Elementary

 

 

The emphasis of our Language Arts curriculum is to introduce the basic skills needed to help children become independent and successful readers. Our Language Arts curriculum encompasses reading, writing, sight word recognition, listening, memorizing, comprehension and speaking. Our basal reading series is SRA Open Court Reading.  Core Five, Lexia and Reading Eggs are computer-based programs that reinforce concepts taught during direct instruction.

 

The reinforcement of the sound/symbol relationship and phonemic awareness are foundational in ensuring a child’s success in the area of reading. Sound/symbol relationships are strengthened by the introduction and reinforcement of sign language, visual phonics, and phoneme articulator awareness. Phonological/phonemic awareness includes letter sequencing, rhyming words, blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds. Auditory and visual discrimination are also integral components of our language arts curriculum. Sight words and environmental words are introduced.

 

Students are given formal instruction in correct letter formation, both upper and lower case. They integrate this practice while transferring information from board to paper, paper to paper, and daily journal writing. Our daily journaling includes, teacher directed journals, sentence dictation, and free journaling. Journaling reinforces that text/illustration must partner, the concepts of basic sentence structure, and incorporation of learned sight word spellings.

 

Math in Focus (Singapore Math) provides a balanced emphasis on understanding skills and concepts in the Kindergarten program. This program, along with the Every Day Counts calendar program, provides the foundation for pattern development, comparisons, number sense, geometric shapes, graphing, money recognition and counting, measurement, addition/subtraction facts to ten, logic and problem solving. 

 

Kindergarten is introduced to life science, physical science and earth science through a formal program, The Quirkles. It is curriculum developed to enhance science skills through inquiry science learning and reading readiness through phonemic alliterations.

 

The Kindergarten Social Studies program encompasses the child’s world of self, family, school, and friends. It extends into the community, country and the world. We focus upon American History from the Native Americans to the migration of the Europeans to the New World, the American Revolution and subsequent battles and wars, and present day world events.  Students also experience a study of American Presidents and American symbols. The geography component includes map and globe skills, the recognition of the states and continents, as well as major bodies of water.

 

The First Grade Language Arts curriculum consists of reading, writing, grammar, spelling, listening and speaking. The students work in these areas daily and incorporate the skills learned into their daily lives. The primary materials are provided through the Open Court Reading series.

 

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics lead the way for reading. Students practice skills with sound manipulation and then sound-symbol relationships to build reading abilities. Direct instruction with sight words is given and word walls are utilized for reinforcement. Spelling follows the phonetic concepts for the week and weekly assessments are given over spelling concepts. The Accelerated Reading (AR) program, a computer-based assessment tool, is used to personalize student practice in reading. Students complete readings in class and/or independently and then answer comprehension questions on the computer about the books they have read. Through AR, students are exposed to a variety of genres including non-fiction stories (science and history), fiction, fables, fairy tales, poems, short stories, novels, and nursery rhymes. Our ultimate goal is to bring students from the ‘learning to read’ phase of reading into or near the ‘reading to learn’ phase and develop a lifelong love of reading along the way.  

 

Students enjoy daily writing with personal journals of high interest topics. Direct instruction is given in expository, narrative, persuasive, and letter writing. Poetry is also used throughout the year to encourage student writing.

 

Students learn about parts of speech, sentence composition, types of sentences, and punctuation.

 

In First Grade, we use Math in Focus (Singapore Math) to build a foundational knowledge of mathematical concepts. Everyday Counts is also used to build concepts in a spiraling daily calendar program. Math concepts include number sense, numbers to 100, addition and subtraction, time, money, calendars, shapes, fractions, and more.

 

Social Studies is integrated within reading units in First Grade. Students discover their role as individuals, part of a family, community, and part of a nation. Units covered include community leaders, maps, geographical features, holidays and celebrations, different cultures and important people, and historical facts and inventions.

 

Our specialist science curriculum begins in First Grade. It exposes students to a wide variety of hands-on Science activities that they can relate to everyday life.

 

The Open Court Reading Series enhances student’s reading fluency while giving them the skills necessary for Reading Comprehension.

 

In Second Grade, children continue to make the transition from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’. Reading, writing, spelling, listening, and speaking are interconnected and children are provided with many opportunities for strengthening each skill. Phonemic awareness, decoding skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and fluency are the five major areas of reading focus. Our goal for Second Grade is to develop a love of literature as well as working towards being able to comfortably read and comprehend material at a beginning Third Grade level or above.

 

Students engage in a variety of writing genres. Writing projects include book reports, journaling, letter writing, and personal narratives, but expand further into informative, descriptive, comparative, and persuasive writing. Writing assignments require more detailed responses with a focus on sentence structure, grammar, and description. Students are taught how to spell words using English phonemes as well as irregular words. They learn strategies to help them spell difficult words, including pattern detection, looking for words within words, recognizing prefixes and suffixes, and using known words to spell the unfamiliar or irregular words.

