CURRICULUM
It’s All Write Writing programs across campus prepare students for learning and for life
Seventh graders like Lilly Yarnell (center) take their writing outside to be inspired by the pond scenery.
By Emily Fernback
When was the last time you authored
a professional email, cover letter or employee performance review? Did you recently compose a summary report or proposal or business plan? Writing is everywhere in our daily lives and certainly all around The Summit. Serving students from 18 months to Grade 12, Summit’s English Language Arts and Literature curriculum is vast and strives to ensure students are meeting the academic challenges at each level on their educational journey. This commitment to rigor is intentional, and it prepares our Leaders of Character for endeavors both at and beyond The Summit. Building a Foundation in the Montessori School The youngest Silver Knights learn critical language skills through lessons in the Montessori program where writing
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The Summit Magazine | Spring 2023
is taught before reading. Students are introduced to different concepts of communication and expression with hands-on practices. In toddler classrooms, students trace sandpaper letters as they sound out each one, which helps to stimulate both visual and muscular memory. Teachers and students also use a moveable alphabet -- letter cards they can hold in their hands and place in front of them -- to aid in word and sentence building, especially in kindergarten. “Even before they can physically write, children can compose,” says Linda Moeggenberg, Kindergarten teacher and Schilderink Faculty Chair for Distinguished Teaching. The moveable alphabet is a technique that allows students to work towards phonetic understanding of words and phrases while gradually improving spelling throughout the process. In their writing journals, kindergartners are given prompt ideas
to follow and encouraged to write freely and creatively. A student may write facts about an animal or an experience they had, using inventive spelling and pictures to support, and their teachers guide them to use proper spacing, punctuation and capital letters. By the time they advance to first grade, students can read and write short stories. Advancing Through the Lower School In grades 1 through 4, students explore writing through different outlets. The general writing process in the first two years of the Lower School moves in a circular motion. Students begin with an idea: they plan and revise, work on their first draft, revise and edit, then the circle repeats. As reading and writing go handin-hand, there is an emphasis on phonics and reading fluency supported by two reading specialists. Initially, they work collaboratively in small groups. Students read aloud,