Elementary Course Book

DK–5 Core Knowledge Language Arts Program

DK–5 Literacy Curriculum | Amplify (SCED Code: 01028)                        

Reading/ Writing-Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is the leading early literacy curriculum grounded in the Science of Reading. Combining knowledge-building and research-based foundational skills, our instruction guides educators in developing strong readers, writers, and thinkers.

Language Arts (SCED Code: 01028) 

K–5 Core Knowledge Language Arts Program 

 K–5 Literacy Curriculum | Amplify    

Reading/ Writing-Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is the leading early literacy curriculum grounded in the Science of Reading. Combining knowledge-building and research-based foundational skills, our instruction guides educators in developing strong readers, writers, and thinkers.    
Nursery Rhymes and Fables

• The Five Senses

• Stories

• Plants

• Farms

• Native Americans

• Kings and Queens

• Seasons and Weather

• Columbus and the Pilgrims

• Colonial Towns and Townspeople

• Taking Care of the Earth

• Presidents and American Symbols

Social Studies-(SCED Code: 04430)                                 

Students will focus on developing and planning inquiries. Sample guiding questions for students: Why do I have rules at home and school? Why can’t I have everything I want? What are some fair ways to make decisions in a group?

• Apply disciplinary concepts and tools

• Evaluate sources and use evidence

• Communicate conclusions and take informed action.

Math- Bridges Units of Study-  (SCED Code: 02030)              

Students focus intensively on the two critical areas specified by essential power standards for math:    

• Representing and comparing whole numbers

• Describing shapes and space

Science - Cereal City Science Units (SCED Code: 03230)

Students will learn about physical science, earth science, and life science.  The three units they will focus on throughout the year are:                                    

Motion: Pushes and Pulls– Students will find a way for a ball to move from a starting point to an endpoint without touching it with their bodies. The ball must travel to a certain ending point and change direction at least once.

Plants and Animals Live Here– How do potato peels help pill bugs survive?

Weather and Climate- Can we observe the weather and find patterns to use to make predictions?

Language Arts (SCED Code:  01029)

DK–5 Core Knowledge Language Arts Program

 DK–5 Literacy Curriculum | Amplify 

Reading/ Writing-Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is the leading early literacy curriculum grounded in the Science of Reading. Combining knowledge-building and research-based foundational skills, our instruction guides educators in developing strong readers, writers, and thinkers.

• Fables and Stories

• The Human Body

• Different Lands, Similar Stories

• Early World Civilizations

• Early American Civilizations

• Astronomy

• The History of the Earth

• Animals and Habitats

• Fairy Tales

• A New Nation: American Independence

• Frontier Explorers

Social Studies (SCED Code: 04431)

Students will focus on developing and planning inquiries. Sample guiding questions for students:

• What historical sources can you use to learn about family and school life in the past?

• Apply disciplinary concepts and tools

• Evaluate sources and use evidence

• Communicate conclusions and take informed action.

Math-Bridges Units of Study (SCED Code: 02031)

Students focus intensively on the four critical areas specified by essential power standards for math:

• Addition and subtraction within 20

• Whole number relationships and place  value

• Linear measurement in non-standard units

• Reasoning with shapes and their attributes

Science – Cereal City Science Units (SCED Code: 03231)

Students will learn about physical science, earth science, and life science.  The three units they will focus on throughout the year are:

Waves: Light and Sound- Students will build a model of a treehouse that uses the sun and available lights to provide the right amount of lighting for activities that they want to do inside the treehouse.    Plant and Animal Traits- How do fiddler crab characteristics help them to survive?

Space Systems: Patterns and Cycles- How does the daytime sky and nighttime sky change each day throughout the year?

Language Arts (SCED Code: 01030) 

K–5 Core Knowledge Language Arts Program

K–5 Literacy Curriculum | Amplify                        

Reading/ Writing-Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is the leading early literacy curriculum grounded in the Science of Reading. By combining knowledge-building and research-based foundational skills, our instruction guides educators in developing strong readers, writers, and thinkers.        

