Curriculum

English Language Arts

Goldwood ELA Statement 2023- 2024

Goldwood Primary is committed to a structured literacy model grounded in the Science of Reading. Our language arts program is direct, explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic. The five key concepts of reading include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. These components will be delivered via the following curricula:

• Heggerty 

• Fundations

• Wonders

Diagnostics are administered universally 3 times per year as well as formative and summative assessments completed in the classroom. These standards-based measures evaluate student knowledge which guide and tailor our instruction to best fit all students’ needs. 

Wonders Reading Series

• The Wonders program includes three stories a week for instruction. The stories are a combination of fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, poetry, realistic fiction and folktales.

• Our program includes whole group and small group reading instruction.

• Listening comprehension skills are worked on throughout the year via stories read by the teacher.

• Grammar instruction: nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns

• Comprehension skills: main idea, setting, characters, beginning, middle, end of a story, retelling the story, predicting

• Skills work: contractions, antonyms, homonyms, synonyms, decoding skills, reading with fluency and expression, making connections with the characters, finding text evidence to support answers

Fundations Phonics Series

• Your child will continue to “tap out” unfamiliar words using a variety of strategies.

• A parent letter will be sent home at the beginning of each unit that explains what phonics skills your child is learning so you can encourage using them at home.

• Our goal is to have your child transfer the skills learned in Fundations to “tap out” unknown words to his/her daily reading.

• At the beginning of the year our focus will be on correct formation of the letters on the lines with proper spacing between the letters and words in a sentence.

• As the year progresses students will be guided to write simple sentences and stories, short paragraphs with a topic sentence and supporting sentences that include correct capitalization and punctuation.

• Students will learn how to use graphic organizers to organize their ideas prior to writing so they have a frame of reference for writing.

• Students will be encouraged to share what they have written with their classmates.

• Students will write opinions, original stories, and informative paragraphs.

Math

• Our adopted program is Everyday Mathematics by McGraw-Hill.

• It is a very hands-on approach to learning math skills. Your child will be using real money, clocks, calculators, shape templates, attribute blocks, shape blocks, and flashcards as tools in math this year. Our first graders will be encouraged to look for patterns, especially on the 100 chart.

• Near the middle of September your child will begin bringing math homework called Home Links home, which will review skills introduced and practiced at school.  These assignments are optional and do not need to be returned to school.

• It is very important for children to learn the basic addition and subtraction facts to 12 by the end of the year. Please practice these skills at home several times a week. We will do the same at school.

Science

• Our adopted program is Exploring Science by National Geographic. The topics covered will include:

  • The Nature of Science - What questions, tools, skills do scientist use? Scientific method: investigate, ask questions, plan a test, do the test, record your results

  • Living Things and Their Environments - needs of living/non-living things, environments such as prairie, forest, desert, wetlands, ocean, swamp

  • Earth and Sky - Earth is made of land, water, soil, rocks, the sun is a star, and weather tools

  • Matter - solids, liquids, gases, how matter can change, mass and weight of objects

  • Movement - force, gravity, push, pull

Social Studies

• Our adopted program is myWorld Social Studies: Making Our Way by Pearson. The topics covered will include:

  • My School, My Community - citizenship, school community, community leaders, American symbols, laws

  • Work in the Community - needs, wants, goods, services, consumer, market, money, jobs

  • Looking at our World - directions, north, east, south, west, maps, globes, land forms, continents, oceans, taking care of earth, communication, transportation

  • Traditions We Share - culture, traditions, custom, celebrations, holidays, hero, president, colony, stories from the past, learning how people around the world celebrate their heritage

  • Our Past, Our Present - ways to measure time, past, present, future, primary and secondary sources, documents, explorers, life then and now

Health

Topics covered will include:

• Choosing Healthy Behaviors

• Preventing Communicable Diseases

• Preventing Common Childhood Injuries

• Seeking Healthcare - going to the doctor, dentist

• The Influence of Media on Healthy Habits