Aim of Common Core Literacy

In order to help children get ready for their educational careers, the Common Core Literacy program attempts to provide clear and consistent learning objectives. In common core literature, students are expected to read both simple works and sophisticated books with in-depth foundations in science and social subjects. Later, questions are presented so that the students can relate back to the text they have studied. This is an important part of how students learn literature since it emphasizes abilities like problem-solving, analytical thinking, and critical thinking, all of which are important for both future careers and academic success. The common core literacy standards established guidelines for English language arts (ELA) and literature in other subjects such as social studies, technical subjects and sciences which enable students to write, read, listen and use languages more efficiently.

Starting from grade 6, it is critical for the teachers in the English language arts to adopt the guidelines in order to effectively guide the students in meeting particular challenges in writing, reading, listening and languages in their field of specialization. From the 6th to the 12th grade, the literacy standards in social sciences and technical subjects are also adopted in order to supplement content standards as opposed to replacing them. The standards are incorporated based on the state’s chosen standards. Common core literacy passes pass vital skills to students and easily prepare them for their future lives outside the classroom. Such skills include objective problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and attentive reading which enhances enjoyment of complex literature. In addition, other skills passed to students through the common core literacy include the use of cogent reasoning and collection of evidence which are all important for college and career life. Unlike past guidelines, the practical guidelines under the common core literature are important in preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century. The following research paper is a detailed evaluation of nine key literacy/comprehension activities, their planned implementation of practical activities. Basically, the paper provides a detailed explanation per activity in every credit and details on how the acidity will be used. The expected outcomes per activity are also provided.

Credit 1

Activity 1: Summarizing Strategies

This is a suitable activity for students in Grade 4 aged between 9 and 10 years. The activity is relevant for students who are learning both languages and other social studies. In this activity, students will be required to summarize literature materials using the basic principle of SOMEBODY, WANTED TO, BUT, SO…This implies that in every literature material read, students will provide a summary be first identifying the name of the character involved in the narrative, the main idea of the text, the problem which the literature is trying to address the solutions which the author comes up with at the end of the article (Fitzell 194). Therefore, students can use a separate writing pad to highlight the key issues addressed, the name of the character, the problem addressed as per the context of the article and the resolutions.

Another summarizing strategy which students can adopt is the selective underlining technique. In this method, students will be required to read the article which they are supposed to underline and have them underline selected lines from the article. Once they have read and underlined the key sentences and statements in the article, students can then proceed to create a summary paragraph of the various key points and ideas which they can remember from the given article without looking at the article. However, when they reach a point of being stumped, they can refer to the underlined sentences and keywords. From this point, the student should be able to go back and forth in checking the underlining and the summarized document until they have captured the most important ideas which the article addresses.

The third summarizing strategy which can be used is known as the "headless stories." In this strategy, the teacher takes an article from a newspaper or any other periodical and cuts off the headlines. The article is presented to the students who will be required to practice writing the headlines for the article. The instructor must ensure that the headlines written by the students closely match the severed headline. This strategy is key in summarizing because students must read through the entire article and identify the characters, the main idea, the problem addressed by the article and the solutions.

The final strategy which can be used in guiding students I summary writing is known as the classified ads method. In this strategy, the instructor tells the students to assume that the summary writing is similar to sending a telegram. Therefore, each word used will cost them more money. Therefore, the instructor provides a theoretical figure which equates to the maximum amount of money that can be used. This figure also equates to the number of words required in the summary. This can be set up as a learning station whereby articles and folders can be used to practice.

This activity is crucial to students in the fourth grade because they can easily enjoy the aforementioned summarizing strategies. It encourages students to sharpen their writing, reading and comprehension skills. This, therefore, means that students can build on prior knowledge and help in strengthening their vocabulary skills. In addition, student's analytical skills are refined as they refine their written pieces. In addition, the skills and knowledge on summary making build comprehension and at the same time reducing confusion. The instructor has the goal of helping students to learn how to break down content in small, succinct pieces as individuals or small groups. Another key learning outcome in this activity is that students are in a position to build on prior knowledge, improve writing and strengthen the vocabulary (Fitzell 102). Such skills are critical for the student's future college life whereby they will utilize these skills in writing research papers especially literature review. In addition, such skills also inculcate the culture of reading which is an important aspect of future career life.

