Elementary

During these years students engage in lessons that involve more abstract thought, advanced problem solving and critical thinking. They continue to gain knowledge and self-confidence through self-motivation and self-discipline, and develop habits that foster lifelong learning.

Elementary Curriculum

AT GRACE MONTESSORI SCHOOL
1st – 6th Grades

Children at the Elementary level are in their second plane of development. The environment prepared for these children reflects this stage of development in that it allows for opportunities for them to work in groups, explore the How and Why, use their imaginations to test new ideas or create big work and extend their work and ideas beyond the classroom. These children still have the need to explore but the purpose becomes one of mastering the concepts and moving towards abstraction.

The curriculum at the Elementary level is divided into six areas: Language, Mathematics, Geometry, Geography, History and Science.

In addition to the academic areas, children are also exposed to enrichment classes such as Art at the Baum School, Yoga, Music, Interfaith Chapel, and Spanish.

View the Curriculum for each grade:

  • Begin to read independently
  • Sounds of the alphabet (A-Z)
  • Read three and four letter words fluently
  • Sight words
  • Story telling
  • Reading comprehension (SRA reading program)
  • Read fiction and nonfiction: short stories
  • Reading out loud
  • Participate in group story writing using story blocks
  • Making a book report
  • Write a simple story from personal experience
  • Identifying parts of speech: noun, article, adjective and verb
  • Compound words
  • Antonyms
  • Synonyms
  • Syllables
  • Rhyming words
  • Singular and plural
  • Gender: masculine and feminine
  • Spell frequently used words correctly
  • Capitalization and punctuation
  • Print letters correctly (upper and lower case)
  • Introduction to cursive writing
  • Speaking and listening (Great Books: Sun series)
  • Listen and respond to a variety of texts
  • Respond using prediction
  • Relate text to a similar experience
  • Retell stories in sequence
  • Participate in group discussions: Book study
  • Participate in show and tell
  • Introduction to cursive writing
  • Continents and oceans (identifications and names)
  • Map of North America
  • Map of United States of America
  • Parts of a Flag
  • Planets of the solar system
  • Sun and Earth: seasons
  • Different zones
  • Land and water forms
  • Attraction and gravity
  • Earth as a planet
  • Composition of the Earth
  • Biome Readers: introduction to the animals of North America
  • Identify some important natural resources and describe ways to protect them
  • Timeline of human beings and their fundamental needs (pre-historic)
  • Famous personalities in History
  • Holidays
  • Living and Nonliving classification
  • Classify plants and animals according to distinguishing features
  • Parts and body function of vertebrates: fish, amphibian, reptiles, birds and mammals
  • Introduction: Parts of a plant
  • How leaves make food for the plant
  • Introduction: Parts of a leaf
  • Classification of leaves
  • Introduction: Parts of a flower
  • Introduction: Parts of a seed
  • Introduction: Parts of a root
  • Introduction: Parts of a fruit
  • Magnets
  • Parts of the body
  • Talk about digestion
  • Food and nutrition (healthy and unhealthy food)
  • Three States of matter
  • Identify and create patterns
  • Understand numbers and number relationships
  • Place value up to 1000
  • Smaller than and greater than
  • Before and after
  • Problem solving: three and four addition and subtraction (regrouping)
  • Introduction to multiplication and division
  • Memorizing addition and subtraction facts up to 20
  • Tell time to the hour and half-hour
  • Read and use a calendar
  • Recognize, order and write whole numbers to 100 including skip counting
  • Make and read graphs and tables
  • Recognize and count pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
  • Introduction to odd and even numbers
  • Introduction to probability
  • Identify solid figures & plane shapes
  • Introduction to fractions 
  • Equivalent fractions
  • Addition and subtraction of fractions with same denominator
  • Parts of an angle, triangle
  • Types of angles, triantles, polygons & lines
  • Learn to read independently: Chapter books
  • Increase sight vocabulary
  • Develop comprehension skills: (SRA reading program)
  • Differentiate fact from opinion
  • Read, analyzing, and interpreting literature – describe characters, setting, and plot
  • Make a book report 
  • Introduction to structure of poetry and drama
  • Nonfiction and fiction
  • Writing - write narrative and informational pieces; stories, poems, haiku, descriptions, and reports
