and writing because
the students are able to form words with the cursive alphabet. Since cursive
writing is not focused on as much as the other subjects, the teacher provides
the student with a whole week to complete the poem. This gives the
students enough time to complete the poem and time to still practice their
cursive. They are able to focus on fluency and their written skills for cursive
lettering.

Title: Ipads
Description/Location: Each fourth grade student is provided with an ipad
to use for a variety of assignments, for research, homework, reading, typing,
or assessments. Each student keeps their ipad with them at their desk
throughout the day. If the student pays the specified fee, they are given the
opportunity to bring the ipad home with them to us as well.
Purpose: The students can use the ipad to further their fluency, vocab and
comprehension skills. This can be used for any subject area. The students
can read material, take quizzes, type information, research information, and
make flashcards on the ipad and use this to foster a variety of skills. The
students can also use apps to foster the students skills. It also be used for a
listening activity.
Why this activity: Each student can easily access the ipad because it is
their personal ipad to use for the school year and is kept at their desk with
them. The ipad opens up so many doors in the classroom and the teacher
can use it to teach content in a whole new way. This activity applies to both
intermediate readers and to the syllables & affixes stage of spelling and
writing because it can foster the skills that the student possesses in each of

those categories. This is appropriate because it allows students to practice

fluency, reading strategies and many more options.

Title: PICK a book poster

Description/Location: This poster is posted in the front of the classroom
above one of the library sections, next to the front board.
Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to help the children and allow them
to appropriately choose a book that will be helpful to them and for their
learning. This poster is referenced often and is normally used if the student
continues to choose the same genre or it is also used to choose a story for
silent/independent reading time. It is meant to foster fluency, vocabulary and
comprehension. It also helps the student to choose books that are most
helpful to them.
Why this activity: This poster uses an acronym to help the students
remember it and it is displayed in the front of the room so the students can
see it. It is also posted by the library so that when the students are choosing
their book, they can reference it. This is for immediate readers. This is
appropriate because it encourages fluency, and helps to provide the student
with good reading strategies and helps them to choose books appropriately.

Title: First Grade Library Collection

Description/Location: This is located on the left-hand side of the classroom
above the cabinets, writing posters, computers, part of the library, and the
reading corner. She used to be a first grade teacher, so she saved these
books and uses them for instruction.
Purpose: This is used for comprehension. The teacher uses this collection to
teach strategies rather than using a whole chapter book. By using the
smaller books, she is able to more easily and effectively show reading skills
to the students.
Why this activity: These are placed above the cabinets because it is the
only place for them. These are only used for smaller lessons, content or for
teaching reading strategies. They can even be used for writing lessons or
activities. This is a helpful activity for immediate readers because it allows

them to practice comprehension and also to learn the reading strategies and
build their skills.

Title: Reading Posters/Charts

Description/Location: The posters are all hung up on the right hand side of
the classroom. Each poster has the name of the strategy presented and also
a definition and images to help the student remember.
Purpose: This activity helps students with developing vocabulary and
comprehension. It is also a place of reference for the students to use if they
forget one of the concepts. These posters also provide content and provide
opportunities for the students to learn independently and can use the
posters rather than relying on their teacher or peers to provide them with the
definition. This is a valuable resource for the students.
Why this activity: These posters cover an entire bulletin board plus
additional parts of the wall to makes sure that it is easily accessible and
available for student use. The concept is written in large print and includes a
definition below as a reference. Images are also provided to help develop
understanding. These posters are helpful for immediate readers as they
continue to build comprehension and apply these concepts to the stories and

text that they read. This is an appropriate activity because it gives the
student an opportunity to apply these strategies in the text that they are
reading in a variety of subject areas, to the text they are reading and into
their writing.

