Instructional Program
Literacy Block
Our literacy block is grounded in the science of reading and we use Fundations, Heggerty and EL. It encompasses phonics, phonemic awareness, read alouds, guided, shared & independent reading. Students in grades K-5 complete four modules of study in EL throughout the academic year. Students also write about their reading while working towards a performance task for each module of learning. Students are immersed in rich and rigorous content while experiencing great joy in their learning.
Classroom Libraries consist of children’s literature, including fiction, poetry and non-fiction books that appeal to a variety of different interests and reading levels to better engage students in reading and writing.
Intervention Programs: Wilson, Fundations, Spire.
Mathematics
Our school-wide goal in mathematics is to develop students that are high achieving mathematical thinkers. We will focus on developing their ability to analyze mathematical concepts and reason about mathematical ideas through problem-solving and exploration. To that end all students in grades 1-5 are encouraged to demonstrates their mathematical thinking while problem solving with their peers.
For the 2024-2025 school year, we will use the NGLS aligned math program: Illustrative Math.
Professional development will be provided throughout the school year to support the implementation of this new program.
Science
Our science program allows students to explore, practice and apply concepts in multiple ways. Instruction is student-centered, inquiry-based and focused on expanding core knowledge. The research-based FOSS program provides lab experiences that enable students to compare, organize, observe and communicate understanding through hands-on experiments. The science lab experiences support the lessons presented in the classroom.
The main goal and overarching purpose of science is to teach students to think. It involves asking and attempting to answer questions about the physical world, questions about which there is evidence. Inquiry is realized in the coming together of material and learner. Students will be involved in real scientific inquiry through the utilization of the FOSS Science program.
The philosophy of the FOSS curriculum grows out of previous and ongoing efforts to improve elementary-science education and the growing body of literature on teaching and learning. The FOSS philosophy includes:
- A belief that children construct their knowledge by building on or modifying the understandings they already have in place.
- Recognition that children come to school with a lifetime of experience, knowledge, understanding, interest, and questions.
- A belief that children must have learning activities intrinsically interesting, fun, relevant to their lives, and appropriate to their age level.
- A view of teaching and learning as an interactive processes with a balance between: teacher initiated and child initiated activities; concrete exploration and the making of meaning; and group and individual work.
- A view of science as an in-depth exploration of the natural world.