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Adventures-at-Home

Adventures is a blend of exciting hands-on learning, strong academic instruction, engaged discussion, and individual creative pursuits that guide students to feel empowered over their educational journey.  Blended learning means that sometimes students are learning in person and sometimes they are learning at home. Adventures at Home is a blend of hands-on learning, core instruction, engaged discussion, and individual creative pursuits. Each student’s academic path is customized to inspire deeper learning through student-directed, parent-supported passion projects using the vast variety of materials available for checkout in our Resource Library. In addition, we use activities that inspire curiosity and discovery to learn the essential science, history, language arts, and math state standards for the year. 

Adventures language arts is based upon Reading Horizons, an explicit phonics curriculum that helps every student build a solid foundation in reading and spelling through direct instruction. In addition, the class will have valuable literature discussions and class read aloud novels that correspond with the weekly Epic topics and focus on essentials such as strong writing abilities, keyboarding, and analytical skills.

Zearn Math is a top-rated program designed to be engaging for all students. K-5 Adventures teachers will use this powerful math program to promote student success no matter their current level of understanding. Zearn teaches the same concepts in multiple learning formats to reach the various learning needs of Adventure students. 6th-grade students will use the tried and true CK-12 math program. In addition, all K-6 students will engage in Math Talks several times a week to strengthen their math reasoning and use their math skills for real-world applications.

Adventures-at-home students and their parents have the opportunity to engage in all of our wonderful programs: 

Innovations This program lets students enjoy the many opportunities available to them on our campus, including the Space Center, SmartLab, and the school farm!
Discovery  Students learn confidence and as they discover their interests with activities such as the climbing wall, ice skating, paddle boarding, hiking, and sports! 
Epic  Students engage in hands-on learning as they explore the rotating history theme for the year! This year we will be studying 2021-22: Modern World History!
Allies Our Allies program creates a true partnership between the school and home. With parent training, Town Hall Meetings, and collaboration, our parents are valued!
Spark This program sparks enjoyment in families through shared experiences such as evening family field trips, services projects, and engaging school events!

Combining all of these opportunities provides whole child learning at its best! Whether it’s Dance, Music, PE, and Makerspace Art, Robotics, or digital media arts, your child will find a way to shine in their individual way! 

Specialists and Core Teachers

Specialist and Core teachers support our families and their students with learning the core subjects of language arts and math.

These experts interpret data in order to determine what specific skill your student is missing.  This knowledge streamlines the education process, ensuring efficiency, effectiveness and fun in learning.

They are available to support your child through small group instruction, online classes, and take home skill builders.

Their advice catered to the individual needs of your student is incredibly valuable in helping your child succeed with ease.

Reading Specialist – Rachel Larson

Rachel graduated from Westminster College with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She later returned to Westminster to complete a Masters in Education degree with a focus on reading instruction. Rachel’s greatest professional joy is helping students overcome reading difficulties. Rachel has been an Educational Specialist at CGA, a public school teacher, and reading specialist. She also taught piano lessons for 13 years. Rachel is the mother of 4 boys who keep her active and busy. Rachel’s family enjoys traveling together, particularly to sunny destinations with water to play in. Rachel also enjoys running, hiking, reading and music. She especially enjoys pairing her favorite activities with a vanilla coke and chocolate desserts.

Rachel.Larson@canyongrove.com

Core Teacher – Cheyenne Gregory

Ms. Gregory grew up in Utah, received her Bachelor’s Degree in psychology from Brigham Young University and her Master’s Degree in Education from Southern Utah University.  She taught kindergarten for six years and is excited to shift into the role of core teacher! Ms. Gregory believes that every child has unique gifts and abilities and is capable of learning.  She is passionate about creating a warm and inviting learning environment where everyone feels welcome.

In her spare time, Ms. Gregory enjoys reading, paddle boarding and spoiling her nieces and nephews. She loves to travel and hopes to visit each of the 50 states!

cheyenne.gregory@canyongrove.com

Core Teacher – Rachel Ostler

Hi! I’m Mrs. Ostler and I am so excited to start at Canyon Grove. I have been teaching for a few years and I am excited for a new experience as a tier two teacher this year. I’ve wanted to be a teacher ever since I was little and I love being able to fulfill my dream. I finished my education degree at WGU and have since started a master’s program in curriculum development. I’ve lived all over the U.S. but I have settled in Utah after getting married. My husband and I have 2 dogs and we love them so much. I love to read and do crafts in my free time and I hope to be able to travel all over the world.

rachel.ostler@canyongrove.com

Language Arts

Exploring quality literature and developing a strong skill base is the foundation of Language Arts at Canyon Grove. Our Epic program includes Reading Horizons, an explicit phonics curriculum that helps our younger students build a solid foundation in reading and spelling through direct instruction and game-based learning. Older students delve into valuable literature discussions that correspond with the weekly Epic topics and focus on essentials such as strong writing abilities and deeper literary analytical skills. This combined approach opens up the wonder of the literary world and helps students make important connections in History, Humanities, and STEM. 

