Elementary Curriculum

Introduction

A Windrush education is shaped by a partnership of teachers, families, staff, and students working together to help all children develop their full intellectual, emotional, and social abilities. The curriculum is well-defined and outlined at each level, and within these parameters classroom teachers personalize the materials, projects, and methods to best meet the needs of individual students.

Windrush children study a body of knowledge that is exciting, challenging, and developmentally appropriate. We use a wide range of educational resources and, in addition, consult the state and national frameworks that suggest objectives, themes, and core literature for each grade level. We evaluate our curriculum continuously to maintain cohesive and up-to-date guidelines for each level.

The intimate educational atmosphere at Windrush builds positive foundations and attitudes toward learning. Small classes allow teachers to recognize each student’s strengths and weaknesses and to understand the dynamics of each classroom group. As a result, teachers are able to offer the most effective teaching techniques for each student.

For the sake of clarity, the curriculum descriptions are organized by various subjects. Please understand, however, that the curriculum at Windrush is taught in an integrated manner reflecting the belief that all knowledge is related. Therefore, classroom teachers incorporate art, math, reading, writing, and science into a variety of lessons. Specialists also provide projects related to classroom assignments. In addition, at every level a fundamental emphasis is placed on problem solving and cooperative learning. From kindergarten through the Middle School, students are encouraged to become independent learners who are confident in their own abilities. Windrush graduates are prepared to meet future challenges with self-assurance and personal conviction that are grounded in a solid base of knowledge and skills.

Language Arts

The term language arts encompasses all our uses of language including reading, writing, listening, and speaking. At Windrush, we believe that optimum learning takes place when the instruction in these four areas involves students in group and individual activities that emphasize the integration of these language processes.

A literature-based reading program exposes children to the finest examples of written expression and encourages a life-long love of reading. Children read silently and aloud, to each other and the teacher, or listen as the teacher reads to them on a daily basis. Discussions—about various interpretations of passages, character analyses and complexities of plot—lead children to develop critical thinking skills in addition to improving their reading comprehension. Phonemic awareness and vocabulary development are part of the instruction, with the children’s own reading often serving as the source of key lessons.

Writing is taught as a process, from brainstorming and writing an initial draft, to student and peer editing and revision, to final copy. The sources of children’s writing are as rich as their imaginations and include literature, math and science information, as well as their own life experiences. Students become confident as authors by expressing themselves in many forms of writing: factual accounts, descriptions, opinions, stories, scripts, and poems. The creation of invented spellings, based on young children’s sounding out of words, develops into the use of conventional spellings, as children learn words that most often appear in their writing and reading.

Listening and speaking are significant components of integrated instruction in language arts. Children learn from listening to the teacher and to each other as they share items from home, ideas, or recent experiences. Opportunities for communication abound. Children gain confidence by speaking in class, responding to questions, and expressing their ideas. Drama also plays a part in language development as students role-play characters and situations from books they enjoy or perform in a dramatic production.

Our language arts program at school is enhanced when parents and children talk at home about shared experiences or memories. Children benefit when adults listen to them talk about the world, encourage them to share favorite books, or sit down to read with them. Children who see adults enthusiastically engaging in reading, writing, and communicating will come to value and emulate these activities.

Children’s language and thought processes develop dramatically when their expression of ideas is respected by listeners. Oral language blossoms with rich life experiences, and writing grows from carefully articulated oral expression.

 

Mathematics

The mathematics program at Windrush is designed to help children value mathematics and develop confidence in their problem-solving abilities as they learn to communicate and reason mathematically. They learn to appreciate the wonder of mathematics so that they can approach quantitative questions both in and outside the classroom with curiosity, enjoyment, and confidence. These goals are guided by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum Standards.

Our elementary mathematics program builds on children’s informal knowledge about number, quantity, patterns, shapes, and logic. By nurturing and describing these patterns of informal knowledge, children are led to understand and to use standard mathematical concepts and practices. The Windrush curriculum offers a hands-on approach to learning that uses a wide variety of manipulative materials. It also includes practical routines that help build basic arithmetic skills essential to effective problem solving.

