The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in English language arts|literacy and mathematics. These standards outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade level; education standards are not a curriculum, a detailed plan for day to day teaching.
At Hallett Academy, we focus on what students need to know and be able to do, and the following resources support how students learn the educational standards:
Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts K-2
CKLA’s two-strand approach to reading instruction is based on the premise that students must decode words
in order to critically examine a text. CKLA features decodable readers in the skills strand and complex texts through Read-Alouds in the knowledge strand. The skills strand provides comprehensive instruction in foundational reading skills: phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition; language skills, including conventions of English, spelling, and grammar; reading comprehension; and writing instruction. The knowledge strand focuses on background knowledge and vocabulary acquisition, analysis of complex text, and speaking and listening.
https://ckla.amplify.com
The Expeditionary Learning Literacy 3-5 Language Arts curriculum is a comprehensive, standards-based core literacy program that engages teachers and students through compelling, real world content.
The Orton-Gillingham Approach is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling.
Bridges in Mathematics is a comprehensive PK-5 curriculum that equips teachers to fully implement the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics in a manner that is rigorous, coherent, engaging, and accessible to all learners. The curriculum focuses on developing students’ deep understandings of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and ability to solve complex and novel problems. Bridges blends direct instruction, structured investigation, and open exploration. It taps into the intelligence and strengths of all students by presenting material that is as linguistically, visually, and kinesthetically rich as it is mathematically powerful.
Amplify Science blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers.
The Science standards reflect a new vision for science education that connects scientific knowledge, in authentic ways, to real-world problem solving and innovation. The standards forefront scientific practices that use and go beyond the inquiry process to arrive at reasoned and justifiable rationales for interpretations of phenomena/events. A Framework for K-12 Science Education identifies the key scientific ideas and practices all students should learn by the end of high school. Find out more at Tracks Science.
The Social Studies standards guide students in developing the knowledge and skills to make sound judgments, understand historical and contemporary experiences/events, analyze interpersonal and global tensions, and actively participate in the complex world in which they live. The standards support the use of reasoned and reflective thinking to engage and collaborate with others in an increasingly diverse and interdependent world. Social Studies Alive provides more information.
Hallett Academy is an MLE resource school. This means that students still acquiring the English language receive pull-out services from a trained resource teacher for approximately 45 minutes a day. The resource teacher works with the classroom teacher to best meet the needs of multilingual learners. In addition, all multilingual learners are assessed at the beginning and end of each school year to measure growth. Our MLE Teacher helps support our multilingual families and students that are valuable members of our community.
Students are identified for these services through a comprehensive team approach that involves family members, caring adults, classroom teachers, special education teachers, special service providers, and interventionists.
Once identified, an IEP (Individual Education Plan) is developed based on the student’s needs. The purpose of the plan is to remove barriers to learning. Services may range from consulting with the classroom teacher to direct instruction in rooms 206 and 207.
Hallett Academy has the resources of several itinerant special services providers (serving more than one school): Social Worker, Psychologist, Speech Language Pathologist, Nurse, Occupational|Physical Therapist. Our special services providers meet the needs of our students up to three days a week.
In the Denver Public Schools, “gifted and talented children” means those students whose demonstrated abilities, talents and/or potential for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational needs. These students perform, or show the potential of performing, at remarkably high levels in intellectual, specific academic or creative areas when compared with others of their age and experience. Gifted and talented children are present in all student groups, regardless of gender, disability, English language proficiency, economic status, ethnic or cultural background.
Identification of gifted students occurs year round in DPS. The gifted and talented representative at each school monitors student data in several key areas that the district has determined are indicators of giftedness. This includes a visual-spatial reasoning test given to all students in second and fourth grades and a set of creativity indicators administered to all third and fifth graders. The district also uses advanced PARCC and CMAS scores (administered in gr. 3-10) as gifted indicators as well as Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) data for students reading two years above grade level. Additionally, families may elect to have their child take a battery of tests that the district uses to identify highly gifted students. The nomination period for that testing is usually in the early fall, with the testing in the late fall, and scores returned at the beginning of the new year. Students identified as highly gifted have the option of attending a highly gifted magnet school for elementary or middle school. Scores from this battery of tests are also used to identify gifted students.
Our GT representative identifies gifted students and provides a variety of programming for gifted students, supports the faculty with staff development geared toward advanced learners and works with classroom teachers and families in developing and implementing Advanced Learning Plans for each gifted student.