Lower School

The curriculum for the Kindergarten at St. James Episcopal School is designed to utilize the Elements of Depth and Complexity in combination with Multiple Intelligences to provide a high cognitive level experience aligned with private school curricular standards. The program provides diverse opportunities for scholars to develop to their fullest through first hand experiences. An important goal of the Kindergarten program is to create a love of learning through relationships, encouragement, and structured play.
Kindergarten scholars are taught to look at the world through the Global Theme of Patterns, identifying the following essential, conceptual truths (generalizations):

• Patterns can be natural or man-made.
• Patterns are subject to change.
• Patterns provide structure.
• Patterns allow for predictions.
• Patterns repeat.
• Patterns have rules.
• Patterns may have symmetry.
• Patterns communicate or tell a story.

Language Arts

The language arts approach in Kindergarten is built upon a combined approach offering both balanced literacy and direct phonics instruction. The marriage of these two curriculums: Spalding Integrated Language Arts and Houghton-Mifflin Journey’s, exposes scholars to grammar concepts, writing skills, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension and fluency.
Listening and Speaking

• Identify and apply spatial and temporal relationships
• Use narrative language to describe
• Discuss and use common sayings
• Follow multi-step, oral directions.
• Give simple directions.
• Provide simple explanations.
• Recite a nursery rhyme, poem, or song independently.
• Present a short oral report to peers.

Reading

• Listen to and understand a variety of texts read aloud.
• Describe illustrations.
• Sequence four to six pictures illustrating events.
• Ask and answer questions requiring literal recall and understanding details.
• Ask and answer questions to clarify information.
• Use narrative language to describe people, places, things, locations, events, and actions
• Compare and contrast similarities and differences.
• Make personal connections to events or experiences in a read-aloud
• Use pictures accompanying the read-aloud to check and support understanding.
• Make predictions prior to and during a read-aloud
• Ask and answer questions that require interpretations, judgments, or opinions.
• Create and tell an original story.
• Understand literary terms.
• Discuss important facts and information from a nonfiction read-aloud.
• Identify parts and the function of books.
• Use correct book orientation.
• Recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words.
• Understand words are separated by spaces.
• Distinguish letters, words, sentences, and stories.
• Use upper and lower-case forms of the alphabet.

Phonemic Awareness

• Orally segment sentences into individual words.
• Understand words are made up of sound sequences.
• Recognize initial/medial/final position of phonemes in a spoken word.
• Identify whether pairs of phonemes are the same or different.
• Orally blend two to three sounds to form a word.
• Segment a spoken word into phonemes.
• Produce rhyming words.
• Identify the number of syllables.
• Recognize the relationship between written letters (graphemes) and spoken sounds (phonemes).
• Blend individual phonemes to pronounce printed words.
• Understand that sometimes two or more printed letters stand for a single sound.
• Read consonant-vowel-consonant words.
• Read high frequency words.
• Recognize, speak, and write phonogram sounds as outlined in Spalding’s The Writing Road to Reading including single and multi-letter phonograms.
• Maintain a spelling notebook with high-frequency words to be written independently.
• Recognize and apply phonic rules including the jobs of silent final e.
• Use commas and end punctuation while reading orally.

Writing

• Draw pictures to represent a text.
• Draw pictures to represent a preference or opinion.
• Write narratives, informative, and explanatory texts.
• Add details to writing with assistance.
• Create a title or caption to accompany a picture and/or shared writing.
• Apply phonetic spelling to write independently.
• Use upper and lower-case letters in first and last names and in simple messages.

Language Conventions

• Use letters, words, phrases, and sentences to communicate thoughts and ideas.
• Apply basic spelling conventions.
• Capitalize and punctuate sentences.
• Write from left to right, leaving spaces between words, and top to bottom, using return sweep.
• Offer phonemically plausible spellings for words.
• Capitalize first word in a sentence and the pronoun I.

Poetry

• Read and memorize Mother Goose and other traditional poems.
• Identify and use rhyming words or words that end with the same sounds.
• Identify and use rhythm or a pattern of sound.
• Use alliteration.
• Identify characters and dialogue.
• Maintain a poetry notebook.

Sayings and Phrases

• Use sayings, phrases, and proverbs appropriately.

History and Geography

In Kindergarten, children study aspects of the world around them including the family, the school, and the community. The history and geography program in Kindergarten is meant to complement and extend that focus. The goal of studying selected topics in world history is to foster curiosity and begin understandings about the larger world outside the child’s immediate community including varied civilizations and ways of life. This is presented through stories, drama, art, music, and discussion.
World Geography-Spatial Sense

• Geographical awareness
• Maps and globes: what they represent, how we use them
• Specific areas on maps and globes

Overview of the Seven Continents

• Identify and locate seven continents on a map and globe.

American Geography

• Differentiate state, city, town, and community.
• Locate North America, the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Native American Peoples, Past, and Present

• Study Native American peoples in different regions.
• Incorporate in-depth study of at least one specific group of Native Americans-past and present.

