Academics

Programs  

Early Years Program:

  In collaboration with Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, we provide a monthly program for families of deaf and hard of hearing children ages birth – 5.  The Early Years Program provides families with opportunities for support and networking, a place to come together to build relationships with other families, deaf and hard of hearing adults, and professionals that work with young deaf children.

Preschool Program: 

Our preschool program emphasizes developing the language skills of deaf and hard of hearing students, while drawing upon the best practices of the child-development tradition in early childhood education for deaf children.  We also believe learning should be fun, and incorporate fun activities to meet language and skill building learning goals.  Children ages 3 – 5 attend our Rocky Mountain Deaf School preschool program.  The younger children attend Monday – Thursday mornings.  The older children attend all day Monday – Friday.  The children benefit from a strong bilingual program that emphasizes  language 

Elementary & Middle School Program (1st – 8th grade): 

 Our elementary school program is based on maximizing the learning of every student through a rigorous standards-based curriculum.  We track learning progress by analyzing data from assessments that are fair for deaf students.  Our students are highly successful due to the following:

  students are taught directly in a fully accessible language, not through an interpreter

  students are able to communicate directly with everyone in the school building, giving them a language-rich learning environment

  teachers are both experts in teaching deaf students, and experts in teaching their specific content area to deaf students. 

  classrooms are designed to be the best learning environments for deaf children

  small class sizes and a strong focus on the learning needs of every child.

Beyond the academic curriculum taught in each classroom, we also have other social and academic learning opportunities available for our students:

  Student Body Govt.:  Students are actively engaged in making decisions an giving input related to school events, positive rewards systems, assemblies, improving education in the school, and even funding priorities. 

  Assemblies:  Every Friday, we present an assembly for our students, their families, and students from other deaf school programs.  These assemblies provide an exciting opportunity to bring the world to our students.  Recent assemblies included:  famous deaf performers, firefighters, Museum of Natural Science, The Dumb Friends League (Humane Society of Denver), police safety presentation, and more…

  Enrichment Classes:  During this school year, our students have enjoyed enrichment activities that include learning foreign sign languages, dance, arts & crafts, and theatre.

  Cheerleading and the PEP TEAM:  Our cheerleading and pep teams are newly created and an exciting way for our students to support our school with spirit!

Curriculum and Assessment

Rocky Mountain Deaf School’s curriculum utilizes a thematic integrated approach which builds on previous concepts and skills. The curriculum is based on the state of Colorado’s standards, as well as the standards used by Jefferson County School District.

Literacy development centers around a Balanced Approach to Literacy, which incorporates several specific areas:

1. Shared Reading. This involves small group reading instruction where the teacher reads stories with the children, modeling literate behaviors and skills.

2. Guided Reading. This involves small group reading instruction at the appropriate instructional level of the student. While the teacher does provide some guidance, it provides an opportunity for students to practice/apply the reading skills learned on a more independent basis.

3.  Read Alouds. Students are read to at least once a day from stories which they normally would not be able access themselves. Again, literate behaviors and skills are demonstrated during this time, as well as how to translate from English to ASL and vice versa.

4.  Independent Reading. Students are involved with independent or buddy-type of reading activities on a daily basis. This provides students with an opportunity to explore new books as well as develop a love for reading.

5.  Shared Writing. This involves writing activities in which the teacher writes with the children on a collaborative basis. It provides an opportunity for children to see how ASL gets translated into English as teachers model/demonstrate writing to children.

6.  Guided Writing. This involves collaboration with the teacher and the student, but on a more individualized basis, with the children taking up more of the responsibility for using written language to express themselves. The teacher may model the writing/editing process, but the children are expected to move towards independent writing.

7.  Independent Writing. Students are provided with multiple opportunities to write independently. These may involve journal writing, essay writing, or reports or other forms of writing.

As part of the accountability system in place at RMDS, each student’s progress in ASL and English is tracked via the use of our ASL Literacy Profiles and our English Literacy Profiles. These assessment profiles include specific benchmarks which are based on the Colorado state standards as well as the Jefferson County School District standards. Teachers utilize the information on the profiles not only to chart individual student progress, but also to guide curricular decision making. The skills listed in the profiles are incorporated into the thematic integrated teaching units, as well as incorporated into our deaf studies program with students.

The preschool curriculum incorporates elements of the Reggio Emilia approach. This is an inquiry-based, student-centered program that originated in Italy and which fosters critical thinking skills and decision making skills in very young children. The teachers in our program, in collaboration with other schools in the area which are utilizing the Reggio Emilia approach, are working on how to adapt the program so that it meets the specific needs of deaf children who may have limited language experience upon entry into our school.