General Curriculum
Reading/English Language Arts
Our curriculum places an emphasis on phonics and phonemic awareness in the early grades as students learn to identify letters, sounds, and how to blend sounds to make words. As students progress, they learn decoding, encoding, and fluency skills while they build vocabulary for more complex texts and authentic literature. Teachers use a mixture of fiction and non-fiction texts for read alouds, guided reading, and independent reading.
Spelling instruction focuses on high frequency words, regular and irregular spelling patterns, and frequently misspelled words. Writing skills are incorporated into our literacy program so students progress from basic mechanics of writing letters/words to writing narratives, informational texts, and opinion pieces to writing longer, more structured pieces.
Mathematics
Our curriculum focuses on developing students’ deep understandings of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and ability to solve complex and novel problems. Teachers blend direct instruction, structured investigation, and open exploration. The curriculum taps into the intelligence and strengths of all students by presenting material that is as linguistically, visually, and kinesthetically rich. Seeing, touching, and sketching ideas create pictures in the mind’s eye, helping learners construct, understand, and apply mathematical ideas. Our curriculum incorporates increasingly complex visual models, including the Number Line and the Array models, in a coherent framework across the curriculum.
Teachers use manipulatives, games/activities, word resource cards, and daily practice activities called Number Corner. The Number Corner features short daily exercises that introduce, reinforce, and extend skills and concepts related to the critical areas of study at each grade level. New pieces are added each day, providing starting points for discussions, problem solving, and short written exercises. Students work on skills including estimation and counting, place value, measurement, using data, number sense, and computational fluency.
To better understand our Bridges math program, please view this video created by our Kelly and Linntown staff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFE4LYpzzG4
Social Studies
Our social studies curriculum introduces students to concepts and information about communities, customs and holidays, citizenship, government, maps/geography, civics, economics, and historical biographies and cultures. These concepts vary by grade level and are based on state standards.
Science
Our science curriculum introduces students to concepts and information about weather, animals, plants, simple machines, landforms, ecosystems, energy, solar system, habitats, natural resources, forces and interactions, and life cycles and traits. These concepts vary by grade level and are based on state standards.
Homework
Homework is assigned on a regular basis, and generally is to be about 10 minutes per grade level per night. For example, a second grade student can be expected to complete about 20 minutes of homework per night. Homework provides reinforcement of concepts, practice of skills, and study discipline. Done with care and diligence, it is an important ingredient for success in school. Therefore, students are required to complete and hand-in all assignments.
Although parents usually assist or monitor homework, the main responsibility for completing homework rests with the child. In the absence of self-discipline, the parent/guardian needs to structure the homework time.
Consider these suggestions:
1. Have your child carry an assignment notebook to record assignments.
2. Identify a quiet place for study in your home.
3. Identify a time for daily study.
4. If your child says there are no written assignments, create a study routine (i.e., use the vocabulary in dark print to create word lists.)
5. Stress the importance of ongoing review and avoiding the tendency to study only right before the test.
6. Monitor the assignment log and help your child make good decisions about his/her study time.
Please call the office before 8:45 AM with homework requests due to absence. Homework requests may be made over the attendance line (570) 522-3335. Homework can be picked up after 3:00 PM in the office.