Activity 2: Journal Prompts

This activity is suitable for students in the third grade between the age of 7 and 9. The activity is suitable for all students regardless of the type of class or program. Journals provide an ideal way of developing recording events or experiences and describing ideas in a clear sequence. Journal prompts are useful in recording events such as the kind of day one is having, their favorite colors, food, hobby, movie, etc., what they like most, what they are good at, their views on a number of issues among others. In this activity, the instructor should write a narrative or develop either a real or an imagined experience or event which will use an effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. Once the instructor has established the situation and introduced a character, he/she should organize the event sequence which unfolds naturally. For instance, an instructor can come up with a seasonal theme which covers all the twelve months. For example, the September theme can be “back to school” whereby students can describe their experiences throughout the month. These experiences can be in the form of prompts which students can write on daily. It is important for the instructor to encourage students to introduce characters in their narratives and organize the events in the order of their unfolding.

The objective of teaching this activity to students is to support the development of thinking among the students. Secondly, writing journal prompts builds the student’s confidence. This teaching strategy helps struggling students to develop confidence in their writing skills. Since journal prompts helps students to apply what they taught in the classroom, they are in a position to apply the writing skills taught in class which boosts their confidence in this area (Odell Education 282). Another objective of this activity is to allow the instructor to gain students’ insight. Through writing, teachers are in a position to follow up students’ development such as the stage of spelling. This can help them in pinpointing the weaker students and provide further assistance. Another form of insight a teacher can get about student through journal prompts is their psychological development and well-being. Through this activity, students can reveal their thoughts, feelings, and opinions about various areas which matter to them (Odell Education 307).

This activity also provides a safe haven for budding writers because it can promote the growth of both grammar and mechanics. For students who are learning to gain confidence in writing sentences, journal prompts provide a safe platform which is key to trying new ideas and applying learned strategies. In addition, students keep re-reading their previous prompts which help them to self-diagnose their writing skills (Odell Education 282). It is easy for them to notice their errors which can guide them in applying new strategies. Another importance of journal prompts to provide students with an alternative way of dealing with personal issues. First, a teacher can easily know what is happening outside the classroom by reading the journal prompts. Secondly, the activity is fun, and therefore it opens up the brain to receive new information and at the same time retrieve the stored information.

Activity 3: Vocabulary word log

This activity is key for students in Grade 5. These are students aged between 10 and 11. A vocabulary world log is an activity that can be done either as an individual or in groups of 3 to 5 students. This activity is key for language students. The materials required for this activity including a writing pad, a dictionary, a newspaper article and other digital devices such as computers.

In setting up this activity, the instructor divides the students into groups of 3 to 5. The instructor then introduces a newspaper article which interests the students. Upon reading the article, the students are required to make a word log which they learn as the continue reading the log. In the writing word log, the students also indicate the headline and the date of the articles read on the top of the writing pad. Later students are required to copy out the sentences in which the words were retrieved from (context). In addition, the students will be required to make a guess of what the new words mean based on the context and how the words are used in the article (Blachowicz, Ogle and Fisher 46). After making a guess and wring the meaning, the students are required to look for the dictionary definition of the word or look up for the meaning using the digital devices. Once the students figure out the dictionary definition of the word, they can proceed to make their own new sentences which use the word. Alternatively, students can also draw diagrams that depict the meaning of the word which are also helpful in helping them to remember the meaning of such words in future (Blachowicz, Ogle and Fisher 48).

The vocabulary word log is an interesting activity which students enjoy doing. The activity is important especially for students are weak in languages. Vocabulary development aids them in acquiring new words which they can use in daily life. In addition, it is a key strategy in learning any language. This activity is critical for both oral and written vocabulary development which enables a student’s comprehension as well as increasing complex grade level text. Another outcome which instructors seek to achieve with this activity is boosting students with learning disabilities. Such students often struggle with oral vocabulary which is key in understanding content-are texts. Since there is a close relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, it is critical that they understand basic vocabulary knowledge for the ease of reading comprehension. In addition, the activity is a good strategy for the instructor to keep the students busy and reading widely since students who often struggle with vocabulary and reading comprehension often read less per day. Students with a better mastery of vocabulary often perform well in other areas such as quizzes, assignments, and tests.

Another way in which this activity on vocabulary instructions boosts further learning is by improving writing skills as well as building knowledge as well as other word meanings using known prefixes, roots, suffixes and word families. Vocabulary word log also prepares a student for higher learning in other disciplines apart from languages. Students with a deeper knowledge of vocabularies are also likely to perform better in other disciplines such as mathematics, history, science and arts which also use vocabulary.

