Elementary Curriculum

Elementary students at the Springfield Literacy Center

PURPOSE

The intent of this Course Description Guide is to provide students and parents with an overview of the core components and grade level content of the elementary educational program in Springfield School District.

OUR FOCUS

The elementary curriculum focuses on developing the literacy skills and strategies that students need to be successful during the course of their academic career and beyond. To be proficient in literacy means not only to have the ability to read, write, speak, and listen, but to also have the capacity to apply these skills effectively to communicate, problem-solve, analyze, and think critically about the world in which we live.

Children develop literacy skills long before their first day of Kindergarten. Our customized literacy program is designed to meet students where they are and identify their individual needs, with a focus on developing sound foundational skills. Children start elementary school “learning to read” and the goal is that they leave “reading to learn”. Twenty-first century students need both text and digital literacy skills to be successful in a global market. In order to achieve this end our curriculum and instruction is designed to be strategic, engaging, authentic, and challenging for all learners.

CORE PROGRAM COMPONENTS

INTEGRATED LITERACY CURRICULUM

Our elementary English Language Arts curriculum incorporates the foundational skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening into themed units that are based on science and social studies topics. Children are naturally curious, therefore providing them with opportunities to practice literacy skills as they explore their world, encourages engagement, improves understanding, and enhances their ability to retain information. It also allows for an authentic exposure to fiction and non-fiction text. The foundation of each unit of study is an essential question that is focused on eliciting inquiry, critical thinking and analysis. The Integrated Literacy Curriculum is aligned to the PA Core Standards in English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies.

WILSON FUNDATIONS

(K-3) Wilson Fundations® is a systematic program in critical foundation skills emphasizing: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and handwriting.

VOCABULARY WORKSHOP

(4-5) Vocabulary Workshop is a direct instruction vocabulary program that engages students in authentic text to produce robust vocabulary learning. Students explore vocabulary through figurative language, word roots and word relationships.

BEING A WRITER

(K-5) The Being a Writer program includes explicit instruction for foundational grammar skills and authentic mentor text to teach the writing process

MATHEMATICS: ENVISIONMATH 2.0®

(K-5) enVisionmath® is a problem-based learning curriculum which is the key to conceptual mathematical development. It is a research-based instructional program, which includes a robust technology component for personalized learning. Eight core Math Practices are taught and reinforced through-out the program:

  1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
  2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively
  3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
  4. Model with mathematics
  5. Use appropriate tools strategically
  6. Attend to precision
  7. Look for and make use of structure
  8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

The instructional program is designed to ensure mastery of mathematical practices, concepts and skills, and is aligned to the PA Core Mathematical Standards.

Kindergarten



Grade 2



Grade 4



Grade 1



Grade 3



Grade 5



Additional Elementary Curriculum Information

photo by: Samantha Hendrzak