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WISCONSIN DELLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
The elementary schools include Lake Delton Elementary locatedin Lake Delton, Neenah Creek Elementary located in Briggsville, and Spring HIill Elementary located in Wisconsin Dells. The grade level span ranges from Early Childhood and Four Year Old Kindergarten to Grade Five. The grade levels across schools implement the same curriculum and instruction programs.
LITERACY CURRICULUM
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Four and Five Year Old Kindergarten use Little Treasures and Teasures, copyright 2011.
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Grades One through Five use LEAD21 (literacy, equity, acceleration, differentiation) program, copyright 2011.
LITERACY INSTRUCTION
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All Elementary Schools and Elementary Teachers use the Daily 5 Instructional program and emphasize CAFE (comprehension, accuracy, fluency, expanded vocabulary).
NUMERACY CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION
SCIENCE CURRICULUM
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All Elementary Schools use the Pearson Education Science program.
SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM
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LITERACY CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION INFORMATION
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LEAD21 Reading English Language Arts CURRICULUM
During the 2010-2011 school year the School District of Wisconsin Dells was one of the first in Wisconsin to adopt the new Wright Group publishing series LEAD21 in Grades One through Five. LEAD21 curriculum is an organized and systematic program to support teachers in differentiated instruction and meet the needs of all learners.
LEAD21 is an integrated curriculum which allows socials studies and science content to be delivered within literacy development. During the critical reading development years, birth to Grade 5, it makes no sense to totally separate or isolate science and social studies from literacy. Our programming offers many science and social studies opportunities beyond the current science/social studies curriculum. LEAD21 merges content so that educators are able to meet the needs of the "whole child."
Our District further supports LEAD21 curriculum through our use of the Daily 5 Instructional Model. The Daily 5 Instructional Model is a program designed to foster reading independence while Teachers support learners through small group or individual guided reading instruction.
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LITERACY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM INFORMATION
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RENAISSANCE LEARNING (TM)
The School District of Wisconsin Dells uses several Renaissance Learning software programs. This includes: Accelerated Reader, STAR Reading, STAR Early Literacy, and STAR Math. Renaissance Learning software is used in more than 75,000 school districts in the US and also in many other countries. Renaissance Learning is based in Wisconsin and on the Forbes list of The Top 100 Most Trusted Companies.
STAR READING and EARLY LITERACY
STAR Reading and Early Literacy (Kindergarten or beginning readers) is a progress monitoring program used to measure individual student growth over time. Data is also used for teacher's to determine appropriate instruction for each student, using data-driven instructional systems.The assessments are used in Grades Kindergarten through Eight. All students complete the STAR Reading assessment within the first ten days of each school year (excluding Kindergarten) and within the last 10 days of each grading quarter. Quarterly Reports are shared with parents at the time report cards are distributed.
Our District has a team of educators in place to support our teachers and learners if a student does not experience growth. These teams are part of our Tier II Monitored Instruction, which is in compliance with ESEA (No Child Left Behind and President Obama's Blueprint for Reform) to assure that all learners receive the appropriate Response to Instruction and Intervention.
ACCELERATED READER
Accelerated Reader program is used in Grades One through Five for students who are probable readers. This program allows children to read books on-level (at their ability) and then complete an on-line assessment. Parents are able to access the data for their student from home or on their i-phone or Android application. See the "Home Connect" link in the upper right for more information. Student pass codes for Home Connect are sent home in mid-September. Below our District AR Widgets which show the number of books read, words read, and samples of books we are reading.
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NUMERACY CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION INFORMATION
The Everyday Math program features include the following as outlined on the Everyday Math resource site linked below. The District also partners with Mathematics Consultant, Mary Freytag, of Math Matters for staff development and additional resources.
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TITLE I SCHOOLWIDE INFORMATION
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Title I Schools
All three elementary schools in Wisconsin Dells are Title I Schools. This means that our schools receive additional Federal funding because more than 40 percent of our children live in poverty. When the poverty level is above 40 percent schools may qualify for schoolwide programs that allow the District to use Federal funds to serve ALL children in the school. Schools that are not "schoolwide" may only use their Title I funds to service targeted students instead of using funds to benefit all learners. All staff, resources, and classes are part of the overall Schoolwide program. The purpose is to generate high levels of academic achievement in core subject areas for all students, especially those students most in need. This purpose is achieved through:
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High quality instruction
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Comprehensive reform strategies and methods that are based on the use of scientifically based research
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Strategies and methods to improve teacher quality and professional development
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Consolidated use of funds
How does our plan guarantee high quality instruction for our Elementary School learners? The District has adopted the Daily 5 instructional model to be used 80-90 minutes each day during small group and Differentiated Reading Time. We also use the LEAD21 curriculum in Grades One through Five, published in 2010 by Wright Group. In addition to the Differentiated Reading Time, LEAD21 features 25-35 minutes of daily Interactive Reading, and 30 minutes of Writing and Language Arts. That's about 2 1/2 hours a day of focused literacy development and research-based best practices. Not only does our program emphasis literacy mastery, we merge science and social studies content into our Reading English Language Arts or LEAD21 curriculum so that every child, regardless of the core course (reading, language arts, science or social studies) is able to read at his or her ability level.
How does our plan use comprehensive reform strategies and methods that use scientifically based research? The International Reading Association cites that evidence base reading instruction is sytematic, objective, valid, and reliable. We systematically monitor our student's reading progress through the STAR Early Literacy and Reading assessments, which are found to be valid by many educational research organizations including the National Center for Response to Intervention. We have adopted a research-based curriculum (LEAD21) which infuses 21st Century Skills to prepare today's children for tomorrow's challenges. Finally, the Daily 5 Instructional model is support by a research base of repeatedly valid scientific evidence that well planned, systematically organized, instruction improves student learning.
What are our strategies and methods to improve teacher quality and professional development? The instructional leaders in the District empower our teachers with the tools they need to support our learners. ALL of our teachers are trained in positive behavior intervention proactive methods, such as positive ratio of interaction. As of August 2010, all of our teachers will be trained in using the Daily 5 instructional model and LEAD21. In addition, Principals and other Administrators collaborate together to support our teachers through our HIGH QUALITY SCHOOLS initiative.
How do we use our consolidated Title I funds? We make decisions on how our dollars will make the biggest impact on student learning. This means, we fund five Reading Teacher positions through our Federal dollars. These Reading Teachers are in the classrooms to double the staff-to-student ratio during guided reading. In addition, we use Title I funds for staff development in teaching guided reading during the Differentiated Reading time. We use these funds to purchase books to support our teachers to instruct our learners. Every teacher in our Title I Schools has the Daily 5 and the Cafe books, which focus on high qualify instruction and every building has staff development video series which model best practices. We also use a Reading Consultant who works with our teachers to foster literacy. Our district used additional ARRA Title I funds to adopt our schoolwide curriculum LEAD21 and create leveled reading libraries to make on-level text available to each and every child. We also use funds to include and welcome parents through family nights.
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