Early Exploration and Settlement

• The Voyage of Columbus in 1492
• Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain
• The Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria
• Columbus’ mistaken identification of “Indies” and “Indians”
• The idea of what was, for Europeans, a “New World”
• The Pilgrims
• The Mayflower
• Plymouth Rock
• Thanksgiving Day celebration
• July 4, “Independence Day”
• The “birthday” of our nation
• Democracy (rule of the people): Americans wanted to rule themselves instead of being ruled by a faraway king.
• People who were not free-slavery in early America

Presidents Past and Present

• Famous Presidents
• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson, author of Declaration of Independence
• Abraham Lincoln
• Theodore Roosevelt
• The way one becomes a president and what the president does
• Current United States President

Symbols and Figures

• American flag
• Statue of Liberty
• Mount Rushmore
• The White House

Science

Integrated themes in Kindergarten science are identified as the focus of instruction for extended periods of time. In classroom and out of classroom experiences serve as laboratories for exploring, classifying, making predictions, and recording outcomes of scientific data by word and illustration. Science activities are designed so scholars will discern patterns in the biological and physical world.
Plants and Plant Growth

• What plants need to live
• Basic parts of plants
• Two kinds of plants: deciduous and evergreen
• Food from plants

Animals and Their Needs

• Common characteristics and needs of animals
• What animals need to live
• Offspring of animals
• Special needs of animals and pets

The Human Body-The Five Senses and Taking Care of Your Body

• Sight: eyes
• Hearing: ears
• Smell: nose
• Taste: tongue
• Touch: skin
• Taking care of your body

Introduction to Magnetism

• Experiments with magnets
• Familiar everyday uses of magnets
• Materials attracted by magnets

Seasons and Weather

• The four seasons
• Local weather patterns
• The sun
• Daily weather changes
• Temperature and thermometers
• Clouds
• Rain, thunderstorms, and hail
• Snow, snowflakes, and blizzards

Taking Care of the Earth

• Conservation
• Practical measures for conserving energy and resources
• Recycling
• Pollution

Science Biographies

• George Washington Carver
• Jane Goodall
• Wilbur and Orville Wright

Math

The math program in Kindergarten enables scholars to solve problems using deep number sense and a hands-on approach. Using the Saddler-Oxford Progress in Mathematics text and workbook combined with Singapore Math, scholars solve meaningful problems. Math manipulatives are integrated into guided and independent practice. Daily calendar math routines are integrated with math skills.
Patterns and Classification

• Sort by size, color and shape, two ways.
• Patterns of color, shape, and size
• Grow, transfer, identify, and create patterns.
• Calendar
• Positions (above, below, top, middle, bottom, over, under, left, right, inside, outside)
• Tell time to the hour.
• Sequencing

Number Sense

• Identify, order, write numbers 0-100.
• Form equal sets.
• Use a number line.
• Estimate groups.
• Count objects in a set.
• Ordinal positions to the 10th place
• Place value- ones, tens, hundreds
• Tally marks
• Simple graphs and charts
• Fractions-whole, half, fourth
• Symmetry
• Even and odd numbers

Money

• Recognize and add pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.
• Fair trade for coins
• Add and subtract coins
• Compare money
• Dollar and cent signs

Computation

• Join groups
• Count by 5s, 10s, 2s
• Single-digit addition
• Part to whole relationships
• Single-digit subtraction
• Addition and subtraction patterns
• Ten frames to add and subtract
• Problem solving strategies and choosing operations

Measurement

• Compare size, length, and height.
• Non-standard measures
• Length and distance around
• Compare and order by weight and capacity.
• Read a thermometer.

Geometry

• Three dimensional shapes
• Moving shapes
• Plane figures on solids
• Combine and separate figures.

Kindergarten Curriculum Map

The First Grade curriculum at St. James Episcopal School addresses the needs of the whole child—cognitive, spiritual, social, emotional, physical, and aesthetic. It is developmentally appropriate and academically rigorous, with high expectations for growth and success. Learning opportunities grounded in Multiple Intelligences research allow scholars to develop to their fullest potential through diverse, hands-on experiences. This ensures that the learning needs of all children will be met, and progress will be made in all areas. The 3R’s—Rules, Respect, and Responsibility are emphasized at all times during the school day. Interdisciplinary instruction which utilizes the Elements of Depth and Complexity provides an engaging, challenging cognitive experience across the disciplines of language, math, science, and social studies, and in areas of enrichment such as religion, Spanish, technology, and fine arts.
First Grade scholars are taught to look at the world through the Global Theme lens of Systems, identifying the following essential, conceptual truths (generalizations):

• Systems work to complete a task.
• Systems have parts that work together.
• A system’s structure depends on its function.
• Systems follow rules.
• Systems can be natural or person-made.
• Systems can have positive or negative effects.

Language Arts

Literacy is highly correlated with scholars’ oral language proficiency, and the ability to understand a text read aloud is a prerequisite for making sense of the same text in printed form. The language arts curriculum in First Grade is built upon daily oral language development, the Spalding Method of direct phonics instruction (for writing and reading), and daily exposure to printed text (Houghton-Mifflin Journeys and children’s fine literature). This ensures a strong foundation in vocabulary, handwriting, grammar concepts, writing, and reading. Because Core Knowledge strongly recommends daily read-alouds that are meaningful and focus on a single topic over a sustained period of time, literature selections and writing prompts are chosen around thematic unit topics.
Listening and Speaking
Classroom Discussion

• Speak clearly with appropriate volume, eye contact, and courtesy.
• Ask questions to clarify and follow rules for group discussions.
• Understand and use language to express spatial and temporal relationships and identify and express physical sensations, mental states, and emotions of self and others.
• Understand and use descriptive language, common sayings, and phrases.

Presentation of Ideas and Information

• Follow multi-step oral directions, give simple directions, and provide simple explanations.
• Memorize and recite Bible verses and short poems independently.
• Give oral presentations about topics of interest, using appropriate eye contact, volume, and clear enunciation.

Comprehension and Discussion of Read-Alouds (all texts)

• Listen to and understand a variety of texts read aloud including fictional stories, fairy tales, fables, historical narratives, drama, informational text, and poems.
• Distinguish the following genres of literature: fiction (narrative), nonfiction (informative), and drama.
• Describe illustrations and sequence four to six pictures.
• Answer questions requiring understanding of the key details and/or facts.
• Answer questions that require making interpretations, judgments, predictions, or giving opinions about what is heard.
• Understand and use words and phrases heard in read-alouds.
• Compare and contrast similarities and differences and make connections to events or experiences in read-alouds.
• Interpret information that is presented orally and then ask additional questions to clarify information or the topic in the read-alouds.
• Compare and contrast, retell, or dramatize stories, using narrative language to describe characters, setting, and sequence of events.
• Create and tell an original story using narrative language to describe characters, setting, and sequence.
• Identify the moral or lesson of a fable, folktale, or myth.
• Demonstrate understanding and use literary language to retell and/or create stories.
• Identify sensory language and how it is used to describe.