Teaching methods and topics of instruction are varied intentionally so children will be accustomed to the wide variety of mathematical experiences awaiting them later in life. The following mathematical strands are woven throughout the curricula: number operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis, and probability. Teachers use nationally recognized programs such as UC Berkeley’s EQUALS, Family Math, Bay Area Math Project, the University of Chicago Mathematics Project, Math Their Way, and Making Math Real. The Windrush curriculum incorporates the best of these programs and uses textbooks, as needed, to reinforce learning and develop competence.

Most importantly, mathematical concepts are taught in the context of real-life situations. The children directly experience the essential role that mathematics plays in many of their day-to-day activities. Students use mathematics to help make sense of real situations. Their problem-solving opportunities often include activities that require critical thought and group communication. An important element of Windrush's mathematics program is the use of cooperative problem-solving. Working in groups, children take responsibility for their own learning; they question, they discuss, they create, and they decide how to proceed. This approach empowers children to express themselves, build teamwork skills, and share challenges and successes.

 

Science

Windrush students learn science through the processes of observing, questioning, communicating, experimenting, inferring, and drawing conclusions. The subjects of children’s scientific inquiry are stimulating questions often integrated with topics from social studies, mathematics, or art. For example, children in third grade study Native American cultures and focus on the geography and ecosystems of the Bay Area as a source of culture, history, and scientific investigation. As they investigate new topics, children develop sophisticated knowledge, probe concepts deeply, and refine their problem-solving abilities. This integrated approach respects children’s emerging understanding of the world and their growing capability for logical inquiry, as it brings the scientific method to life.

Essential process goals are complemented by content goals at each grade level. Guiding our science curriculum are the California State Science Framework and the National Science Education Standards published by the National Research Council.

Kindergarten

Children experience the wonders of the natural and physical world, learn to make careful observations, and to articulate those observations. Students learn how to study a subject in depth. Examples of integrated units include insects, apples, and pond life. Students also develop scientific thinking by exploring the properties of everyday objects (shape, texture, weight, sink/float, color, sound) and during their year-long adventures in the garden.

First and Second Grades

The curriculum alternates each year to study a biome (ocean life or rain forests), animal life (birds or mammals), and physical science (balls and ramps or simple machines). First and second graders begin to learn steps to conduct scientific experiments and how to record their results.

Third Grade

Science and social studies are integrated by a thematic exploration of the Bay Area. The science curriculum includes studies of Bay Area habitats and natural resources including wetlands, grasslands, and butterflies (life cycle, habitat, migration, etc.). Students also learn about the bones and muscles of the human body. An introduction to matter and a unit on astronomy round out the third grade program.

Fourth Grade

Social studies and science are integrated in a year-long study of California history. The science curriculum includes a study of rocks and minerals and a plate tectonics unit (earthquakes and volcanoes). Fourth graders also study the geographic regions of California, the kelp forest, and sound and light.

Fifth Grade

Our oldest elementary students deepen their understanding of the relationship of electricity and magnetism and they become more sophisticated in their use of models and designs in science. Students learn about chemistry through a study of food and nutrition and delve into human systems (digestion, respiration, reproduction, circulation, and the brain). Fifth graders also explore the relationship of animals to their environments.

 

Social Studies

Our social studies curriculum introduces children to the rich web of relationships that characterizes how people interact with each other. These relationships may be personal, historical, ethical, cultural, geographic, economic, or political in nature. Our program addresses two key elements of the Windrush mission:

• to foster a respect for individuals and the diversity of the world
• to instill a sense of responsibility for self and others

Learning about history and social dynamics supports students’ social and emotional development, critical thinking skills, and cultural knowledge. Students learn to appreciate other points of view and to work cooperatively in groups. They interpret maps and historical artifacts, and evaluate the efficacy of an argument. They learn to appreciate the contributions of cultures and historical periods. Each of these skills is integrated with others. Each year these basic understandings are deepened, enriched, and extended. Because social relationships are woven into all aspects of culture, our social studies program includes language arts, math, science, and art. Stories, folk tales, and biographies are used to teach history. Current events, holidays, art and local exhibits, dramatic productions or musical events may provide the starting point for an immersion in another culture. Learning about charts, graphs, and maps may involve the use of mathematical or scientific concepts. Time and space may be explored through topics involving science, art, and literature as well as history and geography. Inquiry skills are developed as students gather oral interview data, research current controversies, and explore ways to improve our society.

