At St. Paul, we believe literacy is the foundation for future success. Our literacy foundation begins in Pre-School 3 and is integrated throughout all areas of curriculum in elementary and middle school grades. Our pre-reading and early literacy starts with storytelling, reading, singing, listening and letter recognition.
Beginning in the early grades, we start with a strong phonics program, which provides a systematic approach to learning how to become proficient readers and spellers. Throughout the grades, we provide a strong foundation in vocabulary, grammar, and written language instruction. We use a direct instruction approach to each subject area and integrate each facet of the language into our daily reading and writing activities.
Our students are immersed in a variety of reading genres, which include both the classics and contemporary authors, with an intentional connection to our Christian values and teachings. Combined with the Accelerated Reader program, our students are challenged to not only raise their reading levels, but also to analyze literature from various perspectives.
Students are taught a variety of writing methods, which include narrative, expository, and persuasive essays, along with poetry, journaling and other purposeful forms of written communication. Introducing and familiarizing our students with the research process is a strong focus in the middle grades as well, preparing them for further development in this area in high school.
We combine traditional teaching methods with current best practices to increase students’ reading comprehension and written language skills. We believe that surrounding students with meaningful opportunities and varied experiences with language and literature create lifelong learners and readers.