Reading
Phonemic Awareness

• Given a pair of spoken words, select the one that is longer (contains more phonemes).
• Identify the number of syllables in a spoken word.
• Indicate whether a target phoneme is or is not present in the initial/medial/final position of a spoken word.
• Orally blend sounds to form a word.
• Segment a spoken word into phonemes.
• Given a spoken word, produce another word that rhymes.

Phonics: Decoding and Encoding

• Blend individual phonemes to pronounce printed words.
• Understand that sometimes two or more printed letters stand for a single sound, and that two or more phonograms might produce the same spoken sound.
• Demonstrate understanding that a systematic, predictable relationship exists between written letters and spoken sounds. The relationship creates the 71 (Spalding) phonograms covered in First Grade, and the Spalding rules for phonogram spelling and reading.
• Read one to two syllable words containing the Spalding phonograms.
• Read and write words with inflectional endings.
• Read, understand, and write contractions.
• Read and spell chains of one-syllable words in which one sound is added, substituted, or omitted.

Oral Reading and Fluency

• Read at least 50 words generally identified as high frequency words.
• Read decodable stories that incorporate specific code knowledge.
• Demonstrate increased accuracy, fluency, and expression on successive readings of decodable text.
• Use phonics skills in conjunction with context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding.
• Use commas and end punctuation as inflection cues.
• Read aloud, alone, or with a partner.

Reading Comprehension (all texts)

• Demonstrate understanding of completely decodable text after reading independently.
• Sequence four to six pictures illustrating events.
• Answer questions requiring literal recall and understanding of the details and/or facts.
• Retell key details from a text read independently.

Writing
Writing to Reflect Audience, Purpose and Task

• Use details when writing original sentences.
• Express an opinion or point of view and support with evidence.
• Write a descriptive paragraph.
• Create a title and an ending relevant to paragraphs.
• Write or retell a story.
• Write about a research topic including beginning and ending sentences and facts or examples relevant to the topic
• Begin to use tools, including technology, to plan, draft, and edit writing.

Language Conventions

• Print from memory the 26 letters of the alphabet using Spalding upper and lower-case forms.
• Form words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs.
• Use basic capitalization, punctuation, and spelling conventions.
• Use commas appropriately in greetings and closings of letters, dates, and items in a series.
• Write on primary lined paper from left to right, staying within the lines and leaving spaces between words, from top to bottom using return sweep.
• Recognize, identify, and use common and proper nouns and adjectives, orally and in written text.
• Recognize, identify, and use subject, object, and possessive pronouns.
• Recognize, identify, and use regular verbs to convey a sense of tense.
• Recognize, identify, and use subjects and predicates.
• Recognize, identify, and use statements, questions, and exclamations.
• Identify and use synonyms and antonyms.
• Capitalize the first word in a sentence, the pronoun I, months, days of the week, paragraph titles, and proper nouns.
• Write a simple friendly letter.
• Use apostrophes to create contractions and indicate possession.

History and Geography

In First Grade, the study of history and geography embraces many topics throughout the Core Knowledge Sequence. The goal of studying selected topics from world history is to foster curiosity and the beginnings of understanding about a larger world outside the scholar’s locality, and about how varied civilizations and ways of life developed over time. This will be accomplished through informative text, stories, drama, art, music, discussion, and exploration of cultural traditions. Geographic knowledge embraces a spatial sense of the world, awareness of the physical processes that shape life, a sense of the interactions between humans and their environment, an understanding of the relationships between place and culture, an awareness of the characteristics of specific regions and cultures, and the opportunity to identify man-made systems at work in the world.
World Geography
Spatial Sense

• Name continent, country, state, and community.
• Understand keys, legends, and symbols on maps.
• Identify characteristics of and advantages for using globes and maps.
• Locate: the seven continents, five oceans, Canada, U.S., Mexico, and Central America on maps and globes.
• State at least one unique detail about each of the seven continents.

Geographical Features of the Earth

• Locate the Equator, cardinal directions, North and South Poles, and Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
• Identify characteristics of peninsula, harbor, bay, island, and gulf.

Ancient World Civilizations
Mesopotamia: Cradle of Civilization

• Explain the significance of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
• Understand the relationship of writing to the development of civilization.
• Know why rules and laws are important to the development of civilization- Code of Hammurabi and early code of laws.

Egypt

• Identify how geography affected the development of Egypt.
• Explain the impact of floods on farming and the development of cities.
• Learn about Egyptian government and religion.
• Explain similarities and differences between hieroglyphs and written English.

History of World Religions

• Explain the difference between polytheism and monotheism.
• Identify characteristics of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The Americas
Early Peoples and Civilizations (Pre-Columbian)

• Understand the land bridge and the arrival of Hunters and nomads from Asia to North America.
• Understand how the movement from hunting to farming affected the development of villages.
• Study three civilizations; Maya, Aztec, and Inca.
• Identify ruins of early cities remaining today.

Exploration and Settlement

• Explain the significance of explorations by Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Hernan Cortes, and Francisco Pizarro.
• Discuss contributions and problems brought to the “New World” by the Spanish.
• Study English colonization in North America.
• Discuss the arrival and role of slaves brought to the “New World”.

The American Revolution
From Colonies to Independence

• Locate the original thirteen colonies.
• Retell the story of the Boston Tea Party and the movement toward independence from England.
• Explain significance of Paul Revere’s ride.
• Recite excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.
• Explain importance of Fourth of July, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, the National Capitol, and Betsy Ross.

