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Grades 1-5

Grade 1

Developmental Overview

In grade 1, the child is ready to work imaginatively in new, more focused, and explicit ways with the mind. Students in grade 1 learn and live through imagination, feeling, and movement.  Therefore, grade 1 academics foster and utilize these elements to support strong academics, cultivate a love of learning, and encourage curiosity about the world around us. Knitting and the pentatonic flute are introduced at this grade.

Grade 1

English Language Arts

Children in grade 1 begin their exploration of the alphabet through vivid stories and images. Through practice visualizing and reviewing stories, students build strong comprehension skills even before formal reading has emerged. Teachers introduce students to each letter of the alphabet through stories. In this way, the child experiences language development concretely and imaginatively. Images arise from these stories, such as a mountain that takes the form of the letter M. The class will compose short descriptive sentences to accompany each picture. Through these activities, the child learns word and sentence structure without conscious effort and has the joy of creating their own illustrated main lesson books for reading material.

Grade 1

Mathematics

Grade 1 children first experience the qualities of numbers before learning the four operations. Thus, teachers guide students to explore questions such as, “What is the experience of ‘oneness’?” and “What is there only one of in the world?” (Me! You!). Children use stones, acorns, and other natural and familiar objects to practice counting. They develop number sense experientially through movement and hands-on activities, including stomping, clapping, and the rhythmic, choral speaking of numbers. Only after practical experience in adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing are the written symbols for all four basic mathematical processes introduced. This approach leads to a deeper understanding of math concepts by engaging students creatively and imaginatively in their learning.

Herb Plants

Grade 2

Developmental Overview

In grade 2, the curriculum focuses on nature studies and includes fables and hero biographies from around the world. As students in grade 2 mature, the duality and contradiction between the trickster characters in the fables and the courageous biographies allow students to explore their moral compass and deepen their sense of what is right. Children's awareness of opposites begins to unfold. If a circle of children with everyone facing the center represents togetherness in grade 1, grade 2 is the circle with children becoming aware of what goes on around them.

 

In handwork the children continue with knitting, making many knitted animals and other small projects helping them to attain creative skills in form and function. The second grade helps the school to celebrate the small festival of light Santa Lucia on/near December 13th, which gives a living image of the light and warmth of the spirit shining in the darkness. The children visit each class giving the gift of song wearing crowns.

Grade 2

English Language Arts

In grade 2 ELA, children listen to and read stories of heroes from many cultures. While reading traditional and animal fables, grade 2rs also explore the landscape of personality traits (e.g., the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly). Children participate in individual retelling of stories told in class as well as the recounting of personal experiences. The children also continue participating in daily phonics and expand their sight recognition of high-frequency words. Children's first reading experience comes from reading what they wrote in their main lesson books. Children may write a short verse that helps them review a letter sound or a simple retelling of a fable they heard. In this way, the children experience how written language developed throughout human history. Students also continue to practice lowercase printing and cursive handwriting.

Grade 2

Mathematics

In grade 2, the imaginative quality that still lives in the seven to eight-year-old develops inspiring pictures of the operations involved in the four processes in arithmetic. Students learn to differentiate between operations, determine when to use each one, and work simple problems of each type in their heads and on paper. The concepts and mechanics of written addition and subtraction are introduced through manipulatives and carrying and regrouping activities. Students develop orderliness in their written work in mathematics as teachers stress neat columnar writing of problems. Counting by various multiples is mastered before progressing to written multiplication and division. In grade 2, rhythmic counting is transformed into times tables (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 10s). Word problems continue as students write simple algorithms and solve written and oral stories.

Grade 3

Developmental Overview

Children in grade 3 are trying to achieve a unique set of skills. As they enter their ninth year, children begin to see the world differently: they become aware of growing up, separating from their parents, and becoming part of the outer world. As children become more independent and question what they previously took for granted, they can experience loneliness and insecurity. But they also develop self-confidence. The grade 3 curriculum meets a child's new interests and concerns by providing the opportunity to learn the three essential requirements for all humankind: how we work with nature to provide ourselves with food, clothing, and shelter.

