Literacy is not only an enjoyable pastime;  It is a gateway to opportunities and a powerful tool for understanding and changing the world around us.  The Seven Hills balanced literacy program was designed to nurture the development of the following habits of mind to provide a lifetime of nourishment to our young scholars.

Drawing from the Teachers’ College Units of Study, the Seven Hills’ balanced literacy approach consists of reading and writing workshop and literacy across the content areas.

Balanced Literacy:  Tier One Instructional Components

• Literacy Across the Content Areas

• Habits of Mind

  • Passion and Purpose

  • Sense of Wonderment

  • Breadth and Depth of Experience

  • Awareness and Goal Setting

  • Cultural Literacy

• Common Core Standards

• Perseverance

• Social Literacy 

The Reading Workshop provides structure for reading instruction where the goal is to teach students strategies for thinking, reading, conversation and collaboration, as well as comprehension of grade level and differentiated texts.  The reading workshop meets the demands of the common core standards by providing the structures for direct instruction in the common core anchor standards and grade specific standards.   It also provides structures that allow the teacher to differentiate instruction based on scholar data in order to meet the needs of all their students. The workshop structures are planned utilizing CCSS, student data and habits of mind.  Reading Workshop fosters a love of reading and gives students a chance to practice reading and thinking strategies in increasingly sophisticated texts with teacher guidance, with the goal of independence.

The Writing Workshop, similar to the Reading Workshop, is a method of teaching writing using a workshop model.  The workshop structures are planned utilizing CCSS, student data and habits of mind.  The mini-lesson provides direct instruction in the common core grade level standards. The workshop structures allow the teacher to differentiate instruction based on data in order to meet the needs of all their scholars. Students are given opportunities to write in a variety of genres with intentional balance between fiction and non-fiction genres.  Writing Workshop fosters a love of writing and gives students a chance to practice writing and thinking strategies at increasingly sophisticated levels first with teacher guidance, but with the goal of independence at the forefront.

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Because literacy is a cornerstone of learning and living, direct instruction and literacy based learning experiences are infused across all content areas.  Vocabulary development, close reading, notetaking, read aloud and accountable talk structures play a major role in all classes

While core instruction, tier 1, is based upon grade level standards, data is used to make determinations for supplementary and enrichment programming. In addition to conferencing notes and work sampling,(and the Tests of Early Literacy in grades K,1), which is used to refine whole class mini-lessons and to prepare for strategic small group instruction, teachers use the Teacher’s College Guided Reading Level Assessment to select “just right books”.  Additional tools are used to uncover underlying issues or foundational skill gaps that may interfere with a student’s ability to enjoy and comprehend challenging texts.  Results from these secondary assessments are used to determine appropriate tier 2 interventions, such as specialized instruction in fluency, decoding or language development.  Students who continue to need additional supports may be referred to tier 3 support systems that are available through general education programming or, as appropriate, through services provided by special education teachers or related service providers.