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History The K12® History program, with integrated topics in Geography and Civics, opens young minds and imaginations to far-off lands, distant times, and diverse people. K12® emphasizes the story in History-a story that includes not only great men and women but also everyday people. The kindergarten History program takes students on a world tour of the seven continents, and provides an overview of American History through a series of biographies of famous Americans. The History program in grades 1-4 tells the story of civilization from the Stone Age to the Space Age. Older students explore major themes and topics in greater depth through a pair of two-year survey courses, one on World History and the other on American History. Science The K12® Science program balances hands-on experience with systematic study of scientific terms and concepts. Students perform many experiments to help them understand scientific principles, and receive guided instruction in important scientific concepts. Exploring life, earth, and physical sciences in each grade, K12® Science nurtures curiosity, analytical skills, and an appreciation of how the world is shaped by ongoing scientific and technological advances. Math Building upon the success of a long-established program, K12® Math balances mastery of fundamental skills with critical thinking and problem-solving. K12® Math emphasizes an active, multi-sensory approach to ensure that students understand the concrete realities that underlie mathematical concepts. Regular practice and review ensures mastery of basic skills. Online games and animations motivate students and help illustrate concepts, while challenge problems help develop critical thinking skills. From helping younger students make the link between the concrete and the abstract to introducing older students to Algebra, K12® Math provides a thorough mathematic grounding. Detailed Course Descriptions Art Following the timelines of the history lessons, K12® Art lessons introduce students to great works of art from different cultures and eras, while engaging them in creative activity-painting, drawing, molding with clay, and other hands on activities. Language Arts At Early Light Academy, language arts will follow a guided reading model. This model is sometimes known as language arts centers or language arts workshops. Students will rotate through language arts activities, including guided reading with the teacher. Students will be grouped according to their current reading skills and abilities for the guided reading block and centers. The Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Kit will be used throughout the school year in order to ensure that students are assigned to their appropriate guided reading groups. A combination of leveled reading books purchased using the Fountas & Pinnell catalog of leveled readers and A to Z leveled printable readers will be used during in-class guided reading and as take-home readers for students to practice reading at home. Students in grades 1-8 will use the Step Up To Writing program to improve their writing skills. Through explicit instruction in organizational schemes, students are taught in small groups to organize their ideas before they write. Drawing on multisensory techniques, Step Up To Writing teaches students to use color coding to visualize writing organization by equating the colors of a traffic signal with different parts of a written piece. Grades K-2 will receive phonics instruction using the Intensive Phonics program. Intensive Phonics deals exclusively with basic reading/word attack skills. The program has a multi-sensory approach, which means that it will appeal to a student’s individual learning style – visual, auditory, tactile, or kinesthetic. The program is based on Orton-Gillingham principles of instruction and has over 30 years of research backing its method and approach. Where the phonics instruction ends, grammar instruction will begin. Students in grades 3-8 will use the Shurley Grammar program in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of English, which will naturally improve other language skills as well, such as writing. Shurley Grammar teaches a series of grammar jingles, among other things, to appeal to different learning styles and support long-term retention. Younger grades (K-3) will also utilize the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum to learn and refine handwriting skills, including cursive in 3rd grade. This program employs a letter and number style that is developmentally appropriate and easy to read. The unique workbook features make handwriting easy to teach and learn and the program features multisensory teaching strategies which appeal to all learning styles. Grades 1-6 spelling lessons and practice will be supported with the Words Their Way curriculum. The program aims to develop phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and spelling in just 15-20 minutes a day. It offers a balanced, hands-on approach to spelling and word study and meshes seamlessly with guided reading. Each of these programs will be used in creating language arts centers and students will rotate through these centers in smaller groups during the language arts block. Not every program will be used every day; classroom teachers will be given flexibility to adapt activities according to the needs and interests of their students. |
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