  • Write sentences related to a topic
  • Include a beginning, middle, and end while writing a story
  • Use descriptive adjectives and active verbs
  • Revise writing
  • Edit writing; spell most words correctly, use basic capitalization and punctuation correctly
  • Speaking and listening – listen to others and express themselves orally in group discussions
  • Participate in group discussion - (Great Books: Dragon series)
  • Parts of speech: noun, article, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition and conjunction
  • Sentence analysis: identify complete subject and predicate
  • Compound words 
  • Antonyms
  • Synonyms
  • Homophones
  • Syllables 
  • Singular and plural 
  • Gender: masculine and feminine 
  • Understanding of groups and communities
  • Rotation and revolution of the Earth and its effects 
  • Seasons and movement of the earth: day and night 
  • Tilt of the axis 
  • Composition of the Earth 
  • Types of rocks 
  • Use maps and globes to locate and identify land forms and bodies of water
  • Fundamental needs and wants 
  • Discuss American History 
  • Identify famous Americans, important places and major holidays in America
  • Demonstrate good citizenship
  • Differentiate the needs of living and non-living things
  • Identify plant and animal adaptations to various habitats
  • Vertebrates and invertebrates 
  • Parts and functions of plants, leaves, flowers and seeds
  • Classification of leaves, flowers and seeds 
  • Introduction to photosynthesis 
  • Theory of Evolution
  • Classify dinosaurs by their characteristics
  • Investigate fossils
  • Parts of the body
  • Introduction to digestion and respiration 
  • Food and nutrition
  • Place value up to 1,000,000
  • Addition and subtraction problems: three-digit and four-digit problems with and without regrouping
  • Apply problem-solving skills
  • Multiplication: one-digit multiplier with and without regrouping
  • Introduction to division
  • Memorizing multiplication facts (1to 5)
  • Recognize, order, compare, and write whole numbers to 1,000,000
  • Count and compare collections of money that include dollars, half dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies
  • Rounding: tens 
  • Telling time before and after the hour by counting five-minute intervals
  • Odd and even numbers
  • ​Identify and match geometrical, plane, and solid figures
  • Similar and congruent shapes 
  • Fractions: identification and equivalency 
  • Addition and subtraction with common denominator
  • Multiplication: fraction and whole number
  • Identify and explore patterns
  • Calendar: make a calendar and use it to solve problems 
  • Graphs and tables 
  • Measurement
  • Estimate and measure length, height, perimeter, area, volume, capacity, mass, and temperature using customary and metric units
  • Parts and types of an angle 
  • Parts of triangles and quadrilaterals
  • Types of triangles
  • Types of polygons 
  • Types of lines
  • Learn to read independently 
    Increase vocabulary
    Summarize and make connections
    Demonstrate fluency and comprehension: (SRA reading program)
    Differentiate fact from opinion, essential from nonessential information
    Read, analyzing, and interpret literature – describe characters, setting, and plot
    Make a book report
    Identify literary devices in stories, poetry, and drama
    Nonfiction and fiction
    Identify dialogue of characters
    Writing - write narrative and informational pieces using details 
    Write and support an opinion
    Write a play script 
    Paragraph writing 
    Edit for spelling, capitalization and punctuation
    Parts of speech: noun, article, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection
    Types of nouns 
    Sentence analysis 
    Compound words, antonyms, synonyms and homophones 
    Singular and plural 
    Gender: masculine, feminine and common gender 
    Speaking and listening – listen to others and express themselves orally in group discussions (Great Books: Series 3)
    Research – locate information from appropriate sources, organize and present a report
  • Movement of the Earth
  • Space and constellations
  • Seasons and different time zones 
  • Volcanoes and earthquakes 
  • Work of air and temperature change 
  • Fundamental needs of people in different parts of the world
  • Recognize that communities are comprised of people from many cultures
  • Learn how people depend on each other for goods and services
  • Identify features and locations on globes
  • Theory of Evolution 
  • Pre-historic time
  • Famous people in history 
  • Discuss Civil War 
  • Identify the life cycles of plants and animals
  • Parts, functions and classification of a tree, leaf, flower and fruit 
  • Analyze