Curriculum

RESPONSIVE CLASSROOM

The Responsive Classroom approach was developed by the Northeast Foundation for Children. This approach to teaching and learning is informed by the belief in seven basic tenets:

The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.
How children learn is as important as what children learn.
The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
There is a set of social skills that children need to learn and practice in order to be successful. they form the acronym CARES - cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, self-control.
We must know our children individually, culturally, and developmentally.
Knowing the families of the children we teach is as important as knowing the children.
Teachers and administrators must model the social and academic skills that they wish to teach their students.

The Responsive Classroom approach fosters safe, challenging, and joyful elementary schools. Developed by classroom teachers, this approach consists of practical strategies for bringing together social and academic learning throughout the school day. The practices provide an instructional delivery system that promotes engaged learning for all children and builds friendly, supportive communities within the classrooms and the schools.

MATH - eNVISIONS

Topic 1- Solve Addition and Subtraction Problems to 10

Topic 2- Fluency Add and Subtract Within 10

Topic 3- Addition Facts to 20: Use Strategies

Topic 4 - Subtraction Facts to 20: Use Strategies

Topic 5: Work with Addition and Subtraction Equations

Topic 6: Represent and Interpret Data

Topic 7: Extend the Counting Sequence

Topic 8: Understand Place Value

Topic 9: Compare Two-Digit Numbers

Topic 10: Use Models and Strategies to Add Tens and Ones

Topic 11: Use Models and Strategies to Subtract Tens

Topic 12: Measure Lengths

Topic 13: Time

Topic 14: Reason with Shapes and Their Attributes

Topic 15: Equal Shares of Circles and Rectangles

LANGUAGE ARTS

Strategy Instruction - Readers use strategies to help them comprehend what they read. These are the strategies that we will focus on this year:

1. Making Connections - (text to text, text to self, and text to world) Readers pay more attention when they relate to the text. Readers naturally bring their prior knowledge and experience to reading, but they comprehend better when they think about the connections they make between the text, their lives and the larger world.

2. Asking Questions - Questioning is the strategy that keeps readers engaged. When readers ask questions, they clarify understanding and make meaning. Asking questions is at the heart of thoughtful reading.

3. Visualizing - Active readers create visual images in their minds based on wordsthey read in text. The pictures they create enhance their understanding.

4. Drawing Inferences - Infererring is a the intersection of taking what is known, garnering clues from the text, and thinking ahead to make judgement, discern a theme, or speculate about what is to come.

5. Determining Important Ideas - Thoughtful readers grasp essential ideas and important information when reading. Readers must differentiate between less important ideas and key ideas that are central to the meaning.

6. Synthesizing Information - Synthesizing involves combining new information with existing knowledge to form an original idea or interpretation. Reviewing, sorting, and sifting important information can lead to new insights that change the way readers think.

7. Repair Understanding - If confusion disrupts meaning, readers need to stop and clarify their understanding. Readers may use a variety of strategies to "fix up" comprehension when meaning goes awry.

Fluency: We will focus on attending to punctuation, using expression / inflection, using appropriate phrasing, reading smoothly, and maintaining appropriate pace while reading.

SCIENCE

Weather - students will be observing and recording weather throughout the year, focusing on wind speed, cloud cover, temperature and precipitation.

Concepts taught:

weather changes from day to day and week to week
features of weather include cloud cover, precipitation, wind and temperature
tools used to measure different features of weather include wind scales, thermometers and rain gauges
meteorologists are scientists who study, observe, and record information about the weather and who use that information to forecast the weather
weather affects decisions people make about the clothing they will wear and about their outside activities

Organisms - students will be observing and planting organisms.

Concepts taught:

we use our senses to observe the weather around us
organisms have basic needs, such s food, water, air, space, shelter
each type of organism has specific needs, such as type of food, amount of water, amount of light, amount of space, and type of shelter
there is s wide diversity of living things on earth
organisms grow, change and die over time
some plants grow from seeds, the roots grow first and then the stem
plants and animals have similarities (basic needs, ability to grow and change, death) and differences
humans are similar to other organisms (humans have basic needs and grow, change and die)

100 BOOK CHALLENGE

FUN - FAST - EASY

The children should read the books that they bring home every night. They may seem "easy" for your child. We are promoting fluency with this program. Also, we are trying to build a lifelong reading habit. Your child will be reading books at school at their "instructional level" which is more difficult for them while in school. If your child wishes to read other books for 100 Book Challenge, they may. However, please guide them to choose books at their "independent level" (where they read smoothly and easily without having to sound out often or use other word attack strategies). This will support the goal of the 100 Book Challenge program. Our goal is not actually 100 books, but rather 100 sessions of reading lasting 15 minutes each. They should reach their goal of 100 "steps" each marking period.

Thank you in advance for all of your help! HAVE FUN :)

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