Page 21 - PARENTS RESOURCE GUIDE 2020

The goal of Brevard Public Schools is to educate students in a child-centered environment that promotes and develops literacy and understanding of mathematics, social studies, language arts and scientific concepts. In this environment students are viewed as active participants who are encouraged to explore, manipulate objects, question, take risks, work cooperatively, think, feel, trust, and evaluate themselves. The teacher’s role in this environment is to facilitate learn- ing rather than to only dispense knowledge. It is in this environment that students become responsible for their learning and behavior.
Grade Level Standards
The Florida Standards have been established in the areas of lan- guage arts, mathematics and social studies. The Next Generation Sunshine State Standards are established for science. These grade-level standards list key benchmarks for student progress.
English Language Arts
The goal of the Brevard Public Schools’ English Language Arts (ELA) Program is to integrate instruction of reading, writing, grammar, and speaking & listening in order to develop and refine students’ literacy.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for grades K-6 Florida Journeys is the district adopted English Language Arts textbook series. District cre- ated units utilize the text from this program to support standards aligned instruction. The instruction is systematic, balanced, and research-based, building success with every lesson that is in-
troduced and reinforced. Foundational skills are built from kindergar- ten forward. Deep comprehension tasks include discussion about texts and writing in response to texts. The series provides quality texts, balancing literature and informational reading opportunities for students. Support for differentiated instruction is included.
Writing instruction in the Florida Journeys includes lessons on how to improve students’ abilities in the writing process and in responding to what they have read. The standards-based curric- ulum follows a progression from kindergarten to sixth grade that develops writers who use the craft to learn, think, and communicate across the disciplines, stressing the linkage between writing and reading. These lessons follow a logical sequence to build students’ confidence and skill. The qualities of writing are identified through the instruction of Six Traits (Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Fluency, and Conventions) and are applied through process writing (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing). This instruction is designed to produce mastery of oral and written communication.
The Spelling component for grades 1-6 of the Florida Journeys program will be used as the district adopted spelling curriculum. This component creates a connection to reading in using words that reflect the vocabulary, word study (etymology, morphology,
and syllable types), and phonics components of the grade level texts.
Elementary Programs
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