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American International School - Chennai

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Elementary School Curriculum Guide 2015 - 2016

Elementary School Curriculum Guide

2015 - 2016


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION:

Pre-School Initiative and Social Development 12

Creative Development 12

Language & Literacy 12

Math & Logic 12

Science 12

Music & Movement 13

COURSES OF STUDY (KG – G.2)Literacy 13

Reading 13

Reading Units 13

Kindergarten: Units 1 - 6We are Readers 14

Emergent Storybooks & Shared Text 14

Reading Super Powers 15

Becoming A Class of Reading Teachers 15

Learning About Ourselves and Our World 16

Focus On Characters and Year Review 16

Grade 1: Units 1 - 6Reading Workshop: Readers Build Good Habits 17

Tackling Trouble 17

Learning From Non-Fiction Texts 17

Poetry 18

We Can Be Our Own Teachers 18

Meeting Characters 18

Grade 2: Units 1 - 5Launching The Reading Workshop And Taking Charge of Reading 18

Characters Face Bigger Challenges (Check the Unit) 19

Series Reading and Cross Genre Reading Clubs 19


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Grade 3: Units 1 – 6Launching the Reading Workshop: Building a Reading Life 20

Following Characters into Meaning 21

Non-Fiction Reading: Expository Texts 21

Biography Book Clubs 22

Poetry 22

Traditional Literature (fairy tales, folk tales & fables) 22

Grade 4: Units 1 - 5 Launching the Reading Workshop 22

Following Characters into Meaning 22

Navigating Nonfiction 22

Tackling Complex Text: Historical Fiction Book Clubs 23

Poetry 23

Grade 5: Units 1 – 5 Launching the Reading Workshop 23

Following Characters Into Meaning 23

Navigating Non-Fiction 24

Historical Fiction Book Clubs 24

Social Issue Book Clubs 25

WRITING, WORD STUDY, LISTENING & SPEAKING: Work Studty 25

Kindergarten: Units 1 – 5Launching the Writing Work-shop 26

Writing for Readers 26

How-to Books: Writing to Teach Each Other 26

Persuasive Writing Of All Kinds: Using Words To Make a Change 27

Grade 1: Units 1 – 4Small Moments: Writing with Focus, Detail, and Dialogue 27

Non-Fiction Chapter Books 27

Writing Reviews 27

From Scenes to Series 28


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Grade 2: Units 1 – 5Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Craft 28

Non-fiction Writing 28

Writing Gripping Fictional Stories with Meaning and Significance 28

Writing About Reading 29

Poetry 29

Grade 3: Units 1 – 5Crafting True Stories 29

The Art of Information Writing 30

Changing the World: Persuasive Speeches, Petitions and Editorials 30

Once Upon A Time: Adapting & Writing Fairy Tales 30

Poetry 30

Grade 4: Units 1 – 4The Arc of Story: Writing Realistic Fiction 30

Boxes and Bullets: Personal & Persuasive Essay 31

Bringing History to Life 31

The Literary Essay: Writing About Fiction 31

Grade 5: Units 1 – 4Narrative Craft 32

The Lens of History: The Research Report 32

Shaping Texts: From Essay to Narrative to Memoir 32

The Research Based Argument Essay 32

MATHEMATICS: Kindergarten Units 1 – 6Sophisticated Shapes (Geometry) 34

Counting with Friends (Counting & Cardinality) 34

Comparing Numbers 34

Measurement 35

Investigating Addition and Subtraction 35

Further Investigation of Addition and Subtraction 35

Grade 1: Units 1 – 6Creating Routines Using Data 35

Developing Base Ten Number Sense 36


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Understanding Shapes and Fractions 36

Sorting, Comparing and Ordering 37

Operations and Algebraic Thinking 37

Understanding Place Value 37

Grade 2: Units 1 – 6Extending Base Ten Understanding 38

Becoming Fluent with Addition and Subtraction 38

Understanding Measurement, Length and Time 38

Applying Base Ten Understanding 39

Understanding Plane and Solid Figures 39

Developing Multiplication 40

Grade 3: Units 1 – 6Numbers and Operations In Base Ten 40

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: The Relationship Between Multiplication and Division 40

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Patterns In Multiplication and Division 41

Geometry 41

Representing and Comparing Fractions 42

Measurement 42

Grade 4: Units 1 – 7Whole Numbers, Place Value and Rounding in Computation 43

Multiplication and Division of Whole Numbers 43

Fraction Equivalents 43

Operation with Fractions 43

Fractions and Decimals 44

Geometry 44

Measurement 45

Grade 5: Units 1 – 7 Order of Operations and Whole Numbers and Whole Numbers and Decimals 45

Decimals 45

Multiplying and Dividing with Decimals 46

Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying and Dividing Fractions 46


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Geometry and the Coordinated Plane 46

Figures 47

Measurements and Volumes 47

SCIENCE Kindergarten Units 1 – 4 The Five Senses 47

Seasons and Weather 47

Plants and Animals 48

Materials: Sink and Float 48

Grade 1: Units 1 & 2 Earth Materials 48

Animals 48

Grade 2: Units 1 – 3 Balance and Motion 48

Living Organisms 49

Properties of Matter 49

Grade 3: Units 1 - 3Water 49

Earth Materials 49

Rain Forests 50

Grade 4: Units 1 – 3Magnetism and Electricity 50

Solar Energy 50

The Solar System 50

Grade 5: Units 1 – 4Mixture and Solutions 50

Physics of Sound 51

Levers and Pulleys 51

Living Systems 52

SOCIAL STUDIES: Kindergarten Units 1 – 3All About Me 52


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All About Me and My World 52

Taking Care of the Environment 52

Grade 1: Units 1 Community 53

Grade 2: Units 1 – 2Responsive Classroom: Building a Community 53

Migration and Change 53

Coconut Connections: Natural Resources 54

Grade 3: Units 1 – 3Map Skills 54

Rights of a Child/ UN Day 54

Living in Contrasting Environments 54

Ancient Greece 55

Grade 4: Units 1 – 4 The Geography of South Asia 55

The Culture of South Asia 55

The Ancient Indus Valley 55

Water as a Human Right 55

Grade 5: Units 1 – 3Explorers 55

Colonization 56

Democracy 56

ART (K-5) Kindergarten:Colour Wheel Concepts 57

Winter Concept Props 57

India Week Art Project 57

Pointillism 57

Paper Collage 57

Mother’s Day Art Project 57

Abstract Paper Cutouts 58


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Origami 58

Clay Project 58

Grade 1Elements of Art 58

Peace Day Ribbons 58

Gustav klint Patterned Quilt 58

Diwali Art Project 58

Winter Concert Props 58

Landscapes, Countryscapes, Seascapes, and Cityscapes 58

Salvador Dali Surrealism 58

Repousse-Reptiles 59

Origami 59

Clay Project 59

Grade 2Jackson Pollack Splattering Technique 59

Diwali Craft Project 59

Winter Concert Props 59

India Week Art Project 59

Tech Art Activity 59

3D Bats 60

Pop Art 60

Paper Mache Tribal Art 60

Clay Project 60

Grade 3 Henri Matisse Name Collage 60

Ceramic Pinch and Pull Animal Sculpture 60

Falling Down Drawing 60

Oil Pastel Self Portrait 60

Ceramic Face Portrait 60

Stuffed Paper Fish Sculpture 60

Chalk Pastel of Tiger 60

Greek Vase Drawing 60

Ceramic Coil Pots 60


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Panama Rain Forest Cut Paper Mola 60

Characters in a Room Drawing 61

Grade 4Batik 61

Dynamic Name Collage 61

Whimsical Fish 61

Van Gogh Landscape 61

Andy Warhol Style Self Portrait 61

Indus Valley Metal Embossing 61

One Point Perspective City Drawing 61

Stencil/ Relief Print 61

Japanese Calligraphy 61

Bankura Style Ceramic Animal 61

Surreal Photo Collage 61

Figure Collage 61

Grade 5Symmetrical Alien Drawing 61

Still Life Drawing and Painting 62

Graphic Design On Computer 62

Madalas 62

Smoking Dragon Sculpture 62

Two-point perspective City Drawing 62

Repeating design lino-print 62

Madhubani drawing 62

Coil Pot 62

Paper Mache Masks 62

PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Lower Elementary: (Grades K-2)Unit Description: Orientation and Basic Assessment 63

Basketball 63

Scoop and Ball 63

Frisbee 63

Aquatics 63

Wall Climbing 63


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Jump Rope Activities 63

Bowling 63

Soccer 63

Cup Stacking 64

Ladder Activities 64

Kickball 64

Handball 64

Throwball 64

Upper Elementary: (Grades 3 – 5)European Handball 64

Soccer 64

Aquatics 1 64

Basket ball 64

Frisbee 65

Aquatics 2 65

Table Tennis 65

Cricket 65

Hockey 65

Doge Ball 65

Kick Ball & Base Ball 65

Aquatics 3 65

WORLD LANGUAGES OFFERED:FRENCH AND SPANISH 65

Grade 3 French & Novice 66

Grade 4 & 5 French or Spanish Level 1A 66

Grade 5 French or Spanish Novice 66

INDIAN STUDIES (K – 5) 66

MUSIC 67


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IntroductionStudents learn in a variety of environments—in their homes, schools and communities. Parents and teachers form a partnership to assist this learning. When parents know what children are studying at school, they can provide better home support for their children’s learning. This Elementary School Curriculum Handbook is designed to assist parents in participating in their child’s education by fostering an understanding of what students learn at each grade level.

Pre-School ( 3 and 4 year olds)The AISC preschool program places special importance on six major learning domains: (1) initiative and social development (2) creative representation (3) language and literacy (4) math and logic (5) science and (6) music and movement.

Initiative and Social Development

In this domain, children:

• share, take turns, help others, make friends

• work, play cooperatively with others and independently

• recognize differences and similarities

• show awareness, respond to feelings of others

• practice negotiation/conflict resolution/ problem solving

• develop a positive self image

Creative Representation


• explore art materials

• create illustration

• role play

Language and Literacy

In this domain, children focus on:

• comprehension: understanding language structure

• speaking- expression through language

• vocabulary: children understand and use a variety of words and phrases.

• phonological awareness: identify distinct sounds in spoken language

Math and Logic

In this domain, children study:

• Classification-identifying similarities and differences

• Shapes-2 dimensional and 3 dimensional

• Space-positions, distance, direction, fitting, people, places, spatial relations in drawings etc.

• Time-sequencing events

• Number and number operations- identification of numbers, counting, adding up and how many are left

• Measurement

• Data analysis: gathering information and draw conclusions

Science

In this domain, children study:

• the five senses

• weather patterns

• life science- living things, life of a butterfly

• physical science-Watch what happens

• personal perspectives- eating healthy food


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Music and Movement


• move to music

• develop melody

• sing songs

• move in loco-motor and non-loco motor ways

• moving with objects

• respond to movement directions

• respond to movement directions presented visually

• Move in sequences to a common beat

Kindergarten-Grade 5 Courses of Study

Literacy

The goal of the American International School Chennai’s literacy program is to ensure that all students become proficient and critical readers and writers who continue to use these skills throughout their lives. To achieve this goal, literacy instruction is based on a comprehensive, balanced approach in which reading, writing, speaking and listening enable students to develop skills and understandings that will serve them in all academic areas. Teachers use ongoing formative and summative assessments to inform their instruction and to respond to each students’ learning needs. In support of best practices, teachers dedicate extended periods of time for reading and writing instruction.

Reading

Reading workshop at AISC is focused on developing life-long readers and highly engaged, critical thinkers. Leveled classroom libraries and a teacher resource

center allow teachers to immerse students in high-interest literature and design instruction for all reading levels. A major goal is for students to read independently, identifying and selecting ‘just right’ books at their level. The reading workshop teaches a repertoire of thinking strategies that help the students to understand texts more deeply and critically. Students are taught to go beyond the literal meaning; to question, infer, interpret, and evaluate what they read.

Reading instruction is primarily student-centered, following best practice. Teachers begin reading time with a brief, whole-class mini-lesson, followed by data-driven independent and small group work. These are the various ways in which teachers engage students during the literacy block:

• Whole Class Learning: Shared Reading, Interactive Read Aloud, and Focused Mini-Lessons

• Small Group Learning: Guided Reading, Book Clubs, and Strategy Lessons

• Individual Learning: Independent reading of Just Right Books and Reading Conferences

Reading Units

Our Reading units are based on the reading work of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Program at Columbia University and aligned with Common Core State Standards.


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Kindergarten:

Unit 1: We are Readers

Unit Description:

There is no beginning of a school year like the beginning of kindergarten. In every other grade, teachers welcome their students back to the world of school. In kindergarten, they welcome children to the world of school. The first day of kindergarten is many kids’ first day of school ever, and first impressions matter. The biggest goal of this first unit is that children develop confidence that they are readers. By the time the unit is over, each child should be saying, “Yes, I am a reader!” There are lots of ways to help children develop this confidence, and one, certainly, is to be sure that by the end of the unit, children will have a handful (if not an armload) of books they can “read.” They’ll have books they call their favorites, an author or two whom they love, and they’ll feel that one of the really fun things to do with a friend is to look together at a gory insect book, or to laugh together at a story about a silly puppy’s antics. The Common Core State Standards expect even the youngest readers to read emergent reader texts with purpose and understanding. To that end, this unit is designed to induct kids into a reading workshop and to help them dive into lots of different kinds of books and begin to develop their identities as readers.

In this first unit of study, kindergartners take their first few steps into the world of reading. Some will come to school reading and others will pick up books for the first time. They will learn to “read” the pictures closely in texts, deciding whether a book is informational, in which they will approximate the facts on the page, or whether it is a story that is to be told as they approximate reading across pages. Across the first three units of kindergarten, reading

workshop is structured in a way that exposes children to many balanced literacy components. This structure gives children an opportunity for repeated practice and to be immersed in reading and literature. For young readers, many, brief experiences in shared reading, interactive writing, shared writing, reading workshop, and read aloud provide a breadth of literacy experiences in the first few weeks of kindergarten, laying the groundwork for future reading.

Unit 2: Emergent Storybooks and Shared Texts

Unit Description:

Before kids can read conventionally, they can talk. Kids can build the foundations for reading by reading and talking about stories over and over again. This unit has been influenced by and is largely based on the work of Elizabeth Sulzby, from the University of Michigan and the Kindergarten Literacy Program—and is also closely aligned with the Common Core State Standards for Reading. Studies by Sulzby and her colleagues have shown that when emergent readers have many opportunities to read familiar emergent storybooks (‘star books’) on their own, they establish a strong sense of how to make meaning from books. The Common Core State Standards expect that by the year’s end, kindergartners will be able to read emergent-reader texts with intent and understanding, ask and answer questions about key details in a text, retell familiar stories, and identify key components in a story. During this emergent storybook unit, children will independently read books that have been read to them more than once. As in the previous unit, the students will read one ‘star book’ and then another and then another in one reading workshop. Children’s storytellings will grow and develop in four areas. Through repeated reading, students will begin to read a book with the


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story formed more and more completely. They will use the pictures more and more effectively. Kids will read with more and more book language. And finally, ‘star book’ work will lead to an increased attention to the actual words on the page.

Unit 3: Reading Super Powers

Unit Description:

This is the time of year when reading workshop in kindergarten comes alive. All of a sudden, readers are highly engaged with books and reading time runs smoothly on a consistent basis. Children are talking with one another about books much more easily, and they look forward to reading time every day. Partnerships work with a hum rather than in spurts and starts and conferences and small groups are up and running. Now that kindergartners have become readers, it is time for new, big reading work. The purpose for this unit is to teach children to use multiple sources of information—meaning, syntax, and visual—in order to read conventionally. The overarching plan of the unit is to teach children that they can do the same work they have been doing in emergent story books and shared reading, meanwhile, placing a greater emphasis on looking at the print and developing the concept of one-to-one matching.

