What is a Curriculum?

A Curriculum is the subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college. They are the classes that you take every day in school. Every curriculum is composed of Core classes, (English, Math, Science, Soc. St), Special Area classes, (Art, Music, Tech Ed), and Extra Curricular classes. (Encore).

Why do we follow a Curriculum?

The fundamental purpose of curriculum development is to ensure that students receive integrated, coherent learning experiences that contribute towards their personal, academic and professional learning and development.

Vocabulary Terms

Curriculum: A comprehensive plan of study that outlines what students will learn, including subjects, goals, and teaching methods.
Program of Study: A structured roadmap showing all available courses and educational pathways students can take during their time at school.
Course Description: A detailed explanation of what a class will cover, including topics, skills, and learning objectives.
Core Courses: Required classes that all students must take, such as Math, English, Science, and Social Studies.
Elective: Optional courses that allow students to explore personal interests beyond required subjects.
Prerequisites: Requirements or previous courses that students must complete before enrolling in an advanced class.
Learning Objectives: Specific goals that describe what students should know or be able to do after completing a course.

Graduation Requirements: The courses, credits, and standards students must fulfill to advance to the next level or graduate.
Scope and Sequence: An organized plan that shows what will be taught and in what order throughout the school year or program.
Instructional Materials: Resources, tools, and supplies needed to teach a course effectively.
Assessment: Methods used to measure student learning and understanding, such as tests, projects, or presentations.
Standards: Educational benchmarks or expectations that define what students should learn at each grade level.
Interdisciplinary: An approach that connects multiple subjects or disciplines in learning experiences.
Course Sequence: The order in which courses should be taken to build knowledge progressively.

New Milford Program of Studies

Program of Studies 2024-2025

Design Your SMS 2.0 Curriculum

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Examples of Course Descriptions

World History

This course includes the study of social, political, economic, and religious systems of ancient Western cultures, with an emphasis on the relationship of ancient developments to the present-day. The incorporation of numerous forms of visual aids to illustrate the locations and characteristics of these early civilizations is an important component of this course. Students will experience vocabulary instruction, practice of literacy strategies, and collaborative inquiry, as well as research experiences.

Computer Keyboarding and Applications

This required seventh grade course is designed as an introduction to keyboarding and computer applications. The development of proper keyboarding skills (touch typing) is stressed. The Microsoft Office Suite programs; Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will be used to prepare letters, memos, reports, charts, graphs, and presentations. In addition to the Internet Safety Unit, the students will create an iMovie or a video podcast as a course requirement.

Music

All seventh grade students are required to continue exploring elements and concepts of music. Topics in seventh grade music class include learning how to listen for and describe musical elements and various music styles using an informed vocabulary; learning to recognize relationships between music, other art forms, and culture; learning to read and compose music using conventional rhythmic and pitch notation; and performing basic music compositions using keyboards, singing voices, and percussion instruments.

Middle School Orchestra

Students may elect to continue developing their string instrumental technique, ensemble skills, and music literacy skills through rehearsing and performing a wide variety of musical styles in Middle School Orchestra. Students in this fully balanced string ensemble rehearse three times per cycle during the school day to prepare for two or three concerts during the school year. The director will assess each student’s performance and skill development in rehearsal and in concerts for a letter grade. All students are required to participate in all performance opportunities. Select students in each orchestra may be invited to participate in a smaller chamber ensemble at the director’s discretion.

MATHEMATICS 7: GRADES 7-8

This one-year course is designed to focus on four critical areas:

developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships;
developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations;
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
drawing inferences about populations based on samples.

Instructional practices incorporate integration of diversity awareness including appreciation of all cultures and their important contributions to society. The use of manipulatives, mathematical tools, and technology, including calculators and computer software, is an integral part of this course. This course fulfills the mathematics requirement for seventh-grade students.

ENGLISH 8: GRADES 8

This one-year course emphasizes the development of critical reading and writing skills. A variety of literature and informational text of steadily increasing sophistication is used. Through close reading, careful writing, class discussions, and presentations, students deepen their ability to independently write, analyze, evaluate, and critique text. Students demonstrate increasing sophistication in all aspects of language use. Students actively seek to understand other perspectives and cultures through reading and listening. Technology is used thoughtfully to enhance reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use. This course fulfills the eighth-grade English requirement.

Assignment

Directions

In this project, you will identify a series of new courses that you would like to see at SMS 2.0. For each course, identify the key skills that will be taught to complete the course. Each course will include a list of materials needed for the session to run.

Create Your New Curriculum

Create a curriculum of 4 classes that you wish to see taught in SMS 2.0.
- 1A: On your Google Doc, write 5-7 subjects that you would like to see offered at SMS 2.0
- 1B: Using Inner Bullet Points, list 4-5 topics that each course might offer.
- 1C: Use those subjects and course ideas to create a course description.
- Each class must include a Name and Course Description that is similar to the examples listed above.
  - Sentence 1: Who is the course designed for?
  - Sentence 2-3: What will happen during class?
  - Sentence 4: What will happen at the end of the course?

Example: Horseback Riding

Horseback Riding is a course for 8th grade students who have already completed “Basic Animal Care” in grades 6 or 7. In this course, students will learn how to feed, prepare, and ride a horse both western and english style. At the end of the course, students will be given the opportunity to act as a tour guide around Norwalk, or enter a horseback riding competition.

SMS 2.0 Program of Studies Template