Overview of Pathways

Pathways: A Journey to Excellence through Literacy is an integrated language arts program which includes reading, writing, phonics, spelling, word study, comprehension and study skills, grammar, vocabulary, and handwriting.

Key Features of Pathways

Pathways offers the following features:

• extensive reading in a variety of literary genres and themes
• a focus on interdisciplinary themes
• a spiritual connection that leads students to recognize God’s leading in their lives and the lives of others
• a comprehensive word study focus consisting of phonics, handwriting, and spelling
• a sequential development of phonics strategies
• a spelling program coordinated with phonics and writing
• a handwriting program tied to themes and phonics
• explicit instruction in comprehension, writing, learning strategies, and studying
• a systematic study of grammar and sentence conventions
• strategies for assisting students with reading problems and multi-level approaches
• a clear plan for management, including a system of student accountability and assessment

Pathways Goals

Students should not only learn how to read, but also to enjoy reading, writing, and learning. All students deserve to be in a school setting that provides optimum opportunity to become passionate learners, readers, and writers. Pathways provides students with this opportunity based on the following principles:

A. Pathways offers a cross-curricular approach to literacy that gives students an opportunity to become deeply involved in learning.

B. Pathways leads students to make wise choices in reading content.

C. Pathways develops life-long readers.

D. In Pathways, students create meaning through writing and conversations with one another.

E. Pathways provides students with guidance and practice to develop writing skills.

F. Pathways provides systematic instruction in reading comprehension and learning strategies that students apply to literature and content subjects.

G. Pathways provides students a systematic, daily practice with phonological processing skills.

H. Pathways provides a systematic approach to the teaching of spelling that includes high-frequency words as well as words following specific phonological patterns.

I. Pathways provides a rich variety of tools for assessing individual student development.

J. Pathways offers a management plan that includes whole-class, small-group, and individual student activities.

Pathways Organization

Pathways is organized around two central features: cross-curricular themes and a scope and sequence of strategies.

Cross-Curricular Themes

Cross-curricular themes serve as the overriding framework for the program. Each theme centers on a theme book. While the same nine themes occur at every grade level, the specific theme content changes to reflect the developmental and interest levels of the students. The themes range from personal, spiritual, and family-oriented ones to cultural, sociological, and environmental issues. Spiritual lessons are drawn from each theme which relate to the student’s own spiritual journey. The thematic structure offers consistency across grade levels and a framework for the literature units.

Scope and Sequence of Strategies
The scope and sequence at each grade level is organized around five target areas:

1. Extended reading and writing
2. Comprehending, studying, and evaluating ideas
3. Reference skills
4. Word Study
5. Sentence skills – usage, punctuation, and grammar

The Scope and Sequence of Strategies defines what is taught and assessed in the overall program and targets all objectives from the North American Division Integrated Language Arts Curriculum Guide. Most strategy instruction is integrated into the Daily Lesson Guides. For an overview of how the strategies fit within the larger context of Pathways, refer to the Pathways Teacher's Manual. Once a skill is introduced in a specific grade level, it is reinforced and expanded in subsequent grades.

IMPLEMENTATION

Pathways instruction focuses on four overlapping instructional components:

1. The theme books and the Daily Lesson Guides. Theme books launch the thematic study for each unit. The Daily Lesson Guides are the day-to-day teaching plans for each Pathways theme. The plan includes daily routines for teaching the five target areas, pre-and post-reading activities and assessment. These thematic studies are designed for whole-class, small-group, and individual instruction, depending on the particular activity.
   
   
2. Guided Reading groups. Students work in small groups with guided reading books. The theme books, leveled readers, and other materials may be used for small-group reading.
   
   
3. Reading Workshop. Reading Workshop is a time for students to read everyday. It includes self-selected reading, establishing routines, conferencing, and literary talk to enhance student awareness of authors, illustrators, and the connection between reading and writing.
   
   
4. Writing Workshop. Writing Workshop is a planned daily writing period that allows students to write mostly about their own choice of topics. Students select their topic of choice and write, using the writing process.

Description of Pathways Components

Student Materials

• Theme Books. Books are the driving force behind Pathways. Each of the nine thematic studies is launched by theme books. These books, selected for their high interest, literary, and content values, represent a range of topics and genre.
• Guided Reading Books. It is through Guided Reading that Pathways can show students how to read and support them while reading. When students read with others on similar levels of proficiency at their instructional level, they gain additional opportunities to become better readers. Guided Reading becomes the heart of a balanced reading program. Guided reading will occur at all grades. Pathways’ Seedling Guided Readers are the basic recommended set of leveled readers to be used in the kindergarten, first and second grades.
• Writer’s Handbook. The Writer’s Handbook is primarily a student resource. Students keep this guide on their desks as a handy reference to use throughout the day. During the Writing Workshop this handbook serves as a tool for teaching mini-lessons about strategies or forms of writing.
• Phonics. The Chall-Popp Phonics Program assists students in learning the major phonological patterns in English. Students use workbooks, the only consumable component of Pathways. Phonics readers are incorporated into the phonics program, helping students transition into genuine independent readers by keeping them engaged while polishing phonics skills. Early Phonics Readers and Phonics Readers assist students in transitioning to independent readers. Early Phonics Readers focus on individual vowels and then build to multi-vowel reviews. Phonics Readers give practice in long-vowel sounds, consonant blends and digraphs. Phonics will be formally taught in Kindergarten through Grade 2.

Teacher Materials

• Daily Lesson Guide. The Daily Lesson Guide is a teaching plan for each thematic study. The Daily Lesson Guide contains a detailed instructional plan for teaching comprehension, writing, literacy, and word structure skills within a cross-curricular and thematic focus. Spiritual connections are integrated into the reading instructional plan. Extension activities for art, Bible, drama, health, mathematics, science, and social studies are included. Suggested poetry from the recommended Random House Book of Poetry for Children: A Treasury of 572 Poems for Today’s Child (see order form) is also included.
• Teacher’s Manual. The Teacher’s Manual contains information on guided reading implementation, comprehension strategies, reading and writing workshop, word study (which includes daily oral language, phonics, handwriting, and spelling), assessment options, working with the exceptional child, and the home-school partnership.
• Phonics Teacher’s Edition. The Chall-Popp Phonics Program forms the basis for the explicit, sequential approach to phonics instruction in Pathways. The teacher’s edition contains hands-on student activities, intervention strategies, and numerous instructional techniques to enrich phonics instruction. Phonics is formally taught from Kindergarten through Grade 2.
• Writer’s Handbook. Teacher will need a copy of the Writer’s Handbook since it is used for mini-lessons in grammar, writing, mechanics, etc., throughout Pathways.
• Basic Reading Inventory: Pre-primer through Grade 12 and Early Literacy Assessments, Ninth Edition by Jerry L. Johns contains individually administered informal reading tests (six forms) which teachers can use to assess student reading. This resource is recommended but not required.