Academics & Enrichment
Academics & Enrichment
We are a community of educators, scholars, parents and staff working together to inspire high academic achievement among all students, serve their needs, challenge their minds, and enrich their lives, laying a foundation for success and participation in a democratic society.
Language Arts
At Oak Knoll, students are engaging in Writing Workshop in every classroom with the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) curriculum. The entire staff has received coaching with staff developers from Teacher's College at Columbia University in teaching this workshop model. Students K-5 develop their skills as writers across the Narrative, Opinion and Informational genres.
In reading, every teacher spends times fostering the love of reading. We recognize that it is of the utmost importance to provide students books of interest at their independent reading level, along with time to read everyday. We teach the explicit skills for phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding skills to address the needs of the emergent reader. Students move from learning to read in to K-3 program to reading to learn in grades 3, 4 and 5. Students K-5 must be able to read narrative and expository text fluently and accurately. They must recognize increasingly complex words, analyze idioms, analogies, and metaphors to infer literal and figurative meaning.
Oak Knoll provides a powerful early intervention program for students at risk of failure in reading. Two full-time reading teachers provide one-on-one and small group remedial instruction.
Mathematics
Mathematics is a subject of beauty and elegance, exciting in its logic and coherence. It trains the mind to be analytic - providing a foundation for intelligent and precise thinking (Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools, 1999).
We have adopted the Math Expressions curriculum for our K-5 classes. Math Expressions is common core aligned, and gives students an opportunity to make sense of math through drawings, conceptual language, and real-world examples. Students have opportunities to explore and discuss their thinking around mathematical problem-solving. We are also a Silicon Valley Mathematic Initiative partner district, and often you will find our mathematicians engaged in hands-on early numeracy in K-2 and complex problem-solving in all grades. Our students and teachers work together to understand how numbers relate to each other and the real world.
Specialist Support
A number of specialists provide programs and/or remedial instruction to support students at Oak Knoll:
- English Language Development Specialist - If English is a second language, students are assessed to determine their English comprehension levels and fluency. For those children who have language needs, the English Language Development Specialists and the classroom teacher develop an intensive language development program.
- Speech and Language Pathologist - The Speech and Language Pathologist provides instruction for students who present articulation or language development delays.
- Psychologist- The school psychologist works with our general education and special education team to support students, teachers, and families to support students' learning in the classroom, as well as providing testing and accommodations.
- Counselor - The school counselor leads our social-emotional learning, and is responsible for our school theme and related service projects. She teaches every class monthly, leads student groups, and supports teachers with the implementation of Oak Knoll's Restorative Practices.
Kindergarten Program Choices
Kindergarten
- Single grade Menlo Park Kindergarten curriculum.
- May require lottery.
K-2 Multi-Age
- Combines students from Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades with a team of three teachers, for three years.
- May require lottery.