• Fairy Tales and Tall Tales

• Early Asian Civilizations

• The Ancient Greek Civilization

• Greek Myths

• The War of 1812

• Cycles in Nature

• Westward Expansion

• Insects

• The U.S. Civil War

• The Human Body

• Immigration

• Fighting for a Cause

*Speaking and listening units will be woven into the units

Social Studies (SCED Code: 04432)

Students will focus on developing and planning inquiries.  Sample guided questions for students: How does scarcity affect people? How can people make good economic choices? How do people use resources to produce goods/services? Why do people trade?                    

• Apply disciplinary concepts and tools                        

• Evaluate sources and use evidence                        

• Communicate conclusions and take informed action.

Math– Bridges Units of Study (SCED Code: 02032)

Students focus intensively on the four critical areas specified by essential power standards for math:    

• Extending understanding of base-ten notation                    

• Building fluency with addition and subtraction                        

• Using standard units of linear measurement                    

• Describing and analyzing shapes

Science—Cereal City Science Units (SCED Code: 03232)

Students will learn about physical science, earth science, and life science.  The three units they will focus on throughout the year are:

Structure and Properties of Matter– Students will design a structure that must keep a figure placed inside dry.

Plant and Animal Relationships– Where do plants and animals live, and how do they interact?

Changing Earth: Today and Over Time– How are different shapes in the land and bodies of water formed?                                                                                                                                               

Language Arts (SCED Code: 01031)

K–5 Core Knowledge Language Arts Program

K–5 Literacy Curriculum | Amplify 

Reading/Writing: Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is the leading early literacy curriculum grounded in the Science of Reading. By combining knowledge-building and research-based foundational skills, our instruction guides educators in developing strong readers, writers, and thinkers.

• Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows

• Animal Classification

• The Human Body: Systems and Senses

• The Ancient Roman Civilization

• Light and Sound

• The Viking Age (with Core Quest)

• Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond

• Native Americans: Regions and Cultures

• Early Explorations of North America

• Colonial America

• Ecology                    

Writing– Students will use the writing process learned in previous grades to write stories based on their own experience, write persuasive essays, write informative text on a personal topic, write pieces on opinion after interpreting text, and finally write an informational research paper.                                              *Speaking and listening units will be woven into the units

Social Studies (SCED Code: 04433)

Students will focus on developing and planning inquiries.  Sample guided questions for students: How is the geography of Michigan similar/different from the geography of other states?  How is the geography different in different places of Michigan? How does Michigan’s location in North America influence its resources?                                                

• Apply disciplinary concepts and tools                         

• Evaluate sources and use evidence

• Communicate conclusions and taking informed action

Math– Bridges Units of Study (SCED Code: 02033)

Students focus intensively on the four critical areas specified by essential power standards for math:    

• Developing an understanding of multiplication and division, and strategies for multiplication and division within 100                                

• Developing an understanding of fractions, especially unit fractions (fractions with a numerator of 1)

• Developing an understanding of the structure of rectangular arrays and of area    

• Describing and analyzing two-dimensional shapes

Science—Cereal City Science Units (SCED Code: 03233)

Students will learn about physical science, earth science, and life science.  The three units they will focus on throughout the year are:

Forces and Interactions– student teams engineer a battery-powered cart– how can you make it move? How can you make it pick up small objects and have it return to another room? 

Life Cycles and Survival in an Ecosystem-Why are frogs so noisy at the pond? 

Weather, Climate, and Natural Hazards -Why do weather conditions differ on the same day around the world?

Language Arts (SCED Code: 01032)

K–5 Core Knowledge Language Arts Program

K–5 Literacy Curriculum | Amplify

Reading/ Writing-Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is the leading early literacy curriculum grounded in the Science of Reading. Combining knowledge-building and research-based foundational skills, our instruction guides educators in developing strong readers, writers, and thinkers.    

• Personal Narratives

• Empires in the Middle Ages, Part I and II

• Poetry

• Eureka! Student Inventor (Core Quest)

• Geology

• Contemporary Fiction: The House on Mango Street

• American Revolution

• Treasure Island                            

Writing– These units allow students to show their growth from previously learned skills while determining their future goals. Writers will elaborate fictional stories through dialogue, descriptive action, thoughts, and feelings, and write persuasive essays to convince others to agree. Students will also write more in-depth personal expertise essays,  interpret texts, and share their options through writing and narrow in on poetry and writing from the heart.

