Literacy Services

Literacy is more than the ability to read and write. It involves knowledge, skills and abilities-the competencies-that enable individuals to think critically, communicate effectively, deal with change and solve problems in a variety of contexts to achieve their personal goals, develop their knowledge and potential, and participate fully in society.

Government of Alberta, 2009

The Grande Prairie Catholic School District supports Literacy First: A Plan for Action and understands the benefit of being literate individuals within our changing community. Students within our system develop a wide range of literacy skills and are led in this process by teachers who understand and support student’s individuality and their place on the continuum of learning.

For all Literacy Assessments, please follow this link.

In a technological society, literacy extends beyond the functional skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening to include multiple literacies such as visual, media, and information literacy.These new literacies focus on the capacity of individuals to use and make critical judgements about the information they encounter on a daily basis. (Centre for Literacy)

Division 1 & 2 Literacy needs include strategies that focus on reading, writing and oral language for early and emergent readers and writers. This usually begins with a solid foundation of phonemic awarenessand a mastery of the alphabetic principle. As students acquire a sight word vocabulary, learn to decode and discover the patterns that exist in words they develop the skills they need to apply meaning to the text. Authentic reading does not exist without understanding. It can be said that in Division one, students learn to read, and in Division two, students read to learn. Comprehension strategies become important as students master the decoding process.

Divison 3 & 4The process of learning to read does not end in elementary school. As students advance to middle and high school, there is an increasing demand for mastery of content literacy. Content literacy involves assessing and building content knowledge, understanding text features and their purposes, supporting and monitoring comprehension; and evaluating, extending and transferring content knowledge. In high school, reading becomes more complex and students need teachers who provide strategies to help students comprehend sophisticated text.

Running Records: A Running Record allows teachers to assess a student's reading performance as he/she reads from a Guided reading book. There are 2 purposes for a Running Record in our district. One, is to assess strugglers in September to ensure that they have not regressed during the summer, and the second reason is to evaluate whether or not a student should move up a level in Guided Reading. Therefore, completing Running Records should be common practice in all elementary classrooms. Click on the link for a complete guide for how to do a Running Record, including how often to do them. 

A How-To video is located here. (Wait for it to Load)

Comprehension Strategies for Division 3 & 4