Students in grade 4 and 5 continue to experience daily instruction in the Readers and Writers Workshop, a research-based reading and writing program that incorporates differentiated instruction and the establishment of student independence in reading and writing. Students develop and strengthen reading skills and strategies through independent and group reading of fiction and nonfiction. We encourage students to be reflective about their reading and writing and to set goals for those areas as well. Teachers assess student reading and writing through research-based reading and writing progressions. In addition, students receive blocks of word-work in vocabulary and language foundations.
In the Piscataway School District:
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Students will:
- engage in authentic and purposeful communication activities.
- explore varied literary and technical genres of reading and purposes for writing.
- be instructed using materials appropriate to their individual and developmental needs.
- be active participants in gathering information from a variety of sources.
- engage in integrated and meaningful communication.
- be assessed through ongoing instructional activities which require them to solve problems, gather and use resources, work collaboratively, and assume responsibility for their learning.
- access, organize, and communicate information using modern technology.
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Rather than:
- engage in skill and drill exercises isolated from meaningful application.
- be limited to a narrow range of writing purposes and literary genres (only fiction, only stories).
- work through prepackaged programs or materials assigned regardless of their individual needs.
- be passive recipients of information from teachers and textbooks.
- consistently engage in activities that focus on each of the language arts separately.
- be tested with measure that assess the mastery of isolated facts or skills.
- be limited to the use of paper and pencil.
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