Early Exploration of the American West

• Identify Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road’s contribution to western expansion.
• Explain the significance of the Louisiana Purchase, the expedition of Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, and the settlers.
• Locate the Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, and the Mississippi River.

Symbols and Figures

• Recognize and become familiar with the significance of the Liberty Bell, bald eagle, Old Glory, White House, Uncle Sam, modern American flag, fifty states, and the current United States president.

Modern Civilization and Culture: Mexico
Geography

• Locate North America, Mexico and Mexico City, Canada, the United States, Central America, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Rio Grande River on a map

Culture

• Explain how the Native American (Indian) and Spanish heritages have contributed to American culture.

Science

In First Grade, the science program is a systematic approach to the exploration of science that combines hands-on experience and observation along with utilization of text to provide essential building blocks for deeper future understandings. Scholars develop grade-level appropriate scientific content through asking questions about nature and seeking answers; collecting, comparing, classifying, and measuring things; conducting investigations using the Scientific Method to test hypotheses and make qualitative observations; and discussing findings and conclusions.
The First Grade Science curriculum is inspired by and organized around children’s curiosity about “how things work”. Science provides opportunities to identify natural systems at work in the world, and to use a variety of tools, including technology.

Sun, Moon, and Stars

• The sun appears to move across the sky in a predictable pattern throughout the day.
• Sunrise and sunset times throughout the year are related to periods of daytime and nighttime.
• The sun rises and sets in a predictable pattern.
• The amount of daylight changes during different seasons.
• Sunrise and sunset times can be predicted for future dates.
• The moon is an object in the sky.
• The moon appears to move across the sky in a predictable pattern.
• The appearance of the moon changes as it moves through different phases.
• The appearance of the moon in the future can be predicted.
• Stars and constellations are objects in the night sky.
• The Big Dipper appears to move in the sky.
• The location of the Big Dipper in the night sky can be predicted.

Plant and Animal Survival

• All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water, and air. Plants also have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive and grow.
• Adult plants and animals can have young. In many kinds of animals, parents and offspring engage in behaviors that help the offspring to survive.
• Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival. Animals respond to these inputs with behaviors that help them survive. Plants also respond to some external inputs.
• Young animals are very much but not exactly like their parents. Plants also are very much but not exactly like their parents. Individuals of the same kind of plant or animal are recognizable as similar but can also vary in many ways.

Exploring Light and Sound

• Sound can make matter vibrate, and vibrating matter can make us hear a sound.
• Objects can be seen if light is available to illuminate them or if they give off their own light.
• Some materials allow light to pass through them, others allow only some light through, and others block all the light and create a dark shadow on any surface beyond them, where the light cannot reach. Mirrors can be used to redirect a light beam.
• People use a variety of devices to communicate (send and receive information) over long distances.

Simple Machines

• Identify examples of things people use to perform tasks with less effort.
• Describe and identify simple machine: ramp, wheel, pulley, level, wedge, screw, and gears
• Distinguish between a simple and compound machine
• Explain how each simple machine works.
• Identify tasks for which simple machines are helpful.
• Define a problem that can be solved with the use of simple machines and collaborate to solve an engineering design problem.

Human Body Systems

• Observe, experience, and describe variations in human motion.
• Identify and describe parts of the skeletal, muscular, respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems.
• Summarize the function of each system.
• Relate the structure to the function of each system.

• Identify careers that help people move their bodies for safety and strength.
• Describe technologies that support adaptive movement and fight diseases that limit the ability to move.

Math

The First Grade Math at St. James Episcopal School is a program that emphasizes concept development, mental techniques, and problem solving. Math is more than memorizing formulas and fact families. Through this program, scholars learn the “how” and “why” of math, not just the operations. By developing a logical way of thinking using a broad spectrum of manipulatives, scholars build a strong foundation in mathematical thinking and skills.

Patterns and Classification

• Position and direction
• Ordinal Number – naming position

Numbers and Number Sense

• Counting
• Numbers bonds
• Comparing numbers

Place Value

• Two-digit numbers
• Three-digit numbers
• Ones, tens, hundreds

Time and Calendar

• Hour and half hour
• Elapsed time
• Order of events
• Days of the week
• Months of the year

Money

• Bills and coins – value as you count on
• Shopping

Computation-Addition, Subtraction, and Solving Problems and Equations

• Addition with number bonds
• Other methods of addition
• Methods of subtraction
• Double Digit addition/subtraction with/without regrouping

Measurement

• Comparing and measuring length/height
• Comparing and measuring weight/capacity
• Temperature

Geometry

• Common shapes
• Flat and curved surfaces
• Three dimensional shapes

Data

• Tally chart
• Graphs – picture/bar

Fractions

• Equal parts
• Halves/Quarters

First Grade Curriculum Map

The Second Grade curriculum provides a clear outline of content to be learned grade by grade so that knowledge and skills build cumulatively from year to year. The Core Knowledge Sequence is distinguished by its specificity. By clearly specifying important knowledge in language arts, history, geography, math, science, and the fine arts, the Sequence presents a practical answer to the question, “What do our children need to know?” Learning opportunities are grounded in the application of Multiple Intelligences and the Interdisciplinary approach to instruction, utilizing the Elements of Depth and Complexity in providing a challenging academic program.
Grade Level Theme
Second Grade scholars are taught to look at the world through the Global Theme lens of Change, identifying the following essential, conceptual truths (generalizations):

• Change has a ripple effect.
• Change occurs over time.
• Change has positive and negative effects.
• Change occurs in patterns.
• Change is constant.
• Change brings about change.

