Reading

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The BJU Press elementary reading program challenges students to engage with what they read. Literature—whether it is fiction, nonfiction, drama, or poetry—enables people to consider, make sense of, celebrate, lament, and even change the world. We want students to enjoy reading all types of literature so that they will become lifelong readers. We also want them to analyze, interpret, and evaluate everything they read from a biblical worldview. More than any other people, Christians should value reading because God reveals Himself to His people through a book. In addition to helping us know God, reading skills also prepare us to be better servants of Christ. The apostle Paul lays out for us the standard by which Christians should measure what they read: things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and commendable (Phil. 4:8). In other words, we should read that which conveys truth, goodness, and beauty.

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Vision

To equip students to enjoy lifelong reading, to analyze and interpret texts in a variety of genres, to evaluate all that they read from a biblical worldview, and to become effective communicators.

Goals

To foster the joy of reading
To integrate a systematic approach to phonics instruction that includes phonological awareness and sight recognition
To teach comprehension through knowledge building, vocabulary development, language structures, critical thinking, and literacy knowledge
To differentiate instruction with small groups to meet the instructional needs of individual students
To develop discernment by evaluating literature from a biblical worldview

Program Approach for Reading

Legacy and Innovation

BJU Press has a legacy of robust reading instruction with a sustained emphasis on explicit, systematic phonics instruction and a focus on reading comprehension. But we are not resting on the successes of our past—we are innovating to ensure that our educational products reflect current best practices and educational research. BJU Press maintains a strong awareness of the Science of Reading as well as an awareness of educational standards in reading instruction. We are open to innovation, while also mindful of our role in the learning process as a publisher.

Language Comprehension

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One of the crucial life skills that students develop is language comprehension, which includes background knowledge, critical-thinking skills, and knowledge of vocabulary, language structures, and literacy concepts. To assist the teacher in developing these skills, we provide both simple recall and critical-thinking questions about reading selections. We also emphasize reading skills, vocabulary instruction, and strategies for understanding various genres.

How We Do It

Carefully selected, grade-appropriate texts allow students to build knowledge in a variety of genres.
Varied question types increase academic rigor and critical thinking.
Collaborative activities enhance language development.
Differentiated instruction features in the Teacher Edition provide resources for remediation, varied instruction, and enrichment.
Literary skills paragraphs on Before Reading pages develop reading skills.

Word Recognition

The ability to automatically decode words is foundational to reading, especially in first and second grade. In order for students to recognize words, they need a thorough understanding of letter-sound correspondence. Students also need the ability to identify and blend sounds into words and to recognize many common and irregular words on sight.

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Our Phonics Instruction

Begins with systematic development of phonemic awareness to help students encode and decode words, build fluency, and achieve comprehension
Uses engaging phonics characters to reinforce word family patterns and build phonological awareness
Includes supplemental decodable texts that provide students with opportunities to apply and reinforce phonics skills
Introduces a new Phonics Progress Monitoring tool to assist teachers with instruction and forming effective reading groups
Offers new differentiated phonics lessons to enable teachers to customize instruction for individual student needs

Grouping for Reading Instruction

Grouping for reading instruction should be fluid and flexible with the ultimate goal of developing word recognition and robust language comprehension. Though there are several ways to group students for reading instruction, the most strategic way in the early grades is according to their ability to apply phonics skills. This helps struggling readers who may require additional phonics instruction. Resources for differentiated phonics instruction are provided in BJU Press materials for grades 1 (on BJU Press Trove®) and 2. Because of the varied needs of students, the lessons are designed to give the teacher flexibility during reading instruction, building both language comprehension and word recognition.

Teachers can use the Phonics Progress Monitoring tool to:

Diagnose reading gaps.
Identify learning goals and create groups based on similar phonics needs.
Provide targeted instruction based on student skills.
Give support for regular assessment to make group creation flexible and fluid.

Assessing Reading Progress

Many teachers struggle with the question, “How do I assess reading?” Understanding a student’s reading skills involves monitoring that student’s decoding ability, fluency, and comprehension. BJU Press Reading materials have many tools available to teachers for this process.

Assessment Tools

Phonics Progress Monitoring tool
Informal Reading Evaluation
Formative assessment check sheets
Reading fluency guidance
Written comprehension assessment strategies
Cold-read comprehension checks

Find these tools, and more, in your Teacher Edition or BJU Press Trove (may vary by grade).

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Materials

Student Edition

The student edition readers provide interesting, developmentally appropriate selections from a variety of genres. The level of difficulty progresses in readability and skills to give students every opportunity for success. Bible retellings closely follow the text in Scripture to translate reading skills into Bible study skills.

Student Activities

Student activities include independent practice materials that reinforce skills covered in the lessons, including application of phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and composition.

Teacher Edition

Each grade’s teacher edition includes detailed lesson guides with vocabulary sentences and literary instruction, literal and higher-order discussion questions, and pre-reading and post-reading activities to meet multiple learning styles. Grades 1–3 also include phonics instruction or review as a component of the reading lesson.

Assessments

Assessments packets provide tools to determine whether students can demonstrate proficiency in three components in the reading process: comprehension from silent reading, oral fluency from read-alouds, and written comprehension. The packet includes rubrics for determining a grade for these components as well as reading comprehension tests for grades 2–5 (grade 1 comprehension assessments are located in the back of the teacher edition). Each packet includes teacher instructions, answer keys, rubrics, and reproducible tests.

Novel Studies

If using novel studies, purchase individual copies for each student in the group or class. Teaching guides for integrated novel studies are included either as BJ Booklink guides in grades 2–3 or in a volume of the teacher edition in grades 1, 4–5.

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Reading 1

Auditory Discrimination

Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken words; segment and blend sounds to form words; isolate and pronounce initial, medial, and final sounds; syllabication using vowel sounds; identify rhyming words

Letter-Sound Association

Spelling-sound correspondence of common consonant digraphs; decode one- and two-syllable words (syllabication); decode words with inflectional endings; recognize and read first-grade irregularly spelled words (high-frequency words)

Fluency

Read grade-level text aloud with accuracy and appropriate expression; use context to self-correct, rereading as necessary

Main Ideas and Details

Ask and answer questions; retell stories, including key details; identify main topic and important details; describe characters; describe connections between characters, events, or ideas in text; identify setting; sequence events

Author’s Craft / Text Structure

Identify figurative language and onomatopoeia; identify sensory details; identify fiction vs. nonfiction; identify different genres of text; identify speaker / point of view; ask and answer clarifying questions; identify and interpret text features and graphic features; identify problem and solution

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Use illustrations to describe characters, setting, events (fiction), or key ideas (nonfiction); make inferences from illustrations; draw conclusions using background knowledge or textual information; identify basic similarities and differences between two texts on the same subject; compare and contrast characters’ experiences in stories; make and verify predictions; make text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections, and text-to-world connections

Character Analysis

Identify character traits; infer character motives; identify character emotions; evaluate characters’ traits and actions

Composition

Formulate a different ending to a story; compose poems featuring onomatopoeia and elements of shape

Reading 2

Biblical Worldview Shaping

Wisdom—Learning to live well in God’s world
Hard Work—Valuing hard work as a way to love God and others
Kindness—Acting and communicating with goodness and helpfulness
Obedience—Developing an attitude of submission to God and authority
God’s Creation— Appreciating God’s wonderful world
Contentment—Growing in gratitude to please God

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness: isolating, segmenting, blending, adding, subtracting phonemes
Review of phonics: the 44 sounds of English with many of the variant spellings