ELA (English Language Arts)
Our ELA program is dedicated to building a strong foundation in reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Throughout the year, your child will learn to recognize letters and sounds, develop their reading fluency, and express their thoughts through writing. This year promises to be full of exciting growth and learning!
Journey’s Reading Program
We are excited to introduce the Journey’s Reading Program as our core language arts curriculum. This comprehensive literacy program supports students in becoming confident and proficient readers and writers. Journey’s offers a balanced approach to literacy instruction, combining phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies with engaging literature.
Students will explore a variety of reading materials, from classic stories to informational texts, fostering a love for reading. Through interactive activities, they will enhance their writing skills—starting with crafting clear sentences and progressing to writing short narratives. Journey's also emphasizes decoding words, understanding story elements, and improving reading fluency. Additionally, students will develop their listening and speaking skills through group discussions and presentations.
Decodable Readers
As part of our reading program, we use Journeys Decodable Readers. These readers help students practice reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Students will read these stories in class, share them with a parent, and bring them home to reinforce their skills.
Weekly ELA Themes & Skills
Each week, we focus on specific ELA themes and skills, such as the sound of the week, phonics, and grammar. These themes are designed to build your child’s reading and language abilities progressively.
ELA Centers
Every Friday morning, students rotate through five ELA centers, each designed to reinforce the week’s learning:
Spelling Words Practice: Fun activities that reinforce the spelling words for the week.
Sound of the Week: Focused practice on the phonics sound we’re studying.
Scholastic News: Activities tied to a science or social studies theme.
Game/Activity: Engaging math games or activities that build on current and review skills.
Extra: Handwriting practice, games, or “Pickles” (choice activities).
Spelling
Our spelling program is closely aligned with the stories and skills we are currently studying:
Weekly Spelling Lists: Spelling lists will be posted online each week. The words are directly related to our current lessons and stories.
Monday Pretest: All students will take a pretest on List 1, which contains words we’re studying that week.
Students who score perfectly or make only one mistake will advance to List 2, which features more challenging words but focuses on the same skills.
Friday Test: Students will study their assigned spelling list throughout the week and take the final test on Friday.