Language Arts

The Language Arts program builds on a solid foundation of phonics and phonemic awareness using the Spalding Method. Scholars are then exposed to literature from a variety of genres and authors using the Core Knowledge program and children’s fine literature.
Listening and Speaking
Classroom Discussion

• Participate in discussions on a variety of topics using agreed upon rules.
• Ask clarifying questions.
• Express physical sensations, emotions of others, and spatial and temporal relationships.
• Use narrative language and common sayings and phrases.

Presentation of ideas and information

• Follow and give simple directions and explanations.
• Recite nursery rhymes, poems, songs, and give oral presentations using eye contact, volume and clear enunciation.

Comprehension and discussion of read-alouds

• Understand a variety of texts read aloud.
• Distinguish reading genres.
• Describe illustrations and use them to support understanding of read-alouds.
• Answer questions requiring literal recall and retell key details.
• Describe, compare, and contrast characters in fiction, drama, and poetry.
• Change story events and provide an alternative ending.
• Create and tell an original story.
• Identify morals or lessons in fables, folktales, and myths.
• Distinguish fantasy and reality in a text.
• Demonstrate understanding of literary and sensory language.
• Use rhyme and rhythm in poetry.

Reading
Phonics

• Decode and encode using the Spalding method.
• Demonstrate understanding of relationship between written symbols and sounds.
• Blend phonemes to pronounce words.
• Read and understand contractions.
• Read at least 100 high-frequency words.

Oral reading and fluency

• Read decodable stories.
• Demonstrate increasing accuracy and fluency.
• Use commas and end punctuation in reading.

Reading comprehension – All texts (fiction, nonfiction, informational text, drama, and poetry)

• Sequence four to six pictures illustrating events from text.
• Summarize selected parts of a text.
• Identify basic features of a book.
• Compare and contrast similarities and differences among texts.
• Make corrections to events or experiences in a text.
• Make predictions.
• Identify temporal words and words that link ideas in a story.
• Generate questions and seek information from multiple sources.
• Interpret information in diagrams, charts, and graphs.
• Categorize and organize information on a topic.
• Create and interpret timelines and lifelines.

Writing
Narrative writing

• Use setting, character, plot, and dialogue in story writing.
• Write a personal narrative.
• Create a title and ending appropriate to the story.

Informative/explanatory writing

• Use facts, examples, and specific steps in writing explanatory text.
• Use linking words to connect ideas.
• Group similar information into paragraphs.
• Use tools including technology to plan, draft, and edit.
• Gather information from text sources.

Persuasive writing (opinion)

• Express an opinion or point of view providing reasons and supporting details.
• Refer to content of text when appropriate.

Language Conventions
Spelling

• Write words, phrases, and details from dictation applying phonics knowledge.
• Alphabetize words to the second letter.
• Use a children’s dictionary.
• Identify and use antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and compound words.
• Parts of speech and sentence structure
• Use subject, object, and possessive pronouns.
• Identify and use correct noun-pronoun agreement.
• Identify and use regular and irregular plural nouns.
• Identify and use articles, adjectives, and adverbs.
• Identify and use subjects and predicates.
• Identify and use statements, questions, and exclamations.
• Identify and use complete and compound sentences.

Capitalization and punctuation

• Capitalize the first word in a sentence, the word I, and proper nouns.
• Use abbreviations and punctuation for the months, days of the week, titles, and addresses.
• Use end punctuation, commas, and apostrophes appropriately.
• Write a simple friendly letter.

Poetry

• Scholars are exposed to old and new poetry appropriate to the grade level.
• Write original poems.

Fiction

• Read a grade-level core of stories to include mythology, folk tales and tall tales.
• Identify literary terms to include myth, tall tale, and limerick

Sayings and Phrases

• Scholars become familiar with a grade-level and culturally specific core of sayings, phrases, and idioms.

History and Geography

Second Grade scholars continue to explore the globe by identifying and locating specific geographical features. Scholars learn history through the study of other civilizations (both ancient and modern). Major events of American history are studied beginning with the Constitution and ending with the Civil Rights era.
World
World Geography
Spatial Sense

• Identify continents, major oceans, four directions, Canada, United States, Mexico, the equator, the four hemispheres, and the poles.
• Understand keys, symbols, and legends.

Geographical Terms and Features

• Review terms from previous grade levels and add coast, valley, prairie, desert, and oasis.

Early Asian Civilizations
Geography of Asia

• Identify Asia as the largest and most populous continent.
• Locate China, India, and Japan.

India

• Locate the Indus and Ganges Rivers.
• Discuss Hinduism and Buddhism.

China

• Locate major rivers and historical landmarks.
• Investigate inventions, contributions, and celebrations.

Modern Japanese Civilization
Geography

• Locate the four islands, water bodies, and capital city of Japan.

Culture

• Identify modern cities and industrial and business centers.
• Investigate symbols, dress, art, and traditions.

The Ancient Greek Civilization

• Locate the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea, and Crete.
• Investigate the Persian Wars
• Discuss the Olympic Games.
• Read and discuss Greek mythology.
• Identify great Greek thinkers and leaders including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Alexander the Great.

America
American Government-The Constitution

• Explain that the United States government is based on The Constitution.
• Identify James Madison as the “Father of the Constitution”.
• Explain government by the consent of the governed.

The War of 1812

• Identify James and Dolly Madison.
• Discuss important events of the War of 1812.
• Describe Old Ironsides and “The Star Spangled Banner”

Westward Expansion
Pioneers head west.

• Discuss new means of travel to include the steamboat and railroads.
• Locate the routes west.
• Explain the roles of the Erie Canal, the Pony Express, and the Transcontinental Railroad.

Native Americans

• Investigate the Sequoyah and Cherokee alphabets.
• Discuss the forced removal of Native Americans to reservations.
• Explain the effect of the near extermination of buffalo.

The Civil War

• Examine the controversy over slavery.
• Identify the role of Harriet Tubman and the “underground railroad”.
• Identify key figures in the Civil War to include Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Clara Barton, and President Abraham Lincoln
• Discuss the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery.

