Writing, Reading, and Language Arts

Objectives and Goals

 The goal of our balanced literacy program is to develop engaged, independent readers and writers who can acquire and evaluate information and convey ideas with clarity and expression. The program emphasizes the relationship between reading and writing and the developmental nature of each. Students learn the connection between real experiences and the written form. Picture books, big books, leveled readers, nonfiction books, and poetry is used to teach the basic skills of reading and comprehension.

 Strategies

 Kindergarten students are immersed in a print-rich environment that develops oral language skills, phonological awareness, print awareness, vocabulary, fluency, an appreciation and understanding of literature, and a love of reading and writing. In addition, students use multisensory, multileveled activities for learning sound-symbol relationships and phonetic principles. They learn that stories have a beginning, middle, and end and develop vocabulary to describe people, places, and events. Students develop beginning reading skills through a variety of activities, such as rhymes, songs, poetry, big books, guided reading, and read-alouds.

 Additionally, Kindergarten students are immersed in the Superkids Reading Program, a core reading program designed for kindergarten through second grade that looks like no other and works like no other, with a cast of characters that children love. Kindergarten focuses on the 26 letters of the alphabet. Students systematically learn to read and write letters, to associate letters with sounds, to blend letter-sounds to form words and sentences, and to read and write phonetically regular words as well as Memory Words.

 Assessments

 Formal Progress and Benchmark Tests are given throughout the year to provide the information needed to identify and adjust the grouping, pacing, and instructional levels of children in class.  In addition, frequent informal assessments help to plan lessons and determine the need for reinforcement and enrichment for individuals and small group learners.

 Textbook

 Superkids’ Reading Program