Elementary English at NNPS
Elementary English Instruction
Our comprehensive literacy program aligns to the NNPS PK-12 Literacy Model and includes opportunities to activate, elevate, and extend students' reading, writing, communication, and research abilities. The Elementary English instructional block incorporates all four components of literacy within the instructional day.
- Reading lessons are focused around the five pillars of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
- Throughout each school year, students have opportunities to write narrative, expository, and opinion/persuasive pieces. Writing instruction progresses from sentences to paragraphs to short compositions.
- Students engage in conversations about texts, which promote stronger listening and speaking skills. Daily chances to expand essential communication skills are provided through discussions around texts and topics.
- During the school year, students are given an opportunity to complete a research project aligned to a topic they have learned in science or social studies. This research project allows students to develop foundational research skills, while simultaneously demonstrating growth of the reading, writing, and communication components of literacy.
Instructional Materials
University of Florida Institute (UFLI) Foundations
In kindergarten through second grade, teachers provide phonics lessons following the UFLI Foundations program, an explicit and systematic program that teaches the necessary foundational skills to become proficient readers.
NNPS Curriculum & Development Provided Lessons
In kindergarten through fifth grade, teachers use division provided lessons that explicitly teach the grade level Standards of Learning for English. Additionally, teachers develop and customize lessons using student data to provide differentiated guided and independent practice of skills expected to be mastered by the end of the school year.
Lexia Core5 Reading
Core5 is a computer-based, adaptive program that provides explicit instruction, guided practice, immediate feedback, and skills checks for all required areas for strong reading, including phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Daily literacy lessons support students towards mastery of the grade level English Standards of Learning (SOL) outlined by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
Each day in Newport News Public Schools the focus is on one mission: ensuring that all students graduate college, career and citizen-ready. NNPS students embody the NNPS Profile of a Learner and the Virginia Profile of a Graduate. Elementary students learn to be Leaders, Emotionally Intelligent, Academically Prepared, Resilient, iNnovators, Equity Minded, and Reflective.