*Speaking and listening units will be woven into the units

Social Studies (SCED Code: 04434)

Students will focus on developing and planning inquiries.  Guiding questions for students: What are the characteristics of a market economy? How does a market economy work? How does specialization and division of labor increase productivity? How is the U.S. economy impacted by global competition?    

• Apply disciplinary concepts and tools                        

• Evaluate sources and use evidence                        

• Communicate conclusions and take informed action.

Math– Bridges Unit of Study (SCED Code: 02034)

Students focus intensively on the three critical areas specified by essential power standards for math:    

• Developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends

• Developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition, and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers

• Understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry.

Science—Cereal City Science Units  (SCED Code:03234)

Students will learn about physical science, earth science, and life science.  The three units they will focus on throughout the year are:

Energy and Waves– How does energy move from place to place?

Structure, Function, and Information Processing– How does light affect how we see objects? How do animals survive in their habitats?

Processes that Shape the Earth– How does the surface of the Earth change?

DK/Kindergarten 05130

Students will engage in exploration and imaginative play with materials. They will be able to identify safe and non-toxic art materials, tools, and equipment, and describe what an image represents. Students will create art that tells a story about a life experience.

First grade 05131

Students will engage in exploration and imaginative play with materials. They will demonstrate safe and proper procedures for using materials, tools, and equipment while making art. Students will select and describe works of art that illustrate daily life experiences of oneself and others.      Students will make connections that people from different places and times have made art for various reasons.

Second grade 05132

Students will brainstorm collaboratively multiple approaches to an art or design problem, and are able to demonstrate safety within their workspace while using art tools and equipment. Students will use the learned art vocabulary to express their preferred artwork. Throughout the year, students will create works of art about events in their home, school, or their community.

Third grade 05133

Students will elaborate on an imaginative idea and demonstrate an understanding of the safe and proficient use of materials, tools, and equipment for various art processes. They will develop a work of art based on observations and recognize that responses to art change depend on knowledge of the time and place it was created.

Fourth grade 05134

Students will brainstorm multiple approaches to a creative art or design problem, they will explore and invent art-making techniques and approaches. Students will create works of art in Integrated Arts that reflect community cultural traditions.

Integrated Arts

DK/Kindergarten– Fourth-grade

Students will be engaged in art, music, theater, and dance to help them further develop an appreciation for the role the visual and performing arts play in society. Lessons will integrate the visual and performing arts priority standards with social-emotional competencies(self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making, self-management, and relationship skills) to create deeper learning and understanding of self and others. This course will promote arts as a vehicle for self-discovery and serve as a catalyst for further development in the art fields of their choice.  Students will also be exposed to potential career opportunities to help them continue to ponder. . . “What and who do I want to become as I grow up?”

DK/Kindergarten-

Students will explore musical concepts through playful and tuneful activities. They will experience musical opposites such as loud/soft, fast/slow, high/low… Students will add body percussion and instrumental percussion to songs and chants. They will move expressively in response to music.   Students will explore the use of their voice through whispering, singing, calling, and speaking.

First-grade

Students will explore simple songs, chants, speech pieces, and singing games. They will begin to read and compose simple rhythms using speech syllables and musical silences (rests). Students will identify categories of unpitched percussion, such as scrapers, shakers, metals, and drums, and safely use them. They will use four levels of body percussion. They will demonstrate an understanding of musical concepts such as high/low... Students will use movement and music to express their feelings or ideas. 

Second Grade

Students will perform songs, play musical games, and compose expressive movement in response to music. Students will experience and describe music from other cultures. Students will read simple rhythmic notation and expand upon their vocabulary of longer and shorter sounds. They will compose simple songs using limited pitches. They will identify four orchestral instrument groups. Students will apply knowledge of body percussion and unpitched percussion to improvise and create simple rhythm patterns or accompaniments to music and poetry. Students will demonstrate an understanding of simple song form using movement. 

Third Grade

Students will perform songs, play musical games, and compose expressive movement in response to music. They will experience and describe music from other cultures. Students will read and perform simple rhythms using percussion instruments and body percussion. They will expand their vocabulary of more complex music notation. Third graders will echo, compose, and improvise 8-beat rhythm patterns using a given scale. Students will reflect on their performances and compositions. They will describe how their music expresses an emotion or an idea. 

