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The Banyan School was founded in 1993 to educate elementary and middle school students with learning differences. The curriculum reflects the needs of every student, the beliefs of the staff and the values of the entire Banyan School community.
Students at Banyan School learn that education is the process of living. They discover that their lives are connected to a larger world, a world that requires a relationship to community. Families, administrators and staff members work together to develop programs that educate the whole child. Students are presented with multi-sensory opportunities that build confidence and address learning challenges. In addition, a strong social skills program provides for the emotional and psychological needs of all students.
Banyan School empowers students to believe in themselves and to develop the skills necessary to achieve success.
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Banyan tree is unique because of its root structure. Its branches send out shoots to the soil which in turn roots and become a supportive circle-of-life.
"Like its namesake, the Banyan school in Fairfield is unique in its structures. It is a place children with learning disabilities can learn". |
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At Banyan School we identify each child's strength and abilities, continually monitor their progress and adapt the curriculum to meet each students changing educational needs. |
Multi-sensory teaching is simultaneously visual, auditory and kinesthetic-tactile to enhance memory and learning. Links are consistently made between the visual, auditory and kinesthetic-tactile pathways in learning to read and spell.
Margaret Byrd Rawson, a former President of the International Dyslexia Association, said it well: "Dyslexic students need a different approach to learning language from that employed in most classrooms. They need to be taught, slowly and thoroughly, the basic elements of their language - the sounds and the letters which represent them - and how to put these together and take them apart. They have to have lots of practice in having their writin hands, eyes, ears and voices working together for the conscious organization and retention of their learning."
Teachers who use this approach teach children to link the sounds of the letters with the written symbol. Children also link the sound and symbol with how it feels to form the letter or letters. As students learn a new letter or pattern, they carefully trace, copy and write the letter while saying the corresponding sound. The sound may be made by the teacher and the letter name given by the student. Students then read and spell words, phrases and sentences using these patterns. Teachers and their students rely on all three pathways for learning rather than focusing on a "sight-word" or memory method, a "tracing method" or a "phonetic method" alone.
Children with dyslexia often exhibit weaknesses in auditory and or visual processing. They may have weak phonemic awareness, meaning they are unaware of the role sounds play in words. They have difficulty rhyming words, blending sounds to make words or segmenting words into sounds. They may also have difficulty acquiring a sight vocabulary. That is, dyslexic children do not learn the sight words expected in the primary grades.
There is a growing body of evidence supporting multi-sensory teaching. Current research, much of it supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, converges on the efficacy of explicit structured language teaching for children with dyslexia. Young children in structured, sequential, multi-sensory intervention programs who were also trained in phonemic awareness, made significant gains in decoding skills. These multi-sensory approaches use direct, explicitly teaching of letter sound relationships, syllable patterns and meaning word parts. Studies in clinical settings showed similar results for a wide range of ages and abilities.
Above article is reprinted with permission from the International Dyslexia Association.
| 8:00 - 8:30 |
Teachers meet to prepare for the school day. |
| 8:30 - 8:45 |
Students gather in homeroom to visit with friends and organize materials for the day. |
| 8:45 - 8:55 |
Monday Morning Assembly is a time for the whole school to gather. Students and staff discuss a value of the month and the news for the week. |
| 8:55 - 9:30 |
First period class is reading or decoding. Decoding groups focus on phonemic awareness, while reading classes improve comprehension skills. |
| 9:30 - 10:15 |
Second period class is math for middle school students. Math students may study Pre-Algebra, General Math or Practical Everyday Math.. |
| 10:15 - 11:00 |
Language Arts class reviews the mechanics of language and the writing process. |
| 11:00 - 11:45 |
Computer class allows the students to improve keyboarding skills and to understand programs such as Co-Writer, Write Outloud, Inspiration and Sentence Master. |
| 11:45 - 12:30 |
Lunch is always fun. Students are assigned to tables of their choosing. Social Skills development is emphasized through a series of organized games and activities. |
| 12:30 - 1:15 |
Dr. Tobias works iwth students during Social Skills Class. Students learn how to be a good friend, keep friends, solve problems and increase self esteem. |
| 1:15 - 2:00 |
Social Studies offers the students an opportunity to develop a real sense of history within a multi-sensory instructional framework. Events come alive for the students through films and class trips. |
| 2:00 - 2:45 |
Science Class is very hands on at Banyan School. A new science lab encourages students to explore scientific concepts in a relaxed atmosphere. |
| 2:45 - 3:00 |
End of the day homeroom allows teachers time to review homework assignments and to ensure that textbooks all other necessary materials go home. All Banyan students have an assignment pad and color coded notebook that organizes class work and homework. |
| Where do the students come from that attend Banyan School? |
| Since the program at Banyan School is very unique, the students travel quite a distance to attend school. Students from Essex, Morris, Passaic, Union, Bergen and Somerset Counties attend Banyan School. |
| What percentage of students are funded by their school district? |
| Approximately 80% of the students at Banyan School are funded by their sending school district. The remaining 20% are privately funded. |
| How long does the typical student stay at Banyan School? |
| There is not a "typical" number of years that students study at Banyan School. It is not unusual for a student to return to a mainstream situation after attending Banyan for several years. Many students, however require a small environment to succeed and continue their studies through high school at Banyan. Typically speaking, the younger a child develops compensatory strategies, the more successful his or her academic career will be. |
| Upon graduation, where do Banyan students attend school? |
| Currently, we have Banyan students attend many private and public schools in New Jersey, including Banyan Upper School. Alumni have also attended boarding schools that specialize in college prep programs for learning disabled students. Banyan School offers transitional services for all students in order to insure acceptance into an appropriate placement. |
| How do I know if Banyan is right for my child? |
| A child who learns differently has an uneven profile of learning abilities and may struggle or fail in a traditional school environment. Often times these children will have difficulty socially and suffer from low self esteem. If your child's school experience is not positive and he or she begins to show resistance to school, it may be time to explore an alternate setting like Banyan. |
| What does it mean to be State Approved? |
| There are many private schools in the state of New Jersey, but very few have achieved the status of "state-approved". When a school is state approved, all the standards that bind the public school also bind the private school.In other words, all teachers and staff members have achieved current certification in New Jersey. They are also bound by the "Highly Qualified Teacher" requirements as stated by the No Child Left Behind Act. In addition, curriculum offerings must be in line with the Core Curriculum Content Standards as specified by New Jersey. State approved schools also undergo a yearly financial audit and are periodically monitored by the state. |
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