In Kindergarten, the focus of literacy instruction is to develop the foundational skills needed for beginning readers and writers to develop and grow. Students learn to identify letters and their corresponding sounds, blend those letters to form and read words, sentences, paragraphs, and books. All this is done through the Wilson Fundations program and a series of shared, guided and independent reading and writing activities connected to content area topics.

During the first half of the year, literacy activities revolve around two essential questions: “Who am I?” and “What is a Community?” Through authentic reading and writing activities using both fiction and nonfiction text, children examine important Social Studies and Science concepts. Responsive Classroom Practices and shared reading experiences with follow-up activities about Myself and Others, Our Friends and Me, and Families, support students’ understanding of themselves, their friends, their families, and how every one of them is an important member of a caring community in their classroom, their household, and their neighborhood.

As the students move into the second half of the year, they begin an exploration of Science concepts that examine the questions, “How can problems be solved?” and “How do models help us understand nature?” Through a mix of hands on experimentation, ongoing observations, and authentic reading and writing activities, children investigate the physical and natural world. An integrated unit using Balls and Ramps promotes an understanding of simple machines, force, and motion. In the springtime, the children further develop their reading and writing skills along with their observational skills as they study an Aquatic Habitat. Through Observing an Aquarium, students learn how the elements of an aquatic habitat work together to create and maintain a healthy living community.

Through this integrated language arts curriculum, Kindergarten students become capable readers and writers who use their newly acquired literacy skills to learn about their social surroundings, and the physical and natural world in which they live.

 

Kindergarten Integrated ELA Curriculum

PA Writing Standards for Kindergarten

PA Reading Standards for Kindergarten

In Kindergarten, math instruction focuses on five critical areas: (1) Counting and Cardinality; (2) Operations and Algebraic Thinking; (3) Numbers and Operations in Base Ten; (3) Measurement and Data; and (4) Geometry. Below is an overview of the skills and strategies that students master in each of these critical areas.

Counting and Cardinality: Students learn to: (1) know the number names and sequence count; (2) count to tell the number of objects; and (3) compare numbers.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Students learn to: (1) understand addition as putting together and adding to; and (2) understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from.

Numbers and Operations in Base Ten: Students learn to: (1) understand place value; and (2) work with numbers between 11 and 19 to gain a foundation for place value.

Measurement and Data: Student learn to: (1) classify objects; and (2) count the number of objects in each category.

Geometry: Students learn to: (1) identify and describe shapes, including squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres; (2) analyze, compare, and create 2 –D and 3-D shapes; and (3) compare shapes by attributes, including length, height and capacity.

• Exploring Forces and Motion Assembly- Facilitated by the Franklin Institute
• Exploring Aquatic Habitats Assembly- Facilitated by the Camden Aquarium
• One Book Assembly- Facilitated by the Springfield Library
• Making Music Assembly- Facilitated by Makin’ Music
• Family Day for American Education Week- Families are invited in to the classroom.
• 100th Day of School Celebration and Parade
• Dr. Seuss Read Across America Celebration

In second grade, literacy instruction continues to build basic literacy skills, develops more wide-ranging strategies for comprehension in reading, and extends into different purposes for writing, speaking, and listening. Teachers and students in second grade work to grow students’ language arts skills through focused reading experiences, meaningful writing activities, and opportunities to enrich and explain their thinking through listening and speaking. Every day, teachers and students engage in differentiated guided reading opportunities, and shared reading and writing activities connected to content area topics.

During the first half of the year, literacy activities revolve around the idea of communities, citizenship, government, and various cultures. Through authentic reading and writing experiences, children examine these important Social Studies concepts. The essential questions second graders seek to answer are “What does it mean to be a good citizen in your communities?” and “How is culture expressed through stories?” Students learn to reread and as they search for specific information. They create their own stories about themselves, their families, and their cultures. Students explore, through fables, fairy tales, fiction, and nonfiction texts, the common ideas found within stories from all cultures. Finally, they apply their understanding and share their learning through writing and speaking.

In January, second grade students begin to direct their learning through questioning, research, and experimentation. Two essential questions guide their learning experiences. First, “How does questioning change your understanding?” and with that in mind, they examine the lives of people who made a difference. They learn about presidents, scientists, and other important heroes who made a contribution to the world. In Science, through a mix of hands on experimentation, ongoing observations, and investigative literacy activities, they answer the question, “How do we use observation and evidence to understand the world around us?” Students explore the concepts of balancing and weighing, states of matter, and life cycles of frogs, praying mantises and butterflies.

