Disciplinary Literacies in K–2 Classrooms: A Curriculum Exploration

Abstract

AbstractDisciplinary literacy approaches recently have been finding their way into early elementary classrooms (K‐2) and preschool, but this idea still needs more careful study, discussion, and operationalizing before determining its value and place in the early grades curriculum. The purpose of this article is to describe a case of curriculum exploration by two teachers (using specific texts and developmentally appropriate practice) within an integrated disciplinary literacy–engineering unit and to identify any emerging disciplinary literacy skills among the K‐2 students. The results of this exploration serve as evidence of emerging disciplinary literacy skills among the young learners with teacher scaffolding and developmentally appropriate materials and tasks. Additionally, the study shows concrete literacy outcomes related to comprehension in discussion during and after read‐alouds, as well as particular disciplinary literacy skills based on the engineering design process (i.e., ask, imagine, plan, create, and improve).