Student progress is essential and current levels of mastery will be visible on our CGA online dashboard as students attain grade-level Power Standards skills and through rubric-supported writing samples. Participation in Acadience, NWEA, and RISE assessments also help us work together to ensure a strong academic foundation and mastery of essential Language Arts skills and empower students to own their success as they celebrate their individual academic progress. 

At home, we encourage students to focus on becoming avid and engaged readers, developing strong keyboarding and discussion skills, and building a strong writing voice. To do so, we recommend the following for all students:

  • CGA Family Literacy & Skills course (or a comparable option from the Resource Library)
  • Online Humanities for 4th-6th grade students weekly
  • Lexia and/or PowerUp weekly
  • Keyboarding for 3rd-6th grade students weekly
  • Participation in CGA Battle of the Books events yearly for 3rd-6th grade students
  • Daily 5 literacy habits adapted to a warm, encouraging home environment 
    • Read to Self (daily: snuggled on couch, flashlight under covers, treehouse, blanket fort) 
    • Work on Writing (often: build stamina, find a voice and purpose for writing, underline)
    • Read to Someone (Emerging readers, daily. Strong readers, often: parent, siblings, adopt-a-grandparent, lonely neighbor)
    • Word Work (often: word games while folding laundry or making dinner together -patterns, word families, prefixes, suffixes, rhyming, etc.)
    • Listen to Reading (often: audiobooks while driving or playing Legos, family read-aloud, and discussions around great literature)

MATH

When it comes to math we have all faced the challenge of making math fun, merging true understanding with practical application. At Canyon Grove, our math instruction is focused on enjoying math as well as using it effectively. Students engage in math games in  Epic day to encourage connection, wonder, and application of math skills. We nurture finding the why behind math and help them feel cared for no matter where they are academically, socially, or emotionally by having fun with the learning process. At home, we encourage learner agency and because of this, we help students use the math materials that will help them to master content knowledge and be excited about what they are learning. To do so, we offer many different options, all of which have proven effective. We cannot emphasize enough that CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY! Data has shown that students thrive with any of our math programs as long as they are consistently engaged. We recommend the following for all students to streamline math instruction and accountability measures:

  • CGA Family Math: This program can be added to anything you are already doing with math and encourages families to enjoy math through a weekly shared experience.
  • Fluency Practice: While we don’t want to spend all of our time doing rote memorization of math facts, having a solid foundation of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts helps boost student confidence in math ability, and it also creates a solid foundation for future math concepts. We’ve developed a program where younger students learn one math fact a day. We recommend families practice that one fact all throughout the day, and then before bedtime or at the end of the day, see if the student has it memorized. If students learn a small amount each day, it will add up to a vast amount of knowledge. Students should also spend 10 minutes a day practicing facts on a site like XtraMath. It’s free to create an account, and it’s easy to use. 
  • Zearn or ST Math: Research proves both of these programs provide a deeper level of mastery. If a student is struggling and significantly behind in grade level, we recommend using Zearn or Imagine Learning. ST Math could still be used in that situation as a supplemental program.
    • Zearn Math is a top-rated program that uses video direct instruction, including visual representations of math concepts, making it engaging for all students and reaching their various learning needs no matter their current skill level. All CGA K-6th grade students will be provided access to Zearn for the 2022-2023 school year so they can enjoy the benefits of this program. Students must be placed at the appropriate entry point for their current skill level so be certain to talk to your ES when they begin. Parents can print the workbook at home or request a copy from the school. (Please order a workbook if you are using Zearn as your main, stand-alone program). Zearn is a complete math program because students enter some of the answers from the workbook or scratch paper directly into the program which greatly simplifies the accountability process. 
    • ST Math focuses on math reasoning skills and is engaging, game-based learning. It is a non-verbal program and students visually play with math concepts. This playfulness really builds strong math reasoning skills which allows students to use math in the real world. Once they understand the non-verbal approach, most students thrive in this program. Because of this initial learning curve, we recommend that a parent watches an introductory training video to support the student with a smooth start in this fun program. ST Math can be a stand-alone program or supplemental. If using ST math as a stand-alone, you will upload math puzzle talk problems twice a month into Google classroom. Or, ST Math can be a supplement for math reasoning support to Zearn or any other math program.
  • Math games checked out from the resource library as needed for extra practice and engagement

Other paper curricula (such as Saxon, Singapore, Math Mammoth, or Math-U-See) are still available from Canyon Grove Academy and can be used with ST Math or another online program. End-of-unit assignments will be uploaded for accountability and students will be able to see their progress through the CGA online student dashboard. Paper curriculum used with no online programs will require teacher/parent collaboration with the workbook twice monthly so the ES can effectively support your student in their mathematical journey. You will be able to see what assignments need to be submitted on the Pacing Guide in each week’s Family Math document in Ally.

Students can see their individual learning success through our CGA online dashboard as they attain grade-level Power Standards skills and progress through their math course for the year. Participation in Acadience, NWEA, and RISE assessments also help us work together to ensure a strong academic foundation and mastery of essential math skills. Students will learn to recognize their learning strengths and to also have the tenacity to persevere through tough moments of growth. We want students to feel true accomplishment as they celebrate their individual progress and take ownership of their educational journey.