Windsor Academy offers a dual Language Arts/Literacy program for students enrolled in grades kindergarten to eighth. There is both a core reading program taught at each grade level by the classroom teacher and a reading intervention program taught by a reading specialist in a resource room setting.

CORE READING PROGRAM
Windsor Academy offers a two-tier Language Arts/Literacy program which consists of the Macmillan/ McGraw-HilI Reading Program for students reading at the K-6 reading levels and the Glencoe/ McGraw-Hill Reading Program for students reading at the 7-8 reading levels. Macmillan/ McGraw-Hill Reading, a research-based program, emphasizes strategy based instruction in reading and integrated language arts, including writing, listening, speaking, and viewing. Strategy-based instruction teaches students to use thinking processes; it differs from skill-based instruction which teaches isolated skills.  The foundation of the program, reading as a process of constructing meaning, does not change significantly from one grade to another; what changes is the complexity of the reading material and the sophistication with which students apply strategies.

Based on the five components of reading instruction endorsed by the National Reading Panel, McGraw-Hill Reading includes the following: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Lessons in writing, grammar, spelling, and oral language serve as a completely balanced Language Arts/Literacy Program which is aligned with our state standards. The assessment component is designed to measure the concept of gradual progress to ensure that students meet the program goals and outcomes at each level. Assessment opportunities are varied and ensure that instruction is data-driven.

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Reading, a research-based program, features Glencoe Literature: The Reader's Choice and Writer's Choice which is an integrated language arts series incorporating literature, writing, grammar, and composition. The Reader's Choice is a contemporary anthology with a rich mix of classic and modern collections of poems and plays, stories and songs, letters and essays, and myths and folklore which enable students to explore literary voices, culture, and times to develop their interpretive skills. Through the text's varied and active instructional strategies, students are given ample opportunities to engage in responsive reading, interpretation, and literary analysis through selections arranged by both theme and genre. Students explore writing as a purposeful and flexible means of expression, reflection, and critical and creative thinking. The multiple forms of assessment provide students with an experience that is responsive to local, state, and national standards of achievement.

READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM
Our scientifically-based intervention program, The Sonday System, is designed specifically for students who demonstrate reading and language difficulties and are performing below grade-level expectancy. In addition to their core reading program, these students receive small-group instruction by a reading specialist in a resource room setting. The Sonday System is based on Orton-Gillingham reading techniques and consists of a multi-sensory, structured phonics, reading, writing, and spelling program that guides beginning reading instruction and reading intervention. The Sonday System provides direct, systematic, explicit instruction to accelerate learning and bring the student to grade-level performance. This intervention program has research-based precise learning plans, a scope and sequence, and support materials to deliver effective intervention strategies to the students. The assessment component measures student progress and occurs after every three lessons to ensure mastery before proceeding to higher level skills. Meta-cognitive techniques are taught throughout the lessons to provide the student with fix-up strategies to monitor errors and create fluency in reading.