The Science, Language & Arts International School approach to reading is multi-pronged. Teachers at all grade levels in all disciplines integrate the following principles into their work with children:
- Phonological awareness (identifying and manipulating units of oral language)
- Graphemic-phonemic (letter-sound) correspondence
- Scanning and pattern recognition
- Identifying the organizing principle(s) of a text or image
An ongoing rotation of ten key critical-thinking skills is woven into language arts instruction and across the entire curriculum. Each time the cycle begins anew, teachers and students delve deeper into the language and substance of each skill. As children become fluent readers, they practice reading with partners and in small groups. Book discussions allow students to explore layers of a text together.
The SLA approach to reading is designed to instill a love of reading and books, as well as an understanding of how to use reading as a source of education, information, social connection, personal growth, and lifelong pleasure and fulfillment.
“It’s a struggle to get [the 3rd graders] to put their books down… in order to teach the content.”
– ELA teacher