Kindergarten - 5th Grade
Lower SchoolPhilosophy of Lower School Education
Literacy is entwined into every facet of life and if students are to be successful it is essential that all critical components be taught, modeled, practiced, and assessed for learning. At the elementary level, the Literacy Program is built around nine components of effective instruction. Each component is strategically aligned in a carefully planned sequence allowing for scaffolding and student success as new skills are taught and rigor intensified.
- Phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and concepts of print
- The alphabetic code: Phonics and decoding
- Fluent, automatic reading of text
- Vocabulary
- Text comprehension
- Written expression
- Spelling and handwriting
- Screening and continuous assessment for learning to inform instruction
- Motivating students to read and developing their literacy horizons
Math instruction also builds heavily upon previously learned skills and as such it is critical that instruction be clear and systematic with key prerequisite skills taught in advance. Math instruction in grades Kindergarten through four includes development of the following abilities:
- Concepts and reasoning including basic number concepts and the meaning of operations
- Automatic recall of number facts
- Computational algorithms
- Functional Math
- Verbal problem-solving
In grade five and beyond, general education instruction in Math focuses a great deal on advanced concepts of reasoning, learning of complex computational algorithms, and more difficult kinds of verbal problem-solving.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten ELA
- Identify and print capital and lowercase letters
- Recognize consonant letter sounds…beginning, middle, and ending
- Identify and sound out short vowel words
- Blend sounds to make words
- Read decodable books
- Read 42 sight words and create rhyming words
- Identify opposites
- Explain cause and effect
- Draw conclusions
- Distinguish between real and make believe
- Identify story details (plot, setting, characters, main idea)
- Classify nouns, verbs, and adjectives
- Recognize statements, questions, and exclamation sentences
- Write sentences beginning with a capital letter
- End sentences with a punctuation mark
- Show proper spacing between words
Kindergarten Math
- Recognize numbers to 100
- Copy, create, and extend patterns
- Create, read, and interpret a graph
- Identify sets
- Solve story problems using manipulatives
- Sort objects by color, shape, size, taller, shorter, heavier, and lighter
- Identify and write shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, cone, cylinder ,and sphere)
- Identify coins (pennies, nickels, dimes)
- Count to 100 by 1’s, 5’s, and 10’s
1st Grade Curriculum
First Grade ELA
- Continue to build students’ repertoire of high-frequency words (sight words).
- Study literary elements: rhyme, repetition, and alliteration
- Identify and characterize various genres of text.
- Apply comprehension skills while reading grade-level texts.
- Compare and contrast multiple texts that pertain to the same topic.
- Solidify letter-sound correspondence including blends, digraphs, diphthongs, silent letters, and long vowel combinations.
- Make text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connects.
- Differentiate between parts of speech (common/proper nouns, verb tenses, pronouns, adjectives)
- Identify components of story plots (cause and effect, problem and solution, sequence)
- Compose narrative, explanatory, informational, and opinion writing pieces.
- Continue to develop an understanding of writing mechanics such as capitalization, punctuation, and contractions.
First Grade Math
- Represent and solve problems involving subtraction and addition.
- Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction.
- Add and subtract within 20.
- Work with addition and subtraction word problems.
- Extend the counting sequence from 100 to 120.
- Understand place value (1’s, 10’s, and 100’s)
- Compare and contrast numbers by analyzing the numbers in the 1’s, 10’s, 100’s place
- Use place value understanding to add and subtract within 100.
- Measure lengths indirectly and by using set units of measure.
- Tell and write time in hours and half hours with analog and digital clocks.
- Represent and interpret data with various types of graphs.
- Reason with 3D and 2D shapes and their attributes.
2nd Grade Curriculum
Second Grade Reading
- The second grade curriculum focuses on the following key areas of ELA:
- Comprehension of literature and informational text.
- Vocabulary acquisition and use.
- Using text features to access of clarify information.
- Drafting, editing, and revising text.
- Command of the conventions of standard English Language.
Second Grade Math
- Place value
- Addition and subtraction
- Numbers and operations
- Measurement and time
- Geometry
- Money
3rd Grade Curriculum
Third Grade ELA
- Vocabulary
- Phonics
- Comprehension
- Grammar
- Writing
- Reading Fluency and Stamina
Third Grade Math
- Multiplication
- Division
- Time
- Area
- Perimeter
- Shapes (categories, partitioning)
- Fractions on a number line
- Equivalent fractions
4th Grade Curriculum
Fourth Grade ELA
- Vocabulary: Focuses on essential grade level appropriate vocabulary
- Comprehension of Whole Group and Small Group Texts
- Grammar
- Writing Units of Study Include: Opinion, Personal Narrative, Informational
- Reading Fluency and Stamina: Whole Group and Small Group
- Fourth Grade Math
Fourth Grade Math
- Representing Equivalent Fractions
- Operate on Fractions
- Decimal Place Value System
- Units of Measurement
- Area and Perimeter
- Geometric Terms and Relationships
5th Grade
5th grade is a pivotal academic year where students are working towards mastering all the necessary academic skills needed to lay a solid foundation for the years ahead. Being said, Pillars Preparatory Academy has carefully curated a unique 5th Grade curriculum that is in alignment with the Common Core State Standards.
Fifth Grade ELA
Pillars’ 5th Grade Reading and Writing Curriculum focuses on building upon the skills that the students have learned earlier in their academic years. By giving their students the opportunity to gain and master the many skills that they need, the students finish the year off knowing how to understand, develop, and state their ideas about the many different genres of texts they read. They also finish the year having mastered the skills needed to clearly support their ideas using textual evidence which requires them to think carefully about how they can use the quotes, facts, and/or events within the text to comprehensively state their opinions.
- Reading Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Drama
- Writing Units of Study Include: Opinion, Personal Narrative, Informational
- Grade level appropriate vocabulary
- Grammar for comprehensive writing
Fifth Grade Math
Pillars’ 5th grade Math Curriculum focuses on connecting the students’ previously learned math skills with real-life situations to help students master their skills and solve problems that happen in their own lives. As they graduate from the mastery of basic math skills and move into the mastery of more complex math skills, the students work with pre-algebra and geometry concepts that will set the stage for their future mathematical education.
- Place Values
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals
- Add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions
- Use basic math skills to solve complex real-world math problems
- Pre-algebra
- Units of Measurement
- Geometry
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Location: 34 Charles Street, South River, NJ 08882
Telephone: (732) 390-4200
Fax: (732) 613-1562
Email: admin@pillarsprep.com