This unit is known as the “super-powers unit” because children learn LOTS of ways to think about what the words might say and how a book might go. By teaching children a variety of strategies and processes for attending to the print, noticing and thinking about the illustrations, and then checking their reading, their Depth of Knowledge (DOK) work will be extended. Hovering over students, waiting for them to make mistakes, pointing out those mistakes immediately and then jumping in to help—asking them to simply apply a given strategy when prompted—keeps them at a DOK Level

1. Instead, children will develop “self-extending systems” (a term coined by Marie Clay) that allow them to recognize their challenges, choose from and try a variety of strategies, or super powers, and then check their reading independently. This constitutes much higher—DOK Level 3—work. In addition, as students gather information from three sources, meaning, syntax, and, visual, and put this information together, they will be able to figure out any tricky words. This high-level process of gathering information and then synthesizing it to read with accuracy is DOK Level 3 as well.

Unit 4: Becoming a Class of Reading Teachers

Unit Description:

A new year is a time for new beginnings. In this unit the new beginning has a lot to do with new found independence. This month, most—if not all—of students will be moving from rereading class shared reading and interactive writing texts, to reading fresh new books on their own. As they hold these new books in their hands, they will need to draw on all of the strategies they’ve learned up to now to help them read with accuracy. Since students will need to carry forward the reading strategies that they worked on in the previous unit, it makes sense to uphold the metaphor from unit three of super heroes using their superpowers. Small groups and conferences will provide important opportunities to introduce new texts to children and get them started reading more and more “just right” books independently. Reading books for the first time, on their own, applying strategies and working through difficulty is indeed the work of super readers!

By this point of the year instruction will become even more individualized and based on data from informal assessments. Students will meet and work in small groups and partnerships for instruction


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based on their needs. This will continue throughout the unit, with changes to groups and instruction made as needed.

Unit 5: Learning About Ourselves and Our World

Unit Description:

When children enter kindergarten, they are just beginning to explore the wideness of the world, to see that there are wonders much bigger than their own inventions. It’s thrilling to watch a five-year-old ask how a rainbow is made or where air comes from, and listen, rapt, to our answers. But, with those questions comes a big responsibility.This unit is designed to pique our little learners’ curiosities, giving them experiences that will foster this beyond-the-horizon learning. When we take children to the zoo or the park, or when we give them a role in the weekly household laundry, we are not merely spending time with them or getting work done, we are also teaching them to read, think and learn about the world. As winter sets in, kindergartners will be making the climb into more and more proficient reading. This is the moment—as they read the words on the page with greater and greater confidence—to reveal that learning to read opens yet another avenue for learning about the world. In this transformative month, you can start to point out to your kids that even the books they read can be another source of information and wonder.

When we teach children to think and speak in ways that help them make sense of their experiences—to use particular words and technical vocabulary to talk about activities, places, or topics—we not only bolster their knowledge of the world, but also arm them with the language to present knowledge and ideas. Through building on each other’s ideas,

articulating their own ideas, and confirming that they have been understood, children gain command of Standard English and start to use wide-ranging vocabulary. This kind of conversation also helps ELLs develop their understanding of context and content. More broadly, by extending strategies and information that they know from one topic to another and from one part of their day to another, children become self-directed learners who are high-level strategic thinkers and problem-solvers. This unit is designed to give your children a wide-open invitation to practice the kinds of thinking described by Webb as “strategic thinking” (DOK Level 3) and “extended thinking” (DOK Level 4) by synthesizing knowledge and comparing and contrasting texts and information.

Unit 6: Focus on Characters and Year Review

Unit Description:

This character unit capitalizes on children’s natural inclination for imitation and role-playing by inviting them to do this same sort of pretending with the characters in their books. As children take on the roles of Piggie and Gerald, Mrs. Wishy Washy and her animals, Ethan and his dad, Biscuit and his friend, and so many others, they will come to know these characters and the stories in which they live, with real intimacy.

As children act out their books, they will then bring the understanding that characters—just like real people—are complex. As they try out one interpretation and then another, they will be doing the kind of character analysis work and high level cognitive thinking described as DOK Level 4. Children will move on from this unit with a finely developed sense of three story elements (character, setting, and story events) and with a


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richer understanding of how these three elements, when considered alongside each other, can help them understand characters more deeply.

Grade 1

Unit 1: Reading Workshop: Readers Build Good Habits

This unit is all about helping kids feel secure, safe, and confident that they will become strong readers. Like runners, as readers we warm up for reading, set goals for ourselves, establish good habits and push ourselves to be the strongest readers we can be. As students read, we make informal assessments and move them into different books as needed until we conduct more formal assessments. We look for accuracy, fluency and comprehension of reading materials. Students learn how to read by themselves and with a partner. The students get back into the habit of pointing under each word, checking for one-to-one matching, looking at the pictures and the print for help with tough words and staying focused and engaged during reading time. Readers will use their book bags to help them do this long reading work. Students will eagerly track their reading and feel more and more confident as they measure their growth in concrete ways. Students learn how reading their books helps them read for a variety of purposes: reading in a storyteller voice, finding something they didn’t notice or think about the first time, or focusing on the information in the pictures.

Unit 2: Tackling Trouble

In this unit, students focus on the importance of not only reading the words but also monitoring for understanding. Readers need to envision the story, think about what’s happening, and predict what could come next. They are also working

hard to decode new words and solve tricky parts of the text. Students will learn strategies that will help them read more independently and conquer challenging books. To do this, readers think about the story and make predictions about how the story will go before reading. They use all they know about letters, sounds, patterns and basic sight words. They monitor their reading when it does not sound right or make sense. Students and teachers will work together to analyse their own reading and see where they have difficulty solving tricky words and monitoring for understanding. Students will begin to use their reading partners and post it notes to help them work through these challenges and read independently. Most importantly, students become active problem solvers when reading.

Unit 3: Learning from Non-Fiction Texts

Students will discover what makes nonfiction reading special and unique. They will see the way that information is laid out in these books, and how to use this layout to warm up for the reading ahead, to figure out what the text is going to teach. From science and social studies, students will already know that these books have new kinds of features such as the table of contents, the index, glossary, headings and subheadings, tables, and charts. Children will activate prior knowledge about a topic by thinking to themselves, for example, “What do I already know about butterflies?” Students will learn strategies that will help them constantly monitor for meaning and focus on text details that help understand the larger meaning. They will learn how to chunk and categorize the information that they are learning. The big work of this unit is to “become smarter about our world and the things in it.” They will think about what the author of a text is trying to say or teach about the topic, both through the pictures and the text.


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Unit 4: Poetry

In this unit, we explore how first graders need not only to learn to read but also read to learn. The concept that readers learn from many sources will be especially important as they tackle more complex books. This unit aims to give readers an early start viewing the world and all the many types of books through the lens of a learner. Students will draw on their interests and curiosities to guide them towards a variety of texts about certain topics. They continue to work on solving unknown words and monitoring for meaning on their first reads, then explore re-reading to inquire more information. Re-reading plays an important role in this unit both to support fluency and comprehension as well as build knowledge of a topic. Students will read a wide variety of text structures and distinguish between stories, poems, and informational books. They work to connect information and ideas across two or more texts on the same topic. They read and re-read prose and poetry across a range of text complexity to learn new vocabulary and work together to clarify meaning.

Unit 5: We Can Be Our Own Teachers

This unit builds on the work our students have done all year long. We want the children to know that they have strategies to be in charge of their own reading, to set their own agenda, and to get through the hard parts all by themselves. They can move past the initial impulse to say, “Help me, help me, help me!” when faced with a tricky word or when meaning breaks down and instead take a deep breath, have a little courage and say, “I can solve this myself!” We’ll show our first graders that they can be their own teachers, solving their own reading dilemmas by drawing on the tools and strategies they’ve learned from minilessons and small-group work. They’ll learn strategies to balance

their reading energies between word solving and meaning making so that their experiences with texts are well-rounded and thoughtful, efficient, and meaningful.

Unit 6: Meeting Characters

In this unit, students will step into the shoes of the characters they meet in books and bring those characters to life. Readers will explore the world of acting and through acting the important role of coming to understand characters with greater complexity. There is a playful yet vital relationship between reading and drama. When we read, readers both embodying the character and seeing through their eyes, what we really are doing is putting ourselves into the drama of the story and this means coming to understand it in richer ways. Student goals are to envision as they read. When students envision the story and characters, they can read with increased fluency and richer comprehension and can share this new understanding with other people.

Grade 2

Unit 1: Launching the Reading Work-shop and Taking Charge of Reading

This unit is designed to get everything up and going all at once—the routines, habits, workflow, the time spent reading, etc.—while simultaneously building children’s identities, skills, and confidence as readers. In this unit, students will draw on all they learned last year, and also take on the important new challenges and expectations of the new year. They’ll work hard to monitor for meaning and to push their thinking, both on their own and in the company of a partner. From the very start of the year, students will be focused on finding meaning from books. They will post-it important parts, retell


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to their partners, and monitor for understanding. At the start of this unit and across the entire year, students will be taking new ownership over their reading. They will be setting goals around their volume of reading, stamina, and habits. They will also be working toward being independent problem-solvers and accountable partners.

Unit 2: Reading Nonfiction, Reading the World

This unit is the first one of the year designed to support children in reading nonfiction closely. In it, children will learn strategies readers use that are particular to this genre as they gradually learn to tackle increasingly complex texts. The promise of a month devoted to a whole new section of the classroom library—to reading amazing books full of colorful diagrams and photographs—will have some readers jumping with excitement. By reading nonfiction books, kids will swim with sharks, travel back in time, and imagine they’re holding snakes and parrots in their hands. The excitement that this unit drums up for the new genre will be the bedrock for the skillful work that readers will do this month. In this unit, readers will learn from their books to “Become Smarter about Our World and the Things in It”. Specifically, students will work to identify elements of who, what, where, when, why and how in the text—looking at the main topic, as well as the focus of specific paragraphs, to demonstrate understanding. Often informational texts are challenging for children to retell and discuss because they become infatuated with all the ‘cool facts’ and forget to put all the information together to form a bigger idea. Students will learn in this unit that information readers don’t just take in and retell the words on the page, they also understand meaning beyond what is explicitly written. That is, readers will make more of the book and its content; they will link different parts of the information, to think about what it means and ask questions—all in all, to actively consider all aspects of their information books.

Unit 3: Characters Face Bigger Challenges

In this unit, focus is on teaching complex comprehension, while continuing to assess and support students’ reading habits. Goals include: increasing students’ reading volume and rate; improving students’ comprehension of more complex characters; and improving their analytical skills and ability to trace ideas, sift and sort detail, and see connections within and across texts.

In this unit, then, explicit goals are to students become stronger readers, who are more alert to significant details in the books they read, and better able to express their ideas and to support these with text evidence. There is an implicit goal as well: to inspire students to learn from the books they read - to see that the insights they gain about characters’ motivations, the lessons they learn, can be part of building their own characters.

Unit 4: Series Reading and Cross Genre Reading Clubs

Series books are designed to hook kids into characters and familiar adventures. Whether they are fans of Gerald and Piggie or Cam Jansen or Froggy, children inevitably fall in love with the recurring characters, who somehow always find themselves in challenging predicaments and situations, yet exhibit reassuringly predictable behaviors and beliefs. Once hooked, children will read and read, finding it easier to push their thinking past where they’ve been now that they are in familiar terrain. Kids will eagerly apply newly learned skills to the series they are in, and their understanding of prediction, character development, and patterns will grow. Knowing students are ready to take on new strategies in their repertoire for understanding characters and plot, this unit focuses on readers thinking more comparatively—across books, between books and real life, across different characters’ points


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of view. In this unit, students will do so, reading across genres with book clubs. Children talk to club mates about the adventures of a beloved cast of characters and stretch one another’s thinking, landing on bigger ideas as a group than they would were they to read these books on their own.

Unit 5: Poetry

There are many benefits to young children learning to read and write poetry. Perhaps above all, a unit in poetry affords six- and seven-year olds, who are in the early stages of learning to read and write, the chance to see and experience the many ways in which words can be selected and strung together to different—and powerful—effect. Poems can make readers laugh, think, learn, question, sigh, smile, cry. One main goal of this unit is to expose children to a variety of kinds of poems, so that they discover the great possibilities that come from such small packages.

Another very important goal of this unit is to bolster children’s burgeoning language skills. Poetry is the perfect unit to expose young students to creative uses of bold words, capitals and lower case letters, space, and punctuation—while also continuing their instruction in the conventions. A unit in poetry is also a perfect venue for teaching children to make more deliberate, meaningful, specific word choice—which will likely lead to spurts in their vocabulary growth and use.

Then, too, poetry, by nature of its form, is an invitation to voice one’s observations, questions, ideas, thoughts, feelings, experiences. When you invite young children to write poems, then, you are inviting them to write themselves and their world onto the page. In this unit, young poets will find significance in the ordinary details of their lives, employ strategies of revision, and learn from mentor authors. Poetry will not be an esoteric

unit of study; rather, it will be a culmination of learning, and an opportunity to use language in extraordinary ways. . Across the unit, children will learn strategies for doing this work, and also have the chance to practice all that they’ve learned thus far about writing, reading, language, conventions, and working collaboratively, this year. Volume will be important during this unit; children will generate many, many poems. They will learn to experiment with powerful language, and to use line breaks, metaphor, and comparison to convey feeling. By the end of this study, young poets will be able to create clear images with precise and extravagant language.

Grade 3

Unit 1: Launching the Reading Work-shop: Building a Reading Life

Students come to this, the first unit of the year, with what they have learned from second grade in reading literature: how to ask and answer questions to show understanding of key details in the text, to recount stories and determine a central message or moral, to describe how characters respond to major challenges in stories, to describe the overall structure of a story, and to acknowledge differences in points of view of characters, in addition to other skills. They also bring with them what they have learned of foundational skills; in primary grades, students learned multiple word solving strategies as well as strategies to read with fluency. This unit provides work to strengthen and extend these skills. This unit focuses then on transference of strategies and skills that students have learned in previous years, applying those skills and strategies to the reading work that they will do in this unit. Students work at higher levels than in previous grades, taking on more responsibility and accountability for their own learning, as they


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begin to reflect on and question their own reading practice. This unit requires students to remember what they learn, transfer, and evaluate what they do well to what they need to learn as they become third grade readers.

Unit 2: Following Characters into Meaning

Whereas the first unit put a spotlight on helping children author independent reading lives, this

unit will inspire readers to think deeply about and to learn from their characters. During the

first portion of the unit, students will be invited to dive headfirst into the worlds of the books they are reading—and to do so wearing the shoes of the characters who inhabit those worlds. Living as their characters, readers will develop their skills at predicting, envisioning, and reading with fluency. In the next portion of the unit, readers will notice notice characters’ personality quirks and habits. They will also learn to infer so as to develop ideas about character traits, motivations, troubles, and actions. By encouraging readers to think deeply—and with nuance—about characters, by teaching readers to consider what a character holds close, by considering a character’s complexities and the way that secondary characters act as mirrors of main characters, readers will be learning the skill of inference. Another unit focus is on developing abilities to talk and to write well about reading. The final portion of the unit focuses on the lessons readers learn alongside characters, and on how we can apply those lessons to our own lives.

Unit 3: Non-Fiction Reading: Exposi-tory Texts

The third reading unit of the year focuses on reading non-fiction texts.Students are given

stretches of time to read whole texts, reading not to answer a specific question or to mine for an interesting fact, but rather to learn what the author wants to teach. The unit spotlights skills and habits essential to a reader of expository nonfiction: determining importance and finding the main idea and supportive details; questioning and talking back to the text; figuring out and using new content-specific vocabulary; and applying analytical thinking skills to compare and contrast, rank or categorize.

Unit 4: Biography Book Clubs

This unit will require students to hone their skills as proficient readers and critical thinkers. This means that they will need to continue pushing themselves as readers, practicing good reading and spending lots of time with books, reading and jotting notes on Post-its. In addition, students will hone their conversational skills, including both speaking and listening skills. These skills will help them as they take part in their book groups throughout the unit. Through their conversations, group members will talk about the big ideas in these narratives and use those to develop theories separate from the author’s and their classmates’.

