At the beginning of this school year, Southeast Polk adopted new language arts materials. The last language arts adoption was over 10 years ago. The new literacy materials align with the Iowa Core literacy standards and the new resources support our instruction aligned to those standards. Both of the new language arts resources encourage technology integration in the classroom and encourage multiple daily opportunities for students to collaborate about what they are learning.
These materials offer an Integrated and balanced approach to reading and writing instruction. They include instruction on grammar, spelling, and writing mechanics integrated with reading. Our traditional textbooks and anthology of stories have been replaced with authentic and high-interest novels and informational books. All of the “ReadyGEN” texts integrate social studies and science themes within them and there is a strong balance between fiction and informational reading.
“I love ReadyGEN because it is filled with awesome books that you can learn new words and facts in. It allows us to read different genres like nonfiction, fiction, and tall tales. My favorite so far is the tall tale called John Henry because it was very interesting to read how the story came to be.” – Lilly Knight, 4th grade student at Mitchellville “ReadyGEN is an incredible addition to English Language Arts in Southeast Polk’s upper elementary classrooms. This new curriculum increases the rigor of literature students are exposed to by incorporating rich vocabulary, connections across multiple texts, and engaging students in deep conversations. ReadyGEN provides students the opportunity to get their hands on actual books of varying texts. I have seen an invaluable love for reading expand this year!” – Sydney Lafrenz, Mitchellville 4th grade teacher
“I love ReadyGEN because it is filled with awesome books that you can learn new words and facts in. It allows us to read different genres like nonfiction, fiction, and tall tales. My favorite so far is the tall tale called John Henry because it was very interesting to read how the story came to be.” – Lilly Knight, 4th grade student at Mitchellville
“ReadyGEN is an incredible addition to English Language Arts in Southeast Polk’s upper elementary classrooms. This new curriculum increases the rigor of literature students are exposed to by incorporating rich vocabulary, connections across multiple texts, and engaging students in deep conversations. ReadyGEN provides students the opportunity to get their hands on actual books of varying texts. I have seen an invaluable love for reading expand this year!” – Sydney Lafrenz, Mitchellville 4th grade teacher
These materials have a heavy emphasis on foundational skills such as phonemic awareness and phonics. They have a balanced Literacy program that includes evidence-based resources for word work, writing, reading fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Students will read many award-winning stories that are high-interest to them and have a strong emphasis on informational texts across many genres and cultures.
“When you look in the stories you learn new facts and there are a lot of things we learn that help you be a better reader.” Ty Brinkmeier, Altoona Elem. 2nd grader “In the stories, we read our vocabulary words, our high frequency words, and our spelling words show up . . . sometimes they are highlighted.” Emily Wall, 2nd grader
“When you look in the stories you learn new facts and there are a lot of things we learn that help you be a better reader.” Ty Brinkmeier, Altoona Elem. 2nd grader
“In the stories, we read our vocabulary words, our high frequency words, and our spelling words show up . . . sometimes they are highlighted.” Emily Wall, 2nd grader
“The best thing about McGraw Hill’s Wonders reading series is that everything feels so connected and intentional in the literacy lessons I am sharing with the second graders in my classroom. It’s nice to have a variety of very rich texts to use that all connect to the themes of the units. I am very encouraged that students are seeing that the phonics pattern words, high frequency words, and vocabulary words are woven into the stories we’re reading and that the work they’re doing with these words is helping them to be more accurate and fluent with their reading. There’s a lot to cover, and the teaching and learning seems to be pretty quickly paced but I’m finding that engagement and stamina are increasing!” – Jason Leete, Altoona, 2nd grade teacher
