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A number of factors contribute to the unique and successful process which is the Sierra Canyon education. When students have completed their Sierra Canyon education, they will be able to demonstrate their competencies as well as their personal understanding of and commitment to lifelong learning goals. They do this through a Culminating Achievement Presentation, which demonstrates this learning and is the visible outcome of the Sierra Canyon Way of learning.
Strong emphasis is placed on the development of basic skills within small instructional groups. Learning centers are utilized to best meet students' individual instructional needs. As students move from center to center with other children at a similar level of instructional readiness, they have a directed lesson; a follow-up activity; and a wide range of manipulative or application-level activities in which the skills they are learning are utilized, enhanced, and enjoyed.
- The classrooms have not only highly skilled and qualified teachers but also have an Assistant Teacher during core content times. This allows the teacher to focus most particularly with the students s/he is instructing while the other learners are supervised by another responsible adult.
- The staff at Sierra Canyon is encouraged to enhance and extend the educational program. Textbooks and programs are reviewed regularly, and new programs and materials are implemented where appropriate. New technology is utilized when available and when judged to be educationally sound. As an example, computer technology is an integral and necessary component in the curriculum throughout the school.
- The curriculum at Sierra Canyon is carefully monitored and developed in such a way that the individual disciplines can be integrated and interwoven to enable the students to realize the relevance and importance of the basic skills. Activities related to Special Interest Themes at each grade level help the students to respond to areas of discovery with the specific skills they are learning.
- Sierra Canyon strives to give students opportunities to apply the skills they are learning in meaningful ways within the total school community. The All School Theme Open House each year is the culmination of this unique process in which all students participate in intergenerational activities within a school-wide project. Learning to solve problems in this manner provides leadership training as well as purposeful decision-making opportunities for the school-wide population of the school.
- Service Learning is a vital component in the life of a Sierra Canyon student. Community service and a growing understanding of individual responsibility are fostered throughout the program.
- Personal health and wellness are infused into the instructional and athletic program of the school, as well as within the classroom settings. Students are guided to see themselves as responsible individuals in caring for themselves, their community, and the environment in which they live.
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