Immigration and Citizenship

• Explain the perception of the United States as a “land of opportunity”.
• Describe the significance of the Statue of Liberty and the role of Ellis Island.
• Discuss rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
• Investigate the process of becoming an American citizen.

Fighting for a Cause

• Study the issues of equality and civil rights.
• Identify historic and contemporary leaders in the struggle for equality.

Geography of Americas
North America

• Locate North America, Canada, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, the fifty states of the United States, the current territories of the United States, the Mississippi River, the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

South America

• Identify languages spoken in the countries of South America-Spanish and Portuguese.
• Identify Brazil as the largest country in South America.
• Identify and locate the countries of South America, the rain forests, and the Andes Mountains.

Symbols and Figures

• Discuss the significance of the U.S. flag, historical and current, and the Lincoln Memorial.

Science

Scholars in Second Grade begin to hypothesize and classify observed phenomena so that they better understand our universe. They are encouraged to ask questions and ponder about nature and to seek answers through collecting, counting, measuring, making qualitative observations, and discussing findings.
Cycles in Nature

• Describe seasonal cycles, life cycles, and the water cycle.

Insects

• Discuss the role of insects in nature.
• Distinguish characteristics of insects.

The Human Body

• Identify practices to ensure a healthy body.
• Explain the organs and functions of the digestive and excretory systems.
• Explain the relationship of cells to tissues, organs, and systems.
• Explain the “food pyramid”.
• Discuss vitamins and minerals.

Magnetism

• Describe magnetic poles and fields
• Discuss the law of magnetic attraction.
• Apply orienteering to locate north.

Simple Machines

• Name common simple machines to include lever, pulley, wheel-and-axle, gears, inclined plane, wedge, and screw.
• Describe friction and ways to reduce friction.

Science Biographies

• Anton van Leeuwenhoek
• Elijah McCoy
• Florence Nightingale
• Daniel Hale Williams

Math

The scholars in Second Grade are provided with the necessary learning experiences beginning with the concrete and pictorial stages, followed by the abstract stage, to enable them to learn mathematics meaningfully. This approach encourages an active thinking process and the clear communication of mathematical ideas and problem solving. Emphasis is placed on the development of understanding of mathematical concepts and their applications, and proficiency in problem solving, mathematical reasoning, and higher order thinking.
Numbers and Number Sense

• Numbers to 1000
• Tables and graphs
• Money

Fractions

• Halves and quarters
• Writing fractions
• Fraction of a set

Computation: Addition, Subtraction, Problem Solving and Equations

• Addition and subtraction without renaming
• Addition and subtraction with renaming
• Methods for mental math
• Adding and subtracting money
• Multiplication – 2, 3, 4, and 5 tables
• Division – 2, 3, 4, and 5 tables

Measurement-Linear Measure, Weight, Capacity, Temperature, Time

• Measuring length
• Measuring weight
• Time
• Capacity

Geometry

• Making shapes
• Flat and curved faces

Second Grade Curriculum Map

The Third Grade curriculum is a detailed outline of specific content and skills to be taught in language arts, history, geography, mathematics, science, and the fine arts. The core of the Third Grade curriculum is designed to provide a coherent, content specific foundation for learning, while allowing flexibility to meet individual needs. Spalding Integrated Language Arts is used for phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Wordly Wise 3000 is used for building vocabulary development furthering understanding of new words and concepts. Learning opportunities are grounded in the application of Multiple Intelligences and the Interdisciplinary approach to instruction utilizing the Elements of Depth and Complexity providing a challenging academic program.
Third Grade scholars are taught to look at the world through the Global Theme lens of Interdependence, identifying the following essential, conceptual truths (generalizations):

• Interdependence may be natural or person-made.
• Interdependence may lead to some form of dependence.
• Interdependence requires cooperation and demands respect.
• Interdependence shows how living things need each other.
• Interdependence may hinder or facilitate growth or development.
• Interdependence may lead to survival.

Language Arts

The Third Grade language arts program includes reading, writing, spelling, grammar usage, listening, speaking, and different genres of literature. Third Grade scholars will continue to apply fundamental concepts they have learned in prior years. Concentration will be on aspects of spoken and written language that will allow scholars to become efficient readers and writers.
Reading and Writing
Reading Comprehension and Response

• Independently read longer works of grade-level appropriate fiction and nonfiction with fluency, accuracy, and comprehension.
• Ask how, why, and what-if questions in interpreting fiction and nonfiction texts.
• Use the dictionary, table of contents, and index.

Poetry

• Use words or phrases that appeal to the senses.
• Use similes or metaphors to compare.
• Follow a strict rhyme scheme.
• Read, discuss, and compose narrative, lyric, and list poems.

Fiction

• Analyze stories for plot, characters, outcomes, and lessons.
• Discuss Norse, Greek, and Roman myths.
• Define the literary terms-biography and autobiography; fiction and nonfiction.

Sayings and Phrases

• Proverbs and Idioms

History and World Geography

The Third Grade program in history and geography includes a spatial sense of the world, an awareness of the physical processes that shape life, a sense of the interactions between humans and their environment, an understanding of the relationship between place and culture, and an awareness of the characteristics of specific regions and cultures.
World
World Geography-Spatial Sense and Geographical Terms and Features
Map and globe skills

• Identify four directions, major oceans, seven continents, the equator, the four hemispheres, the U.S., Texas, and Corpus Christi.
• Use scale, an atlas, and online resources.
• Define boundary, channel, delta, isthmus, plateau, reservoir, and strait.
• Measure using a bar scale.

World Geography-Canada

• Discuss French and British heritages.
• Locate the Rocky Mountains, Hudson River, St. Lawrence River, Yukon River, Canadian Provinces, and major cities of Canada.

