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Quick Facts about Open Court Reading
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The Open Court Reading
Program is a research-based comprehensive Reading and Language Arts
Program. All schools in AA County will be using this program to ensure
program continuity across the system. |
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It is an explicit,
systematic instructional approach to teaching children to read. Skills are
built upon each year, and have been correlated with the Maryland Content
Standards (which are tested in MSA) and the voluntary state curriculum,
which Anne Arundel County is using in Reading/Language Arts. |
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OCR’s goals: |
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To develop confident and
fluent readers through print and phonemic awareness activities and
explicit phonics instruction |
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To engage students in
constructing meaning through the direct teaching of reading comprehension
skills and strategies. |
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To create life long
learners who use reading and writing to gain knowledge in all areas of
life. (Learning to read and write, reading and writing to learn) |
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These are things we have
always done for our students, but we will now do them in a more focused,
explicit, systematic manner, with consistency across the school system.
Students are actively engaged in learning at all times. |
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Instruction is divided into
3 bands: |
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Green: Preparing to Read (Phonics
and Word Knowledge, Fluency: the ability to read text smoothly, without
error, with proper intonation) |
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Red: Reading and Responding
(Comprehension Skills and Strategies). Challenging, Authentic Literature
is used in this program |
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Blue: Language Arts (writing and
grammar, penmanship, speaking and listening) |
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Instructional Time:
2:45 for Primary, 2:30 for Intermediate grades |
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Opportunities for enrichment
and remediation are part of this program as well, through our Workshop
sessions. Teachers will meet with students that have similar needs on a
daily and weekly basis as necessary. |
| Opportunities for students
in need of additional assistance: |
| Participating in
preteaching, reteaching, and intervention instruction as part of Open
Court Workshop time. |
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Students with identified
needs will have the opportunity to participate in Corrective Reading
instruction, in addition to the regular Open Court Program. |
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Enrichment opportunities: |
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Open Court Classics:
Reading selections for above level readers |
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Use of junior novels |
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Open Court Challenge
materials |
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Investigation and Inquiry:
Independent projects based on themes and student interest |
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Outside of school day:
Participation in Destination Imagination (grades 3-5; see Mrs. Love for
more information) |
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Assessment: |
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Students at each grade
level will be assessed at several times throughout |
the year to
monitor progress and ensure each student’s needs are being met.
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Dynamic Indicators of
Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) |
(K-1):
measures phonemic awareness, print awareness, etc.
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Open Court End of Lesson
and Unit Assessments |
(K-5-graded)
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School-wide Writing
assessments (graded) |
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County Reading Assessments
(grades 2-5) |
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MSA in grades 3, 4, 5
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Stanford 10 in Grade 2 |
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Other informal assessments
as needed: oral fluency, running records, etc. |
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How
parents can help support the goals of Open Court Reading: |
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Provide opportunities for
children to read and write daily (participation in our reading incentive
programs helps with this!) |
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Primary parents: read and
reread the decodable books that are sent home for practice again and again
to build fluency. Review sounds and phonemic awareness skills covered if
needed. |
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Require children to speak
and write in complete sentences at home as well as school. |
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Require children to support
their ideas and opinions with specific reasons. |
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Encourage children to
expand their vocabulary (use “angry” instead of “mad”, etc.) |
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Provide opportunities for
children to go to the public library |
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Monitor the work children
bring home each day—ask specific questions about what took place
that day. (What did you do in LA, math, etc.?) Ask children to share what
they learned in school—get details! Older students should be able
to articulate daily outcomes. |
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Monitor the agenda book and
sign each night. Write notes to the teacher if something is not clear. |
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Encourage students when
they have an interest in a particular topic through additional reading or
trips or Internet searches, etc. Parental guidance is recommended when
children are using the Internet. |
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Family trips help children
to build background experiences that they can bring to their classroom
learning. Children need to explore the world outside of Odenton. Many
family magazines and local newspapers have suggestions for free and
inexpensive outings for families. |
Open Court Units of Instruction
These are the units for each grade level. If you see items (artifacts items or objects related to the theme), newspaper or magazine articles, etc. that might support these themes, be sure to send them to school with your child!
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Unit |
Kindergarten |
Grade 1 |
Grade
2 |
Grade 3 |
Grade 4 |
Grade 5 |
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1 |
School |
Let’s
Read |
Sharing
Stories |
Friendship |
Risks
and Consequences |
Cooperation
and Competition |
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2 |
Shadows |
Animals |
Kindness |
City
Wildlife |
Dollars
and Sense |
Astronomy |
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3 |
Finding
Friends |
Things
That Go |
Look
Again |
Imagination |
From
Mystery to Medicine |
Heritage |
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4 |
The
Wind |
Our
Neighborhood at Work |
Fossils |
Money |
Survival |
Making
a New Nation |
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5 |
Stick
to It |
Weather |
Courage* |
Storytelling* |
Communication* |
Going
West |
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6 |
Red
White and Blue |
Journeys |
Our
Country and Its People |
Country
Life |
A
Changing America |
Journeys
and Quests* |
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7 |
Teamwork |
Keep
Trying |
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8 |
By
The Sea* |
Games |
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9 |
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Being
Afraid* |
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10 |
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Homes |
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Open
Court Units of Instruction
These are the units for each grade level. If you
* denotes a unit that is reserved for use during Summer Academy
Lisa Wild Reading Resource Teacher