Literacy at The Alice King Community School
The Alice King Community School employs a balanced literacy approach that integrates both structured, teacher-directed instruction in phonics and student-directed processes for the acquisition of reading and writing skills.

The priorities of the literacy program will be decoding, comprehension, and fluency skills. Students will be exposed to a wide range of language experiences and literature, which will include multicultural and non-traditional voices.

In the past, when educators talked about literacy, they were referring to the ability to read and write. Today, literacy has a much broader meaning. It includes reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and understanding material. It also includes the ability to think critically in order to solve problems, manage information, become an active learner, and have the ability to express personal thoughts and ideas in a creative manner.

With this new definition of literacy and the passing of “No Child Left Behind,” educators were directed to raise reading scores across the nation. In 2002, the National Reading Panel (NRP) received a mandate from Congress to review research in reading instruction and identify methods and skills that consistently relate to reading success. The panel reviewed more than 100,000 scientific reading studies that identified factors that impact a child’s reading success. The panel found there were five key competencies of reading development that, when taught systematically and explicitly, would provide a solid, multi-sensory approach to reading success. These five competencies include:

• Phonemic Awareness – the ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes). Instruction should include various activities in blending and segmenting words. Phonemic awareness has a direct impact on a child’s ability to spell.

• Phonics Instruction – teaches children the relationships between letters (graphemes) of the written language and individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language. Phonics instruction helps children understand the relationship between written letters and spoken sounds.

• Oral Reading Fluency – Fluency is the ability to read text accurately and quickly with understanding. Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Fluency develops gradually, over time, with extensive practice. Repeated and monitored reading improves fluency and overall comprehension and reading achievement.

• Vocabulary Development – Refers to the words we must know in order to communicate effectively. Vocabulary is usually learned indirectly through reading and conversations. There are four types of vocabulary development: listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary and writing vocabulary. Repeated exposure to vocabulary in many contexts aids students in their “word learning.” In the lower grades, we foster the indirect acquisition of vocabulary in two main ways: first, through Shared Reading, which is an integral part of our Arkansas Literacy program and through class discussions about words and text and how to make connections with other words within a student’s vocabulary. In the upper grades there is a more direct approach to vocabulary development. Students use their knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and root words to determine the meaning of unknown words. In addition, they learn about Greek and Latin words that tie into their Social Studies curriculum.

• Text Comprehension – The ability to actively and purposefully construct meaning from print. Comprehension is the overall goal of reading. Good readers have a purpose for reading and think actively as they read. In addition, a strong vocabulary is the foundation for reading comprehension. Comprehension instruction teaches students to be aware of what they do understand, identify what they don’t understand, and be able to use appropriate strategies to help them find out what they don’t understand.

In the early grades (k-2) our main focus is on “learning to read.” By third grade, students begin the transition into “reading to learn.” In order to meet the goals of “No Child Left Behind” we have incorporated these five competencies into our reading program in order to meet our goal of all students reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

At The Alice King Community School, we use a combination of programs to address student’s reading needs. In grades K-3, our teachers use SPIRE, a comprehensive, multi-sensory reading program designed to help develop phonemic awareness, phonics development, and fluency. Students learn about the connections between letters and sounds, learn to tap out words to isolate individual sounds and help with decoding, and learn to use these letters and sounds in their writing. Dictation is a large component of SPIRE Reading. In the upper grades, struggling readers also receive instruction in these areas during guided reading, in small group instruction, through after school tutoring, and from ancillary staff.

In addition to our SPIRE Program, The Alice King Community School has adopted the Arkansas Literacy Model. This component focuses on reading comprehension, critical thinking, vocabulary, and writing skills. Arkansas Literacy incorporates Guided Reading; a process that uses gradually leveled books to build a bridge from small group instruction to independent reading. By providing an appropriate level of support and scaffolding, teachers can ensure that students are reading at a correct instructional level. Shared reading, writing and author studies are another component of the program. They are taught as an integral part of reading and all of them fall under the umbrella of literacy.

Writing and spelling are another component of a balanced literacy program. Writing is integrated across the curriculum and isn’t limited to just the literacy block. Spelling is taught in a variety of ways using the Dolch List of Sight Words, words pulled from the SPIRE Phonics program, words that have prefixes, suffixes and roots, and words that are pulled from a student’s writing.

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Math at The Alice King Community School
The goals of our mathematics curriculum are to emphasize mathematical thinking across all areas of study creating a web. Students engage in mathematical reasoning to solve larger mathematical problems. Student projects allow significant time for students to think about the problems and to model, draw, write, and talk about their work with peers as they find ways to solve the problems. Students represent their thinking, explain their reasoning, and use mathematical tools and appropriate technology as a natural part of their work.

