Academics
Language Arts
Reading English, Grades K-1
Independence Charter’s K-1 teachers in the Spanish Enhanced program use the Voyager Universal Literacy Program. This program is built around the five essential components of reading instruction while combining motivating adventures and rich literature. Daily classroom activities include teacher-directed read aloud, shared reading, and instructional level reading in whole group and small group settings, as well as independent reading. Kindergarten lessons are centered on a Treehouse theme, and 1st grade around a Sea Shore Theme. Our focus is to develop students who are solid decoders while supporting the development of critical and involved readers.
Reading: English, Grades 2-8
ICS aims to create lifelong readers and writers of all our students. We do this by exposing our students to a variety of genres, and all students read core books at each grade level. In addition, reflecting the variety of skill levels present in each classroom, students are also assigned to reading groups that are at their “just right” reading level thereby allowing students to progress at their pace. In grades K-8, the curriculum has been coordinated in such a way such that, wherever possible, a theme or country being studied in social studies is paired with a Language Arts reading book. For example, eighth graders study play writing and will read the play My Country, My Africa by world-renowned novelist and playwright Athol Fugard.
Genre Studies
Our grade 2-8 reading curriculum is divided into five units or genre studies per year. Four of the units cross all grades: biography/autobiography, fantasy/science fiction, realistic fiction, and historical fiction, with the historical fiction unit tied closely to our social studies curriculum, so students learn in a variety of ways.
The fifth genre is grade-specific:
Grade 2- Biography
Grade 3 – Mystery
Grade 4 – Informational
Grade 5 – Autobiography
Grade 6 – Informational
Grade 7 – Short stories
Grade 8 – Fact and fiction (a unit which has the students read both an informational text and a historical fiction text about the same topic)
ICS has chosen three levels of books for each genre to ensure that all students use a text that is at their instructional level. In addition, a committee of ICS teachers created literature unit guides that link PSSA Assessment Anchor skills to each genre. Each unit guide also contains essential questions that are used to direct units and performance tasks for student assessment.
ICS uses the Making Meaning and Junior Books curriculum.
Core Books
Another component of the grades 2-8 reading curriculum is the reading of core books. Core books are those books to which all children in grades 2-8 should be exposed. We choose books:
- that provoke discussion
- through which a life lesson or a fundamental/foundational skill can be taught
- that are of high interest—those that almost all kids of this age love. These books serve as an experience that unifies a class and contributes to class culture.
Students read between three and five core books per grade level. At least one book ties into that grade’s country studies to offer an additional way of learning.
Reading Spanish, Grades K-2
The main K-2 Language Arts Program in Immersion is called Lectura. The learning plan includes skills and strategies that provide a literacy foundation in Spanish through reading, comprehension, vocabulary, phonics, word study, spelling, oral language, writing, grammar, literary basics, research, and study skills. This program is aligned with national and state requirements. We complement this program with reading and writing activities from different resources and literature published for native speakers. In addition, students receive English enrichment that includes Morning Time Plus and the Phonological Awareness Skills Program, PASP.
Reading Spanish, Grades 3-6
Grade 3-6 Immersion students continue the Spanish Language Arts program using some components of the Lectura Program. Students practice Spanish through writing, reading, and oral communication in literature and across the curriculum. The reading inquiry method is used with the Junior Great Books selection in which the stories serve as study documents to learn vocabulary, grammar, reading, and critical thinking skills. Other reading materials include chapter books appropriate for each level in an array of cultural and universal topics.
Writing (K-8)
At ICS, teachers work under the assumption that writing is an integral part of learning in all content areas. Therefore, ICS teachers support their students’ writing efforts throughout the curriculum. From writing in journals, in which there are no right or wrong answers, to writing explanations in math, to structured essays that undergo revision and editing, students are constantly developing their writing skills. Students compile writing folders that are passed along with them from one grade to the next. These folders contain at least one narrative, one informational, one persuasive, and one poetic piece each year.
The writing program is primarily guided by the belief that all children can learn to write, that teachers can help students become better writers by creating a supportive, risk-taking environment in the classroom, and that frequent writing is the key to writing development.
