English/Language Arts Department

Language Arts K-5

photo of two students sitting cross-legged back to back on a colorful carpet each with their heads down reading a book.

photo of student sitting at desk in front of red lockers and writing. He is looking at the camera smiling

photo of two young students on a carpeted floor. One is holding a book and looking at the other student who is writing.

photo of three smiling students, two sitting and one standing, with papers in front of them and smiling at the camera

Elementary Language Arts

Our district's literacy program is carefully crafted to equip elementary students with foundational reading skills. In elementary school, students progress from learning to read to reading for a lifetime.

We begin by teaching children the sounds that form words. This helps them to recognize and manipulate words easily. Next, we focus on letter-sound connections. Students are given strategies and tools to help "decode" words and spell them correctly.

Fluency in reading—smooth, expressive reading—is a priority. Students practice reading regularly in elementary school. Learning new vocabulary is equally important so students can understand and express themselves.

Teachers support their students as they develop and improve their communication skills. Daily individual and class discussions, presentations, and group projects build and bolster these skills.

Reading comprehension is also central to the K-5 literacy program. Students learn strategies to analyze texts across genres.

We create supportive environments where children develop a love for reading and learning. Through engaging lessons and personalized support, we are working to instill a lifelong passion for reading in every child.

For more information, we encourage you to explore the resources below.

image with blue background with heading "Literacy Components" and subheading "The National Reading Panel identified five key concepts at the core of every effective literacy program." There is a multicolored wheel made up of five arrow segments: The purple segment says "Phonemic Awareness." The orange segment says "Phonics." The green segment says "Fluency." The pink segment says "Comprehension." The teal segment says "Vocabulary."

K-5 Literacy Programs We Use

K-1 Heggerty Phonemic Awareness

image of a purple arrow with the word "Phonemic Awareness" inside

Our youngest learners work daily to develop essential early reading skills. These activities include phoneme segmentation. This is how students break down words into individual sounds (for example "cat" = /k/ /æ/ /t/). The Heggerty program also helps students learn about blending and rhyming. Together, these skills help our students to develop their reading, spelling, and vocabulary—and their confidence!

K-3 Wilson Fundations
NEW starting in September 2024!

image of a 4 stacked arrows with text inside each. The purple arrow says "Phonemic Awareness" inside. The orange arrow says "Phonics" inside. The green arrow says "Fluency" inside. The teal arrow says "Vocabulary" inside.

This program supports young learners as they practice reading, spelling, and pronouncing words. Phonics lessons focus on the sounds of letters, letter groups, and syllables. Students progress from simple to more complex lessons as they move from learning to read to reading to learn. Lessons focus on a variety of literacy skills, including:

Print concepts
Phonological and phonemic awareness
Phonics and word study
High frequency words
Accuracy, automaticity, and fluency
Spelling
Handwriting and cursive writing

4-5 Words Their Way

image of a 2 stacked arrows with text inside. The orange arrow says "Phonics" inside. The teal arrow says "Vocabulary" inside.

Words Their Way is a dynamic word study program that enhances children's spelling, vocabulary, and reading abilities. The program includes hands-on activities that teachers can tailor to individual student needs. With this program, our fourth and fifth graders delve into spelling patterns and word relationships, and gain a deeper understanding of language.

K-5 Reading and Writing

image of a 5 stacked arrows with text inside each. The purple arrow says "Phonemic Awareness" inside. The orange arrow says "Phonics" inside. The green arrow says "Fluency" inside. The pink arrow says "Comprehension" inside. The teal arrow says "Vocabulary" inside.

All elementary students learn reading and writing during whole-class lessons and targeted small-group lessons.

Teachers use TC reading and writing units in their daily lessons. The units help students with comprehension, fluency, vocabulary acquisition, and knowledge development. Each unit explores diverse genres, prompts purposeful writing, and fosters collaborative learning among peers. The dynamic activities help students to deepen their understanding of texts and expand their overall literacy proficiency.

K-5 Literature

All elementary students have access to our rich and diverse classroom libraries and the school library media center. Additionally, in grades K-2 we use "decodable" texts to support phonics instruction. This means students can read and understand the text independently.

K-3 mCLASS DIBELS

(DIBELS = Dynamic Indicators of Beginning Early Literacy Skills)

mCLASS DIBELS is an assessment tool used to screen and monitor student progress with crucial literacy skills. DIBELS formally assesses all 5 literacy components (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary). The tool helps us to identify areas where students need support. Then we can personalize instruction to meet each student's needs. We use this tool regularly.

Family Resources

Curriculum Overviews

Coming Soon!

Fundations

Elementary teachers will send regular unit overviews directly to families via ParentSquare.

Literacy Faculty

In addition to our classroom teachers, language arts resource teachers and reading teachers support literacy instruction.

Language Arts Resource Teachers

Reading Teachers

How Families Can Help At Home

Decoding

When your child is reading and gets stuck on a tricky word use the following prompts:

Help your child sound out tricky words using the letter sounds they know. Break the word into smaller sounds and blend them together.
Encourage your child use their fingers to tap out the sounds they hear in words. This can help them understand each sound in the word better.
Help your child to break long words into smaller parts or syllables. This helps make big words easier to read.
Make sure your child reads out loud often. Give them chances to practice decoding words in stories. Be there to help if they need it.
Celebrate every step your child takes in getting better at decoding words. Positive encouragement helps them keep going and get even better.

Fluency

Have your child read and reread familiar books to practice reading smoothly
After decoding a tricky word, go back and reread it so it sounds smooth, just like talking

Comprehension

After reading, retell what happened in the story using names, vocabulary the author used, and feelings of the characters

photo of two students on the floor reading together

photo of student on the floor looking down at a book and pointing at it with a pencil

Reading changes your life. Reading unlocks worlds unknown or forgotten, taking travelers around the world and through time.

—Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child