At the beginning of this unit, students will draw on their prior knowledge of fictional elements - including story arcs, character traits, character development and character motivations - in order to synthesize the information in narrative nonfiction. They will continue to push themselves as readers and work on reading “long and strong,” asking critical questions that will open up their understanding of their characters as real human beings. In the second part of the unit, students will search for meaning in their texts, asking themselves and their classmates tough questions to deepen their thinking about the story and the characters. Students will gain greater insight through book club


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discussions. In these groups, students will have a safe space to continue growing their skills in inference and prediction, including understanding how their characters’ actions affect their communities. At the end of the unit, students will be able to make connections among all types of narrative nonfiction. Through their Post-it notes and conversations in book groups, mini-lessons, small groups and conferences, students will be able to compare biographies with stories about disasters or intense events.

Unit 5: Poetry

In this integrated reading and writing unit, students will read a wide variety of poetry, thinking about the purpose of poetry. We will focus on envisioning what the poet is trying to make the reader see, hear and feel, and then we will try this ourselves as we write poetry that express our feelings. Understand the purpose of poetry

Unit 6: Traditional Literature (fairy tales, folk tales, fables)

In this unit students will read and explore many myths and fairy tales, including different versions of fairy tales from various cultures. As we read across this literature, we will begin to understand patterns in fairy tales and myths as well as their story structure. As we continue the work from our “Following Characters into Meaning” unit, we will study the types of characters in fairy tales and myths and look for patterns in their behavior. Also, in connection with our Ancient Greece Social Studies unit, we will read and study myths in relation to Ancient Greece. Finally, we will read and study fairy tales in order to support our Fairy Tale writing unit.

Grade 4

Unit 1: Launching the Reading Work-shop

In this unit, students are reminded of the basic routines and practices of the reading workshop. We focus on independent reading skills, how to find a just right book, and how to write about reading in a reading notebook.


Following the launch of reading workshop, students will delve deep into character work. This is a unit which reflects on not only the Common Core standards but the data that has been collected across the prior year. This unit teaches students to read with inference and interpretation, developing text based theories about characters and supporting those theories with text based evidence. Students may have already done some of this thinking in the prior unit and in prior years, and this unit will help them transfer these skills to higher level skills. At the same time as students will be supported in deeply understanding characters, they will continue being part of an environment and culture that values and supports reading - lots of it. If students have been in reading workshop before, they will likely come into the classroom well attuned to how to be a member of a class which values reading. This unit is based on the understanding that students are going to transfer what they have learned from last year to the present year. The unit positions students to begin to ask probing questions, in order to gain a deeper understanding of characters and plot.

Unit 3: Navigating Nonfiction

In this non-fiction reading unit, students will learn that non-fiction reading requires a set of reading


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strategies that fiction sometimes does not require. For example, synthesizing new learnings in order to teach others factual information. In addition, non-fiction reading allows for writing non-fiction genres, such as essays, letters, graphs, etc.

Unit 4: Tackling Complex Text: Histori-cal Fiction Book Clubs

In this unit, readers will enjoy imagining lives of great adventure and heroism. Historical fiction is an exciting genre replete with dramatic plotlines and adventures and the characters and issues resonate now with young readers. Students will emerge from this unit of study as knowledgeable readers who have new confidence in tackling complicated literature.

Unit 5: Poetry

Grade 4 spends a few weeks reading and writing poetry and ends the unit with a celebration: Poetry and Popcorn. We teach a variety of devices and genres of poetry, which we will outline below. We use the workshop model with mini-lessons and time for independent practice. Reading and writing teaching points blend together during this unit.

Students will learn:

• Poetry is an artistic expression using language, structure, and form in creative and playful ways.

• There are many genres of poetry: free verse, Haiku, concrete, etc.

• Poems can tell a story; create an image; provoke emotions

• There are many devices to use, such as simile and metaphor, when writing poetry.

• Elements of poetry: lines, stanzas, rhythm, rhyme, repetition...

• Word choice and voice are essential to creating meaning; conventions are not stressed.

• There are many tools for reading poems aloud: body language, facial expressions, voice intonation, accents, rhythm...

• Writing poetry follows a writing process, just like any other form of writing.

Grade 5

Unit 1: Launching the Reading Work-shop

In this first reading workshop of the year, students will begin by reading with more intellectual independence as well as closely studying characters in their books. Students will get off the starting block delving right away into deep character work. This is a unit which teaches students to read with inference and interpretation, developing text based theories about characters and supporting those theories with evidence from the text. Of course, students have already done some of this thinking in the prior unit and in prior years, and this unit will help them transfer these skills even as they learn new ones.

At the same time as students will be supported in deeply understanding characters, they will continue being part of an environment and culture that values and supports reading - lots of it. If students have been in reading workshop before, then they will likely come into the classroom well attuned to how to be a member of a class which values reading.


During the first part of this unit, readers will read


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closely, inferring to grow and formulate theories about the character. Those theories then help readers to predict how the book will unfold. Readers read on, discovering if their understandings of the characters were deep enough to support wise predictions. As students start to pay attention to characters‘ actions, they pay attention not only to what a character does but also to how the character does these things, considering why a character acts in a certain way. Students will also notice that sometimes the author offers windows into a character‘s mind by writing passages exposing the character’s thoughts or offering an explanation of a character‘s motives.

The second part of this unit is a natural segue from inference work to interpretation. Students will synthesize their thinking and push themselves to develop big ideas about their characters and their books that they can support with moments and inferences they have made earlier, and to make sure they are revising their thinking as they read. Students will write in notebooks and Post-its in their books. They will learn to sort Post-its into piles that are about one particular character, event, or relationship in the book and look for patterns and new ideas within this stack of related Post-its to help them develop more complex theories, or revise old theories. They can also read forward, gathering more evidence to support their theories, making individual theory charts.

During the final part of the unit, students will recall all that they‘ve learned so far in the unit and to use that knowledge to think not about one book and one character, but about several books and several characters. If students have not been working in clubs up to this point, they will launch into clubs to discuss texts, pushing their group members to interpret across texts, holding themselves accountable for grounding ideas in text evidence,

and using conversation to come to new insights. In this bend, students will also push themselves to grow even bigger, more universal theories, by looking across characters and across texts. To end the unit, students will reflect on themselves, applying some of the theorizing work they‘ve done around characters over the course of this unit to themselves. They will learn that one way they can use what they learned from this unit is to continually reflect on who they are as readers and thinkers and how that translates to the way they live their lives.

Unit 3: Navigating Non-Fiction

The Common Core positions fifth grade as a year which offers students the chance to deepen their informational reading skills and practice them with increased sophistication. Much of the work in fifth grade informational reading is similar to the work students were expected to do in fourth grade but fifth graders are now expected to do this work with greater independence and complexity.

This unit highlights the importance of structures and channels students to read texts of a particular structure for a bit, noting that structure. Beginning by spotlighting expository informational text allows instruction to hug the shores of Navigating Nonfiction, leaning on that book for mini-lessons and small-group ideas. Once the students have had two weeks of instruction in expository text structures, they will look closely at narrative nonfiction, pushing themselves to transfer and apply all that they already know about narrative reading to glean large concepts and key information from these texts.

Unit 4: Historical Fiction Book Clubs

Historical fiction will give students the opportunities to harness and enhance their reading skills with new and profoundly fascinating challenges. These novels


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are inherently complex. The characters live in places in which the students have not lived, in times they have not known. We are drawn to historical fiction because these stories are often ones of the struggle toward social justice. This unit supports a social structure - book clubs. The students will have the experience of building collective interpretations, and to develop the skills they need to sustain their own reading lives.

Unit 5: Social Issue Book Clubs

As the end of the fifth grade year approaches, students will be ready, and excited, to take all they know about reading literary and informational texts and apply it to the issues that matter in the world. This unit is unabashedly teaching toward social justice. A wonderful book allows students to well up with passionate commitment to support what they believe. Stories remind them that they care very much about justice and injustice, and about living lives of meaning and significance. This unit will give students the opportunity to evaluate the issues they see not just in their own lives, but also in the world. It will give students yet another meaningful purpose for reading: to make the world a better place. Part of that will be learning about the roots of the issues in the world through exploring stories, true and fictional, and to become activists because they’ve carefully, thoroughly studied these.

WritingThe goal of writing workshop is for students to independently write appropriately for various audiences with passion and ease. Teachers encourage students to be motivated, confident writers who see writing as a useful, everyday tool. Teachers provide appropriate, explicit instruction to the whole group, small groups, and individuals. The skills and strategies that writers use are the

same across the grade levels, with expectations in depth and sophistication increasing each year.

Writing instruction focuses on the following aspects:

• Writing Process – Students understand and use the steps of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing).

• Text Types – Students write in a variety of forms and genres for different audiences and purposes.

• Standards-Based Writing Skills - Organization, Craft, Elaboration, and Conventions

Word StudyStudents in Kindergarten through grade 5 follow the word study program, Words Their Way. Words Their Way is a developmental spelling, phonics, and vocabulary program. It was developed by Invernizzi, Johnston, Bear, and Templeton. Word study is implemented as a small component of the literacy plan but it is also interwoven in actual reading and writing texts.

Words Their Way is an open-ended individual process. An assessment is given to determine where to begin instruction. Based on assessment results students are given words to study in order to discover the common attributes. In this manner students are actively constructing their own knowledge of spelling patterns. Students learn features by completing activities such as word sorting, word hunts, games and drawing and labeling. Students work individually, with partners, and in small groups to encourage cooperative learning and individual responsibility.


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Listening and SpeakingStudents are encouraged to develop active listening skills for both social and academic purposes. Opportunities are provided for students to hone their oral presentation skills in formal and informal settings across the curriculum.

Accountable talk, book clubs, partner work...

Writing Units:

Our writing units come from Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, created by the Lucy Calkins and the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University.

Kindergarten:

Unit 1: Launching the Writing Work-shop

Unit Description:

At the beginning of this unit, students will be introduced to writing workshop. Students will learn that they are authors, and they can think of a topic, draw it, and try their best at writing it. Writers will learn strategies for writing independently. Writers will then learn basic of phonemic awareness - understanding letters and sounds - by stretching out their words as they write.

They will learn that they can also stretch out their stories, adding more pictures, words, and ideas into homemade booklets. This will take them to the beginnings of narrative writing - writing true stories from their lives. At the end of the unit we celebrate our work as authors!

Unit 2: Writing for Readers

Unit Description:

This unit of study begins with students reviewing their stories as readers, making a pile of the ones

that are clear and another pile of the ones that still need work. Early in this

bend, children are encouraged to draw on all they know about writing stories. As children work, teachers encourage them to write words in more conventional ways, use drawing to plan, write in sentences, and reread their work as they write. In the second part of the unit, students get additional tools and opportunities to make their writing more powerful and clearer for their readers (using checklists, word banks, etc.) Students will also focus on spelling out new, more difficult words. IN the third part of the unit, students are taught how to revise their stories, working with a teacher or a partner. In the final part of the unit, students will choose one piece to publish and share with the class.

Unit 3: How-To Books: Writing to Teach Each Other

Unit Description:

In this unit, students learn that they can teach each other through the writing of lots of how-to books, using numbered steps and drawing to accompany their work. Because children will be writing what they know how to do, they’ll bring their areas of expertise

into the classroom. There will be lessons on drawing and writing one step at a time and writing with enough clarity and detail that others can follow the directions. Writing partners will play an important role, as pairs of children test their directions to make sure everything makes sense and get ideas from each other. Lessons in the second part of the unit focus on studying mentor texts and trying out techniques the students notice in those texts, teaching young writers that they can always look to real, published books as exemplars and then use what they learn. Finally, students will continue writing how-to books, focusing on what they can


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teach their classmates, and end with publishing a how-to book to share with others.

Unit 4: Persuasive Writing of All Kinds: Using Words to Make a Change

Unit Description:

In this unit children do lots of lots of persuasive writing. They begin by writing signs, songs, petitions, and letters about problems they see in their classroom, then in their school, then in the larger world of their neighborhood. The first portion of the unit is “Exploring Opinion Writing: Making Our School a Better Place.” From the very start of this unit, children will be asked to look at the world, seeing not just what is but what could be. Children will reflect on problems, think about what could make things better, and then write to help make a change.

Writers will be learning to make words (and pictures) to express what they want to happen and convince an audience that it should.

1st Grade:

Unit 1: Small Moments: Writing with Focus, Detail, and Dialogue

Unit Description:

This unit begins by inviting children to write like professional authors, looking at mentor texts to get ideas. Students are encouraged to think and write like real authors, developing strong habits that will enable them to work independently. Children learn to touch and tell their stories, then sketch and write, so they can move independently through the writing process again and again. They learn to use their word-solving skills, and they learn that when they are finished writing one story, they can begin another. Then, young writers learn strategies to bring the people in their stories to life by making

them move and talk. Children learn ways writers develop their narratives bit by bit. Partners act out what the people in their stories did and then capture that on the pages of their booklets. Students then will learn how to elaborate their stories, adding detail. At the end of the unit, students select one piece to publish and share with the class.

Unit 2: Non-fiction Chapter Books

Unit Description:

This unit takes children on a writing journey that builds in sophistication. It begins with instruction in how to make a basic type of information book—the picture book. Children then create several information chapter books filled with elaboration, interesting text elements, and pictures that supplement the meaning conveyed by the words. During this first part of the unit, children will revisit some of the skills they learned in Small Moments—planning, tackling big words, and drawing—in the context of this new genre. During the second part of the unit, children write chapter books, which gives them opportunities to structure their texts, including new elements: how-to pages, stories, introductions, and conclusions. Partner work will again

be important as a way to check for clarity, generate more ideas, and cheer each other on. Finally, lessons around craft and thoughtful punctuation add flourish to the powerful

writing first graders are now doing in their information books. All of this work will lead to one last celebration, during which children will choose their favorite book to share with an audience.

Unit 3: Writing Reviews

Unit Description:

Students begin this unit by thinking of things that are important to them and why. This writing is their


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introduction to developing opinions and insights about all that matters most to them and writing reviews. Students write review after review, about anything and everything: toys,

restaurants, video games—the works. Meanwhile, you will remind students that they already know that writers revise. At the end of the unit, writers will learn ways writers craft book reviews—summarizing, evaluating, judging, and defending their judgments. Children will also learn how to write to persuade, using all they’ve learned about the structure of a review and persuasive writing.

Unit 4: From Scenes to Series

Unit Description:

At the beginning of the unit, children will learn that fiction writers call on their pretending skills to invent characters and small-moment adventures—and then children will come up with characters of their own, name them, and put them into imagined scenarios. They will then learn the notion that characters face a bit of trouble—and that writers then get their characters out of trouble to give readers a satisfying ending. In the second part of the unit, students will use all they have learned until now to write a series of books, putting their characters into more than one book and more than one adventure. the focus then shifts to turning the children into more powerful writers of realistic fiction, as they study the genre and themselves as writers. Children will learn that writers call on their own experiences to imagine tiny details they can include in a story to let their readers know a story is realistic. They will think about the structure of their stories as they write chapters with a clear beginning, middle, and end. They’ll learn that writers use patterns to elaborate and then draw on all their skills and knowledge as writers of fiction to create even more powerful stories. At the end of the unit, students will publish and celebrate.

2nd Grade:

Unit 1: Lessons from the Masters: Im-proving Narrative Craft

Unit Description:

Using mentor texts, students will learn ways to write their small-moment stories,

paying attention to detail and crafting powerful beginnings and endings. Students will study author’s craft: thinking about intentionality and writing moves that make books special, and trying out these in their own books. Students will also focus on revising their work, and finish the unit by publishing a master work of their own.

Unit 2: Nonfiction Writing

Unit Description:

In this unit, students go through the writing process - from brainstorming to publishing - focused on teaching others through an informational book. While initially writing on subjects they are experts on, projects then lead to science and social studies themes, connecting the content between the classes.

