Coyote Creek Elementary
OUR LEARNERS
OUR LEARNERS
Literacy is a fundamental life skill. It is the ability to read, write, speak, and think in a way that allows us to communicate effectively and make sense of the world. Communication – a core competency embedded across all areas of learning in BC’s curriculum – is central to supporting our learners develop their literacy skills as they collaborate, problem solve, share ideas, exchange information, and express their individuality. Evidence of our learners many gifts, attributes, and competencies are highlighted below.
Our learners can make sense of what they read by visualizing, questioning, and inferring as strategies to deepen their understanding and communicate their thinking.
Our learners share their thinking by using different strategies. In this sample, our students show their learning and understanding of Remy Lai’s graphic novel, "Pie in the Sky". By using Adrienne Gear’s Reading Powers. Students are guided through their reading and have the opportunity to share facts, wonderings, and inferences of the story in partners, small groups and whole class discussions. Our learners demonstrate that they can infer and make sense of the complex literature by sharing their thinking and others can build on different layers of thought to interpret the text. “Imagine... What is happening when…Why is the character… I think…”
Our learners can engage in inquiry and develop their ideas through hands-on learning experiences.
Across all grades, students communicate, and think critically about their learning. In this science example, students learn about how the shape of the land is changed by environmental factors. Isa and Jiya sculpt a model of a chosen landform to study and share what they know, what they learned, and where the landform can be found locally. During science, our learners develop their literacy skills by communicating their ideas through oral and written language, drawings, and models they have constructed.
“An island is land surrounded by water...”
This student is working on making two mountains and flat land in between the mountains to show and talk about a valley.
Our learners can participate in conversations and communicate their ideas confidently about topics they know and understand.
Our early learners are always eager to share and tell stories. In this sample below, Selena and Rayyan create stories from loose parts through story workshop. The students are playing with expressive language and doing a story demonstration through the use of visuals. Each story is unique and students take turns listening and speaking. Our youngest learners enjoy connecting with others through story and so many great adventures are shared.
OUR FOCUS
OUR FOCUS
Every day, our learners are presented with learning experiences to focus on thinking, reading, writing, and communicating in all curricular areas. Our goal is to help our students develop a strong literacy foundation that will support their participation in today’s world. fundamental to practice and demonstrate their Social and Emotional Learning skills and capabilities.
Our students’ learning goals include:
- Developing reading fluency through phonemic and phonological awareness, word patterns, and word families.
- Making meaning of literature using developmentally appropriate reading, listening and viewing strategies.
- Deepen understanding of text through a variety of comprehension strategies before, during and after reading, listening or viewing.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to hear and identify sounds in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of how well children learn to read during the first two years of reading instruction. Where assessment results demonstrate limited phonemic awareness, our evidence consistently shows that with careful and intentional intervention, substantial gains are made, even with our most vulnerable learners.
Reading Fluency
At our school, we are looking to build students' reading fluency through promoting daily reading experiences. These reading experiences are the building blocks that our learners need to begin to make meaning and build understanding of the materials they read.
Reading Comprehension
Comprehension refers to the ability to understand written words. It is different from the ability to recognize words. Recognizing words on a page but not knowing what they mean does not fulfill the purpose or goal of reading, which is comprehension. Comprehension adds meaning to what is read. Reading comprehension occurs when words on a page are not just mere words, but thoughts and ideas. Comprehension makes reading enjoyable, fun, and informative.
OUR NEXT STEPS
Evidence of our students' learning demonstrates that our literacy focus is positively impacting all three cohorts of learners. When surveyed and asked to communicate their students' progress using the provincial assessment scale, teachers from all cohorts indicated that all students demonstrated growth in relation to our three literacy goals:
- Phonemic Awareness
- Reading Fluency
- Reading Comprehension
Moving Forward
At Coyote Creek, we are proud of the incredible progress our students have made in literacy this year.
Based on evidence of students' progress in relation to our learning goals, our next steps will include:
- Continuing to support the science of reading and actively use instructional strategies to decode letters and words.
- Going deeper into reading a variety of genres to help students learn text structures and language that students can confidently transfer to their own literacy skills.
- Facilitating family learning connections through organizing family games nights to develop opportunities for families to share in the literacy development of their child.
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
