Parents & Students
New & Existing Students: Enroll into Sierra Nevada Academy Charter School
Effectiveness of the Educational Program
SNACS instructional design provides for a unique model of innovative instruction. The small school community culture is the foundation where personalized learning, technology, choice, parent and student engagement, and STEM all drive student achievement. The model of instructional delivery is unique by nature and involves a level of programming designed to meet the needs of individual students, small and large, or mixed-aged groups of students. We embed the unique model with sound instructional practices that allow multiple stakeholders to navigate the curriculum from different perspectives and for different purposes. We provide a curriculum overview in the following section with an inventory of classroom-level curriculum currently implemented by our teachers. In addition, we highlighted key features of the model.
Instructional Design & Curriculum
SNACS key features that are highlighted throughout this section include:
The SNACS Model Key Features
- Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs)
- Choice
- PLAY: Promoting Learning and Accountability with Young children/Youth
- Student engagement
- Ability Grouping
- Data-based instructional design
- High-impact technology
- Parent engagement
- STEAM: Science Technology Engineering, Art, Mathematics
- The ARTs including: Art Studio, Music, Choir, Theater, and Dance
- Physical Education
Curriculum Highlights
- Pearson Curriculum
- Harcourt Social Studies
- ELOB Days & Design Principles
- Events and Extracurricular Activities
- Special Populations
ELOB Days
Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (ELOB) Design Principles are used to design special enhancement days, which allow for self-reflection, team and cooperative learning, leadership and peer teaching, community collaboration, school spirit and instilling school culture, and impacts to the North Valleys and Reno-Sparks communities.
Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Designed Events:
- Arts Celebration Days
- Author’s Debut & Book Publishing
- Outdoor Lab Experiences
- Fire Prevention and Safety Days
- Nevada Farm and Ranch Days (Nevada History, Farming, and Mining)
- Latinberry Farms Family EdVenture
- Harvest Festival
- SNACSgiving Festival
- SNACS Multicultural Celebration of Children Around the World Day
- Winter Celebration Family Event
- Scientific Inquiry Day
- Math Game Family Night (students create the math games)
- Invention Convention Day
- Celebrating Young Children through Picture Books Day
- Celebrating Nevada Charter Schools’ Day
- SNACS Fun Run Day
- Earth Day Celebration Day
- Recycled Art Day
- Art Competitions (Scholastic, Google, Duck Stamp, and others)
- SNACS Spring Fling Community Celebration
- Cinco de Mayo Celebration Day
- SNACS Field Day
- SNACS Talent Show Days
- SNACS Family Breakfasts
An ELOB Highlight: SNACSgiving – Giving back to the Community
SNACSgiving is an annual event where students are engaged in the opportunity to give back to the community by preparing items to donate to a local shelter around Thanksgiving time.
Students spent time learning about the needs of others and core items necessary for survival.
For SNACSgiving 2013, SNACS worked with The Volunteers of America Family and Women’s Shelter to donate needed personal hygiene items, blankets, and warm weather items.
Preschool through 8th grade students worked in teams to make scarves, blankets, and personal hygiene kits. Students and their families donated all the items to make these the kits.
Two hundred toiletry kits were prepared for the Volunteers America Family Shelter. The kits included much needed necessities such as soap, deodorant, shampoo, and toothpaste.
SNACS students also made 50 blankets and 50 scarves to donate to the shelter.
Teachers and parents delivered the kits and school made blankets are scarves to the shelter. The recipients were extremely grateful.This writing project gives our students the opportunity to live the life of an author and experience the publishing process. It improves metacognition and critical writing skills as required with the Common Core State Standards.
An ELOB Day Example: Author’s Debut
- Publication Process
- Students brainstorming to find a topic
- Create a story map about their topic
- Draft their story
- Sketch illustrations
- Edit – review and revise process
- Participate in a conference with the teacher – a one on one discussion between the teacher and student to analyze and improve their draft
- Edit – review and revise process
- Generate final draft
- Manuscript to publisher
- Published books delivered (students and parents don’t view until debut)
Published books judged and candidates selected for SNACS Caldecott Award. Author’s Debut their published book at Barnes and Noble in a book-signing event where every student has their photograph taken while they autograph their book.