Elementary Curriculum
Choosing our Elementary School curriculum was not a decision that was made lightly. It was very important to our school that we provided research/evidenced based curriculums that were effective, weren’t too hard for teachers to implement and were still engaging for the kids. After much research, we decided on the following combination of curriculums and we are very confident that they will help achieve our value of providing advanced academics for all students.
Social Emotional: Responsive Classroom
Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is comprised of a set of research, and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities for both students and teachers. A focus of this approach is fostering community—one way this is achieved is starting with a daily Morning Meeting and ending with a closing circle. It also helps teachers set a positive tone in their classroom, helps ensure that every part of the day flows smoothly—arrival, recess, lunch, and dismissal times, as well as lessons, teaches positive discipline—investing children in the rules and building prosocial behavior skills that keep their learning going, and helps teachers present engaging academics—to spark motivation and lay the groundwork for high academic achievement.
Reading: UFLI Foundations
UFLI is an explicit and systematic program that teaches students the foundational skills necessary for proficient reading. UFLI was built on The Science of Reading and is both research and evidence based. It follows a carefully developed scope and sequence designed to ensure that students systematically acquire each skill needed and learn to apply each skill with automaticity and confidence. UFLI Foundations strikes the perfect balance between structure and responsiveness to students’ needs. The program features ample opportunities for students to practice, along with built-in gradual release. UFLI Foundations targets the following foundational reading skills: Phoneme blending and segmentation practice, Accuracy and automaticity of grapheme-phoneme correspondences, Decoding automaticity of words with previously learned concepts, Explicit introduction of new concepts, Decoding and encoding practice, Reading and spelling irregular words, and Reading and spelling connected text
ELA (English Language Arts): Bookworms
Bookworms is all about exposing children to a variety of literature that is both engaging and helps them build their knowledge. We use the “ELA” portion of Bookworms which includes excellent read alouds that build knowledge, grammar and writing instruction, and vocabulary building. We supplement it with UFLI and small groups/centers for our reading and phonics instruction to create the very best ELA and reading instruction possible. Bookworms is built upon abundant literacy research, and designed to make excellent instruction and differentiation easier so that we can meet every child where they are at to help them grow.
Math: Eureka Math Squared
Eureka Math²™ is a revolutionary math program designed to ensure that students move beyond rote memorization to build enduring math knowledge through the intentional integration of digital resources and a focused approach to encouraging student discourse. Eureka Math² helps students establish a foundational understanding of mathematics (the why) rather than only relying on procedural skills (the how), to better prepare them for college and career. Eureka Math Squared utilizes engaging and hands-on teaching methods that all students will benefit from. Teachers will see students strengthening reasoning and critical-thinking skills that students can apply to solve real-world problems and that can be applied to many real-world situations.
Bible: Summit
Bible is a daily subject taught at our school. Summit’s Bible Curriculum equips teachers to go beyond just reading Bible stories with a life-changing biblical worldview curriculum. When kids grasp the truth, their lives change. This bible curriculum addresses 20 biblical truths that we believe all children should know and prepares them to live a life devoted to Christ. We help children go deeper to create a solid biblical worldview, make real life applications, and have strong apologetics so that they can defend their faith.
Science: Science Fusion
This curriculum is easy for teachers to implement while still effectively engaging students. The curriculum uses the effective 5E lesson design, which encourages students to Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate the science, in hands-on ways. Children learn through colorful, interactive lessons that activate children’s curiosity and teach them critical science skills along the way. Teachers also do experiments and hands-on activities using Into Science to extend lessons.
Social Studies: Studies Weekly & Mind Mission
Studies weekly is a student-friendly core Social Studies curriculum organized thematically to the strands of civics and government, geography, economics, and history. Each week children receive a consumable, interactive newspaper that takes them through the lesson for the week.
Mind Missions Learning engages students in lessons from the past while giving them important skills for the future. Using the Mind Mission learning model, students engage in inquiry-based, creative problem-solving challenges about real-world social studies problems. In the process, students develop communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills for the future. Mind Missions are aligned with content and skills standards for Social Studies and Language Arts.
