Mattole Valley Charter School English Language Arts Expectations
Mattole Valley Charter School holds the expectation that all of our students will become highly proficient readers, speakers, and writers. Beyond high level comprehension, usage, and interaction with the English language, we hope that our students learn to find enjoyment and personal fulfillment in the realm of language arts.
MVCS realizes that literacy is key to personal fulfillment and success. In our standards based program, our goal is that all students will learn how to read fluently with proficiency and understanding. Students will be able to understand and interact with all types of text based information from the classics to media based. Students will read critically and analytically in all genres, and they will communicate their ideas, both orally and in writing, thoughtfully, creatively and correctly.
Facility in the language arts is the enabling skill that weaves together all academic disciplines and translates into meaningful personal, social, and economic outcomes for individuals. Literacy is the key to becoming an independent learner in all the other disciplines.
Our goal of developing lifelong readers and writers is dependent upon a balance of endowing students with competence, motivation, accessibility, and experiences with print. When students develop competence in the fundamentals of reading and writing, they increase their motivation to achieve.
Mattole Valley Charter School provides the five components that a balanced, comprehensive approach to reading must contain: (1) a strong literature, language, and comprehension program that includes a balance of oral and written language; (2) an organized, explicit skills program that includes phonemic awareness (sounds in words), phonics, and decoding skills to address the needs of the emergent reader; (3) ongoing diagnosis that informs teaching and assessment that ensures accountability; (4) a powerful early intervention program that provides individual tutoring for students at risk of failure in reading; and (5) development of a child’s fluency in reading connected text.
Characteristics of the instruction component in an effective language arts program are as follows:
• The curriculum for reading and the language arts in kindergarten through grade three provides explicit and systematic instruction and diagnostic support in:
– Phonemic awareness
– Phonics
– Decoding
– Word-attack skills
– Spelling
– Vocabulary
– Fluency in reading connected text
– Comprehension skills
– Writing skills and strategies and their application
– Listening and speaking skills and strategies
• The curriculum for reading and the language arts in grades four through twelve provides explicit and systematic instruction and diagnostic support in:
– Word-attack skills (e.g., decoding and structural as applied to multisyllabic words)
– Spelling
– Vocabulary
– Fluency in reading connected text
– Comprehension skills, including contextual skills
– Text-handling and strategic reading skills
– Writing skills and strategies and their application
– Listening and speaking skills and their application
• For students in grades four through twelve who do not demonstrate competence in the skills and knowledge required in kindergarten through grade three, assessments are conducted and systematic instruction is provided in the necessary prerequisite skills, such as:
– Phonemic awareness
– Specific instruction in decoding and phonics
– Fluency in reading connected text
– Vocabulary and language development
– Comprehension strategies
Teachers adapt learning contexts to challenge and extend the skills of advanced learners. Opportunities for acceleration and enrichment are provided.
Even with the highest-quality classroom instruction, some students have difficulty progressing according to grade-level expectations. For those students assessment tools to diagnose specific instructional needs, together with instructional support and age-appropriate materials delivered explicitly, systematically, and with urgency, are essential to address foundational skill deficits and accelerate student learning.
Cathlyn Wright
Language Arts Coordinator
Email Here
Phone: 707.445.2660 ext 13
Links to Language Arts Resources
ELA Assessments
Rubrics
Graphic Organizers
Expository Reading and Writing (ERAW)
Mattole Valley Charter School
210 Lindley Road
Petrolia, California 95558
707-629-3634 (Admissions & Records)
707-445-2660 (Administration)
707-407-4514 (Business Office)
