Elementary Curriculum

Reading/Language Arts

Benchmark Literacy continues to be our primary curriculum resource, although we recognize there are some gaps and outdated material. We are already filling some gaps that with the purchase of read alouds, classroom libraries, Newsela, the Responsive Toolkit, Decodable Readers, and Heggerty phonemic awareness in kindergarten. We are beginning the process of a new ELA resource adoption. In the 2023-2024 school year, the Elementary ELA learning cohort will be piloting and evaluating options from the list that will be released by MDE in January 2024. While this group will be the primary piloters, there will be other opportunities to review the resources and share your feedback. The timeline is subject to change, but at this point, we hope for a soft roll-out in 2024-2025 and a full roll-out in 2025-2026 using the new resource to address the new ELA standards.    

Math

MyMath continues to be our primary curriculum resource. The MN Math standards are in the beginning stages of revision. Additionally, we have compiled a summary of other math resources to meet additional needs. We also endorse the practices that are laid out in Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahl. In 2023-2024 there will be a professional learning cohort dedicated to implementing these practices.   

Science 

Interactive Science was our former science curriculum that went out of print. Mystery Science was first purchased in 2021 in response to distance learning and the need for a science resource that could be better shared in a virtual environment. While Mystery Science has engaging and standards-aligned content, it was not comprehensive enough to meet the full needs of a core science curriculum. In 2023-2024, we are beginning an exciting journey towards adopting Project Lead the Way as our core science curriculum. For this first year, STEM&M teachers will begin teaching the modules and aligning the new standards' scope and sequence. They will be determining which of the new science standards they can cover fully with their STEM&M modules and choosing classroom modules based on the remaining standards. We welcome teachers to join this process in the PLTW professional learning cohort, but it is not yet required for teachers to use. Teachers can use what remains of the Interactive Science curriculum and access what is available as free content in Mystery Science.

Social Studies

Our current Social Studies' curriculum is Studies Weekly which comes as packs of physical weekly newspapers along with digital editions and resources. Teachers may use either version. During our contract period, we will always get a new shipment of newspapers every year. These can be sent home with students after use in class. 

Social Emotional

Second Step is our core social-emotional curriculum resource. The expectation is that teachers teach at least one 20 minute lesson each week. Of course the learning from these lessons can be woven into other times throughout the day/week/year.