Curriculum

Language Arts

Language Arts is composed of several interrelated areas: reading, writing, spelling, listening, and speaking. At the elementary level, the student is encouraged to learn to communicate clearly through development in these five areas. The 6 + 1 Trait Model is utilized for teaching and assessing writing. This model focuses on qualities that define strong writing: conventions, ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice.

Reading

• Recognize and name all of the uppercase and lowercase letters

• Recognize and say the common sound of most letters and write a letter that goes with a spoken sound

• Produce rhyming words and recognize pairs of rhyming words

• Use their knowledge of letter sounds to figure out simple, regularly spelled, single-syllable words

• Read high-frequency words that are recognized by “sight”

• Begin to track print when listening to a familiar text being read or when rereading their own writing

• Read simple texts containing familiar letter-sound correspondences and high-frequency words

• Retell a story in their own words or reenact it, getting the events in the correct sequence

• Respond to simple questions about a book’s content

• Make predictions based on illustrations or portions of stories

Writing

• Write daily

• Use their knowledge of sounds and letters to write phonetically, representing consonant sounds with single letters in the correct sequence

• Leave spaces between words they have written

• Use beginning capitalization and end marks

• Independently create text with words

• Attempt to write text that is related to the picture

• Recognize and read their own writing

Spelling

• Use their knowledge of sounds and letters to write phonetically, representing consonant sounds with single letters in the correct sequence

• Leave spaces between words they have written

Listening

• Listen attentively by facing speaker and making eye contact

• Follow oral directions

• Listen to and follow a story read orally

• Participate in discussions around a common topic

Speaking

• Recognize and say the common sound of most letters

• Retell a story in their own words orally or reenact it, getting the events in the correct sequence

• Respond orally to simple questions about a book’s content

• Participate in discussions around a common topic

Mathematics

Everyday Mathematics encourages teachers and students to explore more of the spectrum of mathematical ideas through a deeper understanding of key mathematical concepts and an in-depth study of all the content strands of mathematics.

The curriculum allows students to construct an understanding of mathematics from their own experience, and includes practical routines to build arithmetic skills that are essential for building number sense, estimation skills, and flexibility in a problem-rich environment. Important concepts or skills recur with variations throughout the curriculum, and concepts are introduced and revisited in a variety of formats providing considerable practice.

Our focus is to have students recognize that there are various ways to accomplish a task, and to use the best tools and strategies for solving problems. This is done by establishing a framework for dialogue about mathematics between the teacher and students.

Content strands include:

• Operations and Computation

• Numeration

• Patterns, Functions & Algebra

• Data and Chance

• Measurement and Reference Frames

• Geometry

Science/Health

The purpose of science is to provide students with balanced, (Life, Earth, Physical and Health) relevant, hands-on opportunities and experiences to better understand science and to promote scientific literacy. 

Kindergarten topics include:

• Life – Seeds to Plants

• Earth – Ecology- Save the Earth

• Physical – Water Explorations

• Physical – Magnets

• Health – Senses

• Planetarium – Intro to Sky Motion

Each Unit or Kit is explored over a period of several weeks.

Social Studies

Kindergarten students are beginning to develop an awareness of the world around them. Units include:

• School

• Decision-making

• Families and responsibilities

• Respect for culture, customs, & symbols of our country

• Communities

• Symbols on a map

General Information

Technology

The goal of technology education in District 204 is to provide students with the opportunity for technological literacy starting with the elementary curriculum. Our emphasis with students is the application of technology across all grade levels and curricular areas as well as the development of problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

Reporting to Parents

Classroom progress is reported through quarterly report cards, annual conferences, and informal parent-teacher communication. Student evaluation is consistent with District goals and State Standards.

Testing

The District achievement testing program assesses the strengths/needs of our instructional programs and measures the achievement of individual students. Testing includes standardized tests, State tests, District assessments, and classroom evaluations.

Homework

Homework at the elementary level begins in an informal fashion but becomes more formal and requires more time and effort as the child progresses through each grade.

Parents are expected to be sufficiently interested in their child’s education to commit the time and energy needed to monitor/supervise the child’s home study and thereby insure that he/she makes a reasonable effort to complete homework assignments.

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