Title: Writing Charts/Posters

Description/Location: The posters are all hung up on the left hand side and
the right hand side of the classroom. Each poster has the name of the
strategy presented and also a definition to help the student remember. Some
of the posters have acronyms provided and other helpful tips and hints that
they students can use during writing activities.
Purpose: This activity helps students with developing vocabulary and
comprehension. It is also a place of reference for the students to use if they
forget one of the concepts. These posters also provide content and provide
opportunities for the students to learn independently and can use the
posters rather than relying on their teacher or peers to provide them with the
definition. This is a valuable resource for the students. It also has the
acronyms and helpful strategies that the students can use while they are
working to remember the skills.
Why this activity: These posters cover a majority of two walls to makes
sure that it is easily accessible and available for student use. The concept is
written in large print and includes a definition below as a reference. These
posters are helpful for immediate readers as they continue to build
comprehension and apply these concepts to the stories and text that they
read. This is an appropriate activity because it gives the student an
opportunity to apply these strategies in the text that they are reading in a
variety of subject areas, to the text they are reading and into their writing. It
is also helpful to the syllables and affixes stage writers because it will help
them to continue to develop their skills.

Post Activity Reflection:

I found that these items supported literacy very well and create a very
strong literacy-learning environment. I feel like the activities were arranged
well so that they were easily accessible to the students and enabled the
students to work independently without always needing to seek out help.
The activities were placed in key locations such as the posters on the front
board or the PICK poster by the library so that students were able to view
them in ideal times and use them for their benefit. The teacher placed as
many helpful posters and strategies on the wall as possible so that the
students had plenty of opportunities to build skills.
I think that the students would love the ipads. Students are so
interested in technology and it would open so many doors for activities in the
classroom. The students would also love the reading corner with the bean
bag and the carpet squares so that they can have a comfy place to foster
their reading. I think that the students will really enjoy these opportunities
and it will really encourage learning and development. I think these activities
are definitely more engaging that the posters, but the posters will definitely
be very helpful. These activities are all age appropriate.
Because the students are in fourth grade, they touch on the higher
levels of the big five. They touched slightly on the lower levels when
practicing the cursive activity, but overall the main focus was comprehension

and also a focus on fluency and vocabulary. Students are primarily building
their comprehension skills in fourth grade. These students are using higher
leveled texts and also practicing and learning the new reading strategies and
skills through participation in the post it code activity and other teacher
driven activities.
This is a fourth grade classroom, so it really did not need to touch of
the beginning stages such as phonemic awareness and phonics as muchalthough the cursive writing activity tied those concepts in somewhat. I
wouldnt say that the concepts are represented equally because
comprehension definitely holds the largest weight throughout these activities
and both vocabulary and fluency hold about half of the weight of
comprehension in this classroom. Because it is a fourth grade classroom, I
think that that the focus within the core concepts that are presented,
appropriately support the classroom. I think that the teacher was very
strategic and set the students up for success.
From this experience, I learned a lot of valuable information from the
teacher and also a lot of valuable activities to use in my future classroom. I
was able to document so many helpful posters to use in my future
classroom. My pre-reflection focused more on younger learners, so it was
really helpful to visit an older classroom and see how to effectively support
them. I was able to see how a teacher can foster student growth especially
with comprehension through a variety of activities such as the post it codes
and the PICK poster and by displaying helpful posters of information for
student use. Previously I was expecting to see more hands on manipulatives
like I created in my 300 class for phonics, but that isnt necessarily
appropriate for this age. The students can have interactive manipulatives,
but they need to have manipulatives that are more designed for their level.
Going into this assignment I knew that posters were valuable, but after this
assignment I was able to see how valuable posters and interactive posters
are for student learning.

Checklist/Tally Sheet of The Teachers Use of Five Key Literacy

Components
Approximate Reading Stage for this class: (circle one)
Emergent

Beginning

Transitional

Intermediate

Approximate Spelling Stage for this class: (circle one)

Emergent
Affixes

Letter-Name Alphabetic

Within-Word

Syllables &

How well do these photos represent a balance of key aspects of

literacy instruction?
Review your 10 photos and place a tally mark under each core literacy
component it addresses:

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Vocabulary
6

Fluency

Comprehension

Other

10

Review your 10 photos and place a tally mark under the aspect of literacy
that activity provides:
Reading

Writing

10

Oral Language

Listening
1

Review your 10 photos and place a tally mark under the type of support
that activity provides:
Modeled/Shared

Interactive

Guided

Peer-to-Peer

Independent

Other

10

What level of student

engagement does each
photo represent?

Active

Passive

10