Curriculum Overview
In the earliest years of their education, students are forming the habits of mind and heart that will shape them throughout their lives. It is therefore essential that their minds are furnished with the skills and knowledge that will make them lifelong learners and their hearts with the examples of goodness, truth, and beauty that will make them virtuous citizens. A classical education thus begins with mastery of the skills of language and math, the “3 Rs,” reading, writing, and arithmetic, and cultural literacy through a robust literature, history, fine arts, and science curriculum.
Reading and Writing
Skillern Elementary teaches reading and writing through an explicit phonics based literacy program called Literacy Essentials from Access Literacy. Through this program, students will learn to decode virtually any word in the English language by learning the 72 English phonograms and memorizing rules of usage rather than learning sight words and word families. The researched-based Orton approach is multi-sensory and has been shown to build a strong foundation for all new readers and to help struggling readers. Students begin by learning the basics of writing (from good posture to letter formation) and move on to the sound and letter relationships. Students will learn cursive and will further master usage of the English language through sentence diagramming. Beginning in 3rd grade, students will learn Greek and Latin roots. Because literacy is much more than just decoding, we offer students a content-rich education through the Core Knowledge Sequence so that by constantly increasing their vocabulary and knowledge base they will comprehend whatever they read, from science to literature.
Core Knowledge
The “3 Rs” will give students the skills of learning they need to think well about the world, but they also need to have their minds furnished with vocabulary and knowledge about which to think. This knowledge arises from a deep exploration of history, literature, science, and the fine arts. We thus follow the Core Knowledge Sequence (not to be confused with Common Core), which systematically builds a robust content knowledge in the arts and sciences (we do not follow CKS for math or phonics). Developing a student’s “cultural literacy” is necessary for overall literacy but also for fruitful engagement in society. The CKS builds each year to avoid gaps and redundancies and allow for integration across disciplines. For example, a student in fourth grade will study the history of the middle ages while they are also reading the literature and encountering the art, architecture, and music of that same era. In the fine arts, our curriculum will incorporate performance along with the history and theory of the art. At every level, students will encounter the classics, the greatest works of art and literature that have stood the test of time. These encounters will inspire delight and joy, shape their imaginations, and incline their affections towards the best things, building in them a love for what is good, and ultimately, forming people of virtue and wisdom who will serve their communities and, as responsible citizens, maintain our free society.
Math
When it comes to our math curriculum, Skillern Elementary is both traditional and cutting edge, embracing a math approach first pioneered in Singapore, one of the world’s leading nations in math. Singapore Math embraces the traditional mission of teaching students math facts through memorization so that they can do mental math easily while also providing a pathway for students to truly understand math rather than just do math. Singapore Math gives students a conceptual understanding of math so that they are doing more than merely manipulating formulas and plugging in numbers. In the early years, this means developing in them strong number sense and mental math skills along with a conceptual understanding of place value. The curriculum moves from the concrete (work with manipulatives), to the pictorial (using printed materials), to the abstract (using algorithms).