Welcome to the Official Web Site of Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School. Mount Vernon Woods opened in 1966 on a track of land called Muddy Hole Farm, one of the five farms composed of the original Mount Vernon Woods Plantation.
The mission of our school is to provide an excellent academic program with high expectations for all its students. Teachers provide a balanced program of studies giving the highest priority to developing each student's ability in reading and mathematics. The staff is committed to working closely with parents and community members to develop partners in education. All classrooms are self-contained, and teachers meet in grade level teams to coordinate the curriculum and schedules of resource and support personnel. Classes are organized in heterogeneous grouping that allow students to work at specific skill levels in reading and math.
Based on the integrated language arts approach, reading is taught through the use of children's literature and selections from basal readers, BIG BOOKS and trade books. The reading incentive program inspires reading in all grades. In order to ensure high achievement, clear, consistent and purposeful language skills, language arts instruction occurs in every classroom.
To establish this, the school developed a daily two hour uninterrupted block of time for language arts instruction. The first one hour is devoted to intense reading instruction (shared reading, guided reading, independent reading and reading aloud) and the second hour is devoted to writing (model writing, shared and interactive writing, guided and independent writing) instruction. Two teachers are present for the intense reading hour, reducing the student-teacher ratio in the classroom. On going assessment is used to guide instruction.
