Our children are entering a world where reading and writing are the basis to understanding the changes that they are going to be facing in the new century. One of our main objectives is to create the kind of learning that enables our students to be ready for this new challenging world. A major revision to the Language Arts curriculum was written during the 1995-96 school to insure that it was aligned with the new state proficiencies. Since that time the Language Arts teachers have reviewed and made any necessary changes on an annual basis. These changes are based on the newest research that is available concerning the teaching of reading and writing.
Several teachers use the workshop technique in their classes.
In this program the students are given time in class to read and write. Students are encouraged to read and write as a regular routine, and in most instances, the students are also given a choice about what they read and write. During the last school year, the Language Arts department along with the rest of the school studied the strengths and areas of growth in our department. Using our findings from the study, we set three goals for our department to concentrate on in the years to come. We have also including some of the strategies we may use in order to achieve our goals.