The Garrison Union Free School District is committed to using a balanced approach, which includes explicit instruction and opportunities for students to develop skills and strategies in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Students in Grades K-2  are engaged on a daily basis in all areas of literacy, including reading, writing, phonemic awareness, listening and phonics. In Reading and Writing Workshop, we use Teacher’s College Units of Study in Reading across K-2.  Teachers use Units of Study for Teaching Reading and Units of Study for Teaching Writing, authored by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project of Columbia University, to guide the lessons for reading and writing workshops.

Our reading blocks consist of a mini-lesson addressing a specific reading strategy, shared reading, in which we share a book as a class, independent practice where students apply skills learned from our mini-lesson, and small group guided reading, which meets students individually at their ability level.

Our writing block consists of explicit instruction including modeling of a specific skill, independent writing, sharing ideas with one another, peer and teacher conferences, and students are introduced to personal narratives, non-fiction writing and writing opinions.

In Word Study we use Fundations, a science based, multi-sensory, structured literacy program that aligns with Orton-Gillingham principles and offers direct, explicit, and cumulative word study instruction. It is used in the primary grades to provide explicit instruction to build foundational language skills. Our Word Study block explores phonemic awareness skills, word attack skills, spelling patterns, reading fluency, sight words, and handwriting.