Four Blocks Model In Language Arts

At LHCS you may hear students in grades Kindergarten through Six use words like "Self select reading, and Working with Words" to describe what they are doing during Language Arts time. This approach was used by K through grade 3 classes for a number of years and we have implemented it in the junior grades as well.

Why have we decided to make this change? What changes will your child experience? Is this method really better or just one of those fads we see that come and go in educational circles? We hope that this information will be useful to you as parents. If you have any questions, just ask your child’s teacher or contact Mrs. Herfst.

As Junior teachers we have spent a number of hours in the summer learning about the Four Blocks teaching strategy and how to teach our students in this way using our current curriculum materials and skill lists in Language Arts.

Why have we switched to the Four Blocks Model? We feel it is the best way to teach children the skills of the Language Arts program. Language is one of the most precious gifts God has given to his people. It allows us the ability to think, to imagine, to express our thoughts and feelings, to learn and share the wonders of our Father’s creation. We use language to build Christian community and to respond to our Heavenly Father with prayer and praise.

Language involves listening, reading, writing and speaking. We need to lead our children to become competent in using all aspects of language in a meaningful and functional way. God has made each one of us to be unique individuals with our own rate of development. As Christian teachers we value programs and teaching methods that allow for individual responses, learning styles and will permit children to achieve success at their own pace.

The Four Blocks Model was developed by three teachers, Cunningham, Hall and Defee, who combined the four most favoured approaches to the teaching of reading that they had experienced in their combined thirty-eight years of teachings. They combined the "basal approach" the "phonics approach", the "literature based approach" and the "writing approach". Each of the four blocks is based on one of the favoured instructional approaches and is given equal time in the language arts time block. The approach has been tested, adjusted and implemented in hundreds of classrooms with great success. The Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools has recommended that we use this approach in the primary and junior grades.

During this block of time, we focus on reading comprehension skills—those strategies that help readers make sense out of the print on the page. We also work on our reading fluency—the smoothness with which we read text. The teacher will teach the whole group a lesson about a particular skill using a story from the anthologies we used previously, another storybook, story or a text usually used in another subject. Afterwards, the students practice reading in pairs or small groups. Then, the teacher again works with the whole groups of students to discuss what they have learned. Sometimes students do a written or oral activity. Students will get a great deal of support from their teacher, from their classmates and will work toward becoming better readers.

During this block, students have an opportunity to see themselves as readers and build their fluency, the ability to read smoothly. On most days the teachers have a read aloud time to model excellent oral reading. Then, each student selects a book from the book basket (or another designated place in the classroom) to read independently for an extended amount of time, usually no more than twenty minutes. During this time, the teachers have individual conferences with designated students. Together, they discuss the book, and the teacher is able to evaluate the student’s growth in reading. At the end of the block, several students often share what they read and whether they liked the book, much like the way adults share information with their friends about the books they’re reading.

During this block, student learn to think about and use their knowledge of phonics to write compositions. Along with applying phonics, they have an opportunity to practice penmanship, to learn about the writing process, grammar and the mechanics of good writing. Every day, the teacher models writing to teach a skill. Then students write their own story or composition. On certain days, the students work individually with the teacher to learn to correct their errors, and they publish some of the work as special pieces to be enjoyed by other classmates. At the end of writing time a few students share their work with the class. This block has a great impact on reading because frequently the first text a child learns to read is his own.

This block allows students to explore words, word families (patterns), spelling and phonics and to see how they can use what they learn about words in their reading and writing.

This block has five different strategies and we use them at various times of the month. We teach students the correct spelling for high-frequency, often irregularly-spelled words which are displayed on the Word Wall in the classroom.

Secondly we teach students how to decode and spell one- and two-syllable words based on words they already know with such activities as Brand Name Phonics and Making Words

Thirdly we teach students that spelling rhyming words is not as easy as decoding them because some rhymes have two spelling patterns. In English spelling there are often two common spelling patterns with the same pronunciation. The only way to know which is the correct spelling is to write it one way and see if it "looks right" or check your probable spelling in a dictionary. These lessons help students learn how to use these two important self-monitoring spelling strategies. The activity used is "What Looks Right."

The fourth goal is teach students key words containing the major prefixes, suffixes and spelling changes and how to use these to decode, spell and build meaning for many polysyllabic words. This is based on more sophisticated patterns which require that students understand how words change in their spelling, pronunciation and meaning as suffixes and prefixes are added. To help students learn the system for decoding and spelling big words, students will learn to read, spell and understand the morphemic composition of at least 50 words. These words include examples for all the common prefixes and suffixes, as well as common spelling changes. These words are call the Nifty Thrifty Fifty words. Each month a specific number of words are introduced and practiced. These words are arranged somewhere in the classroom. They are often used as the Spelling program, along with other challenge words from other subjects.

The last goal is to teach students to use cross checking while reading and a visual checking system while writing to apply what they are learning as they engage in meaningful reading and writing. This is done by an activity called "Guess the Covered Word", a separate book published for this activity.