Language Arts
Making Meaning:
The daily lessons in this program revolve around clearly defined teaching objectives and building complexity as students move through the program. A week of lessons typically begins with a read-aloud of an engaging piece of text, followed by a whole class discussion of what the text is about. The same read-aloud book is used on subsequent days to teach the students a comprehension strategy and to give them guided practice with the strategy. Specific vocabulary is then introduced to give students a deeper understanding of words taken directly from the read-aloud texts. The week usually ends with the students practicing the strategy independently by using classroom library books and discussing their thinking. In addition to these lessons, the students participate in individualized daily reading (IDR) and guided reading groups, during which they read texts at their appropriate reading levels each day.
This program goes hand in hand with Making Meaning and is designed to help each student develop the creativity and skills of a writer. It provides inspiration and motivation to help students develop their writing skills as well as a full understanding of and appreciation for the craft and conventions of writing. This allows the students to explore a book from the points of view of both writers and readers.
Everyday Mathematics
Everyday Mathematics is a comprehensive program that will help the students experience mathematical processes as a part of everyday work and play. These processes will gradually shape the students' way of thinking about mathematics and will foster the development of their mathematical intuitions and understandings.
