 |
|
 |
|
| Literacy |
| The centerpiece of the America's Choice elementary instructional program is an extended daily literacy block. Students in grades K-3 receive an hour of reading instruction, an hour of writing instruction and half an hour of skills development—every day. The 4th- and 5th-grade blocks are two hours long and stress reading and writing. |
|
| Skills development provides systematic instruction in the essential components of literacy. Our schools use the Open Court Phonics Kit and our program teaches phonemic awareness, phonics and vocabulary. |
|
| In reading, where we use our own workshop classroom format, we concentrate on oral language development, vocabulary instruction, comprehension, and the development of fluency in reading. The daily session includes rituals and routines such as reading to children, shared or choral reading and teacher-led instruction to small and large groups, as well as partner reading and independent reading with guidance and feedback. See a workshop in progress by taking a video tour. |
|
| Two important features of our reading and writing programs are author studies and genre studies. These 25-day units of instruction lead students through a series of assignments designed to make them competent and independent readers and writers by immersing them in the work of important authors and in different types of writing. |
|
| The America's Choice School Design stresses the literacy and reading skills required by the Reading First initiative of the new federal No Child Left Behind Act—phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. |
|
| Mathematics |
| The America's Choice elementary math program covers grades 3-5. Our approach to teaching mathematics is grounded in the belief that all elementary students must acquire basic skills, learn how to solve problems and grasp key mathematical concepts. |
|
| To help augment the commercial math curricula in our elementary schools, our math specialists teach a series of carefully integrated units called Core Assignments that help students understand the concepts underlying addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, and the numbers between zero and one. |
|
| Schoolwide Features |
| The 25 Books Campaign |
| To encourage students to read widely on a variety of topics in a range of subject areas, every student in an America's Choice elementary school reads 25 books or book equivalents each school year and young students read (or have read to them) more, since the books they read tend to be short. |
|
| Book-of-the-Month |
| Another America's Choice strategy for engaging students in reading is the Book-of-the-Month program. Nine times a year principals select books celebrating hard work or other positive qualities that teachers read aloud to every student and then discuss in class. |
|
| Class Teachers |
| In America's Choice elementary schools teachers or teams of teachers stay with the same group of students for two or more years, getting to know their students very well. We call teachers who do this Class Teachers. |
|
| Teachers Specialist |
| We also ask teachers in grades 3-5 to specialize in either literacy or mathematics so that they will have the opportunity to develop the depth of skill and knowledge needed to the get their students to high standards in these vital subjects. |
|
| Safety Nets |
| America's Choice schools establish safety nets for struggling students. These range from one-on-one tutoring for young students to intensive summer school programs for students in the upper elementary grades. |
|
| Continue to High Performance Management, Leadership and Organization… |
