Language Arts

Our language arts curriculum draws from today's best practices for literacy development. We nest these practices within a framework that gives children a profound experience of the many ways their lives are enriched by language in all of its forms.

In our program, reading, writing, vocabulary and foreign languages are more than isolated subjects; they are integrated into all aspects of the curriculum. Our teachers strike a balance between explicit instruction and informal, incidental learning, helping children understand that developing skills in reading and writing serves the higher purpose of expressing ideas, extracting meaning, enhancing critical thinking and connecting with others.

Our approach is based on the belief that literacy development starts early and continues throughout life. Children in our preschool programs enter a language-rich world filled with group book reading, songs, rhymes and wordplay. They participate in various projects that build vocabulary, "phonemic awareness," directionality and other essential skills that lay the foundations for literacy. Extensive documentation of children's work and thought processes begins here and continues throughout the grades.

In Kindergarten, teachers press more deeply into the nuances of both oral and written language and help children pursue literacy from a number of angles. Teachers sew literacy-building projects into the emerging topics while also providing systematic approaches to learning the mechanics of reading and writing. We believe that, during this period, it is particularly important that we pay close attention to our students' unique developmental stages and learning styles. This helps us ensure that each child's journey through the stages of literacy is deeply engaging and has just the right amount of challenge every step of the way.

As children move through the grades and develop more sophisticated levels of mastery over language, they are offered numerous ways to put their burgeoning literacy skills to use. Our program's language-based projects become portals through which children explore the world, both past and present, near and far, real and imagined. Avenues for self-expression expand into an ever-widening array of options as children explore language's many forms and stylistic variations.

In our program, children learn to see themselves as much more than students who are "prepping" to use their literacy skills at a later date. Instead they experience being actual authors, storytellers, playwrights, poets, lyricists, essayists, bloggers and new media artists who make vital contributions to our community and our society in the here and now.