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Elementary School Program Overview

Our Elementary School focuses on providing a God-centered education while laying the groundwork for students to succeed academically and grow spiritually.  It is our goal to provide a well-thought-out, continuous learning process that is steeped in God's Word from start to finish.  We offer core curriculum classes (language arts, science, math and bible) as well as hands-on enrichment classes (music, foreign language and physical education). 

 

 

 

Elementary Areas of Study

Our Bible Curriculum lays the groundwork for worldview education in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Students learn to view the world through four distinct relationships: with the Creator, with each other, with ourselves, and with his creation.

Through this framework, students begin seeing all of reality from a biblical viewpoint. They stop seeing the Bible as just a book of unique stories and start seeing Scripture as the litmus test for every idea they encounter. Even the youngest elementary students start connecting the dots between what they find in Scripture and how they should think and live.

  • Helps younger students build a strong biblical worldview.
  • Encourages children to know, love, and trust God's Word.
  • Instills confident faith.
  • Shapes spiritual formation at earliest stages of development.

The human abilities to think, speak, listen, read, and write are good gifts that have been given to us by God. Therefore, at the lower elementary level we teach the language arts in a nurturing environment with an emphasis on developmentally appropriate practices in order to develop the essential components of reading. The essential components allow students to decode, manipulate and comprehend written language with accuracy and fluency.

Students learn the basic elements of a story such as sequential order of events, character traits, setting, problem/solution, and author's purpose as a frame work for understanding God's Word. Christians are responsible to read the word of God, which gives particular value to learning to read well (2 Tim. 3:16-17). In order to achieve what we believe about language arts in the upper elementary level, we provide students at the lower elementary level the opportunity to enjoy a broad spectrum of literature to encourage and inspire a love for literacy.
 

Math Philosophy: We are witnesses to God's glory and his existence through the study of mathematics. "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:20). Mathematics is also a testament to God's creation and the order He has made for us in this universe, which only further proves his existence and divine nature. "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or power. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist" (Col. 1:16-17).

Kindergarten: Instructional time will focus on two critical areas: (1) representing, relating, and operating on whole numbers, initially with set of objects; (2) describing shapes and space. More learning time in Kindergarten should be devoted to numbers than to other topics.

1st Grade: Instructional time will focus on four critical area: (1) developing understanding of addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction within 20; (2) developing understanding of whole number relationship and place value, including grouping in tens and ones; (3) developing understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units; and (4) reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes.

2nd Grade: Instructional time will focus on four critical area: (1) extending understanding of base-ten notation; (2) building fluency with addition and subtraction; (3) using standard units of measure; and (4) describing and analyzing shapes.

3rd Grade: Instruction time will focus on four critical areas: (1) developing understanding of multiplication and division and strategies for multiplication and division within 100; (2) developing understanding of fractions, especially unit fractions (fractions with numerator 1); (3) developing understanding of the structure of rectangular arrays and of area; and (4) describing and analyzing two-dimensional shapes.

4th Grade: Instructional time will focus on three critical areas: (1) developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends; (2) developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers; (3) understand that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry.

5th Grade: Instructional time will focus on three critical areas: (1) developing fluency with addition and subtraction of fractions, and developing understanding of the multiplication of fractions and of division of fractions in limited cases; (2) extending division to 2-digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system and developing understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths, and developing fluency with whole number and decimal operations; and (3) developing understanding of volume.
 

Kindergarten: Kindergarten science students learn about the living and non-living things in the natural world as they compare and contrast characteristics of plant and animals and examine the way things move. They identify changes in the things seen in the sky and that the sun warms Earth. Exploring questions and making observations about the natural world and designed structures creates the foundations for more advanced understanding of scientific inquiry and engineering design.

1st Grade: First grade science students build their basic understanding of the natural world through examination of characteristics and properties of objects, living organisms, and Earth materials. They begin to develop an understanding of how living and non-living things interact as they learn about the basic needs of living things and the motion of the objects when a force is applied. Students explore the use of basic tools in observing the natural world and in engineering design. They develop their skills in making and recording observations and their understanding of scientific inquiry and engineering design.

2nd Grade: Second grade science students refine their understanding of the natural world through investigation of the variation and change in living and non-living things. They explore how things respond to magnetic forces, the life cycles of living things, movement of the sun and moon, and daily and seasonal temperature changes. Students develop their skills in observing, measuring, recording, and organizing data, and making predictions based on observations. They use tools and work with a team to refine their engineering design skills.

3rd Grade: Third grade science students develop their understanding of the variation in living and non-living things and their interaction with energy and forces. They explore physical properties of the states of matter and how forces affect an object's position, motion, and speed. Students investigate the live cycles of plants and animals and characteristics of organisms and their offspring. They study Earth's seasonal weather patterns of precipitation and temperature. Students learn the basic concepts of scientific inquiry as they make observations, ask questions or form hypotheses, plan a simple investigation, and collect and use data to explain the results and draw conclusions. Students build their understanding of engineering design as they identify a problem propose a potential solution, design a prototype and learn how inventions have changed the way people live and pursue science.

4th Grade: Fourth grade science students build their understanding of the natural world learning how living and non-living things are classified by their characteristics and properties. Students study physical changes in matter, the properties of energy, and how objects vary in the way they interact with energy. They compare and contrast fossils and living organisms, and learn about interactions of organisms and their environment. They study Earth materials and the changes that take place on Earth's surface. Students build their scientific inquiry skills as they develop testable questions, design an investigation, and collect, record, summarize, and use the results to confirm and support a logical argument. They also develop their use of science and engineering design skills as they learn to identify a problem and design, construct, and test a possible solution.

5th Grade: Fifth grade science students develop an understanding of living and non-living things as systems composed of related parts that function together and interact with force, energy, and matter. They investigate the Sun-Earth-Moon system, how energy from the sun affects Earth's weather and climate, and how forces affect objects on Earth. They study adaptation and the interdependence of organisms and the environment. Students extend their work with scientific inquiry, designing and conducting simple investigations to answer questions or test hypotheses, and collecting, organizing, summarizing, analyzing, and interpreting data. They also extend their work with engineering design using science principles to describe, design, and build a solution to a problem given criteria and constraints. Students learn that inventions may lead to other inventions.