Literacy and English
Lower School
The beauty and power of the written and spoken word are fostered to promote the joy of reading and writing
At AVS, we nurture the beauty and power of the written and spoken word to foster a lifelong joy of reading and writing. Students are encouraged to express their feelings, ideas, experiences, and questions with clarity and purpose and to tell stories in a coherent, sequential order. We invigorate critical-thinking strategies through the activation of schema, generating predictions, questioning, making connections, and recognizing inferences. This integrative approach is structured around the following overarching topics:
- Word Analysis, Decoding, and Systematic Vocabulary Development:
- Literary Response and Analysis
- Genre Studies
- The Writing Process
- Written and Oral Writing Conventions
- Listening and Speaking Strategies and Applications
In the early grades, phonetics and approximate spelling are encouraged to build confidence in encoding skills. As students progress, high-frequency and sight words are introduced, with instruction expanding to morphology, etymology, and phonology for a deeper understanding of conventional spelling. During reading instruction—through partner reading, whole-class reading, and book clubs—students practice decoding unfamiliar texts, analyzing illustrations, and constructing meaning as they refine their strategies. Independent reading of “just right” books, selected by the students themselves, is encouraged within a diverse array of literature and informational texts. Throughout the literacy journey, students explore author studies, poetry, fiction, and expository texts, reading across genres with a balance of imaginative play and real-world exploration. They apply these concepts to communicate effectively in various forms, including storytelling, letter writing, procedural, persuasive, opinion, informational, and research writing. Finally, students learn to communicate effectively with various audiences for different purposes, read widely to gain meaning, and engage in the reading process to decode, comprehend, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They also develop organized writing compositions with a distinct style through the writing process. We emphasize that clear speaking enhances communication, reading involves active thinking and meaning-making, and writing is a powerful tool for sharing information.
Students learn to communicate orally to a variety of audiences for different purposes; read widely for meaning; engage in the reading process to decode, comprehend, evaluate, and appreciate texts; and use the writing process to create organized compositions with a developed style. Students understand that clear speaking enhances communication, reading involves thinking and constructing meaning, and writing is a powerful vehicle to communicate and share information.
Initially, phonetic spelling is encouraged to promote assurance of encoding skills. High-frequency and sight words are introduced on classroom word walls as students move toward conventional spelling. During this process, students are given tools to expand their understandings of conventional spelling via instruction in morphology, etymology, and phonology. Students explore author studies, poetry, fiction, and expository texts as well as read across genres as they navigate the world of literacy through both imaginative play and real-world exploration. By way of the story, letters, procedural, persuasive, opinion, informational, and research writing, students incorporate the concepts they learn to communicate with various audiences.
Fluency instruction and practice enables students to experience well-orchestrated reading. During guided reading, students practice decoding unfamiliar texts by tracking print, using illustrations, and creating meaning, as they develop and refine a repertoire of strategies. The self-selection of independent good fit books within a diversity of literature and informational texts is encouraged.
Middle School
Middle school is all about opening a world of possibilities, being creative, and becoming an agile thinker.
The AVS English curriculum is centered around the vital role language plays in literature and in self-expression through written and spoken words. Each course integrates strategies for active and clear reading, writing, and listening while honing critical thinking and analytical skills. Our courses are designed to build upon the literary skills students need to successfully navigate today’s complex, information-based society, all while honoring literary tradition.
Sample texts include Lord of the Flies, The 57 Bus, Enrique’s Journey, Of Mice and Men, Amoralman, Braiding Sweetgrass, Un Lun Dun, Poet-X, and The Giver.
Courses include:
- The Paper Chase - How do you develop a literary style that includes a systematic approach to reading and writing? Throughout this course, we will read from a number of important genres including poetry, fiction, and dystopian fiction as we develop our own literary likes and dislikes. We will purposefully explore different writing styles in order to develop our own voices. Such writing will include descriptive fan fiction, narrative in the style of our favorite authors, and expository writing. Hands-on collaborative projects include stop-action animation, puppetry, and movie making.
- The Energy of (Timely) Ideas - How do we adapt a story or transform information from one creative form to another? In this course, we will learn strategies about how to morph a story from the page to a poem, a play into a short story, and a concept into a documentary.
- Yarn - If anyone has ever told you something is "just a story," then prepare them for recrimination. It's not "just" a story, any more than it's "just" an atomic weapon - stories are powerful things, living in their own way, capable of creation and destruction in equal measure. This class will examine specific stories, but also the story as a being in its own right, the way we relate to our stories, and what comes from those intersections and pairings. This will range from the classic Hero's Journey to folk wisdom of fairy stories, myths of antiquity and modernity, and the practical understanding of how we make meaning out of a story.
- The Line; Determino Res - This class is organized into two thematic cores. The first is The Line, which explores the way we create reality through the construction of boundaries, borders, and divisions. These lines simultaneously make the world understandable and obfuscate the truth. In this core, we will examine notions of truth, life, and connection, and beauty, and horror. The second core, Determino Res, is an in-depth examination of the nature of freedom and individuality. We will conduct a deep novel study of Un Lun Dun, using it to discuss concepts of free will, fate and destiny, choice, personal meaning, and purpose. Students will then shift towards developing a practical understanding of who they are, and then plan and execute actions to best express that essence of personhood.
- American Tale - What does it mean to be an American, and what does America stand for? Through reading fiction and nonfiction and by producing various writing and creative projects, we will explore these topics. Topics include social justice, immigration, historical influences, and social isolation. We will read texts including Enrique's Journey, Of Mice and Men, historical fiction, and contemporary journalism. Students will write personal narratives, journalism, literary analysis and argument essays, and historical fiction.