|
PRIMARY CURRICULUM Life imprints on the young child in the way a foot imprints the wet sand. Every part of the child is actively engaged with the world, and he or she learns by imitating or recreating all that goes on in that world. Creative play and imitation are very important learning tools for the five year old. For this reason, great care is given to the classroom environment and learning materials. The educational approach is embracing and engaging. The weekly activities include stories, verses, projects, songs, games and movement. Children build a strong foundation for the imaginative, conceptual and physical abilities essential to learning. Language Arts skills such as memorization, sequencing, mental imaging, creative interpretation, reading and writing are developed through fun and engaging activities. Hands-on activities develop basic mathematical language and skills such as sequencing, sorting and pattern and shape recognition. Science is explored through nature and observation of and participation in seasonal rhythms. French is presented through activities, art and song. As children listen to stories and participate in circle activities, they are also guided in the important discovery of how to be a participating and cooperative member of a group. Artwork such as painting, drawing and handwork of many varieties is integrated throughout the program. Movement activities and music strengthen the inner sense of rhythm and spatial awareness needed for continued academic learning in later grades. Story “Tell me a fact and I'll learn. Tell me the truth and I'll believe. Tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever” -Traditional Proverb Primary stories are chosen from many different cultures and include folk tales, fairy tales and nature stories. Folk tales are simple, playful tales of life. They invite the children to partake and delight in their world. The main purpose of the folk tale is to give children the experience of being in the driver's seat. And, the folk tale, because of its tight structure and predictable repetition, provides this. These simple repetitive tales often have an inherent humour, which the children are able to see as both the wisdom and the folly of the characters. When the children realize the folly in a character's actions, a soft and compassionate understanding is awakened. Fairy tales represent a descriptive journey of humans' innate wisdom and vitality as it passes through a no fault process of growth. Each story follows the basic structure of traditional rights of passage, separation, initiation or instruction, and re-entry. Fairy tales speak in symbols of an archetypal world, a world of cosmic laws that are fundamentally unchangeable. The primary law embodied is that human beings have indestructible vitality, openness, or innocence. Characters go through many unavoidable passages and processes and will emerge mature but fundamentally unchanged. The fairy tale tells the children that the innocence is their birthright. The fairy tale is concerned with the triumph of innocence, the way that innocence and openness travel, unchanged, through the processes of life, and emerge victorious in maturity. This innocence can be said to be the simple, innate human ability to appreciate, to stand in rapture and to be interested. It is an ability to enter all experience completely and directly. All situations are worthy of full attention. The fairy tale propels the central character into a rediscovery of this basic goodness and interest in life. Nature stories highlight a particular characteristic, phenomena, or process of nature in living images. Nature stories nourish and deepen children's inherent connection to, delight in, and reverence for the natural world. The stories arouse the children's awareness and feed their capacity for looking, noticing, and being touched by the phenomenal world. Nature stories expose the child to a rich and rhythmic language to describe everyday matters. Nature stories tell of a natural phenomenon and display the energies the children experience within themselves e.g., the stillness of water or the liveliness of spring. They connect the child to the wholeness and the cyclical and ecological quality of their world. Creative Play Children are welcomed into the classroom for creative play each day. During this time the children direct their own play. The teacher is responsible for setting up the environment and choosing appropriate materials to set the stage for the children. This supports the children to become fully engaged in their play with minimal participation from the teacher. During creative play the children develop flexible and creative relationships to their experiences and ideas. And, they find a world of endless possibilities for expressing themselves. The children strengthen their social skills, learning to play together and gaining respect for each other and their ideas. They often talk about, create and reenact the stories that have been told to them during class. They can become something other then themselves; animals, grandparents, warriors, kings and queens. Creative play exercises the child's active imagination, which is the basis of picture thinking, a valuable skill for further study in the grades. The teacher may also use this class time to work with students on a one to one basis or in small groups. Outdoor Play Outdoor play is an essential part in a child's day. The core of outdoor play is expansive movement, challenging their gross motor skills. Outdoor play allows the children to participate and experience the seasons and all the gifts that they have to offer. As in creative play, the teacher is an observer, rather then a playmate, watching to see how the children are playing together, and how well they are able to flow in and out of interactions and relationships with one another. Gym Gym period gives the class the time to expand in a large room and exercise their gross motor skills and stamina; they also learn the importance of fair play. The gym class begins with movement in a group – running, hopping, skipping, galloping, sashaying, etc. The warm up exercises are all done with a drum accompaniment to support the child's sense of rhythm. Throughout the year, the children learn some basic ball skills such as kicking, throwing, and catching. The children learn cooperative games, thereby strengthening their ability to listen to instructions and emphasizing the importance of playing fair. Visual Arts/Projects Painting- The approach to painting in primary is to allow the children to experience colour quality in its own right – the redness of red, the blueness of blue, and so on. The children learn that all colours have their own energy, quality and movement. The children also experience the play of colours as they mix together (mix red with yellow and orange magically appears). Painting begins with a simple colour story (“Little yellow reached out his arms toward little blue and they made friends with little green”). Painting is a quiet lesson with only a soft song to begin and an occasional remark (“Oh look, green!”). Language Arts Reading- The teacher reads to students from our library of picture books. This gives them the opportunity to view books as a source of interest, enjoyment and