Memorization. Computation. Exploration. Problem solving. Real world application. Which is the best teaching method when teaching math? Let’s use the example of multiplying two double-digit numbers together, (34 X 87). The traditional way to solve this problem is to teach the algorithm; the students memorize each step. Every student would attack this problem in the same way. Approaching this multiplication problem from a progressive standpoint, students would use manipulatives and other representations to explore and solve this multi-step problem. Although students may solve it differently, the end product would be consistent. More important, each step in solving the problem would make sense to each individual. Throughout the exploration there is focus on building number sense, reasoning, and problem solving skills.

Like most things, research shows that there is not one best way to teach math, or any other subject for that matter. Rather, it is a combination of different teaching strategies that leads to the highest math proficiency. Here at The Alice King Community School we not only want students to know how to compute mathematical equations; we also want students to conceptually understand “why” we solve problems in a certain way. This way, when students come across a problem they have not previously encountered, they will have the foundation and skills to best approach and solve the problem. According to Marilyn Burns, a leading math instructor in professional development for K-12 teachers, “Children need to learn to think, reason, solve problems, and, at the same time, develop an appreciation of and an interest in mathematics. Without this, students’ mathematical futures will always be limited.”

In order to provide students with the strongest foundation possible teachers at The Alice King Community School use a variety of curricula. Math U-See, the program The Alice King Community School initially used, continues to be one tool to support computation, repetition, and remediation. Harcourt, the publisher who also writes the New Mexico standardized test, is a second curriculum that is standards based and provides sequential lessons at a variety of levels. Lastly, explorative investigations written by Marilyn Burns provide students with a hands on approach to problem solving. By using a combination of direct instruction alongside exploration, students will be provided with necessary computation skills while also fostering curiosity, reasoning, and connection to the real world.

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Social Studies at The Alice King Community School
We use a hands-on approach to social studies that is based on the New Mexico state standards and benchmarks. Our belief that project-based learning is most successful for our students enables us to use a variety of primary sources (people writing about themselves) and secondary sources (people writing about others and events) rather than textbooks as we study who we are as a people, a society, and a world. We integrate Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences through the literature, writing, research, art, and collaborative working groups while concentrating on higher level thinking and making connections. The focus in kindergarten is the study of ourselves and our classroom; the curriculum moves through the grades examining the neighborhood, the community, the city, the state, the United States, and ancient civilizations of the world.

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Science at The Alice King Community School
At The Alice King Community School, we believe that science should provide students with opportunities to enhance skills that they can use in their everyday lives. Activities that encourage critical thinking, decision-making, and problem solving are at the forefront of their learning experiences. Students are encouraged to explore material, ask questions, and express their opinions and feelings. To create a student-centered learning environment, teachers at The Alice King Community School focus on hands-on activities that get students involved in their learning by using the 5E Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate).

	Engage	—	The purpose of this stage is to get students excited and personally involved in the lesson by generating curiosity, assessing their prior knowledge, and encouraging students to ask questions.
	Explore	—	This stage creates the opportunity for students to become involved in the learning process by solving a problem while working with peers to ask questions and make decisions.
	Explain	—	In order to explain their experiences and generate more in-depth questions, students are provided with the opportunity to reflect on their learning through classroom discussions.
	Extend	—	Students are then challenged to apply the new information to experiences that relate to themselves and the world around them.
	Evaluate	—	Students are also involved in assessing their understanding of science concepts through the use of self-assessments, teacher observations, portfolios, and rubrics.

It is our philosophy that students discover science for themselves, making hands-on activities and inquiry based learning vital to teaching science and meeting our state standards.

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Assessment at The Alice King Community School
Each year, students at The Alice King Community School receive a variety of assessments in order to determine where they are functioning academically, and to measure their progress as the year progresses. The assessments may include performance assessments (formative and summative), standardized tests, normed referenced tests, and teacher made skills tests. The standardized tests include the Dibels at Kindergarten, and the New Mexico Standards Based Assessment (measures reading, math, writing, language arts and science) at grades 3-6. The normed referenced test is the NWEA. The NWEA is a short-cycle assessment given three times per year. It is standards-based, and measures progress in Reading and Math for grades K-6. A more informal reading test that may also be administered includes the DRA (Diagnostic Reading Assessment which measures comprehension and fluency) K-6.

The results of the assessments are used to both help the teachers drive the instruction by fine-tuning their curriculum, and to better address student needs on an individual basis.

In addition, we want our students to understand why assessments are given and help them become an active participant in their progress and growth over time. During each grading period, we want our parent conferences to be student-led. This allows our students to understand what their skill-level is and what areas they need to work on in order to make progress towards their goals. At The Alice King Community School, we want students to become responsible for their learning. We view them as essential partners in their education!

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