Beliefs:

​The Language Arts and Reading curriculum provides all students with the foundation necessary to succeed in all academic areas through a comprehensive, integrated approach to literacy.  Instruction in ELAR is comprehensive, covering all the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), with teaching methods to meet the needs of all learners.  Reading, writing, speaking, listening, and inquiry skills, and the strategies that support them, directly contribute to future success in a rapidly changing world.

Guiding Principles: 

• Reading, writing and phonics/word study are taught through separate workshops that complement each other, allowing for skill transfer and application.
• Students learn to apply skills from reading, writing, phonics/word study, and grammar to all content areas.
• Workshop instruction in reading, writing, and phonics/word study consists of daily mini-lessons that build upon each other, allowing students repeated practice in skills and strategies leading to mastery.
• Additional workshop components include daily guided practice, independent practice, small group instruction, and one on one teacher conferences.
• Students have a choice of independent reading, reading leveled books, phonics/decodable books, and authentic literature.
• Phonics instruction is systematic and explicit. Direct phonics instruction takes place during phonics workshops (i.e. explicitly taught phonics lessons), with application and small group instruction in reading and writing workshops.
• Students experience authentic reading, writing, listening, and speaking opportunities within multiple genres defined in the TEKS.
• Inquiry-based learning contributes to the development of reading, writing and thinking skills.