Kindergarten – 8th Grade Curriculum

Using a full range of strategies through predicting, discussing, sequencing, thinking, and listening, students explore language. They will also formulate questions about what they read, hear, write, and view in the world of language. A phonetic approach to language helps students in their developmental stages of reading readiness. Experiencing a wide variety of children’s literature, including selections from classic and contemporary works, will help students explore ways in which writing is useful and meaningful.

Students will recognize and use capital and lower case manuscript letters and numerals correctly. Proper posture, pencil grip, and paper positioning will be taught to ensure good writing habits. Spacing between letters will be introduced.

Making and recognizing patterns is an integral part of Kindergarten math. Students will also sort, classify, create, and read graphs. Manipulatives are used to increase awareness of sets, sizes, and shapes. Counting and understanding numbers increase as students orally or in writing count and group numbers and sets. Students explore everyday uses of math as they begin to learn about money, time, temperature, and calendars. They also begin to understand measurement using non-standard units of measure. Students will be able to identify a whole set and parts of a whole set. Using concrete and pictorial models, addition and subtraction are introduced.

Students will understand they are a special creation and child of God. With this, they will realize it is God, the Father, who made them and created the world. They will also learn that Jesus is their friend who loves them and died on a cross to forgive their sin. They will be able to express their joy in worship to God and loving service to others. They will understand the Bible is God’s Word and God speaks to them through His Word. They will also know the Bible is true, tells them how to live as a child of God, and can help in areas of conflict/resolution. They will talk to God in prayer, knowing that God will answer them.

Children at this age are eager to investigate and ask questions about the world around them. Students will be given the opportunity to explore their world through hands-on materials and experiments. They will learn to make predictions, classify, record, and graph results of such observations.

As students learn and observe the wonderful world God created, they will grow in understanding and appreciation of who they are and what their sense of self is in this world. They will also understand and appreciate differences and similarities in others. They will learn about various community settings and the people who help in those areas. At this level, students will start to develop a sense of time and events in time, such as special holidays. The beginning concept of simple geography tools, such as maps and symbols is introduced.

Children develop their artistic abilities, as they become more knowledgeable of art as an expression of themselves. They will learn the basic skills needed for creating art – the use of color, value, line, shape, texture, pattern, and design. As is appropriate at this age, students begin to critique their own artwork and that of others. By introducing different Master artists and their works, students begin to appreciate different styles of art and become familiar with the artists who created them. They will come to understand that their creative expressions are a gift from God, who is the Master Creator of all.

Computer classes include learning how to use a mouse and touch pad, how to navigate around a computer and desktop and begin using keyboarding skills.

This first year of formal physical education focuses on cooperative learning, following directions, and learning loco-motor and manipulative skills. Students will develop space awareness: where the body moves; effort: how the body moves; and relationships of movement with other students and with objects. Through games and activities, the kindergartner’s fundamental movement concepts will improve and self-confidence will grow.

Kindergarten joins first and second grade once a month for a conflict resolution program. This program is a staff developed program that incorporates character traits such as honesty, respect, etc. on a three-year cycle using a DVD series including Veggie Tales videos and another series titled Popcorn Park. The videos are combined with a discussion and reflection time to personalize what is seen and find ways to positively improve how students resolve conflicts using various character traits.

Students are taught how to identify nouns, verbs and adjectives, as well as the parts of a sentence such as subject and predicate. They differentiate between telling and asking sentences and recognize basic punctuation rules. They are exposed to basic grammar rules of capitalization, pronoun use, and past and present verb tenses.

Students learn proper formation of and practice writing manuscript lower-case and capital letters, numbers and number words using the D’Nealian method, preparing them for cursive.

Students learn to develop skills to move them toward becoming independent readers. Anthologies are used, along with phonics instruction activities, independent activity pages and interactive white board.

Students are taught words that use English phonemes as well as common non-phonetic words. The words during the first half of the year contain predominantly short vowels, blends and some long vowel sounds. Later lessons introduce vowel digraphs, more complex special words and additional blends.

Students learn basic facts of addition and subtraction to 18. Lessons include, but are not limited to, introduction to and daily practice of the calendar and seasons, measurement, time to the hour and half hour, fractions, money, geometry and graphing. Daily hands-on whole group lessons with practice and reinforcement on homework pages.

Students learn about the God who created them, the Savior who redeemed them, and the Holy Spirit who works faith in their hearts. They will be shown that they are a forgiven child of God and a special part of His family, the church. They will be taught that worship is a way we respond to God’s love and that through service to others we are serving God. Memory verses are a required part of the curriculum.

Students learn about the creativity of God as we study trees, animals, the growth and development of humans and other living things, and the weather. Space, the sun, moon, stars, planets, plants and flowers, and birds are also units of study.

Students learn about where we live, beginning with homes to neighborhoods, communities, states, countries, and the world. Students learn that we belong to different groups and how to cooperate and work together. Jobs and money and the difference between needs and wants, geographical features of our world and some of the early history of our country is included, as well as discussion about celebrations in our families, our country, and even the world.

Children develop their artistic abilities, as they become more knowledgeable of art as an expression of themselves. They will add to their developing skills in art – the use of color, value, line, shape, texture, pattern, and design. As is appropriate at this age, students begin to critique their own artwork and that of others. By introducing different Master artists and their works, students begin to appreciate different styles of art and become familiar with the artists who created them. They will come to understand that their creative expressions are a gift from God, who is the Master Creator of all.

Computer classes include learning how to use a mouse and touchpad, how to navigate around a computer and desktop and keyboarding skills. Students will also begin to master logging into the student’s account and navigating to school appropriate web pages.

Students will recognize, clap, and move to the beat in music. They will explore differences in musical sounds, instruments and music styles. They will also learn songs through choir and have the opportunity to perform them on occasion.

The 1st grader is introduced to manipulative skills such as throwing, catching, kicking, rolling, and striking. Activities that teach teamwork and fair play are introduced. Relays, simple exercises such as jumping jacks, naming of body parts, directional signals of right and left, clock-wise and counter clock-wise are learned. Dodging, chasing, and traveling in a variety of ways are favorites at this stage of development. Mental games that sharpen listening skills and imagination are introduced.

With the help of the Scott Foresman/Pearson reading curriculum, thematic units and guided reading strategies, 2nd graders build on the emerging and beginning reading skills they bring from 1stgrade. They read a variety of grade appropriate literature, building on background information, recognize simple themes and learn to recall setting, main idea, and details. The reading done in second grade also encourages the love of reading and the love of literature. Second graders continue to build upon and apply phonetic vowel and consonant sounds learned, focusing on blends,“special” vowel sounds, and sight word patterns. They begin to develop creative, expressive and expository writing and are taught that their writing needs to have a beginning, middle and end. The use of descriptive words is added, and students are taught beginning paragraph writing using the “accordion paragraph” from the “Step Up to Writing” model. Second graders are taught to recognize and correctly use statement, question, command and exclamatory sentences, as well as to identify and use contractions, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. Writing with complete sentences using grade appropriate capitalization, end marks and spelling is part of the curriculum. Developing eye contact, posture, clarity and projection when speaking in front of classmates is part of oral language development.

The D’Nealian alphabet is reviewed and used throughout the year with particular attention to size, form and spacing of letters, and developing the slant that transfers to cursive writing. Students are introduced to cursive writing and are taught the lowercase cursive alphabet and to write their names in cursive.

Problem solving, mental math, critical thinking and logical reasoning are concepts woven throughout the Saxon curriculum taught in 2nd grade. Numeration concepts taught include skip counting, greater/less than, odd/even numbers, number lines, and place value. Mathematical operations of addition and subtraction including double-digit numbers are taught. The meaning of multiplication and introduction of the multiplication tables, as well as the meaning of division is part of the curriculum. Also included in the Saxon math curriculum are fractions, patterns and graphing, measurement, time, money and geometry.

As second graders study God’s Word, share and worship together, they learn that the Triune God is the only one true God; God the Father is the Creator of all things and their provider. They learn to know Jesus or know Him better as their personal Savior from sin, and their friend. As they learn more about the Holy Spirit, they realize that He is their helper in every situation and gives them the power to believe and live out their faith every day. They learn that the Bible is God’s Word, and the only truth. They commit verses from the Bible to memory. In 2nd grade, there is a focus on each person as a forgiven child of God, and a special part of Christ’s family as well as His body, the church. Second graders learn to express joy in worship and in loving service to others, participating in God’s mission. They also focus on openly sharing their faith in Jesus as their Savior and Friend, and a Savior and Friend to all. They actively learn more about the importance of prayer in their life, growing in their understanding and in developing their own prayer life.

Thematic units often using AIMS educational materials are used to encourage further development in the area of science. Students are taught to ask questions and make predictions based on observations and previous scientific knowledge. They observe and record simple data related to scientific investigations. Second graders communicate scientific learning through describing, comparing, sequencing, identifying, classifying and identifying characteristics and properties. Thematic units may include insects, nutrition, magnets, animals, and rocks.

In second grade students are taught a balanced understanding of people in our world through knowledge about different and similar cultures. They begin to develop concepts of sequence, cause and effect, and the roles of people in a community. They also develop an understanding of locations in our world, how people depend upon, and adapt to, as well as modify their physical environment. Second graders are introduced to the study of regions of land, oceans and continents. Beginning map skills are taught, including the use of the compass rose, and maps key on a map. Organizing people, events and family characteristics in the history of their own family is part of the curriculum. Students also taught the importance of historical celebrations, symbols and figures. They also begin to learn about government leadership and citizenship, and the relationship it has to them.

Children develop their artistic abilities, as they become more knowledgeable of art as an expression of themselves. They will add to their developing skills in art – the use of color, value, line, shape, texture, pattern, and design. As is appropriate at this age, students begin to critic their own artwork and that of others. By introducing different Master artists and their works, students begin to appreciate different styles of art and become familiar with the artists who created them. They will come to understand that their creative expressions are a gift from God, who is the Master Creator of all.

Students will start working in Typing Club as they begin to develop their keyboarding skills. They will work on WPM (words per minute) and accuracy through timed lessons and games. Students will receive a school email address and begin navigating through this Google-based email account.

Music is incorporated into many areas of the curriculum and is an integral part of worship. Second graders participate in a Kindergarten through grade two choir learning aspects of music and of singing together as well as learning the songs. They are also introduced to singing in parts through “rounds”. In music time, 2nd graders are taught to recognize, feel, and move to the beat in music as well as to recognize strong and weak beats. They learn to understand the up and down movement of melodies and the use of introductions in music. They have an opportunity to respond to different types of music, to clap to simple rhythms and to hear differences in music, recognizing contrast. Through their music experiences, 2nd graders are encouraged to continue to develop a love for music and singing.

Games and activities that build on manipulative skills are emphasized. Second graders learn to catch a ball that is thrown or bounced by a partner, a skill that demonstrates development of motor control and the ability of the student’s eyes to track moving objects. Students participate in parachute activities and learn to jump over a rope turned by someone else. The Second graders are enthusiastic about learning new games, and even the rules and directions that go along with them. Special emphasis is given to cooperation and teamwork as it begins to develop.

An integrated reading and language arts program offers a wealth of literature. Reading is an interactive process of constructing meaning. Students learn, practice, and apply strategies as part of this dynamic process. Authentic literature provides a richness of opportunities for children to interact with concepts and ideas, setting the foundation for a lifelong love of reading. Effective instruction is meaning- based and integrates listening, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, and thinking. Activities immerse children in a print-rich environment allowing the teacher to capitalize on the children’s natural curiosity about print and language. A wide variety of instructional activities provide for different learning styles. Multicultural literature and activities enable children to appreciate cultural diversity, to grasp the concept that all groups have contributed to society, and take pride in cultural heritage.

Handwriting helps students gain fluency and legibility. Practical writing applications of handwriting skills empower students to produce effective written communication. Step-by-step instruction offers an easy visual aid for forming each letter and stroke. Manuscript and cursive forms are clear and simple. Contemporary continuous stroke alphabet eases the transition from manuscript to cursive. Skills are introduced and reinforced at appropriate levels of student development throughout the year. Real world writing applications and integration of the language arts take students beyond isolated letter practice and turn handwriting activities into meaningful learning that are to be used on a day to day basis.

Children use simulations and games to learn and practice new concepts. They will skip count whole numbers, compare and order numbers; identify place value; identify ordinal position to twentieth; identify and complete patterns; solve routine and non-routine problems; master all basic addition and subtraction, multiplication, and division facts; add and subtract multi-digit numbers; multiply multi-digit numbers by a single-digit number; divide by single-digit divisors; picture, and order fractions; add and subtract fractions with common denominators; measure to the nearest quarter inch, millimeter, foot and yard; identify the volume of standard containers; compare and measure mass; measure perimeter and area; tell time to the minute; determine elapsed time; count money; make change for a dollar; identify angles; identify lines of symmetry; identify function rules; graph ordered pairs on a coordinate graph; tally; and create, read, and write observations for real graphs, pictographs, bar graphs, Venn diagrams, and line graphs.

Through the Word and Spirit of God, students may know God, especially His seeking and forgiving love in Christ; respond in faith and grow up into Christian maturity; see themselves as reconciled and redeemed; live in peace with God, themselves, and in fellowship; express their joy in worship and in service to others; value all of God’s creation, witness to Christ as Savior of all people; participate in God’s mission; and live in Christian hope.

Science is taught as an integrated program, which invites students to explore real-life situations and to think about real-world challenges. Students learn about plants and animals and how they interact with each other, earth’s land forms and how they change, the water cycle and how to observe weather. Energy causes change in matter and can itself be changed from one form to another. The earth’s natural resources include vital materials and many forms of energy. Living things use matter and energy to meet their basic survival needs. Human responsibility for the environment involves the conservation and wise use of energy and other natural resources. Many kinds of scientific inquiry involve the processes of observing and applying prior knowledge. The student learns how animals move and how we convert that movement energy to other things.

There are many types of communities in the United States and around the world. Students learn that the story of a country’s earliest communities reveals its history. Geography, natural resources, and climate helped communities grow rich in culture. People and government work together to make lives better for people in communities. Students learn how they can be a positive part of their community. People who know about government can be responsible citizens of their own community and country. The United States has always been a country of change and movement. Technology has changed transportation and communication. People are an important resource of our country. Many different jobs require people to work together.

Children will continue to build on their artistic abilities as they learn the history of each artist studied. Students will begin to build their art vocabulary as they continue to build on the skills learned. They will use the skills they have developed to make reproductions of the artist we study throughout the year. Students will begin to see God’s hand in the art world.

Students will learn about digital citizenship and how to stay safe on the internet. Students will work heavily in Typing Club to develop their keyboarding skills. Students will begin learning Google Platforms: Gmail, Google Drive, Google Sheets and Google Classroom. Students will be introduced to Scratch coding.

Students will learn that music is an important part of the lives of all people and cultures. From specific music selections students will focus on beat, tempo, meter, tone, chords, phrases, form, melody, and rhythm. Students will discover music through reading, singing, moving, listening, and playing instruments.

Third graders begin to demonstrate controlled movement through general space. Games and activities take on more organization; strategies and teamwork have greater emphasis than before. Skills such as catching, throwing, kicking, striking, and some volleying begin to develop. Rope jumping, relays, modified net games, balancing, and rhythm skills are improving. Sportsmanlike conduct and individual strengths are emphasized.

The topics covered include: Slippery Slope, What Causes Conflict, Consequences, Blame Game, Conflict as an Opportunity, Resolving Conflict, forgiveness, Altering Choices, Think Before you Speak, Communication, and Making a Respectful Appeal. These topics are covered in a 3-year rotation between grades 3–5.