academic excellence

Literacy

Throughout the day, RJA students have authentic opportunities to express themselves orally and in writing. In social studies, they present their research to their class. In math, they share their problem solving strategies. In Torah study, our 3rd-5th-grade students chant Torah and lead the entire student body in discussion.

Literacy is the time set aside for building the skills that enable our students to articulately and compellingly express their ideas and reach their potential in all areas of communication. We use a balanced literacy approach that includes Reader’s Workshop, Writer’s Workshop and Language/Word Study. Instruction in handwriting — using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum — and in keyboarding is an integral part of our literacy program.

At The Saul Mirowitz Day School, we are not satisfied unless each student has developed a love of reading both for pleasure and for information. Our students learn to think like writers, and understand that writing takes time and thought. They learn to plan, edit and revise their own prose, and to present them both orally and in writing. They publish stories that make them proud.

Our students develop into sophisticated and articulate communicators, and our graduates and their middle-school teachers consistently testify that their writing skills give them a competitive advantage in middle school.