Elementary English Language Arts

 San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is committed to ensuring equitable outcomes for all students. In  service of this mission, SFUSD is seeking research and standards-aligned elementary Language Arts core curricular materials to support teachers in facilitating a strong foundation in literacy for all SFUSD students for years to come. 

Language Arts Core Curriculum Review Team Overview. SFUSD is seeking a representative team including; PK-5 educators, site leaders, SPED educators,  literacy interventionists, instructional coaches, parents and community members to review and select PK-5 Elementary Language Arts Core curriculum.

The ELA Common Core Standards include the following components:

• Foundational skills
• Reading 
• Writing
• Speaking and Listening 
• Language 

The  Foundational Skills Block is a daily 40 minute instructional block of time dedicated to systematic, sequential instruction in phonemic and phonological awareness, explicit phonics, fluency and print concepts. Students have opportunities to apply decoding skills in continuous text . There is a scope and sequence for Kindergarten - Second grade. 

Reading

Students spend lots of time actively reading content-rich, complex text. Close reading of complex text is concentrated, demanding work that helps students discover how to learn from reading (and grow their knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding of syntax).

Students should have a volume of reading to build knowledge and be exposed to academic language in the content areas. That volume of reading needs to be at a range of complexity levels so every student can read with minimal or no teacher support. Much of this volume should be with information-rich text, either full-length books or conceptually connected shorter texts (groups of texts that cohere together to create a picture of a topic).

Writing

Students learn to use writing as a way of offering and supporting opinions, demonstrating understanding of the subjects they are studying, and conveying real and imagined experiences and events. They develop the capacity to build knowledge on a subject through research projects and to respond analytically to literary and informational sources. To meet these goals, students must devote significant time and effort to writing, producing numerous pieces over short and extended time frames throughout the year.

Speaking and Listening 

Students have ample opportunities to take part in a variety of rich, structured conversations—as part of a whole class, in small groups, and with a partner. Being productive members of these conversations requires that students contribute accurate, relevant information; respond to and develop what others have said; make comparisons and contrasts; and analyze and synthesize a multitude of ideas in various domains.

K-5 English Language Arts Planning and Resource Portal:

Please reference the planning portal to support all aspects of Literacy Instruction. You will find guidance documents, grade specific schedules, scope and sequence of learning across the year, unit and lesson plans and specific resources. 

SFUSD is committed to providing high quality culturally relevant and responsive classroom instruction to all students. When students exhibit challenges with meeting grade level benchmarks, the Academic Response to Intervention (RTI) framework helps identify areas of need and the specific supports which will help students advance their learning