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Reading and Language Arts

reading and language arts

A colorful diagram illustrating the TEKS Reading Tree, with branches representing different reading skills.

Contact Us

Natalie Ferry
K-5 Reading Language Arts Coordinator


Email Natalie Ferry

 

 

Chris Prince
Secondary Reading Language Arts Coordinator


Email Chris Prince

 

The Boerne ISD  ReadingLanguage Arts curriculum is aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) set by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Please see the links for more information on the standards appropriate for your student.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading

Boerne ISD utilizes the TEKS Resource System as its official curriculum management system.

Mission

The Reading Language Arts program at Boerne Independent School District advances the district’s mission by delivering TEKS-aligned instruction anchored in the science of teaching reading. Through ongoing progress monitoring from EC-12, we promote lifelong literacy and prepare students for college and career readiness. Foundational skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking are essential to our students' success.

Overview and Guiding Principals

Our literacy philosophy is to cultivate and deepen the purpose of reading and writing by creating a community of lifelong readers and writers.

Literacy instruction is developed around the following guiding principles to ensure a structured approach: 

  • Follows the Science of Teaching Reading in that all children benefit from explicit, systematic reading instruction using the five essential components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension 

  • Emphasizes the stages of the writing process

  • Creates a comprehensive and collaborative approach to support all students including those needing greater support 

  • Delivers whole class instruction and small group instruction with systematic attention to individuals through modeling and authentic, rich text examples

  •  Incorporates instructional best practices and provides explicit skills instruction in purposeful and meaningful learning to include the use of technology

  • Uses systematic assessment, including ways to examine individual student progress within the group and to determine their level of need 

As students become critical readers and writers, metacognitive strategies (process fluency standards) are embedded and taught to allow for comprehension at increasingly complex levels. Students will have opportunities to: formulate the purpose of reading, ask and respond to questions, monitor and adjust comprehension, make inferences, summarize information, and to make connections to personal experiences.

The expectation for students to acquire a repertoire of fluent literacy strategies will integrate the development of background knowledge, vocabulary, oral language skills, and the connections made between reading and writing.

Time to Read  💡  Time to Write  💡  Time to Talk

Resources

Read Aloud Routine for Families

The Read Aloud Routine is an eight-step process for integrating a regular read aloud with your child to help improve their reading comprehension.   English  /    Español

Source: The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk

Read Aloud Routine For K - 2nd 

Use this flipbook to help your Kindergarten through Second Grade students increase their vocabulary and comprehension skills.

Source: The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk Download

Phonics: Reading Big Words Vocabulary Analysis Tool 

Use this printable graphic organizer to help define and decode words. Download

Reading Big Words Activity & Bookmark

This activity and bookmark outlines 5 easy steps for reading big words.

Source: SA Reads Download

The English Language Arts and Reading program for Boerne Independent School District supports the district’s mission through the development and delivery of TEKS-based instruction and assessment for grades 6-12 in the promotion of life-long literacy and college and career readiness. Our program focuses on student proficiency in critical thinking skills as applied to reading, written and oral communication, and media analysis. We believe the key to being a great reader is to read extensively and the key to being a great writer is through exposure to great writing. Reading is not solely reserved for the classroom; life-long learning stems from becoming a life-long reader. We encourage students to set aside time to enjoy uninterrupted reading, allowing them to absorb and contemplate ideas from their reading experience.

Curriculum

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading

Boerne ISD utilizes the TEKS Resource System as its official curriculum management system. 

Boerne ISD Secondary English Language Arts and Reading has adopted StudySync® by McGraw-Hill as its official instructional resource.

StudySync® is an integrated print and digital ELAR program for grades 6–12 suitable for multiple implementation models both online and off. An easy-to-use, multimedia-rich curriculum, StudySync brings great literature to life and supports student exploration in the classroom and beyond.

The instructional resource provides a learning environment that purposefully evolves to meet the specific needs of 6th-12th-grade classrooms. The program focuses on building strong, skills-based foundations for students in grades 6–8 and provides flexible instructional choices for teachers and a guided path towards independent critical thinking and analysis skills for students in grades 9–12.

Students access the resource through the McGraw-Hill button via the student portal, Clever.

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Boerne ISD has launched TEA Reading Academies to increase teacher knowledge and implementation of evidence-based practices to positively impact student literacy achievement.

Infographic titled 'Learning to Read: Decoding and Comprehension' showing four stages: Pre-Reader, Emerging Reader, Decoding Reader, and Fluent Reader.

Diagram illustrating 'The Four Part Processor' model with interconnected components: Context, Meaning, Phonological, and Orthographic Processors.   Diagram illustrating the four-part processor and reading brain, with labeled sections.