Unit 3: Writing Gripping Fictional Sto-ries with Meaning and Significance

Unit Description:

This unit engages writers in fiction writing, encouraging children to let their imaginations dream up fictional stories and put them down on the page. Children will write with renewed energy, volume, stamina and engagement. Students can approach this genre using all they know about crafting small moment stories to write gripping fictional stories with a greater emphasis on plot and suspense. The unit answers to the Common Core’s call for narrative writing, in which second


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graders are asked to “recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.” Children come to this unit with a background not only as writers but also as readers and students will draw on their knowledge as readers, studying the craft moves of published authors, supporting the reading standards for craft and structure.

Unit 4: Writing About Reading

Unit Description:

Students begin this unit by writing letters about the books they are reading to other potential readers of these books. Students will draft letters about the characters they’ve met in

their books, formulating ideas and opinions, providing reasons for these ideas and opinions, and using details and examples from the text to support their claims. Children will learn to state opinions clearly, retell their stories so that their opinions make sense to readers, and revise their letters before sending them out into the world. Next, students will focus on raising the level of their letter writing. Students learn that writers read and reread closely in order to come up with more ideas for their writing, more details and evidence to support their opinions, and more craft moves that authors and illustrators use to make their points convincing and their writing interesting. While revising, students will spend extra time focusing on punctuation and conventions. Finally, students will shift gears, moving away from persuasive letters into persuasive essays as they write to convince others that their favorite books are worthy of awards, with reasons, details, and quotations from the books.

Unit 5: Poetry

Unit Description:

This unit is organized in three parts, each one helping children deepen their understanding of poetry. First, students are introduced to the sounds and feelings of poetry by having them read poems aloud in groups, with partners, and alone. Students will learn that poets are sparked by objects and feelings that they translate to music on the page. A special attention to sound, will help students’ readers’ ears as they experiment with line breaks, as they come to understand that a poem is different from a story and a poem looks different from prose. Next, students will have even more opportunities to dive into work and play with language. Children will learn to recognize that in a poem, choice and placement of words matter more than ever. There is also an emphasis on metaphor and poetic devices. The final part of the unit focuses on structure, teaching students that poets choose structures. Children will explore various natural structures of poems: story poems, poems with a back-and-forth structure, and list poems.

3rd Grade:

Unit 1: Crafting True Stories

Unit Description:

The beginning of this unit focuses on children getting accustomed to the routines

and expectations of the writing workshop and personal goal setting. Them students are introduced to keeping a writing notebook. Children will learn to reread their notebooks,

to select a seed idea, and then to develop that seed idea by storytelling different ways the story might go. Next, students work on efficient drafting, paragraphing, and subsequent revision of stories. The next part of the unit emphasizes independence


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and initiative: pre-writing, drafting, and revising on their own. At the end of the unit, writers will choose a piece of writing to publish and share with the class.

Unit 2: The Art of Information Writing

Unit Description:

Students will begin this unit by choosing a topic on which they already have expertise. They will learn that information writers are teachers, and consider the ways they can use writing to teach others. After these drafts are complete, students learn more revising strategies, including study of grammatical structures and how to use research to feed elaboration. Finally, students will work on publishing: using text features, checking facts, and attending to conventions. Throughout the entire unit, there is a renewed commitment to grammar, vocabulary, and conventions, all carefully aligned with the Common Core State Standards.

Unit 3: Changing the World: Persuasive Speeches, Petitions, and Editorials

Unit Description:

Writers first work together on a shared topic; learning to write persuasive speeches containing a claim, reasons, and examples. Writers then have the opportunity to work for an extended time on one persuasive speech, independently,taking it through the writing process: gathering facts and details, organizing their details, categorizing the evidence they collect, and deciding which evidence belongs in their speech. They then deliver their speech to at least a small group. Next, students transfer and apply everything they have learned about writing persuasive speeches to writing other types of opinion pieces. While working on their new project, students generate ideas, plan, draft, revise, and edit, going through the writing process

more quickly and with greater independence, at the same time learning strategies for raising the level of their work.At the end of the unit, “Forming Cause Groups,” students work collaboratively to support causes through writing in various genres. Because they will by now be well versed in taking themselves through the writing process, students can focus instead on incorporating research into their writing.

Unit 4: Once Upon a Time: Adapting and Writing Fairy Tales

Unit Description:

This unit begins by students selecting a favorite fairy tale and adapting it, thinking about significant changes they could make to alter the course of the tale. As they do so, students will focus on elements of plot, and what makes a good story. Students then will transfer their new knowledge about fairy tales as they plan and draft their own original stories.

At the end of the unit, students will celebrate their work by publishing their original fairy tale and sharing it with others.

Unit 5: Poetry

Unit Description:

In this integrated reading and writing unit, as we are reading poetry, students will understand why we write poetry. They will also try writing several different types of poetry. They will focus on the meaning behind the words and how important word choice can be to show feelings. We will, as writers, try to get readers to see, hear and feel through their poems.

4th Grade:

Unit 1: The Arc of Story: Writing Realis-tic Fiction


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Unit Description:

Students will begin the writing process learning that authors look for ideas for fiction stories everywhere. Children then begin to collect story ideas in their writer’s notebook, fleshing them out to include elements of an effective story. Once children have chosen a story idea, they will learn to develop their main characters, dramatize a schene, and focusing on a developing storying. The second part of the unit focuses on the classic “story arc,” showing students how stories with two or three strong scenes can successfully show the development of a character, a plot, and even a setting over the course of the story. Next, writers prepare their story for audiences through focused drafting, deep revision, and editing. The final part of the unit focuses on independence: showing students how to take the reins and write fiction independently, teaching them the systems and skills they need to feel confident that they can continue writing fiction throughout their lives.

Unit 2: Boxes and Bullets: Personal and Persuasive Essay

Unit Description:

This unit begins with a quick, intense immersion in the process of writing a new kind of text - to help students develop a sense for writing an essay. In the next part of the unit—“Developing Personal Essays”—students will collect and write about evidence to support each of the reasons for the opinion expressed in their thesis statement. They will select the

most powerful evidence and tell it in a way that supports their reasons. They will draft sections of their essay, using transition words and phrases to create cohesion. As they draft, they will also learn to use the introduction to orient and engage the reader and the conclusion to offer final thoughts.

They will revise and edit to improve their clarity, finding and correcting run-on sentences and fragments. The next part of the unit, “Personal to Persuasive,” focuses on transference and raising the quality of work as they plan a persuasive essay. The unit ends with writers publishing a persuasive essay to share with the class.

Unit 3: Bringing History to Life

Unit Description:

In this unit, students will learn that information texts are often conglomerates, containing a lot of other kinds of texts. Students will consider ways writers logically structure their writing. With students working on subtopics of their own choosing, they rely heavily on their knowledge and their research, and teaching focuses on the skills of effective research writing, including use of transition words, carefully planned structure, while incorporating historical details, text features, and quotations. The next part of the unit is focused on historical interpretation. Their research will take on a new bent as they generate life lessons from their topic, generate questions, and then hypothesize and research answers to those questions. As always, students will spend time editing their writing before publishing it, this time focusing on the unique way writers of history use punctuation. At the end of the unit, students will celebrate by sharing their research with the class.

Unit 4: The Literary Essay: Writing about Fiction

Unit Description:

To write well about reading, students need to learn more not only about writing but also about

reading. Throughout this unit students will read complex texts closely and then write about the


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literature they are reading, paying attention to authors’ choices about the setting, objects, words, metaphors, and characters they use in their texts. This work, central to the Common Core State Standards, is especially powerful work for students who are analyzing texts

for ideas and interpretations. Students learn that there are certain aspects of a text that tend to be more important, and they learn to pay attention to those aspects, noticing what the author has done and fashioning evidence-based theories about the text.Students will use their observations and new knowledge to write structured, compelling essays in which they make and

support claims and analyze, unpack, and incorporate evidence. Students focus on arguing for their ideas about characters while carrying forward what they have been taught about planning and drafting essays, writing introductions and conclusions, and marshalling evidence in support of reasons. The unit ends with students learning to write comparison/contrast essays, noting

different texts’ approaches to the same theme or issue. Students will learn to write in ways that take into account not only the subject of a text but also the author’s treatment of that subject. In this way students are taught to write more about point of view, emphasis, and interpretation, and to be aware of the craft moves authors use. Students will also learn ways to structure a comparison/contrast essay and cite evidence from two texts in a seamless, purposeful way.

5th Grade:

Unit 1: Narrative Craft

Unit Description:

This unit revisits narrative writing with the goal of raising the level of student work to new, highly

sophisticated levels, focusing on the importance of meaning, of significance, in writing.

Students will draw on all the narrative crafting techniques they have ever learned, teaching emphasis is on craft and revision being driven by an effort to communicate meaning. The unit then teaches students to use a close reading of a mentor text, analyzing and emulating the craft moves of a published author. As writers do so, they will learn the importance of dramatizing a scene in order to capture the unfolding experience on the page, reliving the experience so as to recapture its truth.

Unit 2: The Lens of History: The Re-search Report

Unit Description:

At the beginning of this unit, students will write a full draft of a research report very quickly, organizing information in subsections and using all they have already learned about informational writing. These are often called “flash drafts” because they are written so quickly. Next students will learn to revise their flash draft by looking at it through various lenses. Writers might look for patterns, questions, and surprises, or consider the way historians think about geography or timelines, or hypothesize. After several lessons that teach students to reconsider and revise their flash-draft thinking and writing, students write a new and improved draft of their research report. In the second half of the unit, students turn their attention to writing more focused research reports. Students will learn to write reports with an attention to the qualities of good information writing, qualities aimed at delivering information and engaging readers. Writers will work on learning from other informational texts and then teaching others this information in engaging ways. Students will also learn to use primary sources in their informational writing.


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Unit 3: Shaping Texts: From Essay to Narrative to Memoir

Unit Description:

This unit builds on what students worked on in the first unit. Students begin this unit by using their notebook to collect both focused entries and idea-based writing. That is, they will learn that writers write both “big” and “small,” writing about broad ideas or theories and then zooming in to write about one time when that idea was true. After a bit of collecting, children will be ready to select one of these entries as a seed idea to be cultivated into a fully grown memoir.

Students then study memoir structures, learning the variety of forms a memoir

can take: narrative with reflection, essay-like structure, listlike structure, and more. Students then pick a memoir structure to use as they draft a memoir. Next, students will briefly return to their notebook to collect ideas, then quickly choose a new seed idea for a second memoir. Some children will choose an entirely different topic, while others will try the same topic, this time using a different structure. The important thing is that students to transfer all they have learned from working on their first piece of writing to this second piece.

Unit 4: The Research-Based Argument Essay

Unit Description:

At the beginning of the unit, students learn that in order to develop a solid argument, they

need to research both sides of an issue, postponing a conclusion until the evidence is accumulated and reviewed. Once students have studied texts that advance different perspectives on an issue, they will consider the warrant behind the arguments in those texts, reading critically. As student’s work on drafts,

they will evaluate the data they have gathered, deciding which evidence they will use to bolster their claims. They’ll look for flaws in their logic and revise their work to make their arguments more sound. Students will also entertain counterclaims, stating and debunking the other side’s arguments, and will attend carefully to the perspectives of their audience. At the end of the unit, writers draw on all they know about writing to take a stand in the world. They write another argument essay, this time about a topic of their choosing, in order to contribute to a public conversation. Students think about what they want to change in the world or what they want people to think differently about and embark on their research, uncovering new texts and perhaps conducting interviews or surveys of their own. With their deadline in mind, students outline the work they need to do and how they intend to get it done. They apply all they have learned about writing an argument essay. They also carry their knowledge of narrative writing into argument, using anecdotes to make their points where necessary. They learn to portray the data accurately to make an effective case.

MathematicsThe National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recommends that the teaching of mathematics meet five goals for all students: (1) that students learn the value of mathematics, (2) that students become confident in their ability to do mathematics, (3) that students become mathematical problem solvers, (4) that students learn to communicate mathematically, and (5) that students learn to reason mathematically. Mathematics is a tool we use to understand and interpret our world. In our increasingly technological economy, those who can understand and apply mathematics have significantly enhanced opportunities to achieve success in continuing


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education and in life. The key to opening the door to these opportunities is a deep understanding of important mathematical concepts and procedures.

The Mathematics curriculum is based on the Common Core State Standards and is designed to achieve a balance among concepts, skills, and problem solving. The curriculum stresses rigorous concept development, presents realistic and relevant tasks, and maintains a strong emphasis on computational and procedural skills

To ensure students receive quality instruction building and bridging computation and reasoning skills, teachers at AISC use a variety of resources and instructional approaches.

Kindergarten

Unit 1: Sophisticated Shapes ( Geometry)

Unit Description: Students describe their physical world using geometric ideas (e.g., shape, orientation, spatial relations) and vocabulary. They identify, name, and describe basic two-dimensional shapes, such as squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, and hexagons, presented in a variety of ways (e.g., with different sizes and orientations), as well as three-dimensional shapes such as cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres. They use basic shapes and spatial reasoning to model objects in their environment and to construct more complex shapes.

In this unit, students will recognize, name, build, draw, compare, and sort simple two- and three-dimensional shapes, describe attributes and parts of two- and three-dimensional shapes, group objects according to common properties, investigate and predict the results of putting together and taking apart simple two- and three-dimensional shapes, describe, name, and interpret relative positions in space and apply ideas about relative position, create mental images of geometric shapes using spatial memory and spatial visualization. Students

will also recognize and represent shapes from different perspectives, recognize geometric shapes in the environment, create and extend patterns, investigate and predict the results of putting together and taking apart two and three-dimensional shapes, pose information questions, collect data and organize and display results using objects, pictures and picture graphs.

Unit 2: Counting with Friends ( Count-ing and Cardinality)

Unit Description: In this unit, students will start kindergarten thinking of counting as a string of words, but then they make a gradual transition to using counting as a tool for describing their world. They must construct the idea of counting using manipulatives and other resources to see the numbers visually (dot cards, tens frames). To count successfully, students must remember the rote counting sequence, assign one counting number to each object counted, and at the same time have a strategy for keeping track of what has already been counted and what still needs to be counted. Only the counting sequence is a rote procedure. The meaning students attach to counting is the key conceptual idea on which all other number concepts are developed. Students will develop successful and meaningful counting strategies as they practice counting and as they listen to and watch others count.

Unit 3: Comparing Numbers (Working with numbers 11-19 to gain founda-tions for place value, Numbers and Operations in Base Ten)

Unit Description:

For numbers 11 to 19, Kindergarten students choose, combine, and apply strategies for answering quantitative questions. This includes composing and decomposing numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones


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and some further ones by writing and representing the numbers, counting and producing sets of given sizes, counting the number of objects in combined sets, or counting the number of objects that remain in a set after some are taken away. Objects, pictures, actions, and explanations are used to solve problems and represent thinking.

Mathematically proficient students might rely on using concrete objects or pictures to help conceptualize and solve a problem. While using objects to make sense of the quantities and relationships in problem situations, students thereby connect whether the answer makes sense through comparisons and discussions. Using the mathematical language to verbalize their reasoning is an important cognitive facet for establishing a strong place value foundation. The terms students should continue to use as they verbalize thinking are: join, add, separate, subtract, same amount as, equal, less, more, tens, and ones.

Unit 4: Measurment

Unit Description: In this unit, students will describe attributes of objects that are measurable (length, weight, size, color, shape, etc.), describe multiple measurable attributes of a single object, measure using direct comparison of two objects that have an attribute in common, describe the difference between the objects using the common attribute, classify object into given categories, count the number of objects in the categories and sort the categories by the number of objects in each set.