Kindergarten
Learning About Myself and Others
Building self-esteem by celebrating each child’s individuality is a primary focus during this year. As the uniqueness of each person in the class is celebrated, students learn about different families and cultures in our school. Creating a community in which each child is a valued member of the group is a vital part of the kindergarten program. Children learn social and conflict resolution skills to help them work and play cooperatively. Windrush children are encouraged and expected to recognize their own rights, to respect the rights of others, and to use words to solve conflicts. In kindergarten, children participate in making rules for a community in which people respect and cooperate with others.

Grades One and Two
People and Communities--A Child’s Place in Time and Space
The first and second grade social studies program is literature based and interdisciplinary. Children actively engage in meaningful projects that help them understand themselves, others, and communities. The themes and topics covered reflect a multicultural perspective. The first major unit each year is “Cooperation.” Learning to work together and to communicate clearly are necessary foundational skills for the rest of the year. Cooperative learning experiences help the children develop social skills and responsibilities. As the children share their family histories and celebrations, they gain a perspective of life now and long ago. The study of Africa or Asia provides opportunities to learn about people, other communities, and geography. Students also learn about civil rights, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez.

Grade Three
Overcoming Barriers—The Bay Area
Children of the Bay Area are fortunate to reside in one of the world’s most exciting and diverse metropolitan communities. The Bay Area, with both its native inhabitants and its newcomer residents, forms the central focus of third grade inquiry in both science and social studies. Central to the program is a year-long comparison between life long ago and life today, supported by the theme that people work together to solve problems and to overcome barriers. Topics include Immigration and Heritage, Biographical Research of Women and People of Color, Individuals Who Made a Difference, Native Peoples of the Bay Area, and Holiday Traditions of Many Cultures.

Grade Four
California—A Changing State
The fourth grade social studies curriculum is designed to help children address four key questions:

• How are people dependent upon natural resources?
• How do humans the natural environment?
• How can studying the past help us to understand the present and make decisions about the future?
• What viewpoints do we need to consider when exploring the past?

Throughout the fourth grade year, students examine California’s geography and geology while exploring Pre-Columbian Native American communities and the ensuing successive waves of immigrants through California. Students actively engage in meaningful activities that help them understand how each new wave of immigrants used California’s natural resources to survive and how their presence in California affected the native peoples. Integrating literature, Spanish, art, music, dance, and earth science throughout the curriculum helps the students appreciate the richness of each culture represented in this study. Experiential field trips to such places as the Sonoma Mission, Fort Ross, Petaluma Adobe Fort, and the Coloma Gold Rush facility propel the students back in time. At each of these locations, students participate in hands-on activities that help them more deeply understand the everyday lives of California’s past inhabitants.

Grade Five
United States—Making a New Nation
Four overarching questions frame the fifth grade social studies curriculum:

• Why do people migrate?
• How do different people treat each other?
• How does the environment affect how we live?
• How do our actions change the environment?

Fifth graders study the geography of North America including the fifty states, its inhabitants before Columbus, the different groups of immigrants who followed, and the reasons people came to the U.S. They focus on similarities and differences in the experiences of diverse groups of individuals. Our research into the people who first stepped foot onto American soil includes the Native Americans, explorers, colonists, slaves, and prisoners. Students study the evolution of our government, from the colonial period through 1887 (Articles of Confederation, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution including the Bill of Rights). In our studies, students have the opportunity to reflect on how our early history relates to current events in the United States and the world.

 

The Arts

At Windrush, we believe in the integration of the arts into the overall curriculum. In addition to specialist-taught enrichment classes, instruction in the arts is strongly evident in each classroom. Art, music, and drama are part of the literature, social studies and science curricula on an ongoing basis. Drama, music, and visual arts are disciplines with aesthetic, perceptual, creative, and intellectual dimensions. Children are natural and uninhibited artists and actors. Our goal at Windrush is to provide a stimulating, encouraging environment in which children are free to experiment expressively. The role of the art and music teachers is to introduce the children to more specialized activities within each art field and to work with classroom teachers to enhance and enrich the arts across the curriculum.