Through this integrated language arts curriculum, second grade students become strong capable readers and writers and see how these tools of literacy help them understand themselves and others. They learn about their community, and the physical and natural world that surrounds them. They gain a deeper understanding of how people and nature impact their lives, and most importantly how becoming a strong capable reader and writer can expand their understanding of the world in which they live.

 

2nd Grade Integrated ELA Curriculum

PA Reading Standards for Grade 2

PA Writing Standards for Grade 2

In Grade 2, math instruction focuses on four critical areas: (1) Operations and Algebraic Thinking; (2) Numbers and Operations in Base Ten; (3) Measurement and Data; and (4) Geometry. Below is an overview of the skills and strategies that students master in each of these critical areas.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Students learn to: (1) build fluency with addition and subtraction (2) utilize addition and subtraction fact strategies; (3) solve addition and subtraction word problems; and (3) work with equal groups to gain a foundation for multiplication.

Numbers and Operations in Base Ten: Students learn to: (1) use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract; (2) understand place value to 100; and (3) use models to understand place value.

Measurement and Data: Students learn to: (1) measure and estimate lengths in standard and metric units; (2) compare units of measurement; (3) relate addition and subtraction to lengths; (4) calculate unknown measurements; (5) tell time to five minute intervals, before and after the hour and A.M. and P.M.; and (6) interpret data using line plots, bar graphs and picture graphs.

Geometry: Students learn to: (1) divide rectangles into equal parts; (2) define the attributes of polygons and angles; (3) partition shapes; and (4) compare shapes for equality and differences.

• Hot or Cold Assembly - Facilitated by the Franklin Institute
• Big Bug Show- Facilitated by the Jack Branagan
• Walking Tour of Springfield - Field Trip
• Butterfly Life Cycle Science Unit
• Grandparent’s Day
• Dr. Seuss Read Across America Celebration
• Summer Reading Assembly

In fourth grade, students continue to transition from learning to read, to reading to learn. Fourth grade literacy instruction strengthens foundational literacy skills and strives to broaden students’ understanding and use of comprehension strategies. Students read closely to find and interpret information, to make inferences and thematic connections to science and social studies content, and to summarize and synthesize their learning. Fourth graders begin to use writing as a tool for learning as they write about what they read and what they learn from their reading. They analyze and synthesize texts through close reading, rereading and annotating, and writing about reading. Students continue to write in multiple genres for a variety of reasons. Teachers and students in fourth grade work to grow students’ vocabulary through focused reading experiences, meaningful writing activities, and opportunities to enrich and explain their thinking through listening and speaking. Every day, teachers and students engage in differentiated guided reading opportunities, and shared reading and writing activities connected by essential questions to content area topics.

Throughout much of fourth grade, literacy activities revolve around scientific concepts and thinking. While the Social Studies concepts of community and citizenship open the year, students quickly jump into Science related reading and writing tasks. They investigate the scientific process and explore the impact of variables as they work to answer the essential question of, “How do variables impact outcomes?” Through authentic reading and writing experiences, children examine important Science concepts about systems, models, scientific tools, and experiments. Students work with informational text to identify main ideas and key details, and the evidence authors use to support a claim or point of view. Through hands-on experiments, investigative close reading activities, and expository and argumentative writing tasks, students learn as they work to answer the question, “How does everyday human activity impact natural and man-made systems?” They read both fiction and nonfiction texts, and write as a way of applying their understanding and sharing their learning.

As fourth grades move through the year, they continue to use their reading and writing skills to understand the physical world. In studying ecosystems, they delve into the essential question of, “How do living organisms and nonliving objects connect?” Again, through a mix of hands-on experimentation and ongoing observations in Science, and investigative literacy activities throughout the day, they explore the interconnections among nonliving objects and living plants and animals. They experiment, observe, and use reading and writing as a way to learn about the interdependence of living and non-living things. Finally, as they begin to study their home state, they start with the ecosystems and physical land and water features found in this area. In Social Studies they read about how Pennsylvania’s geography, climate and natural resources play a role in the state’s history, industry and economic development. Teachers and students direct their learning through questioning and research to understand, “How does our history impact our community?” Students read and listen to both fiction and nonfiction texts about their home state of Pennsylvania, and they write in response to these stories and texts to share their thinking and expand their understanding.

