Reading

The goal of the reading program is to help students develop independence as they become thoughtful, confident readers. The program focuses on both oral- and silent-reading activities that stress decoding, fluency and accuracy. Daily reading groups expose all students to a variety of reading materials, including trade books, basal texts, and fluency in decoding and encoding words. Students may begin the school year with instruction in the Phono-Graphix program to reinforce phonemic awareness, which helps them link sounds and symbols through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic modalities. As their skills increase, these students segment sounds orally, examining the sequence of the letter sounds in each word. Multi-syllabic words are introduced once all the vowels have been taught. Each day, teachers provide time for silent reading and time for listening to books being read.