Literacy/Language Arts

The South Windsor Public Schools literacy program adheres to the beliefs articulated by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Literacy Association (ILA): 

“All students must have the opportunities and resources to develop the language skills they need to pursue life’s goals and to participate fully as informed, productive members of society. …Curriculum and instruction must provide ample room for the innovation and creativity essential to teaching and learning.”

The primary goal of the literacy program is to produce reflective, critical and creative thinkers through the language experiences of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Teachers meet the needs of learners by creating an interpretive community in which students are engaged in transforming information and experiences into knowledge and understanding.

Thoughtfully selected shared and mentor texts provide students with a wide variety of models for reading and writing. All students work with meaningful, grade-level fiction and nonfiction texts, in addition to practicing and applying literacy skills and concepts to other authentic texts, chosen based on interest, reading level, and/or thematic relevance. Strategic guided and small group reading pairs students with texts at their instructional level and provides a ladder for continuous literacy progress. Students construct and share meaning derived from texts through discourse and written response. Extended written pieces develop through a process, including prewriting, rehearsing, composing, conferring, revising, editing and sharing. Teachers incorporate varied and strategic instructional strategies to support the individual needs of students, continually scaffolding learning to involve reading and producing increasingly complex texts.