Structured Literacy and Number Sense
At Mount Madonna School (MMS), learning is a shared journey. During the August retreat weeks and the fall professional development day, our Lower School teachers have been diving deeply into the foundations and best practices of structured literacy and number sense. Structured literacy is based on the Science of Reading. It is an approach to reading and writing instruction that is explicit, systematic, and sequential, ensuring that all students build a strong foundation in how language works. Structured literacy aligns closely with Scarborough’s Reading Rope, which illustrates how skilled reading develops through the intertwining of word recognition and language comprehension. Word recognition includes the skill of understanding how sounds, letters, and spelling patterns work together. Language comprehension involves vocabulary, background knowledge, verbal reasoning, and understanding sentence and text structures. As these strands are woven together through explicit instruction and practice, students become fluent, confident, and thoughtful readers and writers.
In addition, teachers are analyzing i-Ready and benchmark diagnostic data to better inform our instructional practices. This process allows teachers to identify each student’s strengths, which can be leveraged to develop higher-order thinking and academic skills, as well as targeted areas for support to ensure foundational understanding is secure. In math, teachers are focusing on number sense, which is the ability to understand, relate to, and work flexibly with numbers. Strong number sense helps students see numbers as more than just symbols, they learn how numbers work together, can be broken apart and combined, and how different amounts relate to each other. By developing number sense through hands-on exploration, pattern recognition, and meaningful practice, students build both confidence and a lasting sense of mathematical competence.
From playful counting and quantity awareness with Montessori lessons in the early years to exploring number patterns and relationships with manipulatives and visual models in the upper grades, our goal is to nurture curiosity and joy while ensuring every child has the strong foundations needed to thrive. Together, as teachers and families, we are supporting our students’ growth step by step.
