On Thursday, September 24, families visiting Goodwin for Open House also received a detailed presentation on reading instruction during the district's first Family Literacy Night. Literacy Coach Drew Sellitti and Goodwin teachers walked families through how reading instruction is organized, how teachers identify what individual students need next, and practical ways parents can support literacy at home.
The opening presentation started with the building blocks of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Families also saw how ARC Core serves as Goodwin's K through 4 literacy framework. It combines grade-level reading, writing and discussion with explicit foundational skills and daily time for students to read self-selected books. Goodwin teachers then use unit implementation guides to turn that framework into day-by-day instruction built around the students in their classrooms.
Families also learned how teachers use the Independent Reading Level Assessment, or IRLA, and Power Goals to make instruction more specific to each reader. During conferences, teachers listen to students read, talk with them about the text and identify the next skill that can move them forward. Students with similar goals may work together in flexible small groups, with those groups changing as students acquire new skills.
Grade-level sessions showed what that work looks like across the school day. In first grade, the 110-minute literacy block includes foundational skills, interactive read-aloud, Reading Lab and writing, with students practicing through sound work, word study, independent reading and teacher conferences. By fourth grade, more of the block shifts toward complex text, writing, advanced word study, independent reading and discussion while teachers continue targeted instruction in small groups.
The evening also connected classroom instruction to home. Families were encouraged to spend 10 to 20 minutes reading together, talk about books and ideas, use everyday reading opportunities such as menus and recipes, play with sounds and words, and give children real reasons to write. Goodwin also shared that the district is working toward a clearer, more consistent way to share important reading data with families, with additional information to come as that work develops.
The new literacy component gave families a more concrete view of what reading instruction looks like in Goodwin classrooms and what teachers are looking for as readers grow. Thursday's sessions brought the pieces together, moving from the research and instructional framework to the routines, conversations and supports families will see throughout the year.