The Continuum of Literacy Learning Grades PreK-8

Earlier this summer I got a taste of Pinnell and Fountas' Continuum of Literacy Learning Grades PreK-8: A Guide to Teaching second edition through the section they included in Literacy Beginnings. As I was reading through the full book, I noticed that I was switching back and forth between reading like a mom and reading like a teacher. I often looked at the PreK to think about where my five year old is coming from and the kindergarten to see where she is heading this year, I looked at second grade thinking of my older daughter, and of course, I looked at the 6-8 thinking of my students.

I am impressed with the overall resource that is packaged much like Literacy Beginnings with the durable card stock and tab dividers for different sections. After a general introduction, the book is divided into a series of seven continuums, such as shared and performance reading, writing about reading, and oral, visual, and technological communication. Each continuum is detailed by grade level, with the exception of the final continuum Guided Reading (Level A-Z), which breaks it down by guided reading level. In addition, each continuum is broken down into further categories. Some are consistent through multiple continuums, such as thinking within text, thinking beyond text, and thinking about text. As such, the different continuums each have something unique to offer, while complementing each other well, forming a cohesive whole. Pinnell and Fountas took special care in the beginning and throughout the book that the stages are not exact as students progress at different rates, as well as the possibility of being at different places for different aspects.

I love that the resource gives teachers a chance to intentionally think about various aspects of individual students. For example, this would be a powerful resource to use with reading workshop to consider which support would be most appropriate for any given student, as well as really pinpointing strengths and areas of growth. I can see how there would be aspects on the continuum that teachers might not have thought of but upon skimming through, the information could give valuable insights, automatically making perfect sense once the continuum brings it to a surface level of awareness. Over time the resource would definitely be a valuable tool to continue building teacher capacity for meeting student literacy needs.

This is another resource that I am excited to share with teachers next week in our reading and writing workshop course, as well as keeping in mind as I talk with teachers about literacy. Tomorrow I will be posting about the Spanish version for PreK-2.

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