Grade 3

English Language Arts

The importance of words and the beauty of speech underlie the grade 3 language arts curriculum. The teacher creates the capacity for inward visualization through daily story-telling, setting the stage for conceptual thought. Reading, writing, the fundamentals of grammar, spelling, listening and speaking, and penmanship are developed in an artistic manner that speaks to, empowers, and inspires the whole child. Multicultural stories from the “Myths and Legends of the World” by Alli Brydon stimulate wonder and serve as a metaphor for the children’s inner experience. Additionally, students in grade 3, as required by the Reading Sufficiency Act (RSA), will receive more specialized reading instruction, especially for those who need additional instruction, practice, and support. All students in grade 3 are assessed using the state-mandated OCCT testing materials, protocols, and procedures.

Grade 3

Mathematics

In grade 3, the child begins to develop an awareness of the practical applications of mathematics. Students experiment with measurements of all types (e.g., length, weight, volume, money, and time) and put these systems to use in practical activities. Grade 3 students also use movement and rhythm as they solidify and memorize multiplication facts. For example, students practice times tables while jumping rope, tossing bean bags, or bouncing a ball. This increases the child's ability to memorize and retain the information.

Herb Plants

Grade 4

Developmental Overview

The grade 4 curriculum addresses a child in possession of greater certainty and confidence. At this grade level, the child is more assured of their place in the world and is able to assert more individual needs and wants. In grade 4, the student’s confidence rises, the ego emerges; children at this age possess a zest for life, strive to learn new things, and have an intense desire to socialize. The curriculum provides examples of conflict, separation, and confrontation, indicating paths for resolving problems and providing justice.

Grade 4

English Language Arts

The focus of the grade 4 language arts curriculum is the study of Native American communities, the impact of first settlers, and the study of Norse people's myths and legends. These stories speak strongly to the children at this time. The gods of Asgard are portrayed as individuals with distinct, powerful personalities who encounter significant consequences for their good and bad behavior. The vivid images evoked in these stories provide ample inspiration for the expanded creative and expository writing skills required of the child at this grade. The strong alliterations of their verses strengthen the grade 4 child's clarity of speech and reinforce their developing confidence.

Grade 4

Mathematics

Grade 4 students begin the year working with whole numbers and the four operations as students solve real-world and mathematical problems. Then, students learn algebraic reasoning through patterns, variables, and expressions. Students also explore geometric and measurement concepts and skills, such as calculating the area of polygons. In grade 4, children also develop a more comprehensive understanding of fractions and decimals.

Grade 5

Developmental Overview

Grade 5 is a year of balance and harmony. Grade 5 is often referred to as the golden age of childhood because the child's body is in close to perfect proportion before the exaggerated and occasionally awkward growth of the early teen years begins. In grade 5, children’s imaginative and carefree state begins to blend with the increasing sense of independence, critical thinking, and self-awareness. Students use their new capacity for critical thinking as they study botany, North American geography, and ancient civilizations, including India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Greece. They learn about the cultural development of these civilizations through myths, religious beliefs, and social achievements. Students also become familiar with the geography of these areas as they draw maps and learn about significant landforms and climates.

Grade 5

English Language Arts

Grade 5 students read and write about ancient civilizations in the main lesson themes. They learn parts of speech, verb tenses, and active/passive voices, and they edit papers for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Letter writing is introduced with the assignment to request information for a research paper. Dictation and spelling are parts of the weekly rhythm.

Grade 5

Mathematics

In mathematics, students in grade 5 gain proficiency in working with whole numbers, decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers. Properties and number patterns discovered in the lower grades are understood when fifth-graders look at prime numbers, abundance, factors, and prime factors. Form drawing moves into freehand geometric drawing, an introduction to geometry.

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