Unit 5: Investigating Addition and Subtraction ( Operations and Algebraic Thinking)

Unit Description: For numbers 0 – 10, Kindergarten students choose, combine, and apply strategies for answering quantitative questions. This includes quickly recognizing the cardinalities of small sets of

objects, counting and producing sets of given sizes, counting the number of objects in combined sets, or counting the number of objects that remain in a set after some are taken away. Objects, pictures, actions, and explanations are used to solve problems and represent thinking.

Unit 6: Further Investigation of Addi-tion and Subtraction

Unit Description: For numbers 0 – 10, Kindergarten students choose, combine, and apply strategies for answering quantitative questions. This includes quickly recognizing the cardinalities of small sets of objects, counting and producing sets of given sizes, counting the number of objects in combined sets, or counting the number of objects that remain in a set after some are taken away. Objects, pictures, actions, and explanations are used to solve problems and represent thinking.

Grade 1:

Unit 1: Creating Routines Using Data

Unit Description: In this unit, students will:

• Establish daily math routines to be carried out throughout the year, such as lunch count, daily questions, calendar activities, working with a 0-99 chart, etc.

• Rote count forward to 120 by Counting On from any number less than 120.

• Represent the number of a quantity using numerals.

• Locate 0-120 on a number line.

• Use the strategies of counting on and counting back to understand number relationships.

• Explore with the 99 chart to see patterns between numbers, such as all of the numbers


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in a column on the hundreds chart have the same digit in the ones place, and all of the numbers in a row have the same digit in the tens place.

• Read, write and represent a number of objects with a written numeral (number form or standard form).

• Build an understanding of how the numbers in the counting sequence are related—each number is one more or one less than the number before or after.

• Work with categorical data by organizing, representing and interpreting data using charts and tables.

• Pose questions with 3 possible responses and work with the data that they collect.

Unit 2: Developing base ten number sense.


• rote count forward to 120 by counting on from any number less than 120.

• represent a quantity using numerals.

• locate 0-100 on a number line.

• use the strategies of counting on and counting back to understand number relationships.

• explore with the 99 chart to see patterns between numbers, such as, all of the numbers in a

• column on the hundreds chart have the same digit in the ones place, and all of the numbers in a

• row have the same digit in the tens place.

• read, write and represent a number of

objects with a written numeral (number form or standard form).

• build an understanding of how the numbers in the counting sequence are related—each number is one more, ten more (or one less, ten less) than the number before (or after).

• work with categorical data by organizing, representing and interpreting data using charts and tables.

• pose questions with 3 possible responses and then work with the data that they collect.

Unit 3: Understanding Shapes and Fractions


• study and compose two- and three-dimensional figures

• identify basic figures within two- and three-dimensional figures

• compare, contrast, and/or classify geometric shapes using position, shape, size, number of sides, and number of angles

• solve simple problems, including those involving spatial relationships

• investigate and predict the results of putting together and taking apart two and three dimensional shapes

• create mental images of geometric shapes using spatial memory and spatial visualization

• relate, identify, partition, and label fractions (halves, fourths) as equal parts of whole objects

• apply terms such as half of, quarter of, to describe equal shares.


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Unit 4: Sorting, Comparing and Order-ing

Unit Description: In this unit students will:

• Develop an understanding of linear measurement.

• Measure lengths as iterating length units.

• Tell and write time to the hour and half hour.

• Represent and interpret data.

Unit 5: Operations and Algebraic Thinking


• Explore, understand, and apply the commutative and associative properties as strategies for solving addition problems.

• Share, discuss and compare strategies as a class.

• Connect counting on to solving subtraction problems. For the problem “15 – 7 = ?” they think about the number they have to add to 7 to get to 15.

• Work with sums and differences less than or equal to 20 using the numbers 0 to 20.

• Identify and then apply a pattern or structure in mathematics. For example, pose a string of addition and subtraction problems involving the same three numbers chosen from the numbers 0 to 20, like 4 + 13 = 17 and 13 + 4 = 17.

• Analyze number patterns and create conjectures or guesses.

• Choose other combinations of three numbers and explore to see if the patterns work for all numbers 0 to 20.

• Understand that addition and subtraction are related, and that subtraction can be used to solve problems where the addend is unknown.

• Use the strategies of counting on and counting back to understand number relationships.

• Organize and record results using tallies and tables.

• Determine the initial and the change unknown

Unit 6: Understanding Place Value


• understand the order of the counting numbers and their relative magnitudes use a number line and 99 chart to build understanding of numbers and their relation to other numbers

• unitize a group of ten ones as a whole unit: a ten compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones

• think of whole numbers between 10 and 100 in terms of tens and ones

• explore the idea that decade numbers (e.g., 10, 20, 30, 40) are groups of tens with no left-over ones

• compare two numbers by examining the amount of tens and ones in each number using words, models and symbols greater than (>), less than (<) and equal to (=)

• create concrete models, drawings and place value strategies to add and subtract within 100 (Students should not be exposed to the standard algorithm of carrying or borrowing


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in first grade) use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract

• mentally add ten more and ten less than any number less than 100

• use concrete models, drawings and place value strategies to subtract multiples of 10 from decade numbers (e.g., 30, 40, 50)

• work with categorical data by organizing, representing and interpreting data using charts and tables • pose questions with 3 possible responses and then work with the data that they collect

Grade 2:

Unit 1: Extending Base Ten Under-standing


• understand the value placed on the digits within a three-digit number

• recognize that a hundred is created from ten groups of ten

• use skip counting strategies to skip count by 5s, 10s, and 100s within 1,000

• represent numbers to 1,000 by using numbers, number names, and expanded form

• compare two-digit numbers using >, =, <

Unit 2: Becoming Fluent with Addition and Subtraction


• cultivate an understanding of how addition and subtraction affect quantities and are related to each other

• will reinforce the multiple meanings for addition (combine, join, and count on) and subtraction (take away, remove, count back, and compare)

• further develop their understanding of the relationships between addition and subtraction

• recognize how the digits 0-9 are used in our place value system to create numbers and manipulate amounts

• continue to develop their understanding solving problems with money

Unit 3: Understanding Measurement, Length and Time


• Know the following customary units for measuring length: inch, foot, yard

• Recognize the need for standard units of measure

• Use rulers and other measurement tools with the understanding that linear measure involves an iteration of units.

• Recognize that the smaller the unit is, the more iterations they need to cover a given length.

• Know the following metric units for measuring length: centimeter and meter

• Compare the relationship of one unit of measurement to another, within the same system

• Check by measuring to determine if estimates are accurate for length

• Determine the appropriate tool for measuring length; inch ruler and yardstick,


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centimeter ruler, and meter stick

• Tell time to the nearest five minutes

• Understand the relationship of hours and days

• Understand the importance and usefulness of reasonable estimations

• Connect the whole-number units on rulers, yardsticks, meter sticks and measuring tapes to number lines showing whole-number units starting at 0

• Use these measuring tools to model different representations for whole-number sums and differences less than or equal to 100 using the numbers 0 to 100.

• Be able to represent the length of several objects by making a line plot

Unit 4: Applying Base Ten Understanding


• continue to develop their understanding of and facility with addition and subtraction

• add up to 4 two-digit numbers.

• use a variety of models (base ten blocks- ones, tens, and hundreds only; diagrams; number lines; place value strategies; etc.) to add and subtract within one thousand.

• become fluent with mentally adding or subtracting 10 or 100 to a given three-digit number.

• demonstrate fluency with addition and subtraction.

• understand the relationship between addition and subtraction (inverse operations).

• represent three digit numbers with a variety

of different models (base ten blocks- ones, tens, and hundreds only; diagrams; number lines; place value strategies; etc.).

• recognize and use place value to manipulate numbers.

• continue to develop their understanding of, and facility with, money.

• count with money

• represent a money amount with words or digits and symbols

• represent and interpret data in picture and bar graphs.

• use information from a bar graph to solve addition and subtraction equations.

Unit 5: Understanding Plane and Solid Figures

Unit Description: In this unit students will cultivate spatial awareness by:

• further developing understandings of basic geometric figures

• identifying plane figures and solid figures based on geometric properties

• describing plane figures and solid figures according to geometric properties

• expanding the ability to see geometry in the real world

• partitioning shapes into equal shares by cutting, slicing, or dividing

• represent halves, thirds, and fourths using rectangles and circles to create fraction models

• compare fractions created through partitioning same-sized rectangular or circular wholes in different ways


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• understand what an array is and how it can be used as a model for repeated addition

• organize and record data using tallies, simple tables and charts, picture graphs, and bar graphs

Unit 6: Developing Multiplication


• Understand and model multiplication as repeated addition and as rectangular arrays.

• Determine if a number is odd or even (within twenty).

• Create and interpret picture graphs and bar graphs.

Grade 3:

Unit 1: Numbers and Operations in Base Ten


• Investigate, understand, and use place value to manipulate numbers.

• Build on understanding of place value to round whole numbers.

• Continue to develop understanding of addition and subtraction and use strategies and properties to do so proficiently and fluently.

• Draw picture graphs with symbols that represent more than one object.

• Create bar graphs with intervals greater than one.

• Use graphs and information from data to ask questions that require students to compare quantities and use mathematical concepts and skills.

As an ongoing process throughout all third grade units, students should continue to develop understanding of representing and interpreting data using picture and bar graphs

Unit 2: Operations and Algebraic Thinking: The Relationship Between Mulitplication and Division


• begin to understand the concepts of multiplication and division

• learn the basic facts of multiplication and their related division facts

• apply properties of operations (commutative, associative, and distributive) as strategies to multiply and divide

• understand division as an unknown-factor problem. For example, find 32 ÷ 8 by finding the number that makes 32 when multiplied by 8.

• fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the patterns and relationships between multiplication and division

• understand multiplication and division as inverse operations

• solve problems and explain their processes of solving division problems that can also be represented as unknown factor multiplication problems.

• represent and interpret data

Unit 3: Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Patterns in Multiplication and Division



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• Understand concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition.

• Find the area of a rectangle with whole- number side lengths by tiling it.

• Multiply side lengths to find areas of rectangles with whole-number side lengths in context of solving real world and mathematical problems.

• Construct and analyze area models with the same product.

• Describe and extend numeric patterns.

• Determine addition and multiplication patterns.

• Understand the commutative property’s relationship to area.

• Create arrays and area models to find different ways to decompose a product.

• Use arrays and area models to develop understanding of the distributive property.

• Solve problems involving one and two steps and represent these problems using

• equations with letters “n” or “x” representing the unknown quantity.

• Create and interpret pictographs and bar graphs.

• Find area of rectilinear figures by decomposing them into non-overlapping rectangles and adding the areas of the non-overlapping parts

Unit 4: Geometry

Unit Description:

In this unit students will:

• Further develop understandings

of geometric figures by focusing on identification and descriptions of plane figures based on geometric properties.

• Identifies examples and non-examples of plane figures and solid figures based on geometric properties.

• Identify differences among quadrilaterals.

• Understand that shapes in different categories may share attributes and those attributes can define a larger category (example: rhombuses, rectangles, and others have four sides and are all called quadrilaterals).

• Expand the ability to see geometry in the real world.

• Can draw plane figure shapes based on attributes.

• Further develop understanding of partitioning shapes into parts with equal areas.

• Partitions shapes in several different ways into equal parts of halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and eighths and recognizes the partitioned parts have the same area.

• Use data collected to make bar and picture graphs.

• Interpret line plots.

• Find the perimeter of polygons; use addition to find perimeters; solve for an unknown length and recognize the patterns that exist when finding the sum of the lengths and widths of rectangles.

Unit 5: Representing and Comparing Fractions



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• Develop an understanding of fractions, beginning with unit fractions.

• View fractions in general as being built out of unit fractions, and they use fractions along with visual fraction models to represent parts of a whole.

• Understand that the size of a fractional part is relative to the size of the whole. For example, 1/2 of the paint in a small bucket could be less paint than 1/3 of the paint in a larger bucket, but 1/3 of a ribbon is longer than 1/5 of the same ribbon because when the ribbon is divided into 3 equal parts, the parts are longer than when the ribbon is divided into 5 equal parts. Students are able to use fractions to represent numbers equal to, less than, and greater than one.

• Solve problems that involve comparing fractions by using visual fraction models and strategies based on noticing equal numerators or denominators.

• Recognize that the numerator is the top number (term) of a fraction and that it represents the number of equal-sized parts of a set or whole; recognize that the denominator is the bottom number (term) of a fraction and that it represents the total number of equal-sized parts or the total number of objects of the set

• Explain the concept that the larger the denominator, the smaller the size of the piece

• Compare common fractions with like denominators and tell why one fraction is greater than, less than, or equal to the other

• Represent halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths, tenths , and twelfths using various fraction models

Unit 6: Measurement


• Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes.

• Solve elapsed time, including word problems, by using a number line diagram.

• Reason about the units of mass and volume.

• Understand that larger units can be subdivided into equivalent units (partition).

• Understand that the same unit can be repeated to determine the measure (iteration).

• Understand the relationship between the size of a unit and the number of units needed (compensatory principle).

• Graph data that is relevant to their lives. While exploring data concepts, students should Pose a question, Collect data, Analyze data, and Interpret data (PCAI).

Unit 7: Geometry


• Further develop understandings of geometric figures by focusing on identification and descriptions of plane figures based on geometric properties.

• Identifies examples and non-examples of plane figures and solid figures based on geometric properties.

• Identify differences among quadrilaterals.

• Understand that shapes in different categories may share attributes and those attributes can define a larger category (example: rhombuses, rectangles, and others have four sides and are all called


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quadrilaterals).

• Expand the ability to see geometry in the real world.

• Can draw plane figure shapes based on attributes.

• Further develop understanding of partitioning shapes into parts with equal areas.

• Partitions shapes in several different ways into equal parts of halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and eighths and recognizes the partitioned parts have the same area.

• Use data collected to make bar and picture graphs.

• Interpret line plots.

• Find the perimeter of polygons; use addition to find perimeters; solve for an unknown length and recognize the patterns that exist when finding the sum of the lengths and widths of rectangles.

Grade 4:

Unit 1: Whole Numbers, Place Value and Rounding in Computation


• read numbers correctly through the millions

• write numbers correctly through millions in standard form

• write numbers correctly through millions in expanded form

• identify the place value name for multi-digit whole numbers

• identify the place value locations for multi-digit whole numbers

• round multi-digit whole numbers to any place

• solve multi-step problems using the four operations

Unit 2: Multiplication and Division of Whole Numbers


• solve multi-step problems using the four operations

• use estimation to solve multiplication and division problems

• find factors and multiples

• identify prime and composite numbers

• generate patterns

Unit 3: Fraction Equivalents


• understand representations of simple equivalent fractions

• compare fractions with different numerators and different denominators

Unit 4: Operations with Fractions


• Identify visual and written representations of fractions

• Understand representations of simple equivalent fractions

• Understand the concept of mixed numbers with common denominators to 12

• Add and subtract fractions with common denominators

• Add and subtract mixed numbers with common denominators


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• Convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and improper fractions to mixed fractions

• Understand a fraction a/b as a multiple of 1/b. (for example: model the product of ¾ as 3 x ¼ ).

• Understand a multiple of a/b as a multiple of 1/b, and use this understanding to multiply a fraction by a whole number.

• Solve word problems involving multiplication of a fraction by a whole number, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.

• Multiply a whole number by a fraction

Unit 5: Fractions and Decimals


• express fractions with denominators of 10 and 100 as decimals

• understand the relationship between decimals and the base ten system

• understand decimal notation for fractions

• use fractions with denominators of 10 and 100 interchangeably with decimals

• express a fraction with a denominator 10 as an equivalent fraction with a denominator 100

• add fractions with denominators 10 and 100 (including adding tenths and hundredths)

• compare decimals to hundredths by reasoning their size

• understand that comparison of decimals is only valid when the two decimals refer to the same whole

• justify decimals comparisons using visual models

Unit 6: Geometry


• Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines

• Identify and classify angles and identify them in two-dimensional figures

• Distinguish between parallel and perpendicular lines and use them in geometric figures

• Identify differences and similarities among two dimensional figures based on the absence or presence of characteristics such as parallel or perpendicular lines and angles of a specified size

• Sort objects based on parallelism, perpendicularity, and angle types

• Recognize a right triangle as a category for classification

• Identify lines of symmetry and classify line-symmetric figures

• Draw lines of symmetry

Unit 7: Measurement


• investigate what it means to measure length, weight, volume, time, and angles

• understand how to use standardized tools to measure length, weight, volume, time, and angles

• understand how different units within a system (customary and metric) are related to each other

• know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units


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• solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, ¼, 1/8)

• solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in line plots apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real world and mathematical problems.

