We are fortunate to have dedicated and high-performing teachers at Hyde-Addison. Just as we believe in our teachers, our teachers believe in our children. We set high expectations – and the curricula we have chosen provide the guidance and resources necessary for each and every child to meet them. We use a variety of rigorous programs and instructional models to ensure students are challenged and engaged in their academic learning.

Reading

At Hyde Addison, we strive to cultivate readers with strong foundations that are empowered to use their reading skills to learn more about their interests and the world around them. With our youngest readers, we begin by using our knowledge of brain science to teach students to recognize and manipulate letters and sounds. We use the phonological awareness program, Heggertys, the phonics program, Fundations, and other resources and activities to teach children how to read. We also build students’ knowledge, language, vocabulary, habits, and joy through read alouds, close reading, content and genre studies. In our upper grades, teachers build units of study that provide authentic opportunities to deepen students’ knowledge of a range of topics. Explicit reading instruction happens daily and every classroom has its own library to maximize opportunities for student choice. We create many opportunities for students to learn socially, such as collaborating on projects and participating in rich book clubs with one another. Students engage in units of study that focus on different genres, skills, and content. We provide responsive, engaging, rich literacy experiences for all of our students.

Writing

We believe that writing provides an important opportunity for children to express their knowledge, opinions, and experiences. We teach writing as its own subject; our teachers devote a minimum of 25–45 minutes, 4–5 times a week (depending on grade levels) to provide explicit instruction in writing. Units of study that students participate in include personal narratives, realistic fiction, historical fiction, research reports, fantasy stories, essays, poems, and expert books. During the writing block, students receive a mini-lesson in which teachers provide about 10 minutes of direct instruction. After this, students work on their own writing in their individual portfolios, taking their pieces through the steps of the writing process. They receive regular, explicit support and guidance from both teachers and peers that they incorporate into their work. In our youngest grades, students receive explicit instruction on applying their phonics knowledge to the spelling of words. We also teach students how to develop well organized, clear, cohesive sentences and paragraphs through our writing instruction. Students celebrate their published work as a culmination to each writing unit.

We also celebrate reading and writing throughout the year with special school wide events including Dress up like a Book Character Day,  Literacy Night, Book Fairs in the Fall and Spring, and the Spelling Bee for Grades 3–5 in January.

Math

At Hyde-Addison, we believe that mathematics is broad and multidimensional. We strive to build classrooms that account for all the ways that students can be mathematical. In all classrooms, you will see that our students are encouraged to explore, discover, question, and analyze the world around them from many perspectives. In our classrooms, we use Eureka Math because it is rigorous, and every lesson has a balance of conceptual understanding, application work, and procedural fluency. Almost every lesson will have the following components:

Fluency Practice: Almost all lessons begin with this component to support development of fluency skills for maintenance (staying sharp on previously learned skills), preparation (targeted practice for the current lesson), and/or anticipation (skills that ensure that students will be ready for the in‐depth work of upcoming lessons). This component provides daily opportunities for students to gain confidence and motivation for continued learning.

Concept Development: This component addresses the new content being studied. Therefore, it is often allotted the majority of the instructional period to give students time for discussion and reflection. The concept development is generally comprised of carefully sequenced problems centered within a specific topic to begin developing mastery via gradual increases in complexity.

Application Problem: In most lessons, this component is included to provide students with an opportunity to apply their skills and understandings in new ways. Sometimes the application precedes the concept development, functioning as a springboard into the new learning of the day. Often the application follows the concept development as an extension of learning.

Student Debrief: Every lesson closes with this critical component in which the teacher engages students in a whole-group discussion, challenging them to share their thinking and draw conclusions.

In addition to the lesson, we allow for students have fun and engage with each in discourse, blended learning programs (ST Math, Prodigy), and fun online games such as Set.

Social Emotional Learning

Supporting students in displaying positive behaviors is a shared community responsibility. Through trusting relationships, constructive feedback, and a restorative approach, we help each child understand and regulate their own behavior in a way that is developmentally appropriate. We believe in teaching social-emotional skills and behavior expectations that transfer beyond the walls of Hyde-Addison and will serve students throughout their lives. We use Responsive Classroom as the foundation of this work and oftentimes integrate Second Step as a supplementary support. In addition to Morning Meetings and Closing Meetings, which are key components of the Responsive Classroom approach, we also utilize the “3 R’s” when a student’s behavior is not aligned with school-wide or classroom expectations. The “3 R’s” are:

• Reinforce: Encourage students to continue a positive behavior.

• Remind: Guide students back to an expected behavior that has been clearly established and practiced previously.

• Redirect: Pivot a student by providing a positive replacement behavior.

Early Childhood Education

Our Pre-kindergarten classrooms all use Creative Curriculum to guide our youngest learners’ development. Creative Curriculum is a play based approach to learning that allows students to create, explore, and wonder with the guidance and support of adults, which includes a teacher and an instructional aide in each class. One of the reasons we value this curriculum is because of its’ focus on the whole child. Teachers plan instruction and monitor the development of children across 9 domains, which include: Social-Emotional, Physical, Language, Cognitive, Literacy, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Social Studies, and the Arts. Our PreK students benefit from having access to the schools’ materials and spaces, however the location of the PreK classrooms and their daily schedule is intentionally designed to ensure they experience their first years of school in an environment that is developmentally appropriate for and minimizes exposure to the older grades throughout the day.

Science

We are proud to teach 4 different STEMScopes units to each grade, every year. At Hyde-Addison, we treat science like a verb; it is something we teach kids to actively do by brainstorming, creating, iterating, and learning from failed attempts. You can expect to hear students talking about our core values of curiosity and perseverance while learning about scientific concepts in group and partner work.

Social Studies

We teach the DCPS social studies units as integrated approach to our literacy curriculum, in addition to stand alone project-based learning time. We are fortunate to live in a city where it is easy to see social studies all around us. From field trips to guest speakers, Hyde-Addison students research topics in engaging ways and culminate their learning by creating a final product or taking action in a way that allows them to apply what they have learned in an authentic setting.