Literacy in Lower School

Reading is arguably the most important skill your child will learn in school, but it is also one of the hardest to teach because proficient reading is a very complicated process. Our country has argued about reading instruction for years (commonly known as "the reading wars"), and most schools have followed the "balanced literacy" approach over the past 20 years, attempting to balance phonics instruction with a more whole-language approach. Unfortunately, this approach did not follow the brain science behind proficient reading, and now school districts around the country are trying to move away from this balanced literacy approach to a “structured literacy” approach.

Country Day Lower School learning specialists and teachers have been following the new research, and we've been working hard to improve our literacy instruction over the past few years. As this article suggests, it's important for all parents to learn about how their child's school is teaching reading. Join us on October 24 for our Lower School Literacy Night to learn more about how our structured literacy approach to reading and writing instruction. We want parents to ask questions and discover how our constant research and refinement of instruction set our students up for success.