World Geography-Rivers of the World

• Define source, mouth, tributary, and drainage basin.
• Locate the Ob, Yellow (Huang He), Yangtze or Ch’and, Ganges, Indus, Nile, Amazon, Parana, Orinoco, Mississippi, Mackenzie, Yukon, Murray-Darling, Volga, Danube, Rhine, Nile, Niger, and Congo Rivers.

Ancient Roman Civilization

• Geography of the Mediterranean region
• The Background and founding of Rome
• The Roman Empire
• The Rise of the Byzantine Empire

The Vikings

• Identify Scandinavia as birthplace of the Viking culture.
• Discuss early Viking Leaders.
• Locate Greenland, Canada, and Newfoundland on maps and globes.

America
The Earliest Americans and Crossing to North America and Native Americans

• Explain the migration of nomadic Ice Age people from Asia to North America.
• Discuss early and present day Native American peoples to include the Inuit, Anasazi and Mound Builders, and Native Americans of the Southwest, Eastern Woodlands, and Southeast.

Early Exploration of North America

• Early Spanish exploration and settlement
• Exploration and settlement of the Southwest
• The search for the Northwest Passage

The Thirteen Colonies-Life and Times Before the Revolution

• Discuss the geography and climate of the thirteen colonies.
• Locate the thirteen colonies and important cities of the colonies on maps and globes.
• Compare and contrast the Southern, New England, and Middle Atlantic colonies.
• Discuss important leaders of the thirteen colonies.

Science

The Third Grade science curriculum requires hands-on experience and observation. Scholars are encouraged to ask questions about nature; collect, count, and measure things; and make qualitative observations. In Grade 3, scholars will continue their explorations in science by broadening and building upon what they have learned in previous grades. Scholars will expand knowledge of animals and animal habitats, human body systems, forms and properties of energy, ecology, and the universe. Scholars in Grade 3 will begin to understand what makes their world what it is today.
Introduction to Classification of Animals

• Classify animals based on characteristics.

The Human Body-The Muscular, Skeletal, and Nervous Systems and How the Eye and Ear Work
Describe the muscular system.

• Differentiate involuntary and voluntary muscles.
• Describe the skeletal system.
• Describe the nervous system.
• Explain reflexes.

Explain the senses of vision and hearing.

• Identify the parts of the eye and ear.
• Explain farsightedness and nearsightedness.
• Describe sound.

Light and Optics

• Discuss how light travels.
• Differentiate transparent and opaque objects.
• Describe reflection.
• Explain the spectrum.
• Discuss the use of lenses.

Sound

• Discuss how sound travels.
• Explain qualities of sound to include pitch and intensity.
• Identify measures to protect hearing.

Ecology

• Identify various habitats and ecosystems.
• Explain the interdependence of organisms and their environment.
• Discuss food chains.
• Identify human-made threats and measures to protect the environment.

Astronomy

• Identify features of our solar system.
• Describe planetary motion of orbit and rotation.
• Discuss gravity.
• Describe an eclipse.
• Identify stars and constellations.
• Utilize Orienteering, using the Big Dipper and North Star.
• Discuss exploration of space.

Science Biographies

• Alexander Graham Bell
• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Mae Jemison
• John Muir

Math

The Third Grade math program is designed to equip scholars with sound concept development, critical thinking, and efficient problem solving skills. Mathematical concepts are taught to mastery through specific learning tasks that allow for immediate assessment and consolidation. The concrete to pictorial to abstract approach enables scholars to encounter math in a meaningful way. Scholars are able to visualize and solve mathematical problems confidently by using the model drawing approach. Furthermore, metacognition is employed as a strategy for scholars to monitor their thinking processes in problem solving.
Numbers and Number Sense

• Numbers to 10,000

Fractions and Decimals

• Fractions as a whole
• Equivalent fractions
• Adding/subtracting fractions
• Fraction as a set
• Fractions and money

Money

• Dollars and cents
• Addition
• Subtraction
• Multiplication and division

Computation: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Problem Solving and Equations

• Mental calculation
• Estimation
• Multiplication tables 6,7,8, and 9
• Word problems
• Dividing with remainders

Measurement-Linear Measure, Weight, Capacity, Temperature, Time

• Length in standard and customary units
• Weight in standard and customary units
• Capacity
• Word problems
• Hour and minutes
• Other units of time

Geometry

• Angles
• Right angles
• Quadrilaterals and triangles
• Solid figures
• Area, perimeter, and volume

Third Grade Curriculum Map

Learning opportunities for Fourth Grade scholars are grounded in the application of Multiple Intelligences and the Interdisciplinary approach to instruction utilizing the Elements of Depth and Complexity in providing a challenging academic program. Fourth Grade scholars are taught to look at the world through the Global Theme lens of Structures, identifying the following essential, conceptual truths (generalizations):

• Patterns provide structure.
• Structures change, and those changes have consequences.
• Structures are natural or manmade.
• Structural design is a consequence of need.
• Structures communicate.
• Structures may lead to survival.

Language Arts

In Fourth Grade, scholars will continue concentrating on the aspects of spoken and written language, allowing them to become more efficient and independent readers and writers.
Writing, Grammar, and Usage

• Sentence identification and construction
• Writing reports
  • Gather information from different resources.
  • Understand the purpose of the writing and the targeted audience.
  • Define a main idea and adhere to it.
  • Provide an introduction and a conclusion.
  • Organize material in separate, coherent paragraphs.
  • Document sources in a bibliography.
• Study a variety of types of writing with a coherent structure or story line.
• Grammar and Punctuation
  • Use conjunctions and interjections.
  • Use commas before conjunctions that combine sentences and inside quotation marks in dialogue.
  • Use quotation marks in dialogue, for titles of poems, songs, short stories, and magazine articles.
  • Underline or italicize titles of books.
  • Identify and use prefixes and suffixes.

