A
St. Mary's Education
In the early childhood environment, it Is often most advantageous
to create curriculum around interests of each individual group
of children. For this reason, We teach in terms of an emergent
curriculum. We will observe the children in the classroom, and
come to a conclusion on what theme a majority of the children
are concentrating their play on.
For example: a group of children
may continuously be taking trips to the moon, or perhaps a
particular group of children continue to create construction
scenarios in the block corner. One of these themes may be
a starting block. Art activities and circle projects can be
created around that theme. Manipulative toys and dramatic
play props around the same theme would be brought into the
classroom. If feasible, classroom visitors and field trips
would be scheduled that further enhance this focus of study.
While incorporating all of this into the classroom environment.
Goals and Objectives:
- Strengthen children's abilities to analyze,
reason hypothesize and solve.
- Introduce the alphabet in the classroom
in a variety of activities and mediums.
- Introduce certain sight words to the children
to begin some word recognition. Examples include: Own name,
peer names, Jesus, Play, Dad, Mom, the, God.
- Help each child write his/her name.
- Help the children to create a story that
has a sequence of events (beginning, middle and end).
- Introduce the concept of numbers and amounts
to the children in a variety of activities and mediums.
- Help the children to count objects up to
10 or more if individually capable.
- Help the children make comparisons of greater
and lesser amounts. Examples include graphing weather, chart
at month end, creating simple 3d and 2d graphs.
- Offer opportunities to strengthen classifying
skills in children. Classifying by shape, size, texture,
characteristics and functions. Using: buttons by number
of holes, using feel box at meetings, using guides to help
children put blocks away.
- Provide parents with occasional reading
material and weekly letters to foster greater understanding
of early childhood education, and to help parents understand
how their child is learning in her/his classroom.
- Open the children's hearts to the love of
Jesus and make Jesus a part of their daily routine at school.
For example: Introduce the Holy Family to children, introduce
the story of creation, read stories from Jesus' life, use
art, theater and literature to celebrate religious holidays
such as Christmas and Easter. Modeling behavior that is
Christ like in and out of the classroom. Planning and participating
in daily Morning Prayer with the whole school.
Reading:
To be able to read
with comprehension. Children should be able to:
predict
find the main idea and details
read and follow directions
understand cause and effect
retell a story
understand and use synonyms, antonyms and
homonyms
decode words successfully
be able to use context clues
be able to connect stories to real life
be able to have discussions about literature
Language Arts:
Writing, Reading,
Speaking and Listening
- Listening: To be able to list to stories and taking information
from it. To be able to listen and participate in a discussion
and to follow directions.
- Speaking: To speak in complete sentences using correct
grammar
- Writing:
- To be able to: express themselves in writing using
proper capitalization and punctuation.
- To be able to: Write about a main idea, using describing
words, spelling sight words correctly.
- To be able to go through the writing process of rough
draft, editing, final draft and publishing.
- To write poetry, a book report and a friendly letter.
Beginning cursive:
To be able to form letters correctly and neatly both printing
and cursive.
Literature:
Reading at individual student ability levels along with a
basal reader. Two book reports per month
Read aloud books:
Charlottes Web
The Pagemaster
Knots in a Counting Rope
Time for Kids Magazine
Poetry for Young People by Emily Dickinson
James and the Giant Peach
Exposure to poetry, short stories and folktales.
Math:
Addition and Subtraction facts up to 18
Problem solving skills
Estimation
Place value—up to 1000's place
Counting and visual patterns
Odd and even numbers
Geometry
Graphing, bar, pictograph, circle graph
Money up to $1.00, dollars and cents
Trading and borrowing
Checking math problems
Calendar
Time (5 minute intervals)
Types of measurement
Fractions—recognize, fractional parts
of a whole
Probability
Beginning addition and subtraction of 3
digit numbers
Beginning multiplication and division facts
Games, activities, computer programs, group and individual
learning models
Geography skills:
Maps, globes, directions, keys, symbols, continents, seas
and oceans
Social Studies:
- A. Comparison of neighborhoods, communities,
citizenship and calendars
B. Planet Earth, geography, 50 states,
counties, landforms, mapping skills and natural resources
C. Working World—markets, factories,
farms, flow charts and following routes on maps
D. We the people—city problems,
US Government, time lines, the Capital and flags
E. Discovering our Past—America's
1st. people, Traveling to America, Grid maps, A new country,
Revolutionary War, West Ward movement
F. People, places and holidays—famous
Americans, Special places in the US, Bar Graphs, making
predictions
Science:
Observing, classifying, measuring, predicting, collecting,
interpreting, experimenting on the following units and themes.
