Language Arts at the CEC

The Cloud Forest School has adopted the Workshop philosophy described by
Lucy Mc Cormick Calkins in her books
The Art of Teaching Reading and The Art of Teaching Writing.  It complements the mission of our school through working toward instilling a love of reading in each child, helping students to progress at their own rate, and requiring the students to analyze their reading and writing.

Reading and Writing Workshop

Daily Read Aloud is an important component to our Reading Program.  It is used not only as an opportunity to expose students to a variety of literature, but also as a forum in which to practice reading skills.  Skills such as prediction, making connections, and character analysis once practiced with the group can then be transferred to independent reading.

Mini-Lessons are another integral aspect of our Workshop time.  These five to ten minute lessons model skills and provide time for students to practice them.  Lessons range from topics such as classroom management; for example, how to check a book out of the library, what we do in buddy reading time, what should I do when I finish my book, etc.  Lessons also support skill acquisition, such as making connections with your own experiences, using syllables to take apart a word, making and confirming predictions, etc.

While students read independently, teachers facilitate leveled groups in Guided Reading or Literature Groups.  These groups meet from two to five times a week and work on reading skills in relation to the book the group is reading.  

At the CEC we are all authors.  We encourage our student authors to create their own topics for writing.  Students begin by writing about what they know best: themselves.   Through mini-lessons students learn about what makes a beginning that grabs interest, what details are important, and how to organize information so that it makes sense to the reader.  Students learn to analyze their pieces and share quality criticism with others who ask.  Students work through the editing process, improving weak spots, and publish pieces at least once a theme. During their primary school experience the students will pass through many genre studies including poetry, memoir, non-fiction, and short story.