• Recognize angles as geometric shapes that are formed wherever two rays share a common endpoint, and understand concepts of angle measurement

• Measure angles in whole number degrees using a protractor

• Recognize angle measurement as additive and when an angle is decomposed into non-overlap

Grade 5:

Unit 1: Order of Operations and Whole Numbers and Decimals


• Solve problems by representing mathematical relationships between quantities using mathematical expressions and equations.

• Use the four whole number operations efficiently, including the application of order of operations.

• Write, evaluate, and interpret mathematical expressions with and without using symbols.

• Apply strategies for multiplying a 2- or 3-digit

number by a 2-digit number.

• Develop paper-and-pencil multiplication algorithms (not limited to the traditional algorithm) for 3- or 4-digit number multiplied by a 2- or 3-digit number.

• Apply paper-and-pencil algorithms for division.

• Solve problems involving multiplication and division.

• Investigate the effects of multiplying whole numbers by powers of 10.

Unit 2: Decimals


Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.

Read and write decimals to thousandths using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form, e.g., 347.392 = 3 × 100 + 4 × 10 + 7 × 1 + 3 × (1/10) + 9 x (1/100) + 2 × (1/1000).

Compare two decimals to thousandths based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.

Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what


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it represents in theplace to its left Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.

Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths.

Unit 3: Multiplying and Dividing with Decimals

Unit Description: In this unit, students will perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to the hundredths

Unit 4: Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying and Dividing Fractions

Unit Description: In this unit, students will

Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators (including mixed numbers) by replacing given fractions with equivalent fractions in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or difference of fractions with like denominators solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole, including cases of unlike denominators, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem.

Interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a ÷ b).

Solve word problems involving division of whole numbers leading to answers in the form of fractions or mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem.

Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.

Solve real world problems involving multiplication

of fractions and mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem.

Apply and extend previous understandings of division to divide unit fractions by whole numbers and whole numbers by unit fractions.

Unit 5: Geometry and the Coordinated Plane


Generate two numerical patterns using two given rules. Identify apparent relationships between corresponding terms. Form ordered pairs consisting of corresponding terms from the two patterns, and graph the ordered pairs on a coordinate plane.

Use a pair of perpendicular number lines, called axes, to define a coordinate system with the intersection of the lines (the origin) arranged to coincide with the 0 on each line and a given point in the plane located by using an ordered pair of numbers, called its coordinates Represent real world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane, and interpret coordinate values of points in the context of the situation.

Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

Unit 6: 2D Figures


• Identify similarities and differences among two-dimensional figures.

• Reason about attributes (properties) of two-dimensional figures.

• Have experiences discussing the property of two-dimensional figures.


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• Build upon their fourth grade knowledge and create a hierarchy diagram

• Understand that attributes belonging to a category of two-dimensional figures also belong to all subcategories of that category

Unit 7: Measurement and Volume


• recognize volume as an attribute of three-dimensional space.

• understand that volume can be measured by finding the total number of same size units of volume required to fill the space without gaps or overlaps.

• understand that a 1-unit by 1-unit by 1-unit cube is the standard unit for measuring volume.

• select appropriate units, strategies, and tools for solving problems that involve estimating and measuring volume.

• decompose three-dimensional shapes and find volumes of right rectangular prisms by viewing them as decomposed into layers of arrays of cubes.

• measure necessary attributes of shapes in order to determine volumes to solve real world and mathematical problems.

• communicate precisely by engaging in discussion about their reasoning using appropriate mathematical language.

ScienceThe science program at AISC aims to stimulate students’ natural curiosity, build interest in their world and themselves, and provide opportunities to practice the scientific method.

Hands-on experiences emphasize the important scientific processing skills of Observing, Questioning, Inferring, Predicting, Measuring, Communicating and Classifying. These experiences are introduced and investigated as students explore the Life, Physical and Earth Sciences. Students are actively engaged in constructing ideas and explanations about the world around them. We use the Foss Full Option Science System (commonly known as FOSS Kits).

Kindergarten

Unit 1: The Five Senses

In this unit, the students will:

• learn different parts of their bodies and the senses we use everyday.

• explore the environment and participate in experiments.

Unit 2: Seasons and Weather

In this unit, the students will:

• describe characteristics of the four seasons.

• discuss clothing used during each season

• participate in weather project

• predict weather patterns

Unit 3: Plants and Animals

In this unit, students will

• explore the needs of plants and animals

• explore the similarities and differences between themselves and animals.


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Unit 4: Materials: Sink and Float


• explore various materials and discover if they sink or float

Grade 1

Unit 1: Earth Materials:

Unit Description: In this unit, students will

• explore a variety of earth materials; rocks, clay, soil, sand and pebbles.

• learn new vocabulary to describe these materials.

• sort materials and engage in conversations designed to elicit new questions

Unit 2 Animals:


• describe the attributes of animals

• explain how scientists categorize and describe animals

• identify the basic needs of plants and animals

• observe and describe the adaptations of animals as a result of natural phenomena and the impact of humans on their environment

• explore food webs, food chains, and the life cycles of a variety of animals.

Grade 2

Unit 1: Balance and Motion

Unit Description:

In this unit students explore stable (balanced) and unstable systems, using counterweighting to change the center of mass of the systems. They explore

two classes of motion--spinning and rolling--first through trial and error, and later through systematic explorations. Students begin to develop a sense of variables, which they control to produce desired outcomes.

• Develop a growing curiosity and interest in the motion of objects.

• Investigate materials constructively during free exploration and in a guided discovery mode.

• Solve problems through trial and error.

• Develop persistence in tackling a problem.

• Explore concepts of balance, counterweight and stability.

• Observe systems that are unstable and modify them to reach equilibrium.

• Discover different ways to produce rotational motion.

• Construct and observe toys that spin.

• Explore and describe some of the variables that influence the spinning of objects.

• Observe and describe the motion of rolling spheres.

• Acquire the vocabulary associated with balance and motion.

Unit 2: Living Organisms

Unit Description:

Students experience the diversity of life in the plant and animal kingdom. They observe and describe basic needs and changes that occur as plants and animals grow and develop, and organize their observations in a journal. Students identify similarities and differences between two aquatic organisms and plants in water and on land .


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• Discuss what they know about organisms

• Explore how seeds are similar and different

• Plant seeds and begin to observe their growth

• Study and describe the characteristics and needs of organism

• Observe and describe the changes in the terrarium and aquarium

• Summarize what they have discovered about the similarities and differences between different types of organisms.

• Apply what they have learned to better understand the needs of and interactions between humans.

Unit 3: Properties of Matter

Unit Description:

In this unit students will explore the different properties of matter. They are introduced to the concept that matter exists in 3 states-solid, liquid, and gas- and that substances in each of these categories can be described by their unique properties.

Students also explore the processes that result in changes of state, including freezing, melting and condensation.

• Everything is made up of matter.

• Matter can be classified according to its properties.

• Solids, liquids and gasses have similarities and differences.

• The properties of matter can change through chemical or physical processes.

Grade 3

Unit 1: Water


• observe and explore properties of water in solid, liquid and gaseous states

• observe the expansion and contraction of water as it heats and cools

• investigate factors of evaporation and condensation

• consider components of the water cycle

• observe interactions between water and other earth materials

• use the scientific method to conduct investigations

Unit 2: Earth Materials


• understand the difference between rocks and minerals

• observe and describe the properties of rocks and minerals

• compare their activities to the work of a geologist

• understand weathering and erosion

• use the scientific method to conduct investigations

• understand how humans use rocks and minerals

• relate rocks and minerals to the creation and types of landforms found around the earth


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Unit 3: Rainforests


• understand the ecosystem of the rainforest

• study organisms of the rainforest

• understand physical and behavioral characteristics of organisms in the rainforest

• understand how humans use resources from the rainforest

• study the effects of a diminishing rainforest and understand the importance of preserving the rainforests

Grade 4

Unit 1: Magnetism and Electricity

Unit Description: During Electricity and Magnetism studies, students will begin working through scientific methods, collaborating and investigating using hands on materials to discover the properties of magnetism and electricity.

Unit 2: Solar Energy

Unit Description: During Solar Energy studies, students continue their work as collaborating scientists as they investigate the impact of the sun’s energy on various earth materials. Additionally, this data heavy unit allows students to deepen their data analysis and graphing skills. Last, students reflect on real world solutions to real world problems by exploring renewable and non-renewable energies.

Unit 3: The Solar System

Unit Description: In this unit, students examine the relationship between the earth, sun, and moon in order to understand day and night; seasons; the brightness of stars and other miracles of space.

Grade 5

Unit 1: Mixtures and Solutions

Unit Description: Chemistry is the study of the structure of matter and the changes or transformations that take place in it. Learning about the makeup of substances gives us knowledge about how things go together and how they can be taken apart. Learning about changes in substances is important for several reasons: changes can be controlled to produce new materials; changes can be used to give off energy to run machines. In this unit, students will:

• Gain experience with the concepts of mixture and solution.

• Gain experience with the concepts of concentration and saturation.

• Gain experience with the concept of chemical reaction.

• Apply an operational definition to determine the relative concentrations of solutions.

• Use group problem-solving techniques to plan investigations.

• Use measurement in the context of scientific investigations.

• Apply mathematics in the context of science.

• Acquire vocabulary associated with chemistry and the periodic table.

• Be introduced to the concept that all matter is made of very small particles called atoms and that atoms combine to form molecules.

• Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, and relating.


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Unit 2: Physics of Sound

Unit Description: In this unit, students learn to discriminate between sounds generated by dropped objects, how sounds can be made louder or softer and higher or lower, how sounds travel through a variety of materials, and how sounds get from a source to a receiver. The investigations provide opportunities for students to explore the natural and human made worlds by observing and manipulating materials in focused settings using simple tools. Students will:

• Observe and compare sounds to develop discrimination ability.

• Communicate with others using a drop code.

• Learn that sound originates from a source that is vibrating and is detected at a receiver such as the human ear.

• Understand the relationship between the pitch of a sound and the physical properties of the sound source (i.e. length of vibrating object, frequency of vibrations, and tension of vibrating string).

• Compare methods to amplify sound at the source and at the receiver.

• Observe and compare how sound travels through solids, liquids, and air.

• Use knowledge of the physics of sound to solve simple sound challenges.

• Acquire vocabulary associated with the physics of sound.

• Exercise language, social studies, and math skills in the context of the physics of sound.

• Develop and refine the manipulative skills required for investigating sound.

• Use scientific thinking processes to conduct

investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, and organizing.

Unit 3: Levers and Pulleys

Unit Description: Humans are the only living creatures that have been able to put materials together to construct machines to do work. Our capacity to see and invent relationships between effort and work produced through simple machines has led us into a world that is becoming more technologically oriented. Knowledge of these relationships is necessary for understanding all mechanics. Students will:

• Gain experience with the concept of force and the application of force to do work.

• Gain experience with the relationships between the components of lever systems and pulley systems.

• Gain experience with the concept of advantage as it relates to simple machines.

• Analyze real-world tools and machines in terms of the simple machines that make them work.

• Systematically collect and record data.

• Use measurement in the context of scientific investigations.

• Use diagrams to translate three-dimensional relationships into two dimensions.

• Acquire vocabulary associated with two simple machines (levers and pulleys).

• Apply mathematics in the context of science.

• Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, organizing, and relating.


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Unit 4: Living Systems

Unit Description: Living things range from simple, unicellular forms to complex, multicellular organisms, comprised of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems. Students will:

• Identify the 8 characteristics that all living organisms share.

• Observe slides of animal and plant tissue under a microscope, draw diagrams of them and arrive at discussion-based conclusions.

• Gain familiarity with the concept of cells as the building blocks of life and distinguish between unicellular and multicellular organisms.

• Use digital and non-digital media to gain an understanding of cell structure.

• Draw analogies between the role of the cell organelles and the organization of a school, factory etc.

• Acquire and use scientific vocabulary to describe cell parts and functions.

• Compare and contrast plant and animal cells.

• Create a cell model with labels and explain the function of each organelle.

Social Studies

Kindergarten Unit 1: All About Me


• identify characteristics that make them unique.

• understand how they are similar and different from each other.

• identify and describe the members of their family.

• recognize the role they play within their families.

Unit 2: All About Me and My World

In this unit, students will:

• individual development and identity

• share cultural differences and similarities

• share information about their home countries

Unit 3: Taking Care of the Environment


• use understanding of our place in the world to make good choices for the environment

• describe and design ways to help the earth and our environment

• celebrate Earth Day and be able to discuss why Earth Day is important

Grade 1

Unit 1: Community


Learn that we are all part of many communities. We begin this unit of inquiry by creating a class definition of community. After drawing and talking about what we think needs to be in a community, we join together as a first grade community to plan a building project. Students will explore how communities are formed in neighborhoods, religious organizations and at our school. Next, we


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zoom in closer to home as students look carefully at the members of our AISC community and their roles working together towards our mission. Students explore these questions: Why are these community members important, what do they contribute, and how do they embody the mission of our school? Finally, students will decide upon a way to share their learning with the whole AISC community

Grade 2

Unit 1: Building a Community

Unit Description:

This approach to teaching and learning fosters safe, challenging, healthy and joyful elementary classrooms and schools. Developed by classroom teachers, this approach consists of teaching practices for bringing social and academic learning throughout the school day. Responsive classroom practices include these:

• Morning Meeting

• Interactive Modeling

• Logical Consequences

• Creating Rules

• Teacher Language

• Classroom Organization

• Collaborative Problem Solving

• Healthy habits like washing hands, brushing teeth and proper sanitation help keep diseases away.

• Choices that we make over time affect our health and safety.

•

Unit 2: Migration and Change

Unit Description:

In our Social Studies Unit we will be studying Changing Communities. This unit will look at patterns of migration in a personal and historical context. One of our focuses is how things change over time. We will be learning about where we come from, why people move and differences between the world in the past and present. Students learn more about the changes over time. We explore the differences over time in schools, home, technology, communication, work, transportation, and more.

• Compare and contrast their daily lives with those of their parents, grandparents, and/or guardians.

• Place important events in their lives in the order in which they occurred.

• Locate on a map where their ancestors lived, telling when the family moved to the home country/city and how and why they made the trip

• Compare and contrast basic land use in urban, suburban, and rural environments and the ways (e.g., recycling, travel, transportation) in which people from different cultures think about and respond to the physical environment

• Studying groups that have migrated

Unit 3: Coconut Connections: Natural Resources

Unit Description:

In this unit students explore how raw materials are changed into a variety of useful products. Part of the unit focuses on a locally used natural resource:


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the coconut and banana trees. This includes a field trip during which students see how parts of the coconut tree are made into different products such as: coir rope, coconut oil, building materials, brooms, and baskets.

• Investigate that light, gravity, touch, or environmental stress can affect the germination, growth, and development of plants.

• Understand that flowers and fruits are associated with reproduction in plants.

• Describe food production and consumption long ago and today, including the roles of farmers, processors, distributors, weather, and land and water resources.

• Understand the roles and interdependence of buyers(consumers) and sellers(producers) of goods and services.

• Understand how limits on resources affect production and consumption (what to produce and what to consume).

• Recognize that society stereotypes males and females based on economic roles both past and present.

