English/Language Arts

Curriculum and instruction is through a Balanced Literacy Approach and is aligned with the Archdiocese of Newark Curriculum and the Common Core Standards.

SJA uses the Reading Streets Program published by Pearson as a framework in grades k-5. Reading and Writing Workshop models are highly effective in joining traditional learning skills (phonics, grammar, and spelling) with more progressive models (vocabulary through context, and the 5 Step Writing Process) Throughout all grades, and especially in grades 5-8, teacher and student anchor texts from various genres are incorporated to deepen the students’ learning and enable the teacher to not only differentiate instruction but improve student engagement through a student-centered approach.

Various assessments include the Map Assessments, benchmark assessments, running records and fluency passages. Furthermore, students have the opportunity to work with our own reading coach, Mrs. Megan Good.  When opportunities present themselves, teachers and students create cross-curricular performance assessments. This is especially evident in the upper grades (5-8) as the SJA faculty works tirelessly to form numerous interdisciplinary lessons between English Language Arts and other content areas.