Atmosphere Academy’s English Program consists of two English courses each year that meet every day. The English courses focus on grade-level standards and the individual needs of students. The grade-level English course exposes students to skills through fiction and informational texts. The curriculum closely mirrors the New York State Next Generation Learning Standards and EngageNY framework with some enhancements to include Atmosphere Academy’s English Systems.
The course has two primary focus areas: critical reading and critical writing. To help build strong critical reading skills, students investigate both fiction and nonfiction pieces on a regular basis in order to hone and develop their close reading skills.
In terms of critical writing, the focus is on giving each student a strong understanding and grounding in expository writing so that they can produce fluent and sophisticated written pieces that present and support a controlling idea using evidence from one or more given texts. The primary work product that students produce includes essays and short responses, which they outline, draft, and revise as part of the writing process.
The English Lab provides remediation to students who are not proficient and enrichment to students at or above proficiency. The remediation English Lab assesses and provides targeted instruction in deficit areas. The advanced English Lab will utilize the College Board’s Pre-AP framework to facilitate further advancement and possibly early entry into AP courses once in high school.