- A. Living things—plants, animals
habitats and grouping
B. Changes over time—Dinosaurs, Fossils,
Extinct and Endangered species, how to take care of the
Earth
C. Making Things Move—push and pull,
magnets, force, simple machines, our bodies
D. The Earth and Sky—Sun, Moon, Stars
and the Earth
5th Grade Language Arts Curriculum
Texts:
Warriner's English Grammar and Composition (Harcourt Brace)
World of Language (Silver, Burdett & Ginn)
Part I Grammar Usage
and Mechanics
- A. Subjects, predicates, and sentences
B. Parts of speech
C. Kinds and types of sentences
D. Diagramming sentences
F. Spelling and vocabulary
Part II Composition
- A.Writing process
B. Modes of writing
C. Research report-writing
D. Business writing
Part III Investigating Resources
- A.The library or media center
B. Using printed resources
C. Accessing electronic resources
D. Using the Internet
E. Using CD-ROMS and DVDS
| Reading: |
Adam of the Road
Across Five Aprils
Waiting for Anya
The Wind in the Willows
The Red Badge of Courage
Where Red Fern
A Night to Remember
The Light in the Forest
Trumpet of The Swan
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Elizabeth Janet Gray
Irene
Michael Morpurgo
Kenneth Grahame
Stephen Crane
Wilson Rawls
Walter Lord
Conrad Richter
E.B. White
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European Culture
Historical Fiction
WWII
English Classic
Civil War
Child's Fiction
Historical Fiction
Frontier Adventure
Fantasy
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5th Grade Math Curriculum
Text:
Middle Grade Math Tools for Success (Prentice hall)
Part I Organizing and Displaying Data
- A. Make a table
B. Mean, median and mode
C. Making graphs
Part II Patterns and Algebra
- A. Order of operation
B. Variables and expressions
C. Algebra: integers
D. Word Problems for application of learned skills
Part III Math Operations
- A. Adding and subtracting
B. Multiplying and dividing
C. Rounding decimals
D. Word problems involving math operations
Part IV Investigating Fractions, Ratios, Proportions, Metrics
and Percents
- A. Using fractions B. Rounding fractions C. Related word
problems
Part V Tools of Geometry
- A. Geometry and measurement
Part VI Exploring
Probability
Application Activities:
-
- Making a circle graph using degrees,
percent, hours
- Grouping to solve multiple—step
problems in Algebra
- Family math—household circumference
- Island Ratios
- Treasure Hunt—Metric
5th Grade Science Curriculum
Texts:
Discover the Wonder—Scott Foresman
Science—Silver, Burdett
Unit I Introduction to Science
- A.Measuring with scientific units
B. Introduction to laboratory equipment
C. Laboratory safety procedures
D. Steps in an experiment
1. How to write a lab report
Unit II Using the Microscope
- A. Parts of the microscope
B. Practice using microscope
Unit III Structure of Matter
- A. Properties of minerals
B. Atoms, elements, compounds
1. Parts of the atom
2. Periodic table
3. Structure of the human body
Unit IV Motion
- A. Simple machine
B. Newton's Laws of Motion
C. Body movement—muscles, skeleton
Unit V Energy
- A. Forms of energy sources
B. Photosynthesis and respiration
C. Digestion and food chains
Unit VI Electricity
- A. Electric safety
B. Electric current and circuits
C. Magnetism
D. Signals from the nervous system
E. Radio waves
Unit VII Botany
- A. Plant communication
B. Planting and growing crops
C. Genetic engineering
Experiments:
I. Matter—Physical and Chemical
- A. Forming a compound—Iron oxide
B. Separation of Substances in mixtures
C. Chemical—Movement of Gases
D. Creating models of Atoms
II. Body Structure
- A. What happens to bones when minerals are removed
B. Use of reference book (Medical)
C. Write a brief description of bone injury and its type
of treatment
D. Affect of exercise of pulse rate
E. Amount of air that lungs hold
III. Energy
- A. Testing materials for conducting electricity
B. Measuring brightness using series circuit—parallel
circuit
C. The direction that receives more solar energy
D. Wind speed can make electricity
IV. Classification of Living Things
- A. Characteristics of five groups (project using a mobile)
V. Motion
- A. Build a maze for marbles—friction & Gravity
B. Muscles at work—model foot
5th Grade Social Studies Curriculum
Text:
America's Story (Harcourt Brace)
I. Exploration, Encounter, Migration and Urbanization
- A. Early Exploration
1. Vikings—Greenland
2. Europeans
a. Marco Polo
b. Trade Route
3. Portuguese Explorers
4. Columbus Vespucci
5. Balboa and Magellan—Pacific
Ocean
B. Exploration and Conquests
of the New World
1. Fall of Aztecs
2. Fall of Incas
3. Spanish in Florida—Mississippi
River Area
4. New Spain
5. French—Northwest Passage—St.
Lawrence
6. Fur Trade
7. English—Jamestown
8. English—Plymouth C. Early
Colonies
1. Spanish, French, and British
2. Early Sections
a. Southern Colonies
b. New England Colonies
c. Middle Colonies
D. British
Colonies
1. Towns and Cities
2. Plantations E. Colonists
Response to Great Britain
1. Government
2. Taxes and Government
3. Colonists Unit
a. Committee of
Correspondence
b. Continental Congress
F. Revolutionary
War
1. War at Home
2. Independence G. Post Revolutionary
War Growth
1. Louisiana Purchase
2. War of 1812 H. Rural to Urban
1. Industrial Revolution
2. Railroad Expansion
3. New Immigrants - II. Contemporary America
- A. Geography
B. Economics
C. Citizenship and government -
- III. Contemporary Canada—Latin America—Mexico
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IV. Projects may include the following and more:
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- How to use a product map
- Comparisons—The cost of Exploration
- Who does what in the government?
- Role-playing
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