Curriculum

In 2021 we launched our new comprehensive ELA program, Wit and Wisdom. By providing a framework for inquiry, Wit & Wisdom helps students build rich layers of knowledge. It inspires teachers and students to experience complex texts and ideas on a deeper level by fostering the questioning spirit that will shape the next generation of great writers, thinkers, and leaders. In addition, the district has been assessing students in the area of reading using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills Next (DIBELS Next), as well as with Fastbridge Learning Assessments. These brief assessments are given minimally three times per year and provide important information for teachers about each student’s progress in the components of reading.  

Additional reading instruction is organized in a Response to Intervention (RtI) model based upon student’s needs and interests.  Students receive additional instruction in small groups, designed to improve or extend student fluency and comprehension. Computer technology enhances this aspect of our reading curriculum.  Programs such as Lexia, IXL, or Raz Kids can be prescribed for individuals or groups of students.  Computers are carefully supervised and maintained by the classroom teacher to assess student progress. 

Teachers meet regularly at each grade level to examine assessment data and share strategies and materials to reach all learners.  Teachers also participate in on-going professional development to learn about new approaches for teaching students to read. The ultimate goal is to have ALL students reading at or above grade level by the end of Grade 3.

Lanesborough Elementary School provides a broad-based math program for children. Using the Everyday Math program for grades K-6 allows teachers to provide continuity of instruction from grade to grade.  The program provides embedded assessments that allow teachers to monitor student growth in math skills and provide for individual differences.  

Computer technology enhances our math instruction, enabling a child’s math program to be further individualized.  Programs such as IXL, Reflex, and Frax are used to monitor student progress in math facts and concepts, as well as to challenge students beyond the regular curriculum.

Lanesborough Elementary School celebrates this country’s diversity through our social studies curriculum.  From learning about families in the primary grades, to world cultures in the 6th, our students develop an appreciation and sensitivity to the world around them.  Key concepts of citizenship and civility are taught school-wide.  

Lanesborough Elementary's curriculum is aligned with the Massachusetts Next Generation Science Standards. K-5 is using Mystery Science as a complement to the curriculum. Each lesson contains a central mystery, discussion questions, supplemental reading, and a hands-on activity. The 6th grade is using Discovery Education's Techbooks to support the new curriculum.

All students at Lanesborough Elementary attend specialist classes taught by highly qualified elementary educators certified in their specialties.  Children participate in once- weekly art, media/tech, social-emotional learning (SEL), and vocal music classes, as well as twice-weekly physical education classes.