Reading
NPS strongly believes in fostering a love of reading that is built to last and to enrich for a lifetime.
This belief is the foundation of the curriculum and directs the instructional program in the five essential components of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Beginning with our youngest learners, children are first taught awareness of the sounds and letters around them. They interact with language by listening for rhyming words and identifying the sounds they hear within their speech. Direct instruction in phonics and basic morphology begins in Kindergarten and continues through Third Grade. As students become more proficient readers, students in Third Grade through Sixth Grade study morphology, looking more closely at the origin of the English language and the structure of meaning in words.
At all levels, students learn that reading is an active process and that they must apply various strategies to integrate information from the text into their present knowledge base. Children enjoy many opportunities to discuss and evaluate the information they gain as they read and are read to. Students are exposed to rich, engaging literature through a variety of reading experiences. Students in all classes and at all levels enjoy read-aloud books and participate in a weekly Library class to select books for personal enjoyment.
We utilize the reading workshop model and the Orton-Gillingham approach to provide comprehensive and structured literacy instruction. Our multi-faceted approach to reading instruction develops strong comprehension skills and nurtures a life-long love of reading and literature.
NPS students excel at:
- Sharing their thinking about literature through discussion, writing, art, and drama
- Visualizing, making connections, asking questions, and determining important information
- Literary analysis and critical thinking
