Kindergarten through Fifth Grade

The Elementary School curriculum is frequently scrutinized and revised to ensure that the content, skills, and activities in each curricular area meet the needs of our current students. We feel, along with leading educators around the world, that it is important that we question why and what we teach, in order to ensure that we are delivering a relevant curriculum. A robust and meaningful curriculum will equip students with a strong foundation in such important 21st century skills as literacy, mathematical thinking, media fluency, creativity, communication, problem solving, and collaboration.

Below is more information about each of the homeroom subject areas. For more detailed information about each grade level, please visit the Curriculum Maps area of the website and teachers'  individual websites by following the links on the right. As mentioned above, curriculum maps are often being revised and updated to reflect the current classroom curriculum.

Language Arts

The Elementary School language arts program offers students daily opportunities for developing skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening. The program hopes to develop fluency in learners who not only use language as an essential tool, but who also find joy in the English language and read, write and speak thoughtfully, critically and imaginatively.

Teachers' classrooms are rich in language and immerse students in a variety of activities designed to review, reinforce and solidify concepts. Our reading program provides for a range of reading levels, needs and interests and is designed to develop readers who read independently for pleasure and information. Teachers use a variety of techniques to teach reading, including phonics, word patterns, structural analysis, decoding skills, and vocabulary. In the younger grades, the program Making Meaning also helps to develop comprehension by using great children's literature as a basis for skill development. In the upper grades, novel studies in literature groups and independent reading help solidify comprehension, and the program Wordly Wise is used to supplement vocabulary development.

Our writing program helps develop writers who communicate clearly in a number of different formats. Students write to express ideas and feelings, to convey information and to describe experiences. Teachers focus both on the skills and processes of writing and teach students to draft, revise, edit, proofread and publish. Teachers use a variety of techniques and programs judiciously as needed to help students develop their writing and spelling skills, such as Strategies for Writers, Words Their Way, Sitton Spelling and Explode the Code. In most classes, the majority of the language arts program is integrated with social studies project work or literature.

Mathematics

The major goals of the Elementary School math curriculum are to build a strong foundation in mathematical thinking and number fluency and to promote a positive attitude towards math. Teachers use the National Council of Teachers of Math Curriculum Focal Points as their guide to instruction at each grade level. Curriculum focal points are important mathematical topics for each grade level. The topics are central to mathematics: they convey knowledge and skills that are essential to educatedcitizens, and they provide the foundations for further mathematical learning. They are indispensable elements in developing problem solving, reasoning, andcritical thinking skills, which are important to all mathematics learning. Along with the focal points, teachers in the younger grades use an excellent math program called Growing with Mathematics to deliver instruction, and teachers in grades two and up use the highly regarded enVision Math. enVision Math is an engaging programbased on daily problem-based interactive math, followed byvisual learning strategies. This progression helps to deepen conceptual understanding by making meaningful connections for students. Teachers supplement both programs with games, projects, focused skill work and repetition, or online practice such as First in Math.

Social Studies

Elementary School Policy Information