One strategy for beginning a long-range literacy plan is to determine what should be taught on a monthly basis. Ask yourself, “What goal do I want to accomplish this month?” or “What skill do I want students to develop by the end of the month?” For example, you may want to emphasize procedural writing in one month, then shift the focus to media literacy in another.
The skills and learning expectations can be determined by reading the curriculum strands and expectations.
Some ideas for structuring long-range plans:
1. Determine your “evergreen” materials.
“Evergreen” resources are tools and activities that can span the full year. We choose to include a variety of materials such as morning writing prompts, shared readings, spelling lists, and reading logs.
Check out some of our evergreen resources for Grade 2:
2. Use the month of September to focus on building classroom routines.
You may want to use this time to introduce “evergreen” resources or language materials that will be used year-round. This will depend on your teaching style and preferences.
3. Incorporate seasonal events into your planning.
Students love when their learning is integrated with real-world events, holidays, and celebrations. For example, you may choose to cover your narrative writing unit in January so that students can write a creative story about a New Year celebration. You may also wish to include seasonal or holiday words into your spelling lists. Your choices will depend on your class demographic and personal preferences.
4. Focus on assessment.
Create your long-range plans with the end goal in mind. Identify where assessment opportunities arise in each month and which strand(s) you will be assessing (reading, writing, media, oral communication). It is best to write these opportunities directly on your plan, so you are reminded of them throughout the year.
5. Be flexible.
You may decide to add or omit activities that may divert you slightly from your original plan made at the beginning of the school year. As the year progresses, you will learn about your students’ interests and their ability levels. You may learn new strategies or activities that will be more suitable for your students.
Our goal is to make your life easier with long-range planning for Grade 1-8 literacy.
In our plans, you will find a month-by-month breakdown for how you can organize your literacy program for your students, using resources found on our TeachersPayTeachers store: Teacher Resource Cabin.
If you have any of our Full Year Literacy Bundles, you already have access to all of the resources featured in this long-range plan, with the exception of holiday-related resources. Holiday-related resources are indicated in the long-range plan with a * to allow individual teachers to make decisions about which holidays are relevant for their class to celebrate based on the student population.
Your literacy block could be the highlight of your year with your class! During literacy, you can get to know your learner’s interests, goals, and abilities. Creative writing and shared stories allow you to connect with your class and develop a strong rapport.
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