Through this integrated language arts curriculum, fourth grade students grow stronger as readers and writers, researchers and scientists. They use the tools of literacy to expand their knowledge of the physical world and develop an understanding of history.

 

4th Grade Integrated ELA Curriculum

In Grade 4, math instruction focuses on five critical areas: (1) Operations and Algebraic Thinking; (2) Numbers and Operations in Base Ten; (3) Numbers and Operations – Fractions (4) Measurement and Data; and (5) Geometry. Below is an overview of the skills and strategies that students master in each of these critical areas.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Students learn to: (1) use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to solve comparison situations; (2) use all four operations to solve multi-step problems; (3) understand factors, prime and composite numbers, and multiples; and (4) generate and analyze number sequences, number patterns and rules, and repeating shapes.

Numbers and Operations in Base Ten: Students learn to: (1) understand place value through one million and place value relationships; (2) use mental math to estimate and or find sums and differences; (3) use strategies and properties to multiply, including the distributive property and partial products; and (4) use strategies and properties to divide, including estimating quotients, interpreting remainders, and partial quotients.

Numbers and Operations – Fractions: Students learn to: understand fraction equivalence and ordering; (2) compare fractions; (3) understand addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators; and (4) understand and compare fractions and decimals.

Measurement and Data: Students learn to: (1) use line plots to represent and interpret data; (2) find equivalence with customary units of length, capacity and weight; (3) find equivalence with metric units of length, capacity and mass; and (4) solve perimeter and area problems.

Geometry: Students learn to: (1) draw and identify lines and angles; (2) classify triangles and quadrilaterals; (3) understand line of symmetry; and (4) draw shapes with a line of symmetry.

 

• Franklin Institute Field Trip
• Primetime/Midnight Madness Reading Celebration
• Electric Circuits Science Unit
• Dr. Seuss Read Across America Celebration
• Summer Reading Assembly

Literacy instruction for first grade students builds on the foundational skills learned in Kindergarten, and expands into broader concepts of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Teachers and students in first grade work to develop communication skills through focused reading experiences, meaningful writing activities, and opportunities to understand and explain their thinking through listening and speaking. Every day, teachers and students engage in differentiated guided reading opportunities and shared reading and writing activities connected to content area topics.

During the first half of the year, literacy activities revolve around the idea of communities, citizenship, and cultural traditions. The essential questions first graders seek to answer are “What does it mean to be a good citizen in your school community?” and “How and why do people make decisions and choices?” Through Responsive Classroom practices and authentic reading and writing experiences, children examine important Social Studies concepts. They learn about their role in their community, and the responsibilities of a citizen in a community. Students explore, through both fiction and nonfiction texts, their local community and the jobs people choose that contribute to that community. They examine a variety of family and cultural traditions and holidays and how culture shapes their community. Finally, they apply their understanding and share their learning through writing and speaking.

In January, first grade students are immersed in Science. Through a mix of hands on experimentation, ongoing observations, and authentic reading and writing activities, children investigate the physical and natural world by studying the sun, the moon, the earth and its seasons, climate, and weather. They learn how these natural phenomenon impact their lives and the world around them. They examine the questions, “How can we use patterns to explain and predict?” and “How are living things similar and different?” They then go on to explore and learn about terrestrial habitats and the organisms that work together to create and maintain a healthy environment.

Through this integrated language arts curriculum, first grade students become capable readers and writers who employ their literacy skills to learn about their community, and the physical and natural world that surrounds them. They gain a deeper understanding of their world, how culture and nature influence their world, and most importantly how to use reading and writing to expand their understanding of the world in which they live.

 

1st Grade Integrated ELA Curriculum

PA Reading Standards for Grade 1

PA Writing Standards for Grade 1

PA Speaking and Listening Standards for Grade 1

In Grade 1, math instruction focuses on four critical areas: (1) Operations and Algebraic Thinking; (2) Numbers and Operations in Base Ten; (3) Measurement and Data; and (4) Geometry. Below is an overview of the skills and strategies that students master in each of these critical areas.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Students learn to: (1) represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction; (2) add and subtract within 20; (3) apply properties of operations; and (4) apply the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Numbers and Operations: Students learn to: (1) extend the counting sequence; (2) understand 2 digit place value; and (3) apply the concept of place value to addition and subtraction.

Measurement and Data: Students learn to: (1) measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units; (2) collect, represent, organize, and interpret data through problem solving; and (3) understand, tell, and write the concepts of time, including hours and minutes using an analog clock.

