K-2 Curriculum

Kindergarten

ELA

Textbook: Superkids and Explode the Code

Reading

Reading focuses on developing strong blending, decoding, and fluency skills while also building comprehension. Read-alouds build background knowledge and listening comprehension.

Word Work:

Students learn the letters of the alphabet, one sound for each letter, and then apply their new skills to blend letter-sounds to read and write words and sentences.

Writing

Students begin the year learning the basic mechanics and aspects of the writing process. Students develop fine motor skills as they learn proper letter and number formation. Instruction progresses from drawing to writing in each major text type. Students are encouraged to put letters and sounds together to create words and eventually sentences.

Grammar

In Kindergarten, the focus is on capitalization, punctuation, nouns, and verbs.

Math

Religion

Science

Social Studies

Projects and Events

First Grade

ELA

Textbook: Superkids

Reading

Our goal is for students to leave first grade identifying themselves as readers. We want them to have a growing vocabulary of memory words, and strong decoding skills. We work to meet this goal by focusing on:

Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Reading Comprehension
Exposure to a variety of texts

Writing

Personal Narratives
Informational Writing
Opinion Writing
Handwriting (Zaner Bloser)

Spelling

First grade students have weekly spelling tests. Word lists are based on the spelling patterns learned in our phonics lessons. Some of our units include:

Short and Long vowels
Digraphs
Blends
Vowel Teams
Suffixes
Contractions

Grammar

Beginning understanding of parts of speech and punctuation.

Math

Religion

Curriculum: Spirit of Truth

Our goal in first grade religion is to help students to recognize that they are beloved children of God. We spend a lot of time talking about caring for others, being good stewards of the gifts we have been given, and growing closer to the Lord by spending time in prayer. Our curriculum is supplemented by activities that help us to celebrate the Feasts and Seasons of the Liturgical Year.

Units include:

God is Our Creator
Jesus is the Son of God
We Pray to Jesus
God’s Plan of Salvation
Jesus is Our Savior
Mary is the Mother of God
The Holy Spirit Makes us Holy
Sacred Scriptures

Required prayers:

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
Verse from the Liturgy of the Hours

Each 1st grade class has the opportunity to lead a Wednesday school Mass, as well as a Sunday Mass.

Science

Textbook: Houghton Mifflin

Our goal in first grade science is to increase students’ understanding of the world in order to increase their appreciation of the gift of God’s creation. Our core curriculum is supplemented with STEM challenges to promote problem solving and cooperation skills.

Units include:

Technology and Engineering
Light and Sound
Plant and Animal Structures
Living Things and their Young
- Including life cycle studies that take us out to our school garden for planting!
Objects and Patterns in the Sky

Social Studies

Projects and Events

Second Grade

ELA

Textbook: Superkids

Reading

Whole group and small group lessons that focus on comprehension skills such as: predicting, inferring, questions, and evaluating.

Writing

Students use a variety of tools to produce, edit, and publish writing across genres—narrative, opinion, informative, poetry, and research. Grammar skills like capitalization, punctuation, and spelling are emphasized, along with sentence fluency and voice.

Spelling

Weekly tests on 16 words, with challenge words for students who ace the Monday pre-test.

Grammar

Focus on punctuation, capitalization, sentence parts (nouns, verbs, adjectives), prefixes/suffixes, inflected endings, and figurative language.

Math

Religion

Science

Textbook: HMH Science Dimensions and GLAD units

Plant and Animal Adaptations, Types of Habitats, Biomimicry, the Water Cycle, Matter, Force and Motion, Fossils, and the Solar System. Students plan and carry out investigations through experiments, analyze and interpret data, and construct explanations and designs solutions. Students use hands on activities, experiments, and technology to cover these concepts.

Social Studies

Projects and Events

Animal Report Research Project: students research and write a report on either the snowy owl, brown bear, or gray wolf. We then visit the Woodland Park Zoo for one of our field trips that links with this project.
Pumpkin Book Reports: students read a book and decorate a pumpkin that looks like one of the characters in the book. These are displayed in the primary hallway the week before Halloween.
Masses: second graders lead either the Mass with Crowning Mary or Grandparent’s Day
Buddy time: second graders meet with their buddies once a month for an activity. These usually involves art projects, games, or holiday themed projects.