 

Visual Arts

Students learn that there is no such thing as a mistake in art and individual differences in their work are prized. Art activities encourage increased understanding of the structure and language of the arts. Students explore techniques in a rich selection of media including paint, clay, mosaics, fabric, print, and sculpture. Creative expression offers the opportunity for students to know themselves in new ways and to appreciate their own and each other's uniqueness.

 

Music

The music program at Windrush is designed to foster children's natural love and appreciation of music while building basic music skills. The work of composers Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly inspires musical activities ranging from singing, dancing and games, to xylophone and percussion ensemble work.

Canons, imitation, and improvisation are used to develop vocal and instrumental facility. The use of poetry and dance stimulates imaginative musical accompaniments while enhancing reading and large motor coordination. Rhythmic ability and pitch discrimination naturally improve as the students work together to achieve musical goals. Throughout the curriculum, musical vocabulary and the solfege syllables are taught along with age-appropriate musical notation.

In third grade, all students learn to play the recorder. Beginning in fourth grade students are encouraged to learn to play an instrument through the after school instrumental music program.

 

Spanish

Windrush introduces children to Spanish in kindergarten, gradually increasing the intensity and complexity of instruction throughout the grade levels. Students learn listening and speaking skills through conversations with the teacher, who integrates children's songs, rhymes, and games into the classroom experience. Simple conversational dialogues conveying aspects of Latino and Hispanic cultures prepare students for conversations with Spanish-speaking people. Listening to stories in Spanish helps children develop vocabulary and a feeling for the music of the language. Illustrations, context clues, and teacher input help the children to further understand vocabulary and syntax. Activities incorporating toys, clothing, tools, food, art, and celebrations of Spanish-speaking cultures provide a context for the experience of learning to speak Spanish.

Physical Education

The primary goals of our physical education program are to build strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination, to instill a sense of joy in physical activity, and to encourage an appreciation of the uniqueness of others. Kindergartners through fifth graders meet twice weekly. Students develop movement skills by practicing appropriate grade level physical activities. Their social and personal development flourishes as they play games in cooperative groups and develop competence and confidence in their physical capabilities.

Library

Our library is available for students to select and return books, read or do research. Our librarian meets once a week with each class to introduce children to literature and teach students how to use books and computers to find information. In addition, our librarian meets and plans with teachers regularly so that the teaching of research resources and skills is meaningfully integrated with the classroom curriculum.

 

Technology Education

At every grade level Windrush students are taught new computer skills by using educational software, both in the classrooms and in the computer lab. Computers in each classroom and in the lab are equipped with Internet access. Students learn to use computers as a source of information and communication, as well as for problem solving, data analysis, and verbal expression.

Computer education at Windrush begins informally in kindergarten. Formal instruction begins in the first grade. Young students are given the opportunity to learn computer programs that encourage creativity and investigation through open-ended exploration. Specific lessons consider the developmental skills of the individual child and familiarize students with basic operating routines and keyboarding skills. As students advance, they take on more sophisticated projects such as creating home pages and multimedia projects, exploring the Internet, and publishing literary magazines, yearbooks, and newsletters.

Computer instruction is generally integrated with current classroom projects so that the lessons enrich and broaden classroom experiences. Research, organization, and editing skills are introduced as needed in the regular curriculum. Classroom teachers work with the technology specialist to encourage creative use of technology for longer term projects.

Afterschool Program

Children's energy, which brims over when school is out each day, can be poured into the rich art and recreational activities at Windrush's Afterschool Program. With activities suitable for grades K-5, the Afterschool Program provides a nurturing, creative environment staffed by experienced teachers. The Middle School has its own Afterschool Program.

The elementary program offers children daily choices such as woodworking, stained glass, ceramics, dance, drama, cooking, cooperative games, and sports including soccer, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, and baseball. Students with homework can get help in the Homework Club.

Childcare is offered on many school holidays. During these “Play Days” in December, February, and April, the Afterschool staff plans full-day programs, including field trips around the Bay Area.