Overview of the Span
I
n the transitional kindergarten through grade-three years of schooling, students develop the
skills, knowledge, and dispositions to begin meaningful independent engagement with text
at their grade-level, which expands children’s worlds mightily. During those early years, they
learn about and build fluency with the alphabetic code, including using it for their own purposes as
they write. At the same time, they make great gains in
vocabulary, acquire more complex syntactical structures,
build subject matter knowledge, learn to comprehend and
think critically about grade-level literary and informational
texts, and gain skill in communicating and collaborating with
diverse others. Importantly, primary grade children learn
that texts offer enjoyment and knowledge and that they are
worth pursuing, and students find satisfaction in sharing
their stories, opinions, and knowledge with others. Excellent
literacy instruction during the transitional kindergarten
through grade-three years is imperative because it lays the
foundation for future success.
However, excellent instruction in the first years of schooling does not guarantee success in the
years ahead. Older students—those in grade four and above (referred to in much of the research and
professional literature as “adolescents”)—must also be provided excellent instruction. As students
progress through the grades and into the final years of elementary school, the texts and tasks they
encounter become increasingly challenging. Teachers of older students need to ensure students’
literacy and language continue to develop so that all students are best prepared for fulfilling futures in
college, their careers, their communities, and their lives.
In its report Time to Act: An Agenda for Advancing Adolescent Literacy for College and Career
Success (http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/PDF/time_to_act_2010_v_3.pdf), the
Carnegie Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy (2010, p. 10) notes that “Literacy demands—
meaning the specific combination of texts, content, and the many learning tasks to be performed at
any given grade level—change and intensify quickly for young learners after fourth grade.” Specifically,
the committee identifies the following changes:
- Texts become longer.
- Word complexity increases.
- Sentence complexity increases.
- Structural complexity increases.
- Graphic representations become more important.
- Conceptual challenge increases.
- Texts begin to vary widely across content areas.
Students in grades four and five learn to employ
and further develop their literacy and language skills to
comprehend, use, and produce increasingly sophisticated
and complex texts as well as communicate effectively with
others about a range of texts and topics. Importantly,
they read widely and they read a great deal. They read
to pursue knowledge (as when they engage in research) and they read for pleasure. English learners
participate fully in the ELA and other content curricula as they simultaneously learn English as an
additional language.
Teachers of older students
need to ensure students’
literacy and language
continue to develop so that all
students are best prepared for
fulfilling futures in college, their
careers, their communities, and
their lives.Students in grades four and five
learn to employ and further
develop their literacy and
language skills to comprehend,
use, and produce increasingly
sophisticated and complex
texts as well as communicate
effectively with others about
a range of texts and topics.
Importantly, they read widely
and they read a great deal.Grades 4 and 5 Chapter 5 | 393