Carden Traditional School of Glendale

Carden Traditional Schools welcome students into a daily routine of structure, acceptance, and high standards for student achievement. The Carden Program has enjoyed over 65 years of success with roots in a traditional educational program designed to foster enriching learning experiences. A tuition-free charter school, Carden helps students prepare to meet the challenges of life with confidence. Students are encouraged to learn problem solving strategies and critical thinking habits; critical skills for future productive members of society.

The Carden educational environment promotes development and growth of the whole child by integrating principals of character development with a challenging academic curriculum. All students, regardless of their individual backgrounds, talents, abilities, and personal tastes, are encouraged to achieve their personal best at every level. Responsibility for oneself as well as for the community of learners within the school is taught and reinforced daily through learning activities and educational opportunities.

Students are guided through the growing and learning experience by positive adult role-modeling and effective instructional practices. Maintaining a professional, warm, and invigorating environment for our students is a daily expectation of staff members.

Carden faculty and staff members encourage high standards for academic achievement, personal responsibility, and efficient study habits for all learners. Through early and on-going assessment and evaluation, educational needs are identified and appropriate instructional placements designed to meet learning styles and learning needs. Carden students represent a diverse wealth of abilities, talents, and cultural heritage. Therefore, students are introduced to challenging programs designed to meet a wide range of academic and developmental needs. Differentiated instruction, or instruction that provides the appropriate remediation, intervention, or enrichment needed by each student is an integral part of Cardens school program. Academic programs are built to meet students at their instructional levels. A gifted/talented program offers additional enrichment experiences for qualifying students.

Carden Traditional School uses the Math Connects from McGraw Hill program, designed to promote mastery of mathematical concepts. By distributing instruction, practice, and assessment throughout the academic year, the Math Connects from McGraw Hill curriculum enables students to benefit from the continual stream of skill development. This steady approach provides the instruction and practice students need to learn and retain basic math concepts for proficiency in mathematics. Opportunities for problem-solving and higher levels of thinking are integrated into other curriculum areas at Carden through the framework developed by Math Connects from McGraw Hill math materials. A combination of the basic math facts and real life problem solving provides students with a balanced mathematical foundation.

Respected reading research strongly points to the need for a balanced literacy program containing five key components needed for effective reading instruction. Phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary are vital skills which contribute to successful reading ability. The Open Court Reading Program provides a balanced literacy approach in Kindergarten through Grade 6 to incorporate these skills with challenging and inviting reading selections which include fiction and non-fiction as well as other forms of literature. Students progressively develop, build, and maintain reading skills while developing the habit of reading for enjoyment as well as to gain information. Critical skills such as reading, writing, spelling, and language development are integrated into an uninterrupted academic block of time each day. Hands-on projects and activities help children learn to develop oral and written communication skills.