Curriculum

Primary

Lower Elementary

Upper Elementary

Middle School

Print this page

Lower Elementary Curriculum

Cultural Studies

Cultural studies in the Lower Elementary classroom are primarily derived from what Maria Montessori called the “Great Lessons.” The Great Lessons are presented as impressionistic stories supported by materials, experiments and activities that reinforce the concept presented. They offer the child a wide view, starting from the whole and moving to its parts. Hands-on materials, along with developing reading, writing and research skills that allow the child to ask bigger, universal questions such as “What is my place in the world?” “How did the world begin?”

         The Great Lessons

• The story of the universe
• The Coming of life (Timeline of Life)
• The coming of humans (Timeline of Humans)
• The story of writing
• The story of numbers

History

• Passage of time
• History of timekeeping
• Time
• Year & its parts
• Clock of Eras
• AD/BCE
• Fundamental needs of humans
• Early civilizations

Geography

• Physical Geography
  • Land/water forms
  • Parts of a river
  • Parts of mountain
  • Parts of a volcano
  • Map skills
• Economic Geography
  • Political maps
  • Civics/commerce
• Political Geography
  • Continent research
  • Country research (flags, land/water forms, culture, current events, resources, history)

Science

Note: In the area of science we follow a three year cycle.

Year One: Life Science

Botany

• Living/non-living
• Plant/animal
• Classification of plants
• Parts and function of plants
• Ecology

Zoology

• Vertebrate/invertebrate
• Comparison of vertebrates
• Comparison of invertebrates
• Classification of animals
• Internal/external parts of animals
• Animal research

Year Two: Physics and chemistry

• States of matter
• Changes in matter
• Acid/base
• Introduction to atoms, molecules
• Introduction to physics and simple machines
• Energy, electricity, magnetism, sound and light
• Gravity, buoyancy
• Flight
• Inventions
• Technology

Year Three: Earth Science

• Composition of the earth
• Plate tectonics
• Rocks/minerals
• Fossils
• Weather
• Seasons
• Time zone
• Longitude/latitude
• Astronomy
  • Planets
  • Stars
  • Moon
  • Space exploration

Scientific method

Language

The area of language arts in the lower elementary classroom is varied and rich. Students are at many different levels and abilities, yet it is the foundation for understanding in all areas. Students read, research, explore, investigate and imagine.

Phonics

• Word study
• Compounds
• Prefix/suffix
• Antonyms/synonyms
• Homophones/homonyms/homographs
• Contractions
• Singular/plural
• Syllabication
• Abbreviation

Grammar

• Article
• Noun
• Verb
• Preposition
• Adverb
• Pronoun
• Conjunction
• Interjection

Mechanics

• Punctuation
• Capitalization

Handwriting

Spelling

Writing

• Journal writing
• Sentence construction
• Types of sentences
• Paragraphs
• Types of writing
  • Letters
  • Poetry
  • Autobiography
  • Fiction
  • Non-fiction
  • Essays
  • Newspaper

Research skills

• Dictionary usage
• Parts of a research book
• Types and uses of research media
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Encyclopedia
  • Atlas
  • Internet
  • CD-Rom
  • Primary sources

Reading and literature

• Reading comprehension
  • Word knowledge
  • Follow written directions
  • Context clues
  • Main idea
  • Drawing conclusions
  • Inferences
• Genres of literature
  • Fiction/non-fiction
  • Biography/autobiography
  • Poetry/plays
  • Mystery/adventure
  • Folk tale/legend/myth

Mathematics

Arithmetic

• Decimal system
  • Base ten
  • Operations
  • Place value
• Memorization/operations
  • Addition static/dynamic
    • Stamp game
    • Bead frame
    • Without materials
    • Estimation
    • Word problems
  • Multiplication static/dynamic
    • Stamp game
    • Bead frame
    • Checkerboard
    • Without materials
    • Estimation
    • Word problems
  • Geometric multiplication
  • Powers of numbers
    • Ten to the power 1-6
    • Powers of two cube
    • Explore powers
    • Exponential notation
  • Multiples
    • One set of multiples 1-6
    • More than one set of multiples
    • Least common multiple
  • Division static/dynamic
    • Test tubes
    • Without material
    • Estimation
    • Word problems
  • Divisibility
    • By two
    • By four and five
    • By 25
    • By nine
• Problem solving/word problems
• One step
• Two step
• Multiple step
• Factors
• Greatest common factors
• Factor trees
• Prime factors
• Fractions
• Equivalence
• Simplifying
• Changing improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa
• Adding like denominators
• Subtracting like denominators
• Adding and subtracting mixed numbers with like denominators
• Adding with different denominators
• Subtracting with different denominators
• Multiplying fractions
• Dividing fractions
• Measurement
  • Linear
  • Volume
  • Metric
  • Temperature
  • Weight

Geometry

• Point/line/surface
• Line
• Triangles
• Circle
• Angles
• Quadrilaterals
• Polygons
• Congruent, similar, equivalent shapes
• Polygons
• Perimeter/area