Language Arts

In Pre-K, we encourage receptive and expressive language skills through exposure to the rich language associated with every school activity. Children participate in class discussions, read-alouds, sing-alongs, and build the listening skills needed to follow multi-step directions. Our goal is to strengthen the students’ phonemic awareness, which is essential for success in reading, writing, and vocabulary development. Listening, speaking, writing, and letter-recognition activities provide a solid foundation for reading readiness. Students also practice fine motor skills and handwriting.

The language arts curriculum in these classrooms is built upon four interrelated categories (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) and focuses on strengthening students’ phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Based on the national standards for English Language Arts from the National Council of Teachers of English, the curriculum seeks to nurture and support the literacy development of every child. Students learn to appreciate literature, love reading, view reading as an essential part of their everyday lives, and be confident readers. They learn to see writing as an ongoing, intentional, and creative process. Students extensively read and write daily and are immersed in language-building activities. Foundational reading, writing, and handwriting skills are directly taught through multi-sensory skill programs. We are able to individualize instructional methods and pace to meet the literacy needs of each student.

“reading to learn.” The practice focuses on increasing complexity in writing mechanics, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Students work to strengthen their written and oral communication through direct instruction, one-to-one conferencing, and structured and self-guided experiences. The writing process is a central focus linking all curricular areas in middle elementary education. Using a small group format for book discussions, students learn to confidently voice their points of view and make connections between themselves and fictional characters.

Fifth graders combine language arts into their humanities curriculum and the reading and writing that goes along with it. We enhance their grammar and sentence structure skills, along with persuasive and researched writing skills. The students begin by investigating the characteristics of a civilization and move on to the beginnings of the Americas, learning about the various Indigenous groups that inhabited them. They delve into the other people who came to these lands and how an exchange of knowledge, food, animals, language, and many other things impacted their world back then and has been carried over to the present day. Students critically examine the information, making connections between the past and the present. They are guided to consider different points of view and encouraged to support their thinking with historical evidence. Throughout this study, students use map skills and learn the impact of geography on humans and vice versa.