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
· Wit and Wisdom
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.
This is a program of daily explicit and systematic phonemic awareness lessons.
Skills practiced include rhyme, phoneme (sound) isolation, blending, segmenting, and manipulation.
Each lesson is 8-12 minutes in length, and it is a great warm up for phonics instruction.
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.
We will be working on "trick words" in Fundations to help build reading fluency. These are words that cannot always be sounded out. Students will be responsible for learning these trick words each quarter.
Wit & Wisdom is a knowledge-based curriculum that centers on the study of interesting topics using engaging texts.
Students will build rich layers of knowledge throughout four modules:
A World of Books
Creature Features
Powerful Forces
Cinderella Stories
This program includes whole group lessons to build content and vocabulary knowledge while integrating comprehension, grammar, and writing skills.
There is a thoughtful balance of literary, informational, fine-art, and multimedia texts.
Geodes will be used for small group reading instruction. These connect with the phonics instruction students are receiving in Fundations, as well as the topics being covered in Wit & Wisdom.
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 be taught how to plan 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 narrative, informational, and opinion pieces on topics they have been learning about within our Wit & Wisdom curriculum.
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. This is optional at-home practice and may be returned to school if you wish.
It is very important for children to learn the basic addition and subtraction facts to 10 (or higher) by the end of the year, as well as being able to explain their strategy for adding or subtracting.
Our adopted program is Exploring Science by National Geographic. The topics covered will include:
The Nature of Science - What questions, tools, skills do scientists 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, how living things interact with their environment
Matter - solids and liquids, how matter can change
Motion - paths of motion, push, pull, speed/direction of objects in motion
The Sun, Energy, and Weather - sun provides energy, materials absorb/reflect sunlight, heating of objects, change in temperature due to sun
Water on the Earth - types of water found on Earth, water can affect land (erosion)
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
Topics covered will include:
Choosing Healthy Behaviors
Preventing Communicable Diseases
Preventing Common Childhood Injuries
Seeking Healthcare - going to the doctor, dentist
The Influence of Family and School on Healthy Habits
The Influence of Media on Healthy Habits