Language Arts
Individual assessment guides our course of study for students in the early grades where they are learning to read. Students are tested individually so that instruction can be individualized for them. We use these evaluations to formulate our instruction in all of the Language Arts. Starting with phonemic awareness, sentence fluency, letter recognition, rhyming, sound-symbol correlation and word recognition, then moving into comprehension skills that are necessary for them to become good readers. A strong phonics approach through the Scott Foresman’s Reading Street materials provides a solid base for students in word attack and decoding strategies.
Spelling is a program that we are developing in-house that incorporates the spelling rules delineated in the Barton Reading & Spelling System. Students learn spelling rules and applications as they move through the spelling system and begin study of Greek and Latin roots and stems as they enter upper elementary grades.
Beginning writing skills start with students hearing good written expression from outstanding authors. Reading aloud from various authors help students to begin formulating the skills necessary to excel in the six identified areas of good writing.
6+1 Trait® Writing has been recognized as the organization responsible for defining these superior skills and our instruction is based on this writing philosophy and its techniques.
In the early 1980′s, creative teachers in school districts across the country decided there must be a better way to gather useful information about student writing performance than with single scores or standardized tests. They wanted an instrument that would provide accurate, reliable feedback to students and teachers that would help guide instruction. When an exhaustive search did not produce such a tool, they rolled up their sleeves and began the difficult process of creating an analytic scoring system that would be valid, honest and practical.
After evaluating thousands of papers at all grade levels, the teachers identified common characteristics of good writing. These qualities became the framework for the six-trait analytical model. The model uses common language to identify the traits year to year as we refine our idea of what ‘good’ writing looks like by using the scoring guides.
The 6+1 Trait Writing model is now used in virtually every state in the country not to mention Great Britain, France, China, Venezuela, Australia, Turkey, Bahrain, and other countries in the Middle East. It is the model or the source of the model used to score student papers in numerous state assessments and district assessments in virtually every state. Teachers from primary through college have embraced the 6+1 Trait Writing model. The traits are used by teachers of mathematics, science, social studies, foreign language, art, music; anyone for whom writing is an important part of instruction.
As students progress in their school experience, they make a transition to “reading to learn” in content areas (science & social studies). Again, individual assessment is the guide for instruction so that all students progress through literacy and comprehension skills as they become ready. The focus in instruction shifts from a strong phonics approach to applying those literacy, learning and comprehension skills in novels and regular content materials. Vocabulary development is enhanced in the upper grades as students learn and study in Wordly Wise text. Vocabulary building in context is the focus of this supplemental material that engages students in word origins, background and exposure.
