Our goal is for every student to become a proficient reader and writer and to enjoy learning. The media has recently portrayed learning to read as a battle between phonics instructors and advocates of the whole language approach.  This unfortunately confuses the issue.  There are good aspects to both programs, and one of RHSM's strengths is a reading program based on the best of each approach.  Fortunately, teachers at RHSM have been involved in an ongoing review of how to teach literacy skills.  We currently have in place an excellent balanced literacy curriculum that is developmentally appropriate, consistent with the research in the field, and designed for each child to progress at his or her own rate of learning.

Upon walking into our Beginning School classrooms you typically observe children engrossed in their play.  Several children will be writing using their own attempts at spelling, and others will be playing a game where they are matching objects to their beginning sounds.  A teacher may be working with children who are making labels for their grocery store while other children are busy at work following a recipe to make play dough.  At times, parents wonder if their child is learning to read while playing at these activities.  Not only are children learning the skills necessary to become proficient readers, they are also engaged in activities that foster optimal development.

Research has clearly shown that the processes in learning to read and write are complex.  Critical components include an awareness of print, understanding the nature of symbols, recognizing language in a printed form, decoding the sound-based nature of our reading and writing system, manipulating the structural features of spoken language, and the development of vocabulary. A more detailed hand out explaining the continuum of literacy skills is available from Carol Blackwell.  It is now clear that children with strong oral vocabularies, a basic knowledge of language and how it works, and rich experiences with books and print have the best preparation for learning to read and write. 

Experts are in agreement that one of the best indicators of a strong literacy curriculum is the teacher's knowledge base about literacy skills.  We are fortunate at RHSM because our teachers consistently follow literacy research, attend state and national conferences, and discuss among themselves the current teaching methods.  We have shared our literacy program with educational experts in Utah, and they are impressed by and have commented upon the knowledge base of our teachers. RHSM does not depend upon one prescriptive reading program or beginning reading text series because we know that the teacher is the most valuable component of instruction.  Our teachers provide a curriculum that equips children with the skills they need to be successful readers and writers.