Course Catalogue

In Kindergarten, the Language Arts and Reading course focuses on foundational literacy skills and language development. Students learn letters, words, and sounds, and apply this knowledge to read simple sentences. Students will use comprehension strategies to identify basic facts and ideas, and to respond to well-known characters, themes, plots, and settings. Students will also write brief, legible words and sentences.

Kindergarten math teaches the foundational skills students need to be successful. The course focuses on representing, relating, and operating on whole numbers; describing shapes and space; and using written numerals to represent quantities and solve quantitative problems.

In Kindergarten, students engage in the study of themselves, their families, and their schools. They will learn how to participate and use effective citizenship skills. They will explore their families, their classrooms, and their schools through an interdisciplinary approach including history, civics, economics, and geography.

In Kindergarten Science, students are introduced to the foundations of physical, life, and earth sciences, as well as the processes of investigation and experimentation. The course is structured around anchoring phenomena, in which students experience a phenomenon, wonder, ask questions, conduct activities, and revisit the phenomenon to apply their new understanding.

In Grade 1 Language Arts, students build on the foundational skills taught in kindergarten. They select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts, and they apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading. Students will read, understand, and respond to leveled texts using a variety of comprehension strategies, such as generating and responding to essential questions, making predictions, and comparing information from several sources. Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea with a clear purpose and audience, and describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences.

Grade 1 Math focuses on four critical areas: (1) developing understanding of addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction within 20; (2) developing understanding of whole number relationships and place value, including grouping in tens and ones; (3) developing understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units; and (4) reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes. Students develop strategies for adding and subtracting whole numbers based on their prior work with small numbers; develop, discuss, and use efficient, accurate, and generalizable methods to add within 100 and subtract multiples of 10; develop an understanding of the meaning and processes of measurement; and compose and decompose plane or solid figures as they build understanding of part-whole relationships as well as the properties of the original and composite shapes.

Students in grade one continue a more detailed treatment of the broad concepts of rights and responsibilities in the contemporary world. The classroom serves as a microcosm of society in which decisions are made with respect for individual responsibility, for other people, and for the rules by which we all must live: fair play, good sportsmanship, and respect for the rights and opinions of others. Students examine the geographic and economic aspects of life in their own neighborhoods and compare them to those of people long ago. Students explore the varied backgrounds of American citizens and learn about the symbols, icons, and songs that reflect our common heritage.

In Grade 1 Science, students understand that materials come in different forms (states), including solids, liquids, and gasses; plants and animals meet their needs in different ways; and weather can be observed, measured, and described. Students will experiment with the scientific process by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations.

In Grade 2 Language Arts, students understand the basic features of reading: they select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts. Students continue to draw upon a variety of comprehension strategies to read and respond to a wide variety of significant works of children’s literature. In Grade 2, students begin to progress through the stages of the writing process by prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing successive versions.

In Grade 2, students will extend their understanding of base 10 notation and place values; build fluency with addition and subtraction extending to three-digit numbers; use standard units of monetary, time, and length measurements; and describe and analyze shapes by examining their sides and angles.

Students in grade two explore the lives of actual people who make a difference in their everyday lives and learn the stories of extraordinary people from history whose achievements have touched them, directly or indirectly. The study of contemporary people who supply goods and services aids in understanding the complex interdependence in our free-market system.

In Grade 2 Science, students understand that the motion of objects can be observed and measured; plants and animals have predictable life cycles; and the Earth is made of materials that have distinct properties and provide resources for human activities. Students will continue to develop the scientific process by making predictions based on observed patterns, using appropriate tools to make measurements and record data, comparing and sorting common objects, and writing or drawing descriptions of a sequence of steps, events, and observations.