 

Grammar instruction is included as part of daily writing activities. Students learn to be proficient in the use of capital letters and commonly used punctuation marks. In Second Grade students learn to recognize nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. They are exposed to homonyms, antonyms, synonyms and subject/verb agreement, as well as apostrophes in contractions, commas, common abbreviations, hyphens, and word affixes.

 

Math in Focus (Singapore Math) is built to emphasize conceptual understanding, skill development, strategies for solving problems, and metacognition. The primary goal is to enable students to become strategic mathematical problem solvers and persevere in solving problems. This program, along with the Every Day Counts calendar program, builds on fundamental concepts a little at a time, every day. It provides opportunities for activities for discussions that get students excited about “talking math.”

 

Social Studies is integrated within reading units. Students gain valuable insights into their communities which helps them make connections to the larger world. Students are introduced to captions, photos, graphs, charts, glossaries, and bold print to help them understand what they read. The major units we cover are citizenship, economics, geography, and history.

 

Basic science concepts are introduced during our reading and mathematical activities.

Our specialist science curriculum exposes students to a wide variety of hands-on Science activities that they can relate to everyday life.

 

In the Third Grade the Open Court Reading Series expands on reading comprehension skills and continues the transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Spelling, grammar, and usage are critical components of Third Grade Language Arts. We explore and develop mastery in these components through the use of writing in various forms; expository, narrative, persuasive and descriptive. Several book reports and poetry recitations will be assigned throughout the year. 

 

Third Grade students practice math skills using Math in Focus, Accelerated Math, and Math Facts in a Flash. Math computation, including multiplication and division are explored and we work toward mastery of these skills throughout the year. The curriculum also focuses on geometry, probability, time, and fractions.

 

Social Studies is integrated into literature-based study through reading, language arts, thematic units, and taught using the Harcourt Social Studies Series. Throughout the year, students learn to read various maps and graphs as well as gain an understanding of the geography around them.  

Students attend a weekly Science class and use experiments and activities in the classroom. For more detail on the Science curriculum, click here.

 

Throughout the year there are many special activities and field trips relating to the units of study.  Students in Third Grade attend the Chickasaw Festival, and visit the Brown Hay Maze, The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the Oklahoma Science Museum.

 

Students will be assigned one project every 4-6 weeks throughout the year. Most will be done in class with a few assigned as homework. These projects include but are not limited to: a Rainforest Diorama, a Pop Bottle Biography Book Report, 3-D Landform creation, STEM projects, a Mobile Book Report, a Volcano, and the Egg drop project. 

 

The Open Court Reading Series exposes Fourth Grade students to a wide variety of genres, using an inquiry approach to reading and emphasizing writing and grammar. There are classroom projects that go with each unit. An example of this curriculum is the story, Two Tickets to Freedom. A close reading of the text is augmented by research on the Underground Railroad, videos, and the creation of a quilt. Other thematic reading units include: risks and consequences (Shiloh) and America on the move (Out of the Dust). Students are also required to participate in the Accelerated Reading program.

 

The Open Court Reading Series also offers a sequential spelling program of 20 words each week. Easy Grammar is a program used in Fourth Grade to enrich students’ grammar and over the school year, students are exposed to the parts of speech and how to diagram sentences.

 

Students in Fourth Grade continue the cursive writing program started in the Third Grade.

 

Using Math in Focus series (Singapore Math), students continue their work in computation including the introduction of long division, decimals and fractions, and beginning algebraic reasoning. Supplemental programs include Math a Way of Thinking and a variety of hands-on Math activities.

 

Using the Harcourt Social Studies series, students explore important events in history. In addition, students will gain a better understanding of the five regions of the United States, and local and national government. During the year, students will complete a project on the Industrial Revolution and a Native American writing project. The Social Studies program concludes with a ‘State Fair’.

 

The Fourth Grade Science program uses the Pearson Interactive Science series. Fourth Graders visit the science lab four days a week. On Fridays, they study Robotics in Science class.

 

Language Arts                                                                                                                                                    

The goal is for students to read, write, speak, and think critically. Our students experience the power of language as they communicate with others, express themselves, and engage in inquiry discussions with their peers.

 

We utilize the FOCUS Reading Comprehension and Test Smart programs. Both programs use reading strategies to aid in comprehension. In addition to these programs, we use the Open Court Reading Series along with the Renaissance Accelerated Reader program.

 

The Open Court Reading Series (SRA) allows students to experience a wide variety of genres, using an inquiry-based approach to reading with an emphasis on writing, spelling, and grammar.

 

In addition to academic vocabulary from the SRA reading series, we also teach our students Greek and Latin root words. Learning root words assists our students with deciphering unfamiliar words and expanding their vocabulary.

 

Students participate in using the Math in Focus (Singapore Math) and Accelerated Math programs. The content we emphasize in the math curriculum includes decimals and fractions, basic algebra concepts, geometry, probability, and statistics, as we also work on improving basic computation skills. 

 

The Social Studies curriculum includes meaningful time spent studying American history from early American explorers to the formation of the American government. It also gives the fifth graders a balanced study of world and US geography.

 

Students in Fifth Grade have Science every day. The curriculum exposes students to a wide variety of hands-on Science activities that they can relate to everyday life.