Our Instructional Focus

Enhancing Literacy Skills Across the Content Areas

As we prepare our students for their futures and various career pathways, it is imperative that they are given an opportunity to learn in an environment that provides for the highest of standards, not only in building a school culture which fosters a sense of belonging, but also from an academic perspective. There is a strong expectation that students are willing to work and seek to achieve academic excellence.

In a coordinated, school-wide effort, all students at Queen Alexandra School will learn and demonstrate improved reading and writing comprehension skills through an emphasis on balanced literacy instruction, as measured by teacher-generated, division, and provincial assessments. Instruction is divided into three areas:

Word Work - skills begin with word recognition, phonics, and spelling with a focus on academic vocabulary across all content areas.

Reading - reading strategies for word recognition and comprehension are emphasized. Each child will be reading at his/her instructional level, using levelled books. Home reading books are sent home regularly and students are encouraged to participate in our Royal Readers program by reading at home in 15 minutes or more increments.

Writing - work is focused on pre-writing planning, teacher demonstrations of good writing practices, and on the development of students’ independent writing skills.

21st Century Literacy

At Edmonton Public Schools, we recognize what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Literacy doesn’t just take the form of reading and writing anymore. Today, literacy also involves helping students build a wide range of skills, competencies and abilities. We’re focused on ensuring the knowledge they acquire now creates a foundation for their future success. We live in a dynamic world that offers amazing opportunities to learn, progress, and innovate. We want to see our students make the most of these opportunities.

Educational Technology

Queen Alexandra is configured with wireless technology capabilities which allow students to use portable devices throughout the school. SMARTboards, document cameras, and overhead speaker (FM ) systems are available in each of our classrooms in order to integrate technology seamlessly in all learning contexts.

Students have access to Google Applications which allow them to create word documents, slides and other projects both at school and at home by logging into SchoolZone. SchoolZone is a web-based program that allows parents to securely access progress reports, attendance information, our QA News and newsletters from their personal devices.