Balanced Literacy 

Teachers College Reading and Writing Project - K-6 

Eastport-South Manor Central School District is committed to a balanced literacy approach in grades (K-6).  We are a partner school with Columbia University’s Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP).  For over three decades TCRWP has strived to create a culture of joyous, purposeful and lifelong love of literacy among children.  

A key feature of the TCRWP is the community of readers and writers that develops within the district that is sustained and grows as a result of the affiliation of member schools with TCRWP across the globe.  The hub of this network is located in New York City at Columbia University which gives us proximity to the professional learning opportunities afforded by TCRWP. 

The Units of Study in Reading and Writing are designed to support engagement in  a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres.  The skills taught in each genre are spiraled vertically (K-6) and assessed through learning progressions that increase in sophistication and build on skills previously taught. 

Instruction in the TCRWP Units of Study is delivered through a workshop model.   The workshop begins with the mini-lesson in which the instructor introduces the teaching point for the lesson and demonstrates learning expectations through guided practice.  Following the mini-lesson, the emphasis of the workshop approach is on student independent engagement in reading and writing.  During this time teachers confer with small-groups and individual students.  This instructional design allows students to uncover learning and build stamina in reading and writing. 

Fundations - K-2

In addition to our Units of Study in Reading and Writing, primary school students integrate Fundations into their core literacy instruction. Fundations is a multisensory and systemic approach to phonics, spelling, and handwriting.  Fundations is a sequential curriculum that supports letter formation, phonological and phonemic awareness, sound mastery, word study, learning irregular words, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.