Daily Schedule
8:25: Bell - enter the building for the day
8:25-8:50: Class Meeting
8:50-9:50: Small reading groups
9:50-10:50: CKLA (Reading and Skills)
10:50-11:35: Specials (4 specials classes: PE, Art, Music, Technology/Library)
11:40-12:02: Lunch
12:02-12:25: Recess
12:25-1:25: Math
1:45-2:40: Writing
2:40-3:25: Science/Social Studies
3:20-3:25: Clean up/Pack-up
3:25: Dismissal
Reading
We use the Amplify curriculum to teach reading and skills.
Unit 1: Classic Tales-This unit introduces students to several classic tales. During the Read-Aloud portion of the lessons, students will be listening to and discussing The Wind in the Willows, a classic tale written by Kenneth Grahame.
Unit 2: Animal Classification- This unit consists of selections that explain how scientists classify animals. Students will learn about the characteristics of living things and how scientists classify living things using these characteristics.
Unit 3: The Human Body: Systems and Senses-The nonfiction Reader for Unit 3, entitled “How Does Your Body Work?,” consists of selections that will further students’ scientific understanding of the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems of the human body. The role of various body parts and organs associated with each system, such as bones, joints, muscles, nerves, the spinal cord, and the brain, will be described. Students will also take an in-depth look at the senses of sight and hearing and the various body parts that enable these senses to function properly.
Unit 4: The Ancient Roman Civilization- The nonfiction Reader for Unit 4, Stories of Ancient Rome, consists of selections describing the historical events and culture of the ancient Roman civilization. Students will read the legend of Romulus and Remus about the founding of Rome, as well as several myths about Roman gods and goddesses. They will study the historical rise and fall of the Roman republic and empire, as well as key historical figures such as Hannibal, Julius Caesar, and Augustus.
Unit 5: Light and Sound- The nonfiction Reader for Unit 5, Adventures in Light and Sound, consists of selections describing the science behind light and sound. Students will read about light sources, shadows, mirrors, reflection, refraction, lenses, and color. They will also study the characteristics of sound, as well as the human voice. Later chapters include information about light and photography as well as biographies of two famous inventors who worked with light and sound: Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison.
Unit 6: The Viking Age- The Reader of Unit 6 is Gods, Giants, and Dwarves. The content of this Reader focuses on Norse mythology. These Norse myths, which have been passed down through many generations, complement the Quest for this unit, which presents factual information about the Vikings. Norse gods, goddesses, dwarves, and giants occupied nine worlds.
Unit 7: Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond- The nonfiction Reader for Unit 7, What’s in Our Universe? consists of selections describing the sun, the eight planets, our moon, asteroids, comets, meteors, galaxies, stars, the Big Bang theory, and important figures in the history of space exploration, including Nicolaus Copernicus and Mae Jemison.
Unit 8: Native Americans: Regions and Cultures- The Reader for Unit 7, Native American Stories, consists of selections describing the historical events and culture of Native Americans. These selections are realistic fictional accounts with the purpose of conveying nonfiction information about several Native American cultures. Students will read how Native Americans spread through the continents, changing their ways of life as they did so.
Unit 11: Ecology- The nonfiction Reader for Unit 11, entitled Introduction to Ecology, consists of selections that will further students’ understanding of habitats and ecosystems, the environment, and food chains.
Math
Through our Eureka Math Squared curriculum students will engage in a daily warm-up, whole group and/or small group instruction, and independent practice time. Once students have completed their math work for the day they will have the opportunity to play math games, which are meant to provide further hands-on practice or complete a challenge sheet. Homework and video help are available to support students with math practice of each math module.
Module 1: Multiplication and Division with Units of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10
Module 2: Place Value Concepts Through Metric Measurement
Module 3: Multiplication and Division with Units of 0, 1, 6, 7, 8, and 9
Module 4: Multiplication and Area
Module 5: Fractions as Numbers
Module 6: Geometry, Measurement, and Data
Social Studies
We use the Inquire Ed curriculum for social studies.
Global Connections-Is it possible to touch a country and its people without ever setting foot there? From the label on a t-shirt to the sticker on a banana, we come into contact with evidence that the items we use have been harvested, manufactured, produced, or otherwise touched by people around the world. Students explore the ways they are connected to distant places through the movement of people, goods, and ideas.
Migration and Movement-The people of the United States have ancestors from places all over the world, some who arrived long ago and others who immigrated more recently. In this Inquiry, students explore the push and pull factors that contribute to the movement of people across nations. They compare past and present stories of immigration to develop and deepen their understanding of how cultural identity is built and maintained in a multicultural society.
The 20th Century Civil Rights Movement-People have long exercised their rights and responsibilities to work for change. Students investigate the iconic figures and events of the civil rights movement, learning that all community members can work toward equality and justice. Then, they reflect on the ways people of all ages can pursue change, ultimately realizing that they too can use their unique talents to take steps toward equality and justice.
Science
We use the Amplify curriculum to study science.
Balancing Forces-Scientists and engineers have figured out a way to build a train that actually floats on air as it goes cruising down the track at high speeds. Using similar principles, engineers have created a hoverboard—a device-like a skateboard that floats above a track rather than rolling along the ground. In the Balancing Forces unit, students work to investigate and then explain how these inventions seem to defy logic. Over the course of the unit, through firsthand experiences, discourse, and reading and writing informational text, students will come to understand how forces can cause stability or change in an object’s motion.
Environments and Survival-There is an astounding diversity of traits among organisms living in different environments on Earth. How do the traits of different organisms make them more likely or less likely to survive in their environments? What happens to organisms when their environment changes? Biologists continue to study how organisms’ traits affect their ability to avoid predators and to get food and water.
Inheritance and Traits-How do organisms get their traits? This is an unspoken question that underlies things many of us wonder about beginning at an early age, such as Why does my sibling have curly hair whereas mine is straight? How come I am shorter than others in my family? Why is my sister a faster runner than I am? In the Inheritance and Traits: Variation in Wolves unit, students dive deep into exploring patterns in the traits of organisms to answer the question of how those traits come to be.
Weather and Climate-Weather is one of the most pervasive phenomena humans interact with on a daily basis, and it has a profound impact on how all organisms on Earth live. The weather that impacts our daily lives results from large global patterns in the atmosphere, which meteorologists observe and track using Earth-orbiting satellites. In the role of meteorologists working for the fictional Wildlife Protection Organization (WPO), students investigate weather patterns as they solve the problem of where to establish an orangutan reserve