At the elementary level, the students’ understanding of concepts and ideas evolves to a higher level of critical thinking skills. A variety of teaching techniques are used to allow the students to develop grammatical and reading skills as well as an appreciation for literature. The components of the English Language Arts program are reading, writing, and listening and speaking skills. Reading incorporates trade books in conjunction with an anthology. Grade appropriate skills and tools for language competency are presented through the ELA program and a supplementary grammar text that stresses writing skills. In accordance with the writing standards, students compose essays and poetry.
Math stresses operations of the whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percents promoting higher level thinking skills in problem-solving and computation. In addition, daily maintenance sheets and use of flash cards strengthen basic math skills. Problems of the week are used effectively. Eligible students have the opportunity to participate in an Honors Math program.
The focus of social studies is geography skills and world cultures. Students begin with a study of communities and government, learn about Pennsylvania and proceed to the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Through classroom discussions, students are encouraged to become aware of current events at the local, national and international levels. Science follows the Next Generation Science Standards and calls upon the students to become familiar with the scientific method of problem-solving. Students learn about Earth, Life and Physical sciences each year.
Students in 4th grade have weekly instruction in Spanish, Library, Music, Art, Physical Education and Computer. Students in 5th and 6th Grades have twice weekly instruction in Spanish, and weekly instruction in Library, Music, Art, Physical Education and Computer. All classrooms are equipped with a SMARTBoard and iPad docking stations (4th and 5th Grades) or Chromebooks at a 1:1 ratio per student (6th Grade), to facilitate technology instruction in the classroom. For further information please view the curriculum section of the website.