At Fiddlehead, our English Language Arts program is hands-on, interdisciplinary, and tailored to each child’s needs. From Pre-K, children engage in a literacy-rich environment, building vocabulary and oral language skills through conversation, discussion, and debate with peers and adults.

Our classrooms are designed to support reading and writing across all areas. Children use clipboards and journals, read books, and write daily. Play reinforces literacy, and teachers scaffold learning to make phonics and writing relevant to each child’s interests. For example, when a child wants to write a letter, they’re supported in spelling and writing independently.

We use the environment as a learning tool. Classrooms are equipped with resources like microscopes, journals, and tools for measuring, building, and experimenting. The outdoor garden and community also offer real-world experiences to explore science and ecology.

Our assessment approach includes formative activities, the Work Sampling System, and benchmark assessments such as Fountas & Pennell for reading and Lucy Calkins for writing. NWEA assessments are taken in Grades 2–8, and Maine Science testing is done in Grades 5 and 8.