Ways Six Areas of Language Arts in the Classroom

Language arts is more than just reading and writing. Language arts is composed of six main areas: reading, viewing, listening, speaking, writing, and visual representation.

• Reading – Reading occurs when students draw meaning from and understand the written word. Students form literature circles in which they read and discuss a book in small groups. During silent reading time, students read independently with the book of their choice. We also read selected novels together as a class and stories from our reading textbook.
  Example: We are reading Number the Stars, a novel about the Holocaust by Lois Lowry. This ties in with our theme of Taking a Stand, and it fits in with the social studies curriculum.
  
• Viewing – Viewing involves observing and looking at words and pictures. Students view bulletin boards, posters, word walls, and flashcards on a daily basis.
  
• Listening – When students hear and process sounds, they are listening. Students must actively listen during group sharing time, literature circles, teacher’s lessons, and other group activities.
  
• Speaking – Students who are relaying a message verbally to each other are speaking. The others must listen, so speaking and listening go together. During class meetings, students have opportunities to speak their opinions. They also practice speaking when discussing things in small groups, giving presentations to the class, asking questions, and sharing their writing.
  
• Writing – Writing involves recording language on paper. Students write over topics of their choice during writing workshop. Writing activities in our class include persuasive magazine articles, descriptive poetry, and biographies of famous people. Reading and writing go hand in hand.
  Example: We are writing short descriptive writing pieces called “Guess My Emotion.” The students describe events that make them feel a certain way (I feel this way when I forget my homework), and then the other students must try to guess what emotion the student is feeling (frustration).
  
• Visual Representation – Students displaying information and pictures are using visual representation. Students or the teacher may create posters, bulletin boards, websites, videos, or PowerPoint presentations to display information.