Literacy Curriculum

Learning Without Tears

Our Handwriting curriculum is derived from Learning Without Tears which includes lessons and multi-sensory activities that make learning a positive and successful environment for children. The Handwriting Without Tears (From Learning Without Tears) curriculum draws from years of innovation and research to provide developmentally appropriate, multisensory tools and strategies to the classroom. In Preschool, the focus is on building readiness skills essential for learning. Pre-instructional readiness activities promote social-emotional learning, fine motor skills, drawing, coloring, alphabet knowledge, rewriting, writing, number and counting skills. Most handwriting lessons are broken into 3 steps:

  1. Direct Instruction (Demo): Child watches as the teacher writes and then imitates.
  2. Guided Practice: The child looks at the completed model of the letter, word, or sentence and copies it to match the model.
  3. Independent Practice: Child writes unassisted without demonstration or model. (Learning Without Tears).

For more information visit www.lwtears.com.

Lexia LETRS

Lexia LETRS is a science-based training course designed to provide a professional learning course of study based on the science of reading for elementary educators. The course teaches the how, what, and why, of literacy acquisition to improve instructional practice and achieve long-term systematic change in literacy instruction.

For more information visit www.lexialearning.com/letrs.

Happily Ever After Reading Curriculum   

Happily Ever After is a Zaner-Blosser reading readiness curriculum that uses beautifully illustrated children’s literature classics as the basis for the program. With the Happily Ever After curriculum, children listen to stories and interact with them. The multimodal approach to literacy with Happily Ever After engages children and encourages development of new skills, concepts, and vocabulary. Children will listen to an audible story, follow along with individual books, and also participate in carefully broken down tasks to interact with the story. The Happily Ever After Program encourages children to develop concepts of vocabulary and comprehend written and spoken language, which are essential building blocks to reading readiness. Happily Ever After focuses on four areas of early literacy skills:

  • Develop language and Vocabulary
  • Sharpen Fine-Motor Skills
  • Encourage Direction-Following Skills
  • Encourage Listening Skills

For more information visit www.zaner-bloser.com/reading/happily-ever-after/index.

Literacy Curriculum at Little Lambs

Pre-K

In the Pre-K Little Lambs class, teachers are trained in the Learning Without Tears curriculum and have all the necessary materials to complete the 3-handwriting steps for each letter. Pre-K Teachers are certified in Lexia LETRS to encourage science-based learning principles in the classroom. There consists of a weekly lesson derived from the Leaning Without Tears curriculum with a specific letter of the week. Tools used weekly in the classroom include:

  • Weekly Letter Introduction Board
  • Mat Man Wood and Magnet Piece Play & Display
  • Wet-Dry-Try Writing Slates and White Boards
  • Handwriting Without Tears Music (i.e the Mat Man Song)
  • Handwriting Books
  • Worksheets
  • Short pencils and Long Pencils

In addition, Pre-K utilizes the 10-story reading-readiness curriculum from Happily Ever After to develop concepts of vocabulary and comprehend written and spoken language daily.

Three’s

In the Little Lambs Three’s classes, teachers are trained in the Learning Without Tears curriculum and have all the necessary materials to complete the 3-handwriting steps for each letter. There consists of a weekly lesson derived from the Leaning Without Tears curriculum with a specific letter of the week. The letters are introduced in the Jim Stone order of curriculum which begins with the most easy and frequent sounds to build on phonological awareness. Tools used weekly in the classroom include:

  • Weekly Letter Introduction Board
  • Mat Man Wood and Magnet Piece Play & Display
  • Wet-Dry-Try Writing Slates and White Boards
  • Handwriting Without Tears Music (i.e the Mat Man Song)
  • Handwriting Books
  • Short pencils and Grip Assistants