information. The students are introduced to the alphabet, in uppercase and lowercase, and learn letter recognition and their sounds. They will have an introduction to consonants and their sounds in the initial and final positions within words. The class is introduced to group reading, which helps the children learn the rhythmic nature of oral reading. Beginning the same book together, staying on task, turning the pages, learning the progression of print (reading from left to right and top to bottom) and understanding basic concepts of print (words, space between words, letters and sounds) are included. The children are introduced to various cueing systems and a variety of strategies to construct meaning form the text such as personal experience and context and picture cue to predict, confirm or self correct. The class makes a book of verses they have memorized and practice reading the verses throughout the year. Writing- The children are introduced to forming uppercase and lowercase letters, along with numbers. Some children begin to practice their writing skills by making signs or cards and adding words to their picture journals. Math Math in the early years of schooling is focused on language and relationships and how they affect each other. The language of math is used in everyday classroom activities throughout the day. Work recognizing opposites (more/less, bigger/smaller, same/different) is undertaken and one on one correspondence, sets/groups, and patterns are introduced. Numbers one through ten are introduced in their number books and their values are explored along with practice forming numbers. Children practice counting to one hundred by ones, fives and tens. Addition and subtraction are introduced. GRADES 1 - 6 CURRICULUM Language Arts Throughout the grades, reading, writing, listening and speaking skills are developed primarily in the context of social studies themes. A variety of cultures and time periods are brought to life through storytelling, writing projects, drama, poetry, and art forms. This integration of the humanities builds an artistic, poetic sense of the English language, from which the students can draw in their high school years. It also cultivates an intimate experience of a larger world and lays the foundation for a lifelong respect for other people and ways of life. To supplement this theme-oriented approach, students keep journals for writing and illustrating their own stories. Language arts skills including grammar, spelling and handwriting are practiced and refined through projects and exercises. Mathematics Through mathematics, students experience relationships in the world around them. By hearing stories, working with movement and rhythm, drawing form and colour patterns and exploring with concrete objects, students gain an active and deep-seated understanding of mathematical concepts. They begin to see patterns all around them and apply the many skills they learn to other aspects of their work. In this way, the ground is laid for the flexible and reversible thought needed for higher mathematics, and for the understanding of form and pattern needed in geometry. In all grades, mathematics skills are practiced and refined in skill-building projects, exercises and drills. Beginning with an introduction to the four processes and progressing through regrouping for addition and subtraction and thoroughly learning multiplication tables, students continue to master a high level of skills and mathematical thinking appropriate to each grade level. By the end of grade 6, students are well practiced in algebraic and geometric thinking in preparation for junior high mathematics. Science The science program encourages students to see the world through their own eyes and to stand in wonder and appreciation of what they see. In the earlier grades, story, poetry and the visual arts bring the students an imaginative and lively description of the processes of nature. The children experience the natural world directly through nature walks and projects arising from the various topics being covered. In the middle grades, students actively participate in farming and building projects and explore topics related to these themes. Students learn about animals and plants through direct observation and independent research, as well as through stories and the arts. In grades 5 and 6 emphasis is on direct observation and independent research areas such as botany, climate and insects. Steps in the scientific process are practiced along with a study of optics, acoustics, mechanics and astronomy. These experiences keep alive children's natural sense of wonder, inquisitiveness, and caring for the world around them. They also lay the foundation for the observation and analytical skills that form the core of science studies in the high school years. French Language Beginning in Primary, students have a living experience of the French language and culture through daily French lessons. French language is woven into the daily life of the classroom through instructions, greetings, poetry and song. As they progress through the elementary grades, students develop proficiency in conversation, reading and writing, hands on activities, games and dramatizations. Projects and Crafts In our projects and crafts time, students bring form to what they are learning in other areas. The youngest children may recreate a story or an excursion in beeswax and wood, silk and stone, wool and felt. They may knit animals to inhabit their creation or knit full-size scarves and hats to warm them on their journeys. Older children may build sheds or playhouses, or weave a quiver for their arrows. They may work with clay to build pyramids, or use papier-mâché to construct a diorama of a mining town. Students create together in small groups and also work on independent projects. Movement Arts/Physical Education Activities that develop rhythm, balance, coordination and spatial awareness are integrated into academic areas of the curriculum on a daily basis. Exercises, games, sports, movement verses, expressive movement and folk dance all provide support for successful academic, artistic and social learning. While many of these activities take place within the classes, grades 3-6 have gym periods with a specialist and grades 5 and 6 begin the study of Aikido, a non-competitive, Japanese martial art. Visual Arts The visual arts are woven into the curriculum on a daily basis. Students draw and paint to articulate their experience of social studies, mathematics and science. Through the grades, students progress from rich experiences in colour and movement to work with more structured and planned forms. These experiences encourage them to notice the subtle moods and forms in the visual world around them, while giving them a first-hand knowledge of the artistic laws and possibilities that they will draw upon in later years. Music Music is an integral part of all academic areas, bringing the curriculum content to life. Daily musical activities, including group singing and recorder playing in the early grades, develops into more complex rounds and beginning harmonies in the later grades. Grades 5 and 6 also have a music class per week with a specialist and have the opportunity to join a performing group on an instrument or voice. |