Fall City Elementary School
Program Model
Fall City Elementary School uses the team approach to teaching all students at our school along with support from the local community. Parents and staff members work together on all levels to provide exemplary school programs which includes students of all levels. Students qualifying for special services are part of the general education classroom and participate in activities and instruction in the class as outlined in the Individualized Education Program (IEP). This IEP is written by the team of specialists, classroom teachers, and includes valuable parent input. Parents are considered a vital part of the team approach in planning for these students.
For special needs students, there is one full-time certificated teacher, one half-time certificated teacher, and several trained and experienced instructional assistants. There is also a full time counselor who works with all the students, a school psychologist, a speech and language pathologist, and an occupational therapist. This forms the Student Services Team (SST) which works with the classroom teachers in implementing the IEP’S.
The SST follows all benchmarks set by the District for grade level expectations and essential learning requirements from the sate in developing IEP’s for students.
The resource room is a positive environment where a student can work at his or her own level in order to feel successful. Behavior modification techniques are used in order to reward the student for a job well done and focus his/her attention on their work. .
Reading, Math and Written Language
Primary Reading and Writing: Emphasis is given in primary grades to developing strong phonics and comprehension skills, auditory processing, and following directions. Direct instruction is used for most groups. Students whose learning strength is sight word reading are taught through this modality using various other approaches as well as developing phonics. Fall City has been working on writing as a school goal. Specialized instruction uses the same writing tools as general education classes along with direct instruction programs in writing and spelling.
Intermediate Reading and Writing: Emphasis is placed on reading comprehension, vocabulary development, following directions using direct instruction strategies, and projects with novel reading. In writing, students follow the same procedures as the regular classroom in preparation for the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) test. Many students receive these services in the regular classroom.
Primary and Intermediate Math: Emphasis is placed on both computation and mathematic reasoning in all grade levels.
Materials Used
Because of the wide range of learning styles and levels of our students, many different programs and manipulatives are used for remediation with emphasis on small group direct instruction, hands-on learning, and computer-assisted technology. These include Direct Instruction Reading Mastery programs, Language Experience, Direct Instruction Connecting Math, Touch Math, Reasoning and Writing, Edmark Reading for the computer, Spelling Mastery, novels, Steck-Vaughn materials and many teacher-made materials.
The teachers and assistants work closely with the classroom teacher to support skills and subjects taught in the classroom.
