Cloverdale Traditional
OUR CONTEXT
CLOVERDALE TRADITIONAL SCHOOL
A Community of Caring, Respectful and Responsible Learners
Welcome to Cloverdale Traditional School! We are a choice school in the Surrey School District. Our school code of conduct, “A community of caring, respectful and responsible learners” reflects how we all learn, work and play together. We are home to approximately 300 students, a dedicated and hardworking staff, and a caring and engaged community of families. We currently house a District-based Intensive Literacy class, who enrol in our school for one year. We have a very supportive parent group, led by an active PAC executive who bring the school community together through ongoing events and activities.
We see ourselves as a “modern” traditional school in that we follow the current BC curriculum and Surrey School District’s vision for learning, “Learning by Design.” https://surreylearningbydesign.ca/. Students have a uniform dress code and come to CTS from across the District. Our school welcomes all learners and supports every child's sense of belonging, well-being and citizenship. We strive for academic achievement, and the development of a “growth mindset” to promote effort and persistence in learning. CTS celebrated the 100th Anniversary of our school building in May 2022!
OUR LEARNERS
Early Literacy
Our school goal this year is focused on Early Literacy. Literacy is critical for success in all areas of learning.
At CTS our youngest learners develop literacy skills through a variety of processes and activities. These include speech and language activities, emergent reading and writing, phonemic awareness (the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words), Story Workshop and more. In Story Workshop, students gather interesting materials and use their imagination to manipulate the materials. In doing so, they create and recreate stories that they can share with their classmates or teachers. The students begin to see themselves as authors! All of these activities support authentic and personalized learning.
Students can reflect, create, demonstrate physical literacy and express themselves through music, art and imaginative play.
OUR FOCUS
Early Literacy: Deepening Understanding of How Language Works
This year our focus has been on literacy practices for our youngest learners. Our cohort is our kindergarten and grade one students as well as our K-2 students who receive LST (Learner Support Teacher) intervention. Our Early Learning teacher team consists of our kindergarten and grade one teachers as well as our LST teachers. We are focusing on strategies to deepen student understanding of how language works.
Student learning goals, competencies and outcomes:
- Students will demonstrate an ability to use phonemic awareness skills to decode text (Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.)
- Students will demonstrate their understanding of phonics
Success Criteria
- Grade 1 students can successfully read CVC words, CVCe and high frequency words as evidenced by ongoing assessments.
- Proficient phonemic awareness as evidenced by Kindergarten ELPATS scores and proficiency with decoding CVC words as evidenced by ongoing classroom assessments.
- Students will demonstrate their understanding of phonics as evidenced through independent writing, classroom activities and dictation.
OUR NEXT STEPS
Strategic Interventions
Teachers gathered culturally relevant materials for classroom use. They provided diverse literacy experiences and opportunities such as the following:
Writing opportunities such as journals, labelling, list making, imaginative play, Story Workshop and story writing.
Phonemic awareness experiences such as Heggerty Phonemic Awareness, poetry, ELPATS Resource, morning message, and multiple opportunities for segmenting, blending and manipulating sounds.
Reading opportunities such as shared reading, small group reading, home reading, Flyleaf Decodable Books, word games, word tiles, and word family activities.
Evidence of Student Learning
Teachers have gathered writing samples, formal assessment data ( ELPATS Assessment, PM Benchmark Assessment), and videos of students reading and writing in authentic ways. Additional forms of evidence include concept maps, story workshop, and guided informal conversations amongst peers and teacher.
Teachers work to honour student choice and voice through everyday practice including inquiry, provocations, morning meetings, sharing circles and sharing authentic stories.
Next year we will continue to work on helping our young learners deepen their understanding of how language works. We will do so through a targeted approach focused on phonemic awareness, phonics and various authentic literacy experiences, inside and beyond the classroom. We will look for opportunities to gather meaningful evidence to share with colleagues and families.
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
