Lower School Curriculum

First grade art students build on studio skills they learned in Kindergarten. They continue to do projects that emphasize small motor competence. They move through many mediums that include: drawing, painting, weaving, stitching, ceramics, papercraft, and recycled material art. Some projects are directly tied into classroom study topics. Students learn about artists and styles of art as well as art from places and cultures around the world.

Third grade art students build on studio skills they learned in earlier grades. They are doing more complex projects and having much more control of what they are trying to say in their artwork. They work in many mediums that include: drawing, painting, printmaking, weaving, ceramics, papercraft, and recycled material art. Some projects are directly tied into classroom study topics. Students go into greater depth when learning about artists and the cultures that influence their work. 

Fifth grade art students build on studio skills they learned in earlier grades. They are doing complex projects that require them to draw from past projects apply those skills to a new work. They work in many mediums that include: drawing, painting, printmaking, weaving, ceramics, stone carving, papercraft, and recycled material art. Some projects are directly tied into classroom study topics. Students go into greater depth when learning about artists and the cultures that influence their work.  Students are now taking on more responsibility in the art studio; in decision making and care of tools and supplies.

Fall Term
• Phonemic awareness
• Short vowels
• Consonant diagraphs
• Predicting
• Sequence of events
• Compare and contrast
• Cause and effect
• Who, what, why, when, and where
• Capitalization
• Nouns
• Punctuation

Winter Term
• Double consonants
• Word families
• Consonant blends
• Suffixes
• Story mapping
• Questioning and evaluating
• Noting details
• Introduction of spelling tests
• Verbs
• Adjectives

Spring Term
• Long vowels
• Word families
• R-controlled pattern
• Pronouns
• Editing

• Paragraph and friendly letter structure
• 3 and 5 paragraph essays
• Comprehension strategies
• Word study/spelling
• Cursive
• Grammar and decoding

• Selecting “Just Right” books
• Letters and business letters
• Journal writing
• Proofreading, self-editing, and peer editing
• “Wrapping” dialogue with descriptive text
• Class novels
• Comprehension strategies
• Vocabulary analysis
• Roots, prefixes, suffixes
• Essay writing
• Narrative, expository writing

• Families
• North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Antarctica
• Cultural holidays
• Oratorical festival

• Landforms
• Overview of Oakland history
• United States region tour
• Angel Island history

• US His/Herstory timelines
• Heroes/Sheroes
• US government
• Constitution and Bill of Rights
• 50 states and capitals
• Indigenous People’s Day /Columbus Day
• Trail of Tears
• Dia de Los Muertos
• Diverse family structures
• Women's suffrage
• World War I
• The Depression
• World War II: the Holocaust, the atomic bomb, Japanese internment camps
• African American history – slavery, emancipation, and the Civil Rights movement
• Current and historical immigration

Fall Term

• Number concepts
• Operations
• Graphing
• Addition and subtraction facts through ten

Winter Term

• Geometry
• Fractions
• Numbers through 100

Spring Term

• Patterns and Comparisons
• Time and money

• Place value through 10,000
• Multi-digit addition and subtraction
• Multiplication and division
• Measurement
• Probability
• Geometry
• Fractions
• Problem solving with money and time

• Advanced multiplication and long division
• Fractions, decimals, and percents
• Exponents
• Length, area, perimeter, and volume
• Angles and their measurement
• Parts of a circle
• Tables, graphs, and charts
• Simple algebraic formulas
• Integers and coordinate graphing

The K-4 music program introduces students to the basic elements of music: rhythm, pitch, melody, harmony, tempo, timbre, dynamics, form, and style. These elements are explored through a variety of learning experiences including singing, instruments, dancing, games, and listening exercises. Each year, we explore the same musical elements, but with increasing depth, to lay a foundation for understanding greater musical concepts and skills.

• Theory: steady beat, reading basic rhythms, dynamics
• Singing: pitch matching, call and response, singing games, songs in unison
• Instruments: pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments
• Listening exercises
• Performances: Generations Day, Winter Concert, and other school events

The K-4 music program introduces students to the basic elements of music: rhythm, pitch, melody, harmony, tempo, timbre, dynamics, form, and style. These elements are explored through a variety of learning experiences including singing, instruments, dancing, games, and listening exercises. Each year, we explore the same musical elements, but with increasing depth, to lay a foundation for understanding greater musical concepts and skills.