Poetry

• Use words or phrases that appeal to the senses, including similes or metaphors.
• Read, compose, and analyze rhyme with a strict rhyme scheme.
• Read and compose narrative poems.
• Read and compose lyric poems.
• Identify and apply the use of a stanza.

Fiction

• Identify characters, plot, setting, and dialogue.
• Read and discuss folktales.
• Read and discuss novels.
  • Longer works of fiction
  • Works divided into sections called chapters
  • More complicated plots than short stories
• Read and discuss legends.
  • Traditional stories about the past
  • May be based on historical figures or events
  • Come from cultures around the world
  • Passed down orally before being written down

Speeches

• Discuss famous speeches.
  • Patrick Henry and Sojourner Truth
• Discuss persuasive speeches, using arguments supported by facts and reason.

Sayings and Phrases

• Proverbs
  • Express general truth or observation about life.
  • Literal or figurative meaning
  • Passed down orally from one generation to the next
• Idioms

History and Geography

In Fourth Grade, scholars continue to learn and apply geography skills as they move into more abstract information. Scholars will learn world geography to include Europe in the Middle Ages, early African kingdoms, and Chinese conquerors and dynasties. The chronological study of U.S. history begun in Third Grade is continued in Fourth Grade.
World

• World Geography-Spatial Sense and Mountain Ranges
  • Map scales
  • Longitude, latitude, coordinates, degrees.
  • Prime Meridian and International Date Line
  • Relief maps for elevations and depressions
  • Major mountain ranges
• Europe in the Middle Ages
  • Geography related to the development of Western Europe
  • Background
  • The Middle Ages dated from 450-1400CE-The Dark Ages
  • Development of the Christian Church
  • Aspects of feudalism
  • Growth of towns as centers of commerce; guilds and apprentices; the weakening of feudal ties
  • England in the Middle Ages
• The Spread of Islam and the “Holy Wars”
  • The origins of Islam
  • Contributions of Islamic civilizations
  • Wars between Muslims and Christians
• Early and Medieval African Kingdoms
  • Geography of Africa
  • Early African Kingdoms
  • Medieval African Kingdoms

America

• Growth of political parties
• George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson
• Early Presidents and Politics
  • Cabinet and administration
• The Constitution of the United States
  • The Bill of Rights
• Making a new government: from the Declaration to the Constitution
  • Definition of “republican” government
  • Articles of the Confederation: weak central government
  • Founding Fathers
  • Constitutional Convention
• Main ideas behind the Declaration of Independence
• Making a Constitutional Government
• The American Revolution
  • The French and Indian Wars
  • Causes and provocations of the American Revolution
  • Important events and figures of American Revolution
• Paul Revere’s ride
• Concord and Lexington
• Bunker Hill
• Second Continental Congress
• George Washington
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
• Representative women in the Revolution
• Loyalists
• Victory at Saratoga and alliance with France
• Valley Forge
• Benedict Arnold
• John Paul Jones
• Nathan Hale
• Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown
• Reformers
  • Abolitionists
  • Dorothea Dix, Horace Mann, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth
• Symbols and Figures
  • Spirit of ’76 painting and Archibald McNeal Willard
  • White House and Capitol building
  • Great Seal of the United States

Science

In Fourth Grade, scholars will continue their explorations in science by broadening and building on courses of study undertaken in previous grades.

• The Human Body-The Circulatory and Respiratory Systems
  • The Circulatory System
    • Heart and blood
  • The Respiratory System
    • Smoking: damage to lung tissue, lung cancer
• Chemistry-Basic Terms and Concepts
  • Atoms
  • Properties of Matter
  • Elements
  • Solutions-concentration and saturation
• Electricity
  • Static electricity
  • Electric current
  • Electric circuits
  • Conductors and insulators
  • Electromagnets
  • Using electricity safely
• Geology
  • Earth’s layers
  • Movement of crustal plates and continental drift
  • Earthquakes and tsunamis
  • Volcanoes
  • Hot springs, geysers, and Old Faithful
  • Theories of how the continents and oceans were formed
  • How mountains are formed
  • Rocks
  • Formation and characteristics of metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rock
  • Weathering and erosion
• Meteorology
  • The water cycle
  • Clouds
  • The atmosphere
• Troposphere
• Stratosphere
• Mesosphere
• Thermosphere
• Ionosphere
• Exosphere
  • Air movement
  • Cold and warm fronts
  • Weather forecasting methods and tools
  • Weather vs climate
• Science Biographies
  • Benjamin Banneker
  • Elizabeth Blackwell
  • Charles Drew
  • Michael Faraday

Math

The Fourth Grade math program is based upon lessons designed to move from the concrete to the pictorial to the abstract which enables concepts and skills to be developed, mastered, and translated.
Numbers and Number Sense

• Whole numbers to the millions
• Negative numbers
• Factors
• Multiples
• Approximation
• Coordinate grid
• Changes in quantities
• Organizing and analyzing data
• Probability
• Order of outcomes
• Bar graphs
• Line graphs

Fractions and Decimals

• Equivalent fractions
• Adding and subtracting fractions
• Mixed numbers
• Improper fractions
• Fraction and division
• Fraction of a set
• Tenths, hundredths, thousandths, and rounding
• Four operations of decimals

Money

• Adding and subtracting

Computation-Multiplication and Division and Solving Problems and Equations

• Four operations of whole numbers
• Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

Measurement

• Adding and subtracting measures
• Multiplying measures
• Dividing measures
• Cubic units
• Volume of a rectangular prism

Geometry

• Congruent figures
• Tiling patterns
• Line symmetry
• Rotational symmetry
• Area of rectangles
• Perimeter of rectangles
• Composite figures
• Right angles
• Measuring angles
• Perpendicular and parallel lines
• Quadrilaterals
• Triangles
• Circles
• Solid figures
• Nets

Fourth Grade Curriculum Map