Curriculums

 

The major purpose of the elementary school program is to prepare students in grades K-5 with a solid education for upper school at CJCPCS.

 

Students are instructed in reading, mathematics, language arts, social studies, science, and computer science. In addition, classes are offered in physical education, music, art, and life skills. Instruction is also provided in the area of technology. A sequential, integrated guidance curriculum is offered.

The study of English/Language Arts will be a daily part of the program at CJCPCS lower school. Teachers plan and implement the learning tasks and activities in a way that allows students to bring their own ideas, thoughts, and experiences into the process.

 

Students are encouraged to use their prior knowledge and backgrounds to construct their own understanding of the readings and writings. Reading instruction are provided through a research-based and balanced literacy program of guided small-group instruction and followed by modeled, shared, and independent reading tasks and activities.

 

Additionally, the curriculum will be aligned with Common Core Curriculum Standards, anchors, and eligible content in reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students will learn to apply effective strategies and to construct meaning by previewing texts, predicting outcomes, and by comparing and contrasting themes. Students will read different types of materials for a variety of purposes.

 

There is a need for learning mathematics with a deep understanding and emphasis on conceptual as well as procedural understandings and for constructing knowledge based on previous experiences. To achieve this we will have meaningful, realistic contexts for students in our curricula. Three major characteristics of the CJCPCS math curriculum will be as follows:

 

(a) the main focus for all of the courses will be problem-solving

(b) basic skills in mathematics will be defined to encompass more than computational facility

(c) mathematics programs take full advantage of the power of calculators and computers.

 

Students will be able to understand the mathematical significance of the operations they perform. By focusing on the “why” behind the algorithmic procedures, we can prepare students for the further study of mathematics, as well as providing them with quantitative literacy for daily life. The math curriculum that addresses the above mentioned conceptual and philosophical framework is enVisionMath. enVisionMath offers such a curriculum for grades K-6 and is aligned with CCCS.

 

The curriculum includes a vast variety of mathematical topics including number operations, data and probability, geometry and spatial sense, measures and measurement, numeration and order and patterns, and functions and sequences. The basis of the Everyday eVisionMath curriculum is that students can achieve more than what a traditional curriculum requires them to achieve and they can attain these achievements through the use of a curriculum with a wide-range of topics.