Developing strong readers and writers is one of the paramount goals of any school district. Students and teachers spend most of their day at Gurnee District #56 working towards enhanced skills in these areas. While primary students are learning to read and write, students in the mid to upper grades are reading and writing to learn, across all content areas. In a society with ever increasing technology leading the way, the need to be a fluent reader and writer has not diminished. The challenge for teachers is to craft lessons and opportunities for students to continually work on these skills while learning the ever expanding content that is created every day across our world.
Textbooks and MaterialsReadingKindergarten - Fifth Grade Reading Houghton Mifflin 2001
Sixth - Eighth Grade Literature (
Timeless Voices,
Timeless Themes) Prentice Hall 2002, 2005
Copper, Bronze, Silver
WritingKindergarten - Fifth Grade Step Up to Writing Cambium Learning 2008 (Teacher Materials Only)
6+1 Traits of Writing Scholastic 2003 (Teacher Materials Only)
Northwest Regional
Laboratory
Sixth - Eighth Grade Writing and Grammar Prentice Hall 2004
Copper, Bronze, Silver
Professional Development
This fall, teachers in grades kindergarten through fifth grade will begin training on the use of two new writing programs adopted for the 2010-11 school year, Step Up to Writing and 6+1 Traits of Writing. The implementation of these two programs will take place, in concert, over the course of two years. The use of these programs should assist with building a strong foundation and common language for writing across the grade levels.
Representatives from grades six through eight will continue to review the existing curriculum and new standards in the area of language arts before reviewing the adoption of any new materials. The purchase of new materials is dependent upon the school district's budget.