Fourth Grade

Students will perform songs, play musical games, and compose expressive movement in response to music.  Students will experience and describe music from other cultures. Students will read simple rhythmic notation and expand their vocabulary to more complex rhythms. They will echo,             compose, and improvise 16-beat rhythm patterns and compose simple songs using a given scale. Students will reflect on and edit their creative compositions. They will describe how their music expresses an emotion, idea, or personal experience.                

DK/Kindergarten (SCED Code: 08030)

Students will work on their motor skills and movement patterns. EX: hopping, galloping, running, sliding, skipping, and leaping while maintaining balance. They will also gain knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics related to movement and performance. EX: moves in personal space to a rhythm.

First grade (SCED Code: 08031)

Students will demonstrate competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns. EX: hopping, galloping, running, sliding, skipping, learning: hops, gallops, jogs, and slides using a mature pattern. Students can move in self-space and general space in response to designated beats/rhythms.

Second grade (SCED Code: 08032)

Students will apply knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics related to movement and performance. EX: Speed, direction, force: varies with time and force with gradual increases and decreases.  Students accept responsibility for class protocols with behavior and performance actions.

Third grade (SCED CODE: 08033)

Students will focus on performing a sequence of locomotor skills, transitioning from one skill to another smoothly and without hesitation. Students will work with others cooperatively and praise others for success in movement performance.

Fourth grade (SCED CODE: 08034)

Students will apply knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics related to movement and performance. EX: Students apply the movement concepts of speed, endurance, and pacing for running. Applies concepts of direction and force when striking an object toward a target. Students will work with others, praise one another, no matter what skill level, and accept all players.

All Grade Levels: (SCED CODE 24050)

Each new vocabulary topic is incorporated through listening, reading, writing, speaking, and cultural activities, allowing complete engagement of learning a new language. Vocabulary topics are spiraled and deepened with each grade level and are embedded within TPRS, Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling, an effective method for teaching Spanish in a classroom setting. Furthermore, Google Classroom, video, and audio recording, and Google Slides/documents are rooted in everyday lessons. 

DK/Kindergarten

Greetings and Introductions, Feelings and Emotions, Numbers, The Alphabet, Colors, Farm and Jungle Animals, Parts of the Body, and Shapes

First grade

Continuation of Numbers, Colors, The Alphabet, Parts of the Body, and additions of Family Vocabulary, clothing, and a Science Unit on Monarchs.

Second grade

Embedment of K-1 vocabulary, and then additional topics of Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, Weather and Seasons, Food, the Calendar, and a housing unit. 

Third grade

Continuation of Lower Elem. topics and additions related to the interior of a house, fruits and vegetables, sports and leisure activities, places in the community, sentences related to likes and dislikes, and  Hispanic Cultural Holidays including  Dia de los Muertos, la Navidad, and Cinco de Mayo. 

Fourth grade

An accumulation of K-3 topics with an additional focus on grammatical structures. Students also take a cumulative exam related to all K-4 Spanish material.

Developmental Kindergarten- Fourth grade (SCED CODE: 03996)

This course will implement an interdisciplinary approach while also cultivating 21st-century skills, such as problem-solving, collaboration, initiative, entrepreneurialism, adaptability, and communication.  Lessons will extend well beyond simple computations by using science, technology, engineering, and mathematics concepts to develop problem solvers for real-world situations. The primary resources used for this course will be Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center Physical Science Kits.

Physical Science Kits

Kindergarten

Motion: Pushes and Pulls– Students will find a way for a ball to move from a starting point to an endpoint without touching it with their bodies. The ball must travel to a certain ending point and change direction at least once.

First grade

Waves: Light and Sound- Students will build a model of a treehouse that uses the sun and available lights to provide the right amount of lighting for activities that they want to do inside the treehouse.

Second grade

Structure and Properties of Matter–Students will design a structure that must keep a figure placed inside dry.

Third grade

Forces and Interactions -Student teams engineer a battery-powered cart– how can you make it move? How can you make it pick up small objects and have it return to another room?

Fourth grade

Energy and Waves– How does energy move from place to place?