English Language Arts

Our Vision of Excellent Literacy Instruction (Elementary)

In our Classrooms, we strive to build readers, writers and communicators who are prepared to meet the future demands of college and career.

In Pre K – 3 we set students up with the foundational skills that they need to be successful for reading to learn by 3rd grade. Some of these skills include:  motivation to read, print concepts, knowledge of different text features, decoding words, phonological awareness, fluency and comprehension.  As well as building a strong foundation, we strive to provide a content rich approach to teaching literacy.  We build critical literacy skills through reading, writing, speaking and listening.  With the foundation set in the early grades, students in grades 3-8 are equipped with the skills to think more deeply and critically about grade level texts.

Pre K:  Three Cheers for Pre K

Comprehensive play-based preschool program that includes math, science, ELA, and social studies components and aligned to the Massachusetts common core standards for PreK. It will be used in conjunction with Letterland. PreK 4 teachers will be rolling out the curriculum this year, specifically focusing on the ELA and math components. PreK teachers will be rolling out the program in the 2023-2024 school year. Any questions related to Three Cheers for PreK should be directed to Kristi-Lynn Craig, Director of the Moody Schools. 

Elementary:

Letterland (PK-2)  https://us.letterland.com/

Letterland is the Phonics curriculum that is followed Pre K-2.  Letterland was created to teach phonics using a story-based approach. The story logic engages students leading to long term retention of concepts. What’s more, Letterland is wonderfully multi-sensory. It activates every learning channel through music, actions, alliteration, movement, song, art, games and role-play.

Continue learning Letterland at home with all of the characters – their names and sounds.  Parents can download resources from the website.

Heggerty (K-2) https://heggerty.org/downloads/#

The Heggerty Program is what teachers use to instruct our youngest learners in Phonemic Awareness.  Students engage in daily activities that involve hearing the sounds in words and using handmotions that represent ways to manipulate word parts.   Phonemic awareness is the ability to understand that spoken words are made up of individual sounds called phonemes, and it’s one of the best early predictors for reading success.  Parent newsletters can be found using the Heggerty link above.  

Wit & Wisdom:
Wit & Wisdom will be rolled out in our K-5 Classrooms this 24/25 school year. Wit & Wisdom is a curriculum for grades K–5 that helps students develop foundational content knowledge and skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, and vocabulary. The curriculum is based on Scarborough’s Rope learning design and is supported by the Science of Reading. It’s designed to help students gain an awareness of how to read texts and explore literacy, informational, and fine arts genres.
Wit & Wisdom is made up of four modules per grade level, with each module consisting of 30–38 lessons that take 6–8 weeks to complete. Each module explores a specific topic through a framework of strategic questions that guide students and teachers through reading, writing, and speaking about diverse texts. The curriculum includes award-winning books, paintings, photographs, and music that are integrated into the lesson studies. Students also read phonics-aligned texts called “Geodes” to reinforce their application of sound-spelling patterns.
Wit & Wisdom includes several types of assessments in each module to help teachers see how students are learning. The curriculum also provides family resources, such as Family Tip Sheets, My Geodes, and a digital platform, to help extend learning at home.