Geometry: Students learn to: (1) identify the defining and non-defining attributes of 2-D shapes; (2) build and draw 2-D shapes; (3) compose new 2-D shapes; (4) identify the defining and non-defining attributes of 3-D shapes; (5) build and draw 3-D shapes; and (6) compose new 3-D shapes.

• Community Helper Day
• Woodland Park Field Trip
• Zoo America Assembly- Facilitated by Zoo America
• Holidays Around the World Celebration
• Weather Science Unit
• Bump-Up Day to Sabold and Scenic
• Dr. Seuss Read Across America Celebration
• Summer Reading Assembly

Students in third grade begin the transition from learning to read, to reading to learn. Literacy instruction reinforces the basic literacy skills students have learned and developed from kindergarten through second grade. Third grade literacy instruction seeks to deepen students’ understanding and use of comprehension strategies like making connections and inferences, identifying important information, summarizing, and synthesizing what they read. In writing, they move beyond writing about themselves and begin to write in multiple genres, with a variety of audiences, for varied purposes. Teachers and students in third grade work to grow students’ vocabulary and other language arts skills through focused reading experiences, meaningful writing activities, and opportunities to enrich and explain their thinking through listening and speaking. Every day, teachers and students engage in differentiated guided reading opportunities, and shared reading and writing activities connected by essential questions to content area topics.

In the beginning of third grade, literacy activities revolve around the idea of citizenship in local, national, and global communities. They look to answer the essential question of, “What makes a community successful?” Through authentic reading and writing experiences, children examine important Social Studies concepts about government, and a citizen’s rights and responsibilities in a community. Students expand their knowledge beyond the local community through the study of geography. They examine maps and discover continents, oceans, landforms, bodies of water, and the physical and human features of the globe. They seek to answer the question, “How does our land inspire us?” and they connect Science as they study geology, and through hands on activities and directed reading activities, learn about the materials that form the earth’s surface. Students learn to read carefully and reread in search of specific information. They read both fiction and nonfiction texts, and they write in response to reading and as a way of applying their understanding and sharing their learning.

In January, third grade students use their knowledge about the earth and their skills in reading to learn about the history of immigration in United States. In Social Studies they read about the factors that motivated people to leave their homes and travel to a new land, and the impact those varied cultures have had on this country. Teachers and students direct their learning through questioning and research to understand, “How are cultural differences important?” Students read and listen to both fiction and nonfiction texts, and write in response to these stories and texts to deepen their understanding and share their learning. In the springtime, students return to the earth to answer the question, “How are cycles essential to our environment?” Through a mix of hands-on experimentation and ongoing observations in Science, and investigative literacy activities throughout the day, they explore cycles. Students explore the concepts of the water cycle in the environment, the impact of that cycle on the earth through erosion, and the connection of that cycle to the life cycle of plants. They experiment, observe, and use reading and writing as a way to learn about the interdependence of living and non-living things.

Through this integrated language arts curriculum, third grade students become strong capable readers and writers and use these tools of literacy to expand their learning. They learn about the world beyond their community, and the physical and natural world that surrounds them. They gain a deeper understanding of how people and nature impact their lives, and most importantly how becoming a strong capable reader and writer can expand their understanding of the world in which they live.

 

3rd Grade Integrated ELA Curriculum

PA Reading Standards for Grade 3

PA Writing Standards for Grade 3

In Grade 3, math instruction focuses on five critical areas: (1) Operations and Algebraic Thinking; (2) Numbers and Operations in Base Ten; (3) Numbers and Operations- Fractions; (4) Measurement and Data; and (5) Geometry. Below is an overview of the skills and strategies that students master in each of these critical areas.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Students learn to: (1) represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division; (2) understand the properties of multiplication and division; (3) understand the relationship between multiplication and division; (4) solve problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; (5) multiply and divide within 100; and (6) identify and explain patterns in arithmetic.

Numbers and Operations in Base Ten: Students learn to: (1) relate addition and subtraction; (2) estimate sums and differences; (4) round whole numbers; and (5) use addition and subtraction properties.

Numbers and Operations –Fractions: Students learn to: (1) understand fractions as numbers; (2) divide a whole into equal parts; and (3) use a number line to understand fractions less than one and greater than one.

Measurement and Data: Students learn to: (1) Represent and interpret data using and creating picture graphs and bar graphs; (2) solve problems using measurement and estimation of intervals of time, liquid volumes, and masses of objects; (3) recognize and solve for perimeter of plane figures; and (4) distinguish between linear and area measurements.

Geometry: Students learn to: (1) describe quadrilaterals; (2) analyze and compare quadrilaterals; and (3) classify shapes.

• Longwood Garden Field Trip
• Crystal Cave Field Trip
• Ellis Island Simulation
• Immigration Social Studies Unit
• Dr. Seuss Read Across America Celebration
• Summer Reading Assembly

In fifth grade, students are reading and writing to learn and expand and share their thinking. Fifth grade literacy instruction uses the students’ understanding and use of comprehension strategies, and their ability to analyze and synthesize what they read. Students read closely to interpret text and synthesize information, to make inferences and thematic connections to science and social studies content, and to analyze and expand their learning. Fifth graders use writing as a tool for learning as they write about what they read and what they learn from their reading. They analyze, synthesize, and evaluate texts through close reading, rereading and annotating, and writing about reading. Students write in multiple genres for a variety of reasons. Teachers and students in fifth grade engage focused reading experiences, and meaningful writing activities. They have opportunities to enrich and explain their thinking through listening and speaking. Every day, teachers and students engage in differentiated guided reading opportunities, and shared reading and writing activities connected by essential questions to content area topics.

Throughout much of fifth grade, literacy activities revolve around Social Studies topics such as, Early American History, Economics, and the Foundations of American Government. The concepts of communities, cooperation, and citizenship provide a foundation for understanding exploration and colonization; answering the essential questions, “How does cooperation and conflict impact civilization?” and “How does success depend on transformation?” Through authentic reading and writing experiences, students examine these important Social Studies concepts. Students work with informational text to identify main ideas and key details, and the evidence authors use to support a claim or point of view. They read both fiction and nonfiction texts, and write as a way of applying their understanding and sharing their learning.

As fifth grades move into the second half of the year, they continue to use their reading and writing skills to understand history, government, economics, and Science concepts related to force and motion, simple machines, and beginning astronomy. Through their studies, they delve into the essential questions, “How do mistakes lead to discovery?” and How does change impact outcomes?” Again, through a mix of hands-on experimentation and ongoing observations in Science, and investigative literacy activities throughout the day, they explore the interconnections among force, motion, machines and space. They experiment, observe, and use reading and writing as a way to learn. Finally, in Social Studies, they study economics and government. Students read both fiction and nonfiction texts and write in response to these stories and texts to share their thinking and expand their understanding.

Through this integrated language arts curriculum, fifth grade students grow stronger as readers and writers, researchers, historians, and scientists. They use the tools of literacy to expand their knowledge of the physical world and deepen their understanding of history.

 

5th Grade Integrated ELA Curriculum

In Grade 5, math instruction focuses on five critical areas: (1) Operations and Algebraic Thinking; (2) Numbers and Operations in Base Ten; (3) Numbers and Operations – Fractions (4) Measurement and Data; and (5) Geometry. Below is an overview of the skills and strategies that students master in each of these critical areas.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Students learn to: (1) understand the order of operations; (2) write, evaluate, and interpret numerical expressions; (3) analyze numerical patterns and relationships; and (4) analyze and graph numerical relationships.

Numbers and Operations in Base: Students learn to: (1) understand powers with exponents and powers of ten; (2) understand decimals to the thousandths; (3) compare and round decimals; (4) add and subtract decimals; and (5) solve problems with decimals.

Numbers and Operations-Fractions: Students learn to: (1) estimate sums and differences of fractions and mixed numbers; (2) add and subtract fractions with unlike numbers; (3) use models to add mixed numbers; and (4) multiply fractions and whole numbers, two fractions, and mixed numbers.

Measurement and Data: Students learn to: (1) model volume; (2) develop a model for volume; (3) solve for the volume of prisms and combine volume of prisms; (4) convert customary and metric units of length, capacity, weight, and mass; and (5) solve word problems that involve converting measurements.

Geometry: Students learn to: (1) graph points on the coordinate plane; (2) graph data using ordered pairs; (3) solve problems using ordered pairs; and (4) classify two-dimensional figures, including triangles and quadrilaterals.

• Junior Achievement Biztown Field Trip
• American History Social Studies Unit- Colonial America and the American Revolution
• Bump-Up Day to ETR
• End of Year Celebration
• Dr. Seuss Read Across America Celebration
• Summer Reading Assembly