Episode Details
Back to Episodes
What Is Wit and Wisdom; A Rich Reading & Learning Experience
Description
They are learning literacy by making clay model animals like a tiny toxic octopus and a very interesting elephant. It's all part of a Language Arts Curriculum called Wit and Wisdom that is fostering critical thinking in students across Jordan School District.
On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to Terra Linda Elementary School where a first-grade teaching team is taking student success to new heights with this rich Wit and Wisdom reading experience and they're inviting parents to be part of it all.
Audio Transcription
Michelle Lovell:
Terra Linda has risen to the top of the District for first grade data for middle of year.
Aubrey McDonald:
We always talk about in our class what do we want to do?
Students:
Cross our midline.
Aubrey McDonald:
And so when we do something with art and then write about it we're definitely crossing our midline.
Student:
It helps us remember.
Michelle Lovell:
You are being very intentional about your students’ reading needs and the progress they're making.
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are improving literacy by making clay model animals, like a tiny toxic octopus and a very interesting elephant. It's all in support of a language arts curriculum called “Wit and Wisdom” that is fostering critical thinking in students across Jordan School District. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to Terra Linda Elementary School, where a team of first-grade teachers is finding unparalleled student success using this rich Wit and Wisdom reading experience, and they're inviting parents to be part of it all.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with Michelle Lovell and Aubrey McDonald talking about Wit and Wisdom and the way it's used in a first-grade classroom here at Terra Linda. Thanks for talking with us today.
Aubrey McDonald:
I'm happy to. Thanks for coming.
Anthony Godfrey:
Michelle, talk generally about Wit and Wisdom. We added that in the last couple of years in Jordan School District. What is it and what is it intended to accomplish? And then let's talk about how it's been adapted for use in this first grade classroom so effectively.
Michelle Lovell:
So Wit and Wisdom is a curriculum resource that we use in Jordan School District for language arts standards. This program is meant to be a knowledge-based knowledge-building program and it incorporates looking at reading text, it incorporates looking at art, talking and dialoguing about what they're learning, diving into text, finding text evidence, doing writing activities, and it does not have a phonics component. We still use UFLY for phonics, but the big pieces of Wit and Wisdom address those vocabulary, language, speaking, listening, and text-dependent kinds of pieces of the core.
Anthony Godfrey:
This is the rich reading experience that students get in conjunction with the phonics that they're learning.
Michelle Lovell:
Absolutely, and one of the pieces that we love about Wit and Wisdom is how deeply kids learn about topics because the reality is, if you aren't able, if you don't know a lot about a topic, you really can't speak to that topic, and if you can't speak to the topic, you can't write about it either. So being able to talk about something and have a deep knowledge base is a precursor to being able to write effectively about that topic. One of the things that I have really loved about Wit and Wisdom is going into classrooms and seeing the discussions kids have and I've just seen it in classroom after classroom with students talking about a book and bringing out parts of the book and having just amazing discussions about what they're reading, and because they have such strong discussions, that impacts what they can write