Credit 2

Activity 1: Text Feature Find

This is an instructional activity which is fit for students in the 1st and 2nd grade aged between 6 and 9. This activity is suitable for individuals or small groups of students. In addition, the activity can be conducted for students in any class or program. The required materials for conducting this activity include sticky notes, reading materials and writing pad (Kelley and Clausen-Grace 102).

There are two ways in which the activity can be done depending on the grade. For students in grade 1, the reading standards for informational text requires students to know and use various text features such as glossaries, icons, electronic menus, headings and tables of contents in order to locate the key facts or the information in a given text. On the other hand, for students in Grade two, the goals is to ensure that students are in a position to know and use various text features such as captions, subheadings, bold prints, indexes, icons and electronic menus. The instructor should choose content area text which is used in curriculum or any form of informational text which contains various text features such as diagrams, glossary and print variation. Students are required to complete the worksheet to identify the text features contained in the informational selection assigned. Another variation with which the activity can take is the identification of parts of the book using sticky notes or bookmarks. Consequently, the text features can be written at the top of the bookmarks and later placed in the text. Another variation is the use of text features such as headings and subheadings in outline text or summarizing. Basically, the objective of this activity is to provide the students with an opportunity to interact as well as transact with the text, guiding the student as they read in the content area (Kelley and Clausen-Grace 111). Lastly, the activity aims at helping students to integrate their reading with content learning.

The instructors use this activity in order to guide students through expository text with text feature walks. This an important part of setting the purpose for reading, making predictions as well as in activating prior knowledge. Before this instructional activity was introduced, students moved from reading picture books to chapter books without having any guides in reading expository texts. This activity is critical for the preparation of students for further education especially in higher learning whereby knowledge in reading concept-dense content with ease. Text features such as a glossary, tables of contents, headings, bold words, and sidebars are usually more helpful if there are concise, clear and related to the content. This makes research work easy for students, especially at the college level. In addition, the activity is key in cultivating the culture of reading among students at an early age because these text features simplify reading and comprehension. As students learn this activity, they can move through text features in a given section which familiarizes them with the text’s organization. At the same time, they are able to access important background knowledge in relation to the content (Kelley and Clausen-Grace 121). This is vital especially if the students are not familiar with the content. Another importance of the text feature find is that they create a mental model which enables them to read and remember. Generally, this type of instruction promotes active learning which also boosts vocabulary acquisition as well as content learning.

Activity 2: Prior Knowledge Inventory

This activity can be undertaken by students in either the 3rd to 5th grade. These are students who are between the age of 7 and 12. The activity is an important individual exercise, but it can also be done in groups. In addition, this activity is suitable for students in any class or program because it basically improves comprehension of words as well as the content in the particular subject. The materials required for this particular activity include a writing pad among other reading materials. This activity is usually undertaken preferable at the beginning of the lesson. The objective is for the instructor to gain knowledge about the students’ insights on the topic before teaching it.

In this carrying out the activity, students are required to make a table in their writing pad. The table has six main sections. The first section is the topic being discussed. The second part of the table comprises of the words which the students know in relation to the topic. The third part is made up of some of the facts which the student knows about the given topic. The fourth part is on the experiences which the student has ever had I relation to the topic provided. In the fifth section of the table, the student is required to state whether the topic which he/she is analyzing is interesting to them. A further explanation is required on why the students is either interested or disinterested in the given topic. In the final section, the student should indicate what he/she would like to know about the topic.

This a key activity in common core literacy because students usually come to class with a wide range of prior knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs about a given topic. Therefore, the prior knowledge affects how the students will integrate the information as well as how they will remember and apply it later on. Therefore, this activity provides the instructor with an excellent opportunity to learn what the students know about the topic. Consequently, the based ion the feedback received, the instructor has a better opportunity to craft new instructional activities which can build off on the students’ strength and at the same time address their weaknesses. Another outcome of this activity and how it can improve learning is by highlighting some of the misconceptions which the students might have about the given topic. Without such an activity, the instructor may not have planned to address the misconception. However, with this knowledge, the instructor can plan on how to address the misconceptions in his/her teaching plan. Similarly, if most of the students in the classroom indicate proficiency on the planned topic, the instruction may choose to skip it and teach another topic which the students are less proficient in. Alternatively, the instructor can also decide to provide the students with links to other additional materials which can aid the students in further studies in relation to the topic on their own. This activity also provides the instructor with an opportunity to identify the type of knowledge being assessed and how the students will benefit from studying a given topic (Hailikari, Katajavuori and Lindblom-Ylanne 113). Prior knowledge inventory is also an important activity even in higher institutions of learning in assessing the students’ perception of a given topic, course or program. Through such an inventory, students are in a position to make informed decisions about the courses they will pursue based on their prior knowledge as well as attitude.

