Anchor Time is a 40-minute time block backed up to each grade level’s lunch.  For students in grades 5, 6, and 7, Anchor time alternates each day between enrichment classes and Content Area Writing.  In grade 8, students also have Content Area writing every other day for 40 minutes, but Spanish is a full academic course.  Therefore, the Content Area writing program alternates with Silent Sustained Reading and an extra Physical Education class.  Spanish continues to be a required course in our district, from grade K – 8, with the exception of special education students whose Individual Education Plans exempt them from Spanish because of their learning needs. 

Anchor Time is also one of our primary intervention blocks.  Students who are below grade level proficiency in reading or math may be assigned an academic intervention in lieu of Spanish and/or content writing.  Although every part of our day is important, some students need additional time and intensive instruction in order to catch up with basic skills.  This has to be our priority since success in every subject ultimately depends on a students’ ability to read, write, and do math.

“What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.”
--Thomas Carlyle