• Theory: reading, playing and notating rhythms, reading treble clef, dynamics, articulation and expression markings, identifying musical symbols
• Singing: rounds, singing in unison and in two-part harmony
• Instruments: recorder, various percussion instruments, handbells
• Listening exercises
• Performances: Generations Day, Winter Concert, and other school events

Fall

• Introduction to listening (objective/subjective observations)
• Singing:  Learning, rehearsing songs for Winter Concert
• Introduction to Body Music  

Winter

• Singing:  rehearsing songs for Winter Concert
• Rhythm:  whole, half, quarter, eighth notes (reading and dictation)
• Body Music

Spring

• Singing:  rehearsing for Art and Music Night
• Major and minor scale relationships
• Melodic/rhythmic dictation

• Students participate in P.E. twice a week for 30 minutes.
• Students travel safely in "general space" using various locomotor movements while changing directions and observing boundaries.
• Students move in various ways maintaining "personal space,” including on high, medium, and low levels.
• Students manipulate various objects safely using their arms and legs while playing games.
• Students demonstrate two-handed overhead, overhand, and underhand throwing patterns.
• Students can identify and list components of bones, muscles, and organs.

• Students participate in P.E. twice a week for 30 minutes.
• Students travel safely in "general space" using various locomotor movements while changing directions using higher rates of speed.
• Students chase, flee, and move away from others in a changing environment.
• Students work in pairs or small groups to achieve an agreed-upon goal.
• Students acknowledge feelings resulting from challenges, success, and failure resulting from physical activity and competition.
• Students manipulate various objects safely using their arms and legs while playing various games, including overhand throws with accuracy, kicking balls into a goal, and striking balls with "floor ball" sticks.
• Students recognize three changes in their bodies reflecting personal fitness.
• Students understand that physical activity over long periods increases the body’s ability to burn fat.

• Students participate in P.E. three times a week for 45 minutes.
• Students apply safe travel methods in various games.
• Students manipulate various objects with their arms or legs, dribbling or throwing with accuracy, and passing to each other with defenders.
• Students observe changes in their aerobic capacity and muscular strength.
• Students work to allow feelings resulting from challenges, successes, and failures not to inhibit good sportsmanship practices.
• Students contribute and listen to ideas of their peers in cooperative problem- solving activities.
• Students practice acting in a positive, safe, and healthy manner when confronted by negative peer pressure during physical activity.
• Students understand why carbohydrates and protein are preferred fuel for endurance and high intensity physical activity.

• Weather
• Solids, Liquids and Gases
• Insects
• Dinosaurs

• Simple machines
• Sun, moon, and stars
• Scientific method

• Microscopes and cells
• Levels of organization in the human body
• Overview of the 11 human organ systems
• In-depth study of the integumentary, skeletal, muscular, and respiratory systems
• Health and nutrition
• Puberty and the human reproductive system
• Human Body Science Fair

Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS) as an instructional strategy.

• Develop listening comprehension skills.
• New vocabulary words are given a physical cue or movement.
• Verbs are presented in the third person present tense.
• Mini-stories are acted by students at their seats (simultaneously), in partners, or by student volunteers in front of the class.
• Students are led to answer yes/no questions about each mini-story.
• Games and other activities are also used to reinforce vocabulary.

Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS) as an instructional strategy.

• Follow curriculum from "Cuentame"
• Develop listening comprehension and verbal skills.
• New vocabulary words are given a physical cue or movement.
• Verbs are presented in the third person present tense.
• Mini-stories are acted by students at their seats (simultaneously), in partners, or by student volunteers in front of the class.
• Students are led to verbally answer questions about each mini-story in full sentences.
• Students read stories and respond to written questions about those stories.
• Games and other activities are also used to reinforce vocabulary.

Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS) as an instructional strategy.

• Follow curriculum from "Cuentame Más"
• Develop listening comprehension and verbal skills.
• New vocabulary words are given a physical cue or movement.
• Verbs are presented in the present tense.
• Mini-stories are acted by students at their seats (simultaneously), in partners, or by student volunteers in front of the class.
• Students are led to verbally answer questions about each mini-story in full sentences.
• Students read stories and respond to written questions about those stories.
• Games and other activities are also used to reinforce vocabulary.
• Read a short chapter book in Spanish.

Compare, contrast tools in several applications
Basic file navigation.
Introduce Internet.
Using Multiple applications at the same time.

Finding information online.
Object versus embedded tools
Opening files locally and from the network
Additional applications

Switching between applications
Gathering information and images from the internet.
Desktop navigation
Following more complex written directions.

"field trip" to server
Initial log on skills
Initial saving files to networked locations.
Open new and saved files.
Navigation to find/open files, images, resources.
Intro spreadsheet.

New applications: graphic organizer
Windows management.
Intro more self-directed projects
Internet navigation within complex sites

Internet: Intro collaborative, keyword searching, bookmarked sites, navigation links
New application: Drawing