Activity 3: Story Question Cube Activity

This is a common core literacy activity which is suitable for students in the 4th grade aged between 9 and 10. It is an important activity especially for students studying languages and literature. In addition, the activity can be carried out individually or in small groups of about 5 students. The goals of the activity is to enable the students to describe in depth a character, setting or events in a drama, event or story by drawing on specific details in the text. Examples include the thoughts of the characters, their actions or words. The instructor sets up this activity with the primary objective of helping students to identify story element and also to explain the details within the selection (Angell and Tapia 4). The material needed for the activity include a pencil, activity sheet and a question cube.

In conducting the activity, the teacher instructs the students to discuss the parts of a story by the use of a question cube. Both the text and the question cube are placed at the center. The teacher then avails every student in the group with a student sheet (Angell and Tapia 4). The students can then either read the text or review it after the teacher read the text aloud. Then, the students take turns in rolling the question cube, read out the question and provide the answers within the context of the already read text. The next step involves discussing, writing or illustrating the answers on the student sheet. These steps are repeated in this order until the student sheet is complete. The final step in this activity is the teacher’s evaluation of the activity and answers provided by the students (Angell and Tapia 4).

The story question cube recording sheet is divided into six rows which indicate the details that students are required to fill. The top of the sheet contains the title of the story which was read out by the students or by the teacher. The first row of the table requires the student to indicate the place whereby the story takes place. The second row is on the summary of the story based on what happens at the beginning, the middle and at the end. The third row describes the mains problem addressed by the story and how it was solved. The fourth row of the table requires the students to state the characters involved in the story while the fifth row requires the student to elaborate on the genesis of the problem. The final row of the table requires the students to fill information about the time when the story takes place.

The primary outcome of using the story question cube activity in common core literacy is to provide students with a fun way of comprehending story which are otherwise boring to read and understand using the conventional methods. Students find this activity fun. Secondly, this activity encourages attentiveness since students are required to answer the questions randomly once the cube has been rolled. Therefore, they must ensure to follow up to avoid being caught unawares. This is an appropriate activity which encourages contextual reading and understanding. This is a key activity especially for students interested in specializing in literature studies later on. Another outcome associated with this activity is that students gain key analytical skills because they are able to break down the story into various elements. Also, story question cube activity promotes imaginative and critical thinking because students tend to recreate the entire story in their minds when analyzing the key elements which make up the story. Another objective which instructors have when conducting this activity is helping students to build upon their teamwork skills. This activity is usually undertaken by a group of students who are required to roll the cube in turns and answer the questions as shown by the cubes.

Credit 3

Activity 1: Comic Strip Activity

This is a common core activity for students in the third grade with an average age of around 8 years. The activity is suitable for both individual students and when working in small groups. Comic strip activity is critical for students who wish to study literature related programs. However, the activity also suits students in other programs such as science and history. Materials required in setting up this activity include writing pad, pencil and picture book. The purpose of the comic strip activity is to describe the relationship between a series of historical events, steps in technical procedures or scientific ideas and concepts by the use of language which pertains to time, the sequence as well as cause and effect (Greenberg 1).

The activity is for the students to create their own comic strip in order to show cause and effect relationship. The first step is to gather the students into a group and share the picture book If You Give Me a Mouse Cookie. Secondly, once the students are together, is important to ask some of the volunteers to share with the rest of the group about what they already know about the picture book. Some of the questions which the instructor can pose to gauge the level of understanding on the comic book include the identity of the main character, the types of things that happen in the comic book among others. Once the instructor gauges the level of student familiarity with the book, he/she should read the book aloud while identifying the cause-and-effect relationships throughout the book. In order to identify the relationship between the students, the instructor should use a thin-aloud after every cause-and-effect relationship. This means that after reading a section, of the book, it is important to recap and illustrate the cause-and-effect relationship. Another alternative to think-aloud strategy is by choosing volunteers among the group of students to identify the existing relationship once in a while throughout the reading. Once the instructor has read out the comic book, he/she can then divide the students into smaller groups of between 3-5 students each. A book of Numeroff is given each group whereby the students are required to read and list all the cause-and-effect relationships. While on student does the reading aloud, another student should be recording the number of relationships while the other one should share the group’s finding with the rest of the class.

