Elementary

Our schedule is set to simultaneously have math class first period in the whole school, allowing students to attend the math class at their instructional level.  A few students from each class “walk” up to the next level math class to meet their individual needs and provide an appropriate academic challenge. Using Saxon math, teachers assess students every five lessons, but only on concepts that have been practiced for at least ten days.  As a spiraling curriculum, concepts are gradually built upon and frequently reviewed to not forget them.

Built on a Learning Curve Proven to Raise Achievement

While other math curricula ask students to progress from simple to complex concepts in just a few weeks, Saxon Math scaffolds instruction of each concept and continues to review information introduced earlier. This allows students the time and practice to retain math concepts to the level of mastery.

Incremental
An incremental approach gives students the time to understand and practice a small concept before adding the next step.

Distributed
Distributing skills across the year ensures that students have time to practice and master a concept.

Cumulative practice and assessments cover ideas from earlier lessons to ensure students retain and make connections between concepts.

Frequent, cumulative assessments ensure students stay on track.

• Summative assessments, including Power Up, Cumulative, Benchmark, and End-of-Year tests, allow teachers to monitor progress continuously.
• Formative assessments conducted through daily instruction, lesson practice, and written practice provide immediate intervention and enrichment.
• The Guide to Differentiated Instruction supports teachers with planning resources focused on meeting different learners’ needs.

Our elementary teachers use the Slingerland® Approach to teach oral and written language skills in the classroom to all learners.

• Reading fluency
• Decoding
• Reading comprehension
• Basic writing skills
• Phonemic awareness
• Handwriting
• Phonics and word recognition
• Oral language skills

Recitation is a valuable and important aspect of classical education. It helps students develop excellent rhetorical skills, it gives them almost immediate feedback on their hard work, and it challenges their fear of speaking in public.

Benefits Of Memorization

Memory work is so much more than just memorizing a boring list of facts stored away for a future date. Here’s just a small list of what memorization can do:

• Provide a rich vocabulary
• Train the brain for a critical thought process
• Strengthen the brain
• Build complex language patterns

Benefits Of Recitation

Recitation goes hand-in-hand with memorization. The act of standing and reciting poems or historical information cements that information in your brain. It also provides other valuable skills. Recitation can:

• Strengthen communication skills
• Develop solid presentation techniques
• Provide a strong foundation for later rhetoric-level skills

Memorization and recitation do not have to be boring (especially in the elementary years).

Grounded. Current. Connected.

All our elementary teachers and reading specialists are trained to teach Wired for Reading, an evidence-based linguistics program for reading, spelling, and vocabulary.

Wired for Reading is an IMSLEC accredited, engaging, multi-sensory word analysis program designed to improve reading, spelling, and vocabulary. Based in the latest research, students are taught to use linguistics in a kid-friendly way to understand the deep structure of language and phonics. As they learn to connect speech to sounds, sounds to letters, and letters to meaning, English spelling patterns are demystified, and students are empowered to confidently and fluidly decode words when reading and spelling.

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