Grade 3

Unit 1: Map Skills


• read, understand and use a variety of maps

• identify and use map features

• use modern day maps and mapping tools, such as Google earth

• understand the history of maps and why people use maps

Unit 2: Rights of a Child/UN Day


• Understand what UN Day is and why we celebrate it at AISC

• Review wants versus needs

• Understand rights and responsibilities

• Study the UN Charter for Children’s Rights

• Understand why Child Rights were created

• Study children around the world to compare and contrast if their rights are being met

• Tie these studies of children to map skills: Where in the world to they live?

• Understand how their environment and where they live impacts their rights.

Unit 3: Living in Contrasting Environ-ments


• understand the relationship between climates, environment and the lives of people around the world

• understand how humans adapt to different climates

• identify how the environment shapes the lives of humans

• apply their understanding of geography and map skills to studying different areas of the world

Unit 4: Ancient Greece


• compare and contrast life in Ancient Greece to modern day society


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• identify and understand all of the contributions Ancient Greece made to our world today

• Understand how culture, history, geography, people, and government shape the development of a community

• study ancient Greek mythology and apply language arts skills in social studies

Grade 4

Unit 1 The Geography of South Asia

This unit introduces the year long theme of South Asia. Throughout the year students explore the geography, history, culture, and current events of the region. Students explore how the Himalaya Mountain Range formed over time by plate tectonics, how the mountains create massive river systems, and that those river systems create massive deltas.

Unit 2: The Culture of South Asia

Closely connected to unit one, students learn about how the geography, especially river systems, sustain the massive population in South Asia. Through the study of data, students also examine the poverty in this region and make connections between different data points, including gender inequality and access to health care and education. Coinciding with U.N. Day, students also examine their own cultures and national identities.

Unit 3: The Ancient Indus River Valley

After exploring modern South Asia, students go back in time to study the mysterious Ancient Indus River Valley. Students consider the impact of agriculture on the rise of civilizations and the major achievements of this great society.

Unit 4: Water as a Human Right

All over the world, the impoverished suffer from a lack of clean drinking water and access to sanitation. The struggle to meet this basic need impacts the entire society and creates a variety of conflicts. In brief, water shortages affect cultures in regards to education, gender inequality, health, economic prosperity, production of goods and services, and conflicts with other regions and nations.

Students study the Universal Doctrine of Human Rights, the concept of inequity of access to resources around the world, and the responsibility of all of us to help those whose human rights are not being met.

Grade 5

Unit 1: Explorers

Unit Description: In this unit, students are introduced to the Age of Exploration. We explore the causes, motivations, goals, and results of many voyages of discovery. Students will learn answers to the following questions:

• Why would someone leave the safety and comfort of their country to go on these voyages of exploration?

• How would you know where to go without a map?

• What kind of people do you think were the main explorers?

• What do you think we can learn from modern day explorers?

Unit 2: Colonization

Unit Description: In this unit students will demonstrate an understanding of how European countries asserted their power to claim territory


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all around the world with a focus on colonization. Students will explore the reasons for colonization and the impact it had. The unit will begin with an overview of colonization in general, moving to specific regions of the world. Students will learn answers to the following questions:

• How did early colonists help us become who we are today?

• Why was colonization important between the time period 1500 - 1800?

• What impact did colonization have on trade and economy?

• What were the consequences of colonization?

Unit 3: Democracy

Democracy was born out of John Locke’s idea of natural rights. Thomas Jefferson called them the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Students will explore these rights and recognize that they come with a cost - even a patriot’s life. Democracy comes with a lot of responsibility and citizenship; it is an ongoing process. Citizens are expected to elect leaders and to be active members of the democratic processes. Students will learn answers to the following questions:

• What is democracy?

• What does democracy mean to me?

• How do individuals and groups of people influence government?

• What are constitutional rights and how are they protected?

• Why are democracies important?

Art (for K-5 grade levels)

The aim of the Visual Arts Program is to enable

the students to create, analyze and respond in discussion and writing about the Visual Arts. We will be looking at the elements and principles of art, application of artistic processes and skills, and art forms of various cultures, and we will aim for visual literacy.

Disciplines based Art Education is an approach of teaching art based on the inclusion of Technique, Criticism, Art History, and Anesthetics. We will have anesthetic discussions, which include art history, during lessons. The aim is to develop additional language as well as to conceptualize and become tolerant of cultures and concepts not fully understood previously.

All art projects from KG to grade 5 are based on the AERO standards. To meet these standards students will use creative processes and language of art to communicate through a variety of media and techniques. Students will recognize that all cultures produce art and that art transcends time. Students learn how art has influenced, defined history, culture and identify and compare them in cultural celebrations. Using the language of art, students critically analyze derive meaning from and evaluate artwork. Use the senses to make observations about works of art and use basic concepts and vocabulary when making observations. They use basic concepts and art vocabulary to interpret and communicate ideas and feelings about art works. At the end of every art project, students get to judge and evaluate art works using the language of art. Generally they evaluate art based on personal points of view and take suggestions from the teachers to improvise on their skill levels and their art works.

Students receive instruction in art two times per week. Students experience a variety of media including ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and textiles. Students will be exposed to


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art of other cultures, the works of famous artists, as well as basic elements and principles of art and design.

Following is a list of projects that will occur in each of our classrooms over the course of an academic year.

Kindergarten:

Color wheel concepts:

Students get to understand the primary colors, secondary colors and tertiary colors in this lesson.They get to make flowers, butterflies etc using these color wheel concepts understanding these colors. Lessons plans are structured in ways which would make students learn the various combinations and proportions with colors.

Shapes: Students get to learn the basic geometric and organic shapes.They get to make a shape collage art project which is also an integrated unit with their math lesson on geometric shapes.

Self portraits: Students learn to make self portraits. Students study self portraits from a variety of cultures and times. Various measurements are used as a guide toward correct proportion while also emphasizing observational skills.This unit is an integrated activity with science lesson on five senses.

Diwali diyas: Students understand that art is also used for celebrations.They get to make a diya poster applying the elements of art.These posters will be used for the diwali celebration on campus.This lesson is an integrated lesson with their social studies unit on festivals.

Winter concert props: This particular project varies from year to year based on the theme and concepts of songs or plays. Students use the art time to create attractive decorations which would

be used as props for their performances.This unit is also an integrated unit with the music lessons.

India Week art project: This particular project again varies from year to year based on the theme and concepts of the India week.Students get to learn a traditional art form which would be used for decorating the campus during India week time.This unit is an integrated unit with Indian studies.

Pointillism: Students get to know the art of pointillism.They get to see, learn from the examples of the great artist Georges seurat and his pointillism technique and make a landscape depicted in his style.

Paper collage: Students get to do a paper collage using tissue papers and other materials.They get to create a flowering plant which is an integrated unit with their science lesson on parts of the plant.

Mother’s Day art project: This project would vary from year to year understanding the concept of gifting to their mothers. Students get to make jewel boxes, pouches or mini bags for their moms which is used as an appreciation gift during mother’s day celebration in school.

Abstract paper cutouts: Students get to do an abstract art depicting the style of the great artist Wassily kandinsky and Henri matisse. They use a lot of cutting techniques and create paper cutouts which are fused on a background and painted with details using metallic colors.

Origami: Students get to learn art forms from different cultures.They use polish paper to understand the basic methods of paper folding which is a very famous art form from Japan.

Clay project: Students get introduced to some basic clay art projects where they learn to handle clay and make some small art works with three dimensional effects.


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Grade 1:Elements of art: Understanding the basic elements of art helps students to create any art work. Students learn about, line, shape, color, value, texture, form and space. They use these art elements to create art projects which portrays that art works cannot be created without having these basic elements.

Peace day ribbons: This particular art work would vary from year to year having the concept of making a peace ribbon which would go on display on campus for Gandhi jayanthi, world peace day celebration and United Nations Day.

Gustav klimt patterned quilt: Students learn to make a composition of patterns using various types of lines which is later depicted as a patterned quilt in Great artist Gustav klimt’s style with reference to his famous painting ‘Baby (Cradle)’.

Self portraits: Students learn to make self portraits. Students study self portraits from a variety of cultures and times. Various measurements are used as a guide toward correct proportion while also emphasizing observational skills.They use a variety of mediums to create texture on their portraits observing specific characteristics.

Diwali art project: Student understand that art is also used for celebrations.They get to make a cracker posters implementing the elements of art. These posters will be used for the diwali celebrations on campus.This lesson is an integrated lesson with social studies unit on festivals.

Winter concert props: This particular project varies from year to year based on the theme and concepts of songs and plays. Students use the art time to create attractive decorations which would be used as props for their performances.This unit is

also an integrated unit with the music lessons.

India Week art project: This particular project again varies from year to year based on the theme and concepts of the India week.Students get to learn a traditional art form which depicts India and that project would be used for decorating the campus during India week time. This unit is an integrated unit with Indian studies.

Landscapes-countryscapes, seascapes and cityscapes: Students learn how to create landscapes which comprise the physical features of an area of land. Students learn some technical art terms and application methods to make their compositions.They compare and study the various elements of each category such as countryscapes, seascapes and cityscapes and apply them to create the artworks.

Salvador dali surrealism: During this project students learn about Surrealism. Students are encouraged to visualise and draw out of imagination.They get to know about the great artist Salvador Dali and his surreal dreams and create a surreal art project which is portrayed in his style.

Repousse- Reptiles: This project is an integrated unit of their science lesson on vertebrates-animals with backbone. Students also combine this artwork comparing it with the Mexican repousse art form of making metal reptiles.They experiment with various tools and art materials to work on this project.

Origami: Students get to learn art forms from different cultures.They use polish papers to understand the basic methods of paper folding which is a very famous art form from Japan. They learn to fold various animals out of paper and create a habitat background to mount their folded animals.

Clay project: Students get introduced to some basic clay art projects where they learn to handle


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clay and make some small art works with three dimensional effects. They also learn how to knead clay, create textures and dry them and paint the details.

Grade 2:Elements of art: Understanding the basic elements of art helps students to create any art work. Students learn about, line, shape, color, value, texture, form and space in detail. They use these art elements to create art projects which portray that art works cannot be created without having these basic elements.

Peace day posters: This particular art work would vary from year to year having the concept of making a peace ribbon or a poster which would go on display on campus for Gandhi jayanthi,world peace day celebration and united nations day.This unit is also an integrated unit with social studies.

Henri Rousseau jungle picture: Students learn to create a jungle picture of a tropical forest in the style of the great artist Henri rousseau who is known for his jungle paintings. They observe, experiment and create beautiful jungle scenes with wild animals and birds and variety of grass, plants, trees and flowers using the technique of double shading.They experiment with oil pastels as their medium to work on this project.

Jackson pollock splattering technique: This project is an untitled abstract artwork. Students learn to create a splattered painting in the style of the great artist Jackson pollock who is known for his action paintings.They experiment and explore with different art tools and create a splatter painting using regular and metallic paints.

Diwali craft project: As a part of understanding art and craft from different cultures students get to create a beautiful Diwali lantern out of paper which

would be used to decorate the school campus for the various celebrations during Diwali.This unit is an integrated unit with Indian studies on festivals.

Winter concert props: This particular project varies from year to year based on the theme and concepts of songs and plays.Students use the art time to create attractive decorations which would be used as props for their performances.This unit is an integrated unit with the music lessons.

India Week art project: This particular project again varies from year to year based on the theme and concepts of the India week.Students get to learn a traditional art form which portrays India and that project would be used for decorating the campus during India week time.This unit is an integrated unit with Indian studies.

Tech art activity: Students get to use some art softwares like Kid pix and Tux paint to create visuals.They make a picture story book with visuals that go with the text.They use special softwares to create the cover design for their story book.This project helps students to be more imaginative and visualize their stories.

3D Bats: Students create 3 dimensional bats with their habitat.They use various types of materials to study the texture of bats.They also create a habitat that they have read and seen during one of their field trips.This is an integrated art project with their reading of non-fiction books.

Pop art: Students create a pop art in the style of the great artist Andy Warhol.They try to use his technique of bright colors, simple but strong shapes that really stand out.They learn to make their own printing plates which they use for printing on paper using special printing inks and brayers.

Paper mache tribal masks: Students learn about art from different cultures.They learn how to create a paper mache African tribal masks.


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They use a variety of tools and materials to work on this project.They also understand the concept of recycling old cartons,papers cardboards into beautiful vibrantly colored masks.They understand to build relief, tissue layering process, preparation of the glue and paper during the course of this project. They also use a variety of embellishments to add details and enhance their masks.

Clay project: Students get introduced to some basic clay art projects where they learn to handle clay and make some small art works with three dimensional effects. They also learn how to knead clay, create textures and dry them to paint them with details.

Grade 3‘Henri Matisse Name Collage’- Students create a collage after studying the life and work of Henri Matisse. Using the cutout letters of their name plus other shapes, the student develops a composition, while working on good craftsmanship, and use of design principles.

Ceramic pinch and pull animal sculpture- The student is introduced to clay work with a few basic techniques.

Falling Down drawing- Students practice observational drawing as well as drawing from memory and imagination. Students use foreshortening to exaggerate the illusion of near and far.

Oil pastel self portrait- Students study self portraits from a variety of cultures and times. Various measurements are used as a guide toward correct proportion while also emphasizing observational skills.

Ceramic face portrait- Greek and Roman sculpture portraits are studied as students create a

portrait using correct proportion in clay.

Stuffed paper fish sculpture- Students further their ability to develop a three dimensional form based on two dimensional studies. Surface decoration of the form becomes the main focus.

Chalk pastel of tiger- This project celebrates India’s national animal for India week. After discussing many historical, natural, and cultural aspects of tigers, students create a chalk pastel drawing.

Greek vase drawing- This unit is integrated with their social studies unit on ancient Greece. We study the meaning and stories shown visually on ancient pottery and the techniques used to create the pots and vases. Students then make a drawing of a vase incorporating a visual story based on ancient greek mythology or culture.

Ceramic coil pots- Students make a coil pot. Good craftsmanship and creative manipulation of coils are emphasized.

Panama rain forest cut paper Mola- This project is integrated with 3rd graders study of rainforest. Students learn about the indigenous Cuna of Panama and their traditional Mola applique artworks. Students make their own paper applique design based on rain forest creatures.

Characters in a room drawing- This drawing teaches basic figure drawing both through observation and memory. Students first draw the human figure by observing figure manikins. Then, using visuals, they draw a variety of “characters” and place them in a 1-point perspective room.

Grade 4Batik- Integrated with social studies of South East Asia, students view a variety of fabric arts. Students


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then make a fabric batik based on an observational drawing.

Dynamic name collage- Students use the letters of their names as the principal shapes to be arranged in a ‘dynamic’ composition.

Whimsical fish- students learn basic ceramic handbuilding methods to create a whimsical fish sculpture . Students study and draw a variety of fish and then learn about the art of caricature and apply the selective exaggeration to their drawings. Students then translate the 2-Dimensional drawing to a 3-Dimensional form.

Van Gogh landscape- Students paint an imaginary landscape which demonstrates understanding of Van Gogh’s use of space and line in creating depth as well as Van Gogh’s style of mark making and how it contributes to depicting the landscape.

Andy Warhol style self-portrait- Students study the 1960’s Pop Art movement and create a ‘Warhol ‘ style self-portrait by using their own photograph printed on clear acetate.

Indus valley metal embossing- This project integrates the students’ social studies unit of ancient Indus Valley culture. Students learn metal repousse and emboss metal foil to replicate ancient Indus Valley trading seals.

One-point perspective city drawing- Students learn how to draw cubes in one-point perspective and then create an imaginary city or town in 1-point perspective.

Stencil/relief print- Students make a freestyle print by stamping over a stencil shape and later developing and enhancing the shape with lines. The students are exposed to different kinds of printing techniques and become familiar with contemporary artist John Buck.

Japanese calligraphy- Students create artwork which combines Japanese calligraphy and stamped printing. Students are exposed to Japanese culture and aesthetics.

Bankura style ceramic animal- Integrated with Indian studies, students create a ceramic sculpture inspired through the study of ceramic folk art from a specific area of India.