Later, on, students can be encouraged to create their own comic strips by using comic strip checklist which can be provided by the instructor. The checklist for a comic group includes the name of the strip, the author, at least three case-and-effect relationships, six panels, clear illustrations on each page which are either colored or decorated, caption for the illustrations on each page which are written in complete sentences and are appropriately punctuated and the use of a dictionary when making the comic strip in order to ensure that all the words are correctly spelt. The students should also ensure that they have rehearsed the completed strip and later share them with their classmates.

This activity is one of the key core literacy activities which are useful in learning. First, comic strips usually come with morals to the stories. Therefore, students are likely to benefit from the moral lessons found within the humor. In addition, since comic strips usually deliver the message using a clean and powerful language which is a combination of pictures, vocabulary, and phrasing, it becomes an ideal way of learning English for the students (Greenberg 46).

Activity 2: Creating an A-B-C Book

This activity is important for students in Grades K and 1st Grade. The objective of this activity is to demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences through the production of the primary sound or the most frequent sounds in each consonant. It is suitable for students in any program. The materials required for the activity include pencil, writing and reading materials.

The first step is to instruct the students to create their own ABC books by drawing pictures as well as labeling them for every letter in the alphabet (Curry 28). However, this activity can also be modified in order to suit students in the higher grades (Curry 28). Another way this can be done is by having students in the kindergarten cutting taking photographs from magazines and other dailies and matching the pictures to each letter in the alphabet using the beginning sound of the word. It is also important to encourage the students to listen for the initial consonants as they draw or find the pictures. Also, the students should also be encouraged to think of other words which begin with the same sound. This can be done by asking the students about the groups of words which is shared by the particular sound. This activity can further be reinforced by a continued build up on the initial sound fluency by reading out riddles to the students. An example of this riddle is the Which Letter? in which the students are provided with a small poem of four stanzas and later asked to state the sounds which their ears hear the most.

The ultimate goal of the activity which the instructor aims at achieving is helping the students to construct knowledge on the relationship between letter sounds and symbols. Secondly, making ABC books is an important activity for primary-grade students because it reinforces their multilingual skills (Curry 28). In addition, students at the elementary level and above also gain important skills through this activity such as research and also gain confidence as teachers because the activity gives them an opportunity to share the results of their work with the rest of the class. In addition, the activity enables easier comprehension of words and sounds as students focus on creating many sounds from a word group while making the ABC book. Also, since the students usually use pictures of items they are familiar with, the activity encourages critical thinking. Proper alphabetic recognition among the students is as a result of a combination of the explicit introduction of specific letters as well as frequent exposure o to letters in various ways. Therefore, this activity gives students the necessary exposure to the alphabetical knowledge. Another learning outcome which is associated with this activity is enabling students to master letter names, their shapes, and sounds among others. The activity also offers students an opportunity to learn how the printed text is associated with the spoken language. Therefore, students who engage in this activity frequently tend to have an easier time in learning the letter sounds. This is an important guide for young students because alphabet recognition is among the first skills which children learn when they are starting to read. A personalized alphabet book is another way in which the activity can be done. Students who know one word for every letter which he/she knows usually use such words as an anchor in learning additional words which produce the same sounds which boost their vocabulary.

Activity 3: Hooked on Conversation

This activity is suitable for students in the 2nd grade. The activity is suitable for students studying any program, especially languages. It is usually undertaken by small groups of students. The goal of the activity is to participate in a collaborative conversation with various group members. The group members are required to hold the conversation while following the outlined rules of discussion such as gaining the floor in respectful ways, taking turns while speaking and listening to others carefully. Another goal of the activity is to enable the participants to build on other’s talk. Furthermore, the activity also provides the participating group members to ask for clarification and explanation on the topic of discussion.

The rules for the conversation include showing that one wants to speak by raising one’s hand. This is important in order to ensure that everyone participates in the conversation respectfully. The second rule of the conversation is by listening when other participants are speaking. The third rule states that at any given time, only one person should be speaking. Another rule pertaining to this activity is that any speakers given a chance should speak in complete sentences. Finally, all the participating members should stay on topic.

The first step in carrying out the activity is to request the students participating in each group to draw a hook card which represents the...