LES Language Arts

The teaching of language in the elementary school is based upon leading, best literacy learning and teaching practices.

The goal of our literacy program is to foster an appreciation of the written and spoken word, and to develop the enduring understanding that reading and writing experiences derive pleasure and that they are essential life long skills.

Reading Workshop
There are several components in an effective reading workshop model.

Read Alouds - A large chunk of the time allocated to literacy is spent on reading in the elementary classroom. Students are read to on a daily basis, and are involved in whole class and small group Shared Reading, as well as Interactive Read Alouds. Shared Readings are more commonly utilized in the lower elementary grades, where a strong emphasis is placed on developing essential decoding strategies, fluency, re-reading, self-correcting, and making meaning of the text. Interactive Read Alouds are gradually being introduced to our literacy program. During this activity the students act as the audience and are engaged in listening to the teacher read a text aloud, and verbalize his / her thinking throughout the text. The focus is primarily on meaning and students are invited to take part in partner discussions at certain intervals during the read aloud.

Mini Lessons - These lessons target specific literary skills or strategies or attitudes towards reading.

Reading Conferences - these conferences provide teachers with the opportunity to work one-on-one with students and differentiate instruction to target specific areas.

Guided Reading - reading experiences at the student?s instructional level

Literature Circles - Students work in small groups to read and discuss the text and make meaning of it. This learning activity is more common in the upper elementary grades

Independent Reading - Daily independent student reading is built into the course of the school day. Our elementary classrooms house a large collection of both fiction and non-fiction literature, which encompasses a large selection of topics and ability levels. Furthermore, students have daily access to the elementary library, which offers a superb collection of titles that are sure to cater to our students? varied interests.

Listening Centers - Every lower elementary classroom is equipped with a listening center, which is supported by a bank of audio literacy resources.

Writing Workshop
Shared / Modeled Writing - Teachers are involved in regularly modeling best writing practices, strategies and behaviors in their classrooms. Students view their teachers engaged in writing and thinking aloud.

Mini-Lesson - These lessons target specific literary skills or strategies or attitudes towards writing.

Independent Writing - Students experiencing writing about topics of their choice and experiencing different forms of written expression. They are encouraged to incorporate skills and strategies being developed in mini lessons into their own writing.

Writing Conference - These conferences are held periodically and allow teacher s the opportunity to engage students in self- reflecting on the content and conventions of their writing and focus their attention to areas that could benefit from improvement.

Guided Writing - This is generally conducted in small groups or on an individual basis. During these sessions. Students receive specific writing instruction in skills and strategies that students need further assistance with.

Writing Celebrations - Writing accomplishments are celebrated daily and all efforts and attempts are acknowledged and encouraged throughout the year, and on a larger scale at the end of the year, when parents are invited to share and celebrate their child?s writing growth.

Word Study
This program stems beyond the tradition approach to learning spelling words and extends to an in-depth study of phonetic spelling patterns and word meaning. Through word study sessions students are engaged in closely examining sounds, letter and word parts and learning about the meaning and appropriate use of words / vocabulary.

Book Room & Leveled Literature
At the present time, there is a lower elementary reading room which contains leveled literature book sets, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as big books, and audio books. The elementary school is presently building up its upper elementary leveled book resources and plans are underway for the development of an upper elementary book room once construction of the existing campus is complete.

Student Differentiation in Literacy
With the shared understanding that learning is developmental and that students differ as learners in both their abilities and needs, our focus is to differentiate our instruction and make learning experiences as meaningful as possible.