Surreal photo collage- Students use Paint.NET, a free software program, to learn the basics of most photo editing and enhancing. They study the art movement of surrealism and create a ‘surreal’ photo collage.

Figure Collage- The students create a mixed media collage which emphasizes observational drawing, figure drawing and a variety of surface design. The collages of contemporary artist Mariam Shapiro are the main source of inspiration and guidance.

Grade 5Symmetrical alien drawing- Students create a fantasy ’extraterrestrial’ creature and learn about symmetry and balance as a design principle, by applying a simple transfer method.

Still life drawing and painting- This unit is mostly about observational drawing but later introduces the works of expressionist painters and the importance of color schemes. Students begin by making charcoal studies of a still life as they focus on composition, emphasis, proportion and balance. They also learn to recognize light direction and shadow. Next they paint a second still life applying their new skills as they study the works of expressionist painters such as Henri Matisse.

Graphic design on computer- Students study the art movement of surrealism and then create a


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‘surreal’ photo collage. Students use a photo editing program on computer as a tool while applying the principles of design.

Mandalas- Students integrate their math and geometry skills and use a compass and protractor to divide a circle into equal parts. Elaborate original (symmetrical) designs are created by the students and they also learn about Buddhist culture and beliefs.

Smoking dragon sculpture- Students learn several ceramic handbuilding methods to create this fantasy sculpture as well as viewing a cross cultural selection of dragons throughout history.

Two-point perspective city drawing- Students further their knowledge of perspective drawing by using two vanishing points to create a realistic illusion of depth. The subject matter and themes may change.

Repeating design lino-print- Grade 5 students look at Islamic tile, tessellations, M.C. Escher’s art and make linoleum-relief prints which are designed to create a repeating pattern.

Madhubani drawing- Students make a drawing of a personal subject in the Indian folk art - ‘Madhubani style’. Students learn about folk art in general and Madhubani in particular.

Coil pot- Students make a coil pot, good craftsmanship and creative manipulation of coils are emphasized.

Paper Mache masks- Students create a mask by building a cardboard armature on which to apply paper mache. Students learn to recognize masks from a variety of cultures as well as understanding the various functions and contexts of masks.

Elementary School Physical Education

Course and Unit Descriptions

The mission of the AISC Elementary Physical Education program is to provide students with 21st Century curriculum that is rooted in foundational knowledge of fitness and the body, as well as the development movement skills for healthy living. Our Physical Education program allows the students to learn and develop a positive attitude and genuine excitement towards physical activity.

Throughout the school year, students will engage in an age appropriate level of physical fitness and utilize a broad range of activities and venues. In Upper Elementary, students will be exposed to wide array of sports from all over the world, along with exercise routines and circuit workouts to promote fun and safe activity.

In Lower Elementary, students will focus on building a foundation for physical activity by developing their coordination, balance, loco motor skills and body awareness. Both Upper Elementary and Lower Elementary will be stimulated physically and mentally, by utilizing various play areas, such as: the gymnasium, pool, turf field, grass field and concrete play area.

A growing body of research has made it quite clear that Physical Education has the ability to lay the foundation for lifelong fitness and improve students’ ability to focus, concentrate and use their time productivity. We believe that our physical education program will help children excel in their overall wellness and academics.

Unit Descriptions: Lower Elementary

Orientation and basic assessment: - Students are welcomed and made aware of the expectations


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and norms of Physical Education. We also use this time to make general assessments of each students walking, running, jumping, hopping, galloping and skipping. Students will also participate in team building activities, like the human knot and various relays.

Basketball: - Basketball is a high-energy sport that keeps kids engaged and moving. Students will be introduced to basketball related skills, such as: dribbling, passing, shooting and defensive positioning.

Scoop and ball: - Students will work on their hand and eye coordination, balance, and focus while trying to pass and catch the ball with a scooper. During Scoop and Ball, students will pass and catch with themselves and with others. This activity will enhance concentration and coordination.

Frisbee: - Students will throw and catch a soft foam Frisbee with a partner. Frisbee activities will build hand and eye coordination and throwing techniques.

Aquatics: - Students will learn and review the basics of pool safety and explore the foundations of swimming. Your child will improve their swimming by developing their free-style and breaststroke technique. They will also be put into swimming levels according to the Red Cross Swimming Standards. Students will train and learn in their appropriate swimming group. Students will work on various skills, such as: entry into the pool, and improving their freestyle stroke and breaststroke. In regard to water safety and awareness, students will learn and practice safe ways to assist people who are having trouble in the water.

Wall climbing: - During this unit students will use the climbing wall to travel up, down, left and right. Students will use the placeholders on the wall, their feet, legs, arms and hands to develop their core

strength while also making strategic movements. The objective of this activity is to allow students to practice coordinating their different climbing techniques (matching hands and feet, crossing over their feet and arms) while remaining close to the ground. This is a creative way to build up strength in student’s forearms, arms and legs. This is a great way to introduce students to various heights of climbing.

Jump rope activities: - Jump rope is a classic activity that brings joy to many students. This activity will help the students increase their balance, coordination and cardiovascular fitness.

Bowling: - During this unit students will use a bowling ball (a soft one), roll it about 2-3 meters and attempt to knock pins down. The action of rolling the ball down the lane is similar to doing squats and stretching all, at the same time. While the students are doing this exercise they are focusing on balancing a ball in their hands and rolling it toward a target. This activity works on hand-eye coordination skills, balance and concentration.

Soccer: - Students will learn fundamental soccer skills like dribbling, passing and shooting (striking the ball). This skill set will help build balance, agility, coordination and teamwork. Soccer matches will give students the opportunity to improve their teamwork skills and enhance their sportsmanship.

Tumbling Skills: - Students learn and practice their forward rolls, backward rolls, pencil rolls and egg rolls. These skills are a lot of fun and will help build self-confidence, flexibility, balance and coordination.

Cup stacking: - Cup stacking is another favorite for the kids. This unit will improve students’ motor skills, dexterity and brain activities. The hands and eyes will be better able to successfully coordinate movements to perform a task, after practicing this


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activity. The students learn cup stacking with 3 cups and 6 cups.

Ladder activities: -For this activity a cloth ‘ladder’ is placed on the floor and students will run, hop and skip through it. This activity is used for enhancing quickness, agility, balance and flexibility in students. These exercises develop overall coordination and improve footwork.

Kick ball: - With Kickball, students will practice striking the ball with their foot, playing a game that involves running bases and also work on fielding the ball. This activity will develop the students’ balance, body control, concentration and develop the necessary social skills to participate in team games.

Handball: - During our Handball unit, students will work together to pass the ball and try to score on the other teams goal. Handball will build up the students’ hand-eye coordination, as well as their ability to run with balance, throw, pass, catch and shoot. Handball will also help develop the necessary social skills to participate in team games.

Throw ball: - Throw ball is very similar to Volleyball, but instead of students striking the ball with their palm, they will catch the ball, secure it and then throw it back. Students will learn how to receive the ball over a net, as well as, aim their throws to a specific area.

Upper Elementary

Community Building Activities, Icebreakers & Informal Initial Physical Assessments: -For the first week, students will participate in community building activities, such as: the Human Knot and the Name Game. The purpose of these activities is for both the teacher and students to learn each other’s name and to help the student feel comfortable in class.

European Handball : During this unit, students experiment with the concepts of ‘team play’ and ‘strategy’. In addition, students will develop their hand-eye coordination, throwing, passing, catching, balanced running and the necessary social skills to interact with their classmates.

Soccer : For this unit students will learn skills pertaining to soccer, as well as engage in game play. Students will develop their passing, stopping, dribbling, shooting and heading skills. Some concepts to be explored are teamwork, strategy, spacing and field vision. Soccer matches will give students the opportunity to improve their teamwork skills and enhance their sportsmanship.

Aquatics: For our first pool unit, students will learn and review the basics of pool safety, and explore the foundations of swimming. Your child will improve their swimming by developing their free-style and breaststroke technique. They will also be put into swimming levels according to the Red Cross Swimming Standards.

Basketball : Students will develop basketball related skills, such as: dribbling, passing, shooting, and playing with a defensive stance. Students will also work cooperatively while they experiment with gameplay, strategy and develop the necessary social skills to interact with their classmates.

Frisbee Throwing and Catching : While learning and practicing how to throw a Frisbee, students will improve their eye-hand coordination, balance, throwing technique and focus.

Aquatics: During this second Aquatics Unit, students will train and learn in their appropriate swimming group. Students will work on various skills, such as: dive entry, while reviewing and improving their freestyle stroke, backstroke and breaststroke. In regard to water safety and awareness, students will learn and practice safe


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ways to assist people who are having trouble in the water.

Table Tennis : While learning Table Tennis students will learn how to serve, forehand and backhand the table tennis ball. Students will also learn the fundamental rules of table tennis. These activities develop the students’ hand-eye coordination, body control and concentration.

Cricket : With Cricket, students will learn how to bowl (pitch the ball), swing a cricket bat, strike the ball and field a tennis ball. Students also learn some of the basic rules of Cricket. These activities work to develop the students’ balance, hand-eye coordination, body control, dynamic movement, concentration and the necessary social skills to interact with their classmates.

Hockey : Hockey will give the students an opportunity to learn how to use a hockey stick, strike the puck, pass and shoot. Students will also learn some of the basic rules of hockey. These activities will develop the students’ balance, hand-eye coordination, body control, dynamic movement, concentration and the necessary social skills to interact with their classmates.

Dodge Ball: - During the ever-popular Dodge ball Unit, students enhance their throwing, catching and eye-hand coordination skills. In addition, the students’ agility is put to the test by working on changing speeds and directions rapidly. Balance, coordination, and overall athleticism are improved when the child engages in simultaneous, running, throwing and dodging.

Kickball & Baseball : - Kickball and Baseball will improve our students’ ability to play games that involve bases, work together, strike the ball (foot or bat) and strategize. This unit will take place on the Raptor Field (turf field), where students will work cooperatively to field the ball, advance runners and

support each other’s success.

Aquatics : - During this third Aquatics Unit, students will continue to train and learn in their appropriate swimming group. Students will improve upon various skills by reviewing and practicing their freestyle stroke, backstroke and breaststroke. Students will also have a pool party, during the last week of the school year.

World Languages: French and Spanish

The World Language Program strives to inspire a love for language learning, enabling students to communicate with confidence in the target language and to develop a foundation for intercultural awareness that will foster international understanding. Linguistic proficiency is essential for successful interactions in an increasingly connected world, and therefore is at the core of any curriculum.

The World Language Program at AISC is a grade 3-to-12 academic program, which ultimately leads to a high level of proficiency in the language. It is a well thought out and consistent program, providing continuous study of French or Spanish, each year building upon and expanding previous knowledge and skills.

World Languages in Elementary is a Grade 3 to 5 program with a choice between Spanish or French. Grade 3 will meet twice a week while grades 4 and 5 will meet 3 times a week. Each session is 45 minutes. The curriculum is based on the AERO World Language Standards, preparing students for levels 1A or 1B in the Middle School. By the end of Grade 5, students are not expected to be proficient in the target language. However, they will have acquired a strong foundation to continue developing their language skills in Middle and High School.


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The courses offered in elementary are the following:

Grade 3: Novice

Grade 4: Level 1A part 1

Grade 5:Level 1A part 2

Grade 5: Novice

Grade 3 French or Spanish Novice

In grade 3 World Languages embraces a language acquisition model. Children are exposed to language through children’s literature and realia in the target language. Children learn to find meaning in context, using observation, comparison and connection skills. French or Spanish is the language of instruction and communication in this class. Evaluation is based on formative and summative assessment in the foundational skills (grammar and vocabulary), and on students’ productive (speaking and writing) and receptive (reading and listening) abilities.

Grade 4 and 5 French or Spanish Level 1A

Level 1A is a two year program in elementary. The overall objective of this course is for students to achieve communicative competence in a variety of everyday situations. Vocabulary and grammar are introduced in context to support the communicative goals. Students are exposed to various aspects of the culture of Francophone or Hispanic countries. French or Spanish is the language of instruction and communication in this class. Evaluation is based on formative and summative assessments in the foundational skills (grammar and vocabulary), and on students’ productive (speaking and writing) and receptive (reading and listening) abilities. At the end of grade 5 students who have successfully

completed level 1A will proceed to level 1B in grade 6.

Grade 5 French or Spanish Novice

New students in grade 5 will join a separate section where they will be exposed to French or Spanish language and culture through children’s literature and realia. Students learn to find meaning in context, using observation, comparison and connection skills. French or Spanish is the language of instruction and communication in this class. Evaluation is based on formative and summative assessment in the foundational skills (grammar and vocabulary), and on students’ productive (speaking and writing) and receptive (reading and listening) abilities. At the end of grade 5 students in this course will proceed to Level 1A in grade 6.

Indian Studies (K-5)

The aim of the Indian Studies Program is to provide students with knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the people, culture and history of India. An awareness of cultural diversity and commonality is developed by learning about the basic systems of belief in India through folktales, myths and legends, music and dance. Topics include the history and beliefs related to major Indian festivals and celebrations of various communities in India. Students also learn about the impact of significant individuals and historical events in India, geographical and cultural diversity as well as unifying features of India.

MusicWe use music to help our children learn directions, describe motions, move in non-locomotor and locomotor ways, feel and express a steady beat, and express creativity in movement. The music program requires children to move to music,


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identify sounds, sing and sing some more, develop melody, and play simple instruments. At the upper elementary grades, children are taught how to read music. Throughout the year children have multiple opportunities to perform and showcase their learning.

Pre-School

Students are introduced to the different types of unpitched instruments, singing along with movement and rhythm activities. The activities are selected suitably for their age and taught with songs with familiar melodies, easy to remember.

Kindergarten

Our goals are to develop child’s ability to respond appropriately to music, identify changes in music, e.g. tempo, dynamics and play simple songs on pitched instruments. The students learn the above topics with various activities with singing, movement and other ORFF. activities. Each unit is planned to accordingly in differentiated learning methods to cater to every child individual needs.

Grade 1

In grade 1, we build upon concepts that were introduced in Kindergarten. Students will engage in rhythmic echo clapping, play simple songs on pitched instruments and accompany on unpitched instruments. Students will also learn to share opinions on selections of music, both orally and in writing.

Grade 2

We reinforce the topics learned in first grade and introduce new topics such as: rhythmic echo clapping, creative movement to classical selections, solo singing and performances, play songs reading music on instruments like the boomwhackers and

xylophone. Apart from the music lessons, students also learn songs for performances for India Week, UN Day and the Winter Concert.

Grades 3-5

Music learning supports all learning. While learning music, children tap into multiple skills and skill sets, like using their ears and eyes, as well as large and small muscles. These are skills that children inevitably use in other areas of learning as well. With this in mind, we try to give the children a rich experience in music, with singing, listening, moving and a variety of instruments, using internationally accepted practices of Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly. Group work, pair work and solo activities are part of the curriculum.

Grade 3

In third grade we start teaching the children how to play the recorder. In order to do that we first reinforce note value, beat and rhythm using the Kodaly system, They learn to read notes on the staff using both alphabet note names and the solfege. They start with three notes first and go on from there. In addition we do a lot of singing, starting with breathing exercises and vocal warm-ups. While doing all of the above we reinforce dynamics, articulation and tempo changes. Movement is an integral part of class activities.

Grade 4

The children continue to do the recorder with more notes and more difficult songs. They learn the concepts of the tie, the fermata, the dotted quarter note and gradation of tone. They get more familiar with the sixteenth note and use it in various Orff and instrument pieces. Movement and singing and it’s related activities are carried on. Improvisation of familiar music is encouraged.


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Grade 5

In fifth grade, we introduce the children to the keyboard and to the recorder family. This helps them to understand the concepts of harmony, chords and accompaniment. They now learn also the element of accidentals (sharps, flats and natural keys) and how to read them on the staff and how to play them both on the keyboard and the recorder. Singing and movement activities continue; improvisation, creating and composing music is also included in fifth grade music.


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