Elementary Core Curriculum Overview

We are implementing a K-12 developmentally appropriate integrated curriculum design which emphasizes building meaningful content connections for the students. The curriculum has been written to reflect the six district outcomes of self-directed learner, collaborative worker, complex thinker, community contributor, quality producer, and effective communicator. At its foundation is an emphasis on developing basic skills in language arts and math. Teachers are using a variety of resource materials to assist each child's growth in reading, writing, and mathematics. Teachers emphasize student projects including community service activities that enable students to become self-directed learners and collaborative workers.   Technology serves as a tool for such activities as information processing, simulations, and problem solving. Teachers will collect evidence of student growth as part of the assessment plan.  Student portfolios are shared with parents at conference time.

At the elementary level, we emphasize literacy development, mathematics, and our core curriculum units which integrate social studies, science and the arts with reading, writing, and communications.  In the Integrated Units, themes have been identified to give focus to the content being explored.  Each theme, or unit, includes an outcome and guiding question that guide the instruction.  Through these units we teach thinking skills and behaviors and we emphasize learning the district outcomes.  Each grade level focuses on three units each year: