Teaching and Learning

This course is designed in a way to support the diverse population of kindergarten writers. Kindergarteners learn that writing carries meaning and the words they write convey thoughts, ideas and feelings. This course teaches children to become independent with the writing process (generating ideas, drafting, revising and editing) as well as the application of this process to their daily writing. This course takes this knowledge of the writing process and demonstrates how it can support writing across the three text types: narrative, informational and opinion writing.

Mathematics is the study of patterns and relationships. In kindergarten, children learn about patterns and attributes (shape, thickness, color, and size). They learn that there is a pattern to counting and that place value helps them to understand the pattern. Children learn to compare quantities, begin to estimate numbers, and represent numbers pictorially and using numerals. They learn to count and order collections of objects and extend these counting and ordering activities into simple addition and subtraction operations, which they record as number sentences. Children collect and organize data using concrete objects, pictures, tallies, tables, charts, and graphs. They explore shapes, such as rectangles, triangles, squares, and circles. Children learn to count and compare coins. They learn to compare such attributes of objects as length, surface, capacity, and weight, and they learn to tell time to the nearest hour.

In the kindergarten curriculum, students begin their science foundation. Much emphasis is placed on the five senses to help students become scientific observers.

In the Life Science unit, students explore the concepts of the structures of birds, fish, snails, earthworms and isopods. Students learn what animals need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live.

In the Physical Science unit, students begin with a study of natural resources and properties of materials and how those properties determine their use. Students come to understand that humans use natural resources for everything they do and that people affect the world around them. Students will use those materials to build structures, applying physical science core ideas of energy transfer.

Students will then apply their knowledge of the materials to investigate pushes and pulls and explore variables to achieve a specific outcome In the Earth Science unit, students develop an understanding of what plants (and animals) need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live. Students will engage in observing weather over the course of the year, as well as the impact weather has on living things. As students monitor the local weather, they will experience the patterns and variations in weather and come to understand the importance of weather forecasts to prepare for severe weather.

Throughout the course, students learn to engage in Science and Engineering Practices and Cross-Cutting Concepts that help them make connections across scientific concepts and broaden their scientific skills and processes for future problem solving. 

The kindergarten social studies curriculum is designed to help students gain an increased awareness of themselves and the world around them. Using the framework of “Myself and Others,” students learn about the social studies disciplines of history, geography, civics and government, and economics. Using events from their own lives they begin to explore and learn the basic historical concept of time and to distinguish past, present, and future. They develop the geographic concept of space by learning positional words and recognizing that maps and globes represent places in the world. To lay the foundation for the study of civics and government, students identify the flag as an important symbol of the United States. They also act as classroom citizens by following appropriate rules for individual and group activities and decision making. An awareness of economics is developed as students connect familiar economic wants to how those wants are met. Throughout the year students are introduced to simple core values of democracy as they learn to respond appropriately to classroom issues and individual responses.

The first grade language arts curriculum is centered on reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students continue to develop early reading strategies that include: building good reading habits, choosing just-right books, print strategies, text features, questioning, non-fiction reading strategies and characters study. Students continue to develop early writing strategies that include: convey their thoughts, ideas, and feelings written form. Students write narrative, non-fiction, and opinion pieces such as personal narratives, how to, personal expertise, and opinion writing. Grammar study and phonics are incorporated throughout the year.

In first grade mathematics, children increase their knowledge of patterns, shapes, and estimation. They learn to recognize additional two-dimensional shapes (e.g., rhombus, ellipse) and also learn to recognize and name three-dimensional objects (e.g., cube, cylinder, sphere, cone, and pyramid). Children learn to identify objects that have line symmetry. Using standard units, they begin to measure length. Children collect, organize, and display data, extending their experience with graphs and tables. They begin to use place value and to add and subtract without regrouping. Simple fractions such as 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 are introduced. Children extend their knowledge of money and time. They learn to work with number sentences involving variables (e.g., ? + 7 = 12).

In the first grade curriculum, students extend their understanding of concepts they studied in previous years.

In the Life Science unit, the anchor phenomenon are that young plants and animals have structures and behaviors that help them grow and survive. They will also explore the phenomenon of variation in the same kind of organism, including variation between young and adults.

In the Physical Science unit, students will explore how to observe and manipulate the anchor phenomena of sound and light. Students will use simple tools and instruments to find out how sound and light interact with objects.

In the Earth Science unit, students explore the anchor phenomenon that objects in the sky change position in predictable ways. They explore the natural world by using simple instruments and calendars to observe and monitor change. They use new tools and methods to build on their understanding of the weather and to find out about proprieties of air by exploring how objects interact with air. Students make connections to the daily movement of the the Sun in the sky.

Throughout the course, students engage in Science and Engineering Practices and Cross-Cutting Concepts that help them make connections across scientific concepts and broaden their scientific skills and processes for future problem solving. 

The first grade social studies curriculum uses the context of “Families and Schools” to guide students in the study of history, geography, civics and government, and economics. Using family histories, students develop historical thinking skills as they explore how life today (present) is like or different from family life in the past. As they use ideas of time and chronology, students also learn about the people and events that are celebrated as part of the national holidays of the United States. Students address geographic concepts and develop spatial skills through map construction and visual representations. In addition, students begin to develop an understanding of how humans interact with their environments and some of the consequences of those interactions. In civics and government, school is used as a context for learning about why people create rules, what is authority in a school setting, and the characteristics of citizenship. Economic principles are explored using the context of family. Students investigate ways in which families consume goods and services, how people make a living, and how scarcity and choice affect economic decisions. Students continue to develop an understanding of public issues, the importance of citizen action, and begin to communicate their positions on public issues.

The second grade language arts curriculum is centered on reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students continue to develop reading strategies that include: summarizing, identifying the main idea, sequencing, making predictions, reading for specific detail and drawing conclusions. Students continue to develop writing strategies that include: convey their thoughts, ideas, and feelings in written form. Students write narrative, non-fiction, and opinion pieces such as opinion, personal expertise, research and realistic fiction. Grammar study and phonics will be incorporated throughout the year.

In second grade mathematics, children continue their study of numbers and numeration. They identify place-value, compare numbers, work with fractions, and use money to develop place-value and decimal concepts. Students continue working with fact families and adding and subtracting with tens and hundreds. They begin multiplication and division. Students increase their knowledge of data collection by collecting, organizing, and interpreting data through the use of tables, charts, line plots, and graphs. Students use tools to measure length, weight and temperature using U.S. customary units and metric measurement units. Students continue their exploration of 2-and 3- dimensional shapes and classify polygons. They explore number patterns, rules for number sequences, relations between numbers and attributes.

In the second grade curriculum, students extend their understanding of concepts they studied in previous years.

In the Life Science unit, the anchor phenomenon is the natural history of common insects and their interactions with plants. Students will compare structures and functions of species to reveal patterns. Students gain experience with the ways that plants and insects interact with feeding relationships, pollination and seed dispersal.

In the Physical Science unit, students explore the anchor phenomenon of matter in two of its phases--solid and liquid. Students will explore how solid and liquid materials are similiar and different, how the properties of solid and liquid materials relate to how they can be used and how they can change.

In the Earth Science unit, students explore the anchor phenomenon of earth materials that cover the planet's surface. Students will explore and the properties of earth materials and how they interact and change.

Throughout the course, students engage in Science and Engineering Practices and Cross-Cutting Concepts that help them make connections across scientific concepts and broaden their scientific skills and processes for future problem solving.

The second grade social studies curriculum addresses concepts in geography, history, government, and economy through the lens of the local community. Students examine what is a community, how citizens live and work together in community, how communities change over time, and the role of citizens in a community. Using historical thinking, students create timelines of key events from their community’s past, explore changes over time, and investigate how descriptions of common events can differ. Students draw upon prior knowledge of spatial awareness, physical and human systems, and human-environment interaction from earlier grades to create more complex understandings and apply these concepts to the local community. They begin to understand how people, goods, and services move within the community. Students are also introduced to local government and its functions. By exploring the role local businesses in the community, students learn how people can not produce everything they want and depend on trade to meet those wants. Through an examination of local public issues, students practice public discourse and decision making around community issues.

The third grade language arts curriculum is centered around units of study that continue to develop skills in vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. Students are actively participating in the process of reading, writing, speaking and listening. There are ample opportunities for reading and responding in a large group, small groups, or independently. Children practice comprehension strategies that include: retelling, identifying the main idea, questioning, reading for specific detail, etc. Children learn to listen to and retell stories and through reading are encouraged to form ideas, opinions and feelings about writing. Within the structure of writing workshop students learn to build habits and develop strategies that proficient writers use on a daily basis. Children are encouraged to express their ideas in written form, utilizing the writing process. Students learn about the crafting techniques that are common to narrative, informative, and opinion writing. They further develop and strengthen their writing by cycling through the process of planning, revising, editing, and publicly sharing their opinions with a real audience. Grammar, usage, mechanics and spelling and language usage are introduced and practiced within the context of daily writing activities. Children read and write in a variety of genres and curriculum areas.

Students practice problem solving with everyday situations both at school and at home; this will be taught over 9 units. They learn basic math skills to help them solve problems in the real world. To enhance these basic skills the students will revisit and review the concepts throughout the year. The third grade curriculum includes: math tools, time, number stories, patterns, all four operations including multi-digit numbers (using a variety of algorithms), fact families, measurement, geometry, interpreting data, creating graphs, and fractions. Throughout the year games will be used to enrich the students learning of math concepts.

In the third grade curriculum, students extend their understanding of concepts they studied in previous years.

In the Life Science unit, students explore the concepts that plants and animals are organisms and exhibit a variety of strategies for life, organisms are complex and have a variety of observable structures and behaviors, organisms have varied, but predictable life cycles and reproduce their own kind, and individuals have variations in their traits that may provide an advantage to surviving in their habitats.

In the Physical Science unit, students work with forces and interactions, matter and it's interactions, and with engineering design. Magnetism and gravity are the forces and interactions they explore as they look for patterns of motion to predict future motion. Students also use metric tools to refine observations by measuring mass and volume, make mixtures and solutions to develop a foundational understanding of the conservation of mass, and observe a simple chemical reaction to extend their understanding of conservation.

In the Earth Science unit, students explore how water is the most important substance on Earth. Students are provided with opportunities to explore the properties of water, the water cycle and weather, interactions between water and other Earth materials, and how humans use water as a natural resource.

Throughout the course, students engage in Science and Engineering Practices and Cross-Cutting Concepts that help them make connections across scientific concepts and broaden their scientific skills and processes for future problem solving. 

The third grade social studies curriculum introduces the history, geography, government, and economy of Michigan. Students learn about people and events from the past that have influenced the state in which they live. They study the geography of Michigan including the physical and cultural characteristics of different areas of the state. Using the context of their state, students explore human-environment interactions and their consequences. Using a geographic lens, students also examine the movement of people, products, and ideas across the state, and investigate how Michigan can be divided into distinct regions. Economic concepts are applied to the context of Michigan as students explore how Michiganians support themselves through the production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services. By studying economic ties between Michigan and other places, students discover how their state is an interdependent part of both the national and global economies. The purposes, structure, and functions of state government are introduced. Students explore the relationship between rights and responsibilities of citizens. They examine current issues facing Michigan residents and practice making and expressing informed decisions as citizens. Throughout the year, students locate, analyze, and present data pertaining to the state of Michigan.

The fourth grade language arts curriculum is centered around units of study that continue to develop skills in vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. Students are actively participating in the process of reading, writing, speaking and listening. There are ample opportunities for reading and responding in a large group, small group, or independently. Children practice comprehension strategies that include: summarizing, identifying the main idea, sequencing, making predictions, reading for specific detail and drawing conclusions. Children learn to listen to and retell stories and through reading are encouraged to form ideas, opinions and feelings about writing. Within the structure of writing workshop students learn to build habits and develop strategies that proficient writers use on a daily basis. Children are encouraged to express their ideas in written form, utilizing the writing process. Students learn about the crafting techniques that are common to narrative, informative, and persuasive/ opinion writing. They further develop and strengthen their writing by cycling through the process of planning, revising, editing, and publicly sharing their opinions with a real audience. There will be integrated social studies/science informational texts to enhance the reading and writing units. (See Social Studies Grade 4 Unit 3 for correlation) Grammar, usage, mechanics and spelling and language usage are introduced and practiced within the context of daily writing activities. Children read and write in a variety of genres and curriculum areas.

Fourth grade students work toward mastery of multiplication of whole numbers. They work extensively with multiplication and division, learning about factors, multiples, and prime numbers as they do. Students begin to use large numbers, and thus learn to express powers of ten with exponents and to write numbers using scientific notation. They spend additional time on estimation and on mental computation. Students extend their work with decimals to thousandths. Addition and subtraction of fractions is modeled and used. They learn to convert from fractions to decimals and vice versa. Probabilities are represented in fraction and decimal form. Percents are introduced and used in practical situations. The number system is extended to include integers. When dealing with data, students learn to use summary statistics, such as the median and the mode. Maps, coordinate grids, and latitude and longitude are used; angles on maps and coordinate grids are measured. Perimeter, area, and scale drawings are studied – formulas for the area of rectangles, triangles, and parallelograms are developed. Students work with symmetry and geometric transformations. They also determine surface areas and volumes of rectangular prisms.

In the fourth grade curriculum, students extend their understanding of concepts they studied in previous years.

In the Life Science unit, students study the structures and relationships between one organism and its environment while extending knowledge of all organisms. Students are are expected to make connections with how humans can change environments.

In the Physical Science unit, students explore the anchor phenomenon of energy. Students explore that energy is present whenever there is motion, electric current, sound, light or heart and that energy can transfer from one place to another.

In the Earth Science unit, students explore the anchor phenomenon of the surface of the Earth's landscape--the shape and the composition of landforms. Students will explore the phenomena of weathering by water, ice, wind, living organisms, gravity breaking rocks into smaller pieces, erosion and deposition.

Throughout the course, students engage in Science and Engineering Practices and Cross-Cutting Concepts that help them make connections across scientific concepts and broaden their scientific skills and processes for future problem solving. 

The fourth grade social studies curriculum introduces students to geographic, economic, governmental concepts through the lens of the United States. They study the physical geography of the United States as well as the cultural characteristics of regions of the country. Students analyze human systems in the United States by exploring the interaction between the people and their natural environments, the movement of people, products, and ideas, and the distinguishing features of various regions within the country. By focusing on the characteristics of the U.S. economy, students learn fundamental economic concepts and apply these to their own lives. They study economic ties between the United States and other places, and discover how their country is an interdependent part of the global economy. Students are introduced to the purposes, structure, and function of our federal government. They also examine the relationship between the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democratic republic. Students examine current issues facing the United States and practice making and expressing informed decisions as citizens.