For Parents
Our Pk-8 literacy curriculum is built around three core programs, Fundations and EL-Language Arts. All of these programs are considered high-quality. We are working to ensure that our teachers have the highest quality materials to teach with and the expertise to teach well. Our guiding beliefs about teaching students literacy are grounded in the explicit teaching of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling. We are committed to implementing programs and interventions supported by scientific research. If you are interested in learning more about the science of reading, Scarborough’s Reading Rope and Emily Hanford’s Reporting are two great places to start.
Literacy Activities for Caregivers – This link will take you to mClass Home Connect. You will find activities you can do at home to help your child learn to read.
Creative Curriculum
Creative Curriculum is a top rated play-based curriculum focused on developing social and emotional, physical, and academic skills.
Expeditionary Learning Skills Block
The K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block is a one-hour lesson designed to help young learners develop strong reading skills through a structured phonics approach. This method is based on research by Dr. Linnea Ehri, which explains how children connect letters and sounds as they learn to read and write. The goal is to ensure that by the end of second grade, students have the necessary skills to read grade-level texts independently.
During this Skills Block, lessons and assessments focus on key Reading Foundations standards, as well as some Language standards that help with spelling and letter writing. This structured approach aims to give your child a strong foundation in reading that will support their future learning.
EL Education Language Arts
We adopted the EL-ELA program in the spring of 2022 and began implementation in August of 2022.
EL is a knowledge-based program. This means that the program is designed for students to dive deeply into a topic. They develop a deep understanding by reading, writing, and speaking extensively about a single topic.
The EL Education K-8 Language Arts Curriculum is designed around eight principles:
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Equity & Inclusion: All children deserve a curriculum that fosters their unique abilities, honors their assets, gives them the opportunity to achieve high academic standards, and builds their capacity to shape the world around them.
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Embedded Social-Emotional Learning: Research shows that academic and social-emotional development are intertwined and mutually reinforcing, so our curriculum encourages students to develop as effective learners and ethical people.
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Knowledge-Rich, Substantive Content: Research shows that the deeper the content knowledge a student has, the more she is able to understand what she reads, and the more she is able to speak and write clearly about that content.
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Open Educational Resource (OER): All students and educators deserve access to high-quality educational resources, so the EL curriculum is open access, available for free, and adaptable by providers who are meeting diverse school needs.
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Students Own Their Learning. From the earliest grades, students learn to see themselves as active learners with agency in their education. With the teacher’s guidance, they articulate specific learning targets in every lesson, set goals, assess their learning, and use self-reflection and feedback from peers, themselves, and their teachers to make progress.
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Curriculum as Professional Development: The EL curriculum is written to help teachers envision and implement instructional routines that allow all types of learners to access the material. Both new and veteran teachers build on their existing expertise and strengthen instructional decision-making.
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The Science of Reading: Based on literacy research, our curriculum includes content-rich literature across the disciplines as well as a K-2 structured phonics program.
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Standards-based: EL is tailor-built to standards and receives quality reviews against acclaimed standards-alignment rubrics.
In the spring of 2023, our high school ELA teachers made the decision to adopt CommonLit for the 9th ELA course. CommonLit is a nonprofit education technology organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, especially students in Title I schools, graduate with the reading, writing, communication, and problem-solving skills they need to be successful in college and beyond. Implementation of this program will begin in the fall of 2023 with the 9th-grade class. The topics addressed in the 9th-grade curriculum are:
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Following the Crowd
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People and the Environment
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Animal Farm
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The Science of Branding: Why We Buy
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Parents and Childeran
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Grafitti: Art or Crime
For Teachers
Launching Skills Block
Launching Skills Block – Web Cast (14:35 minutes)
Implementing Skills Block – Video (6:15 minutes)
Phases & Microphases – Resource Manual Chapter (9 pages)
Assessment Overview – Resource Manual Chapter (10 pages)
Behind the Practice: Planning the K-2 Skills Block – Video (5:40 minutes)
Why a Structured Phonics Program is Effective – Article (10 pages)
Anchor Documents
- 2024-25 EL Module Pacing Guide
- Total Participation Techniques – PDF of activities to engage students in learning
- WSD Literacy Elements – This document defines the core elements and the philosophy of teaching literacy at WSD
- Foundational Literacy Progression – This document outlines the key performance indicators for foundational literacy at WSD
- EL Scope and Sequence – This document outlines the key learning k-5 in the Expeditionary Learning Modules
Writing Rubrics
These rubrics are our K-12 aligned rubrics. Teachers should use these rubrics when assessing student writing.
Reading Rubrics
These are our K-12 aligned reading rubrics. Teachers should use these when assessing reading.
Speaking & Listening Rubrics
These are our K-12 speaking and listening rubrics. Teachers should use these rubrics when assessing speaking and listening
6-Step Lesson Plans
The files below address foundational literacy and comprehension-focused adolescent literacy. These should be used for intervention.
Local Workshops and Professional Learning
Syntax Workshop 8/28/23
Vocabulary Workshop 8/28/23 Our focus is on literacy and, specifically, the importance of explicit vocabulary instruction. Please make a copy of our agenda here and bring your devices.
Geodes Overview
UFLI Resouces