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Middlebury Community Schools

Inspiring Students To Shape The World

ELA Curriculum

Parent Links - ELA Curriculum

  • In accordance with Indiana House Bill 1558, school corporations are required to report information regarding reading and writing curricula, and remedial programs used with students.  The primary curriculum used Middlebury Community Schools for ELA instruction is Open Court by McGraw Hill, a state-approved curriculum aligned to the Science of Reading. Open Court is a comprehensive reading program that focuses on foundational reading skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary development, spelling, grammar, and writing.

    Additionally, Middlebury Community Schools utilizes a curriculum map for ELA that is based on the 2023 Indiana Academic Standards.  The 2023 Indiana Academic Standards can be found in the Student Learning and Pathways section of the Indiana Department of Education website or at the following link:  Student Learning and Pathways at IDOE.

    Remedial Programming includes Open Court by McGraw Hill and Heggerty.

    Additional inquiries may be sent to Mrs. Kari Dyer, Director of Elementary Education at dyerk@mcsin-k12.org.

  • Fraction Islands is a tool teachers are using in the classroom to help students make the abstract concept of fractional notation concrete.  Fraction Islands moves students from the concrete to the pictoral to the abstract notation, following the same philosophy as Hands-On Equations.  By using geoboards and foam pieces to represent fractions, students are using an area model to understand fractions.  This manipulative can be used by students to discover the different rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions.  Fraction Islands are used at the elementary level beginning in the first grade.

  • As the State increases the math standards at the elementary level to include algebraic concepts, we are faced with the difficult task of teaching abstract concepts to elementary age students.  To do this, we are using Hands-On Equations.  This program takes the very abstract concept of algebra and makes it concrete.  Eventually students move from the concrete to pictoral and finally to the abstract.  This program begins in second grade and continues up to the sixth grade when pre-algebra concepts start to be introduced.  Students enjoy using Hands-On Equations because it feel likes a game.  Adults are amazed at the problems students are able so solve using this manipulative!