K-8 Curriculum

2023-2024: New supplementary lessons added to ELA Historical Fiction Unit.

Grade 4 Teachers will be using Number the Stars as the mentor text in the upcoming Historical Fiction unit (Mid March-April). To support contextual understanding of the setting and plot, teachers will build background knowledge about WWII. To learn more about these lessons, please review the district's Number the Stars Parent Video and Number the Stars Resources that teachers will be using.

In English Language Arts, instruction begins with revisiting the reader’s and writer’s workshop and a character analysis of the personal narrative. Moving forward, students learn about research for informational writing and tapping the power of nonfiction. The year ends with a study of the literary essay, book clubs, and a unit on comparing and contrasting characters across genres.

In Math, instructional time will focus on four critical areas: (1) connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems; (2) completing understanding of division of fractions and extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, which includes negative numbers; (3) writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations; and (4) developing an understanding of statistical thinking.

In Science each year, students should be able to demonstrate greater capacity for connecting knowledge across, and between, the physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering design. During grades 6–8, your child will begin to form deeper connections between concepts previously learned in grades K–5, such as collecting evidence and drawing conclusions, understanding relationships between objects, and critical thinking that leads to designing effective solutions for problems.  

In Social Studies, students begin the study of regional history with an in-depth investigation of East Asia and Europe, and ends with a study of the Americas (Middle America, South America, and the Caribbean). 

In ESOL, students are organized into courses by their English proficiency level.  Levels 1, 2 and 3 are offered to beginners, intermediate and advanced multilingual learners respectively in order to help them acquire academic and communicative competency in English.  Students are given frequent opportunities to interact with the English language in the four language domains, including reading, writing, listening and speaking. 

In World Language, students build their skills in the four language domains of reading, writing, listening and speaking in order to acquire oral and literacy proficiency in Spanish or French. World Language is its own academic course in middle school that prepares students to eventually fulfill high school graduation requirements in this subject area.

In Music, students continue to have the option between orchestra, band, choir and core music.  It is highly encouraged for students to continue on with their instrument from elementary school, but there are additional opportunities for new students to begin an instrument in middle school. Core music is an elective, and provided to students who are interested in having an all encompassing experience where skills are developed and applied to various instruments, including guitar, piano and ukulele. 

In Visual Arts, students continue their experience creating 3D and 2D artwork through various art forms and media.  Art is also an elective area that focuses on bringing student ideas and thoughts to various media landscapes to allow students to express themselves and their creativity uniquely. 

In English Language Arts, students begin the year with an investigation of character through an author study combined with a unit on writing realistic fiction through symbolism, syntax, and truth. They continue their instruction with an intense unit on essential skills necessary for research and investigative journalism.  Students also have an opportunity to study poetry through an investigation of contemporary and classical poets.

In Math, instructional time will focus on four critical areas: (1) developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships; (2) developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations; (3) solving problems involving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions, and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume; and (4) drawing inferences about populations based on samples.

In Science each year, students should be able to demonstrate greater capacity for connecting knowledge across, and between, the physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering design. During grades 6–8, your child will begin to form deeper connections between concepts previously learned in grades K–5, such as collecting evidence and drawing conclusions, understanding relationships between objects, and critical thinking that leads to designing effective solutions for problems.  

In Social Studies, students begin the year with a study of subcontinental Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan). They continue their international investigation with units on the Middle East and North Africa. The years ends with a unit on Sub-Saharan Africa.

In ESOL, students are organized into courses by their English proficiency level.  Levels 1, 2 and 3 are offered to beginners, intermediate and advanced multilingual learners respectively in order to help them acquire academic and communicative competency in English.  Students are given frequent opportunities to interact with the English language in the four language domains, including reading, writing, listening and speaking. 

In World Language, students build their skills in the four language domains of reading, writing, listening and speaking in order to acquire oral and literacy proficiency in Spanish or French. World Language is its own academic course in middle school that prepares students to eventually fulfill high school graduation requirements in this subject area.

In Music, students continue to have the option between orchestra, band, choir and core music.  It is highly encouraged for students to continue on with their instrument from elementary school, but there are additional opportunities for new students to begin an instrument in middle school. Core music is an elective, and provided to students who are interested in having an all encompassing experience where skills are developed and applied to various instruments, including guitar, piano and ukulele. 

In Visual Arts, students continue their experience creating 3D and 2D artwork through various art forms and media.  Art is also an elective area that focuses on bringing student ideas and thoughts to various media landscapes to allow students to express themselves and their creativity uniquely. 

In English Language Arts, students have the ability to choose genres for a more in-depth study. They work through memoirs, argumentative reading and writing, and critical nonfiction. They write position papers based on nonfiction research and work in book clubs around historical fiction and the literary essay. During the later units, students work on their Capstone project by using skills learned during the informational writing and research for journalism units. Finally, students end the year with a unit on dystopian literature and creative writing. 

In Math instructional time will focus on three critical areas: (1) formulating and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with a linear equation, and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations; (2) grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships; (3) analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem.

In Science each year, students should be able to demonstrate greater capacity for connecting knowledge across, and between, the physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering design. During grades 6–8, your child will begin to form deeper connections between concepts previously learned in grades K–5, such as collecting evidence and drawing conclusions, understanding relationships between objects, and critical thinking that leads to designing effective solutions for problems.

In Social Studies, students begin the year by revisiting Revolutionary America. They build upon the post-Revolutionary time period with a study of the United States Constitution, Expansion of the Early Republic, Slavery, Sectionalism, and the Civil War, and end the year studying Reconstruction.

In ESOL, students are organized into courses by their English proficiency level.  Levels 1, 2 and 3 are offered to beginners, intermediate and advanced multilingual learners respectively in order to help them acquire academic and communicative competency in English.  Students are given frequent opportunities to interact with the English language in the four language domains, including reading, writing, listening and speaking. 

In World Language, students build their skills in the four language domains of reading, writing, listening and speaking in order to acquire oral and literacy proficiency in Spanish or French. World Language is its own academic course in middle school that prepares students to eventually fulfill high school graduation requirements in this subject area.

In Music, students continue to have the option between orchestra, band, choir and core music.  It is highly encouraged for students to continue on with their instrument from elementary school, but there are additional opportunities for new students to begin an instrument in middle school. Core music is an elective, and provided to students who are interested in having an all encompassing experience where skills are developed and applied to various instruments, including guitar, piano and ukulele. 

In Visual Arts, students continue their experience creating 3D and 2D artwork through various art forms and media.  Art is also an elective area that focuses on bringing student ideas and thoughts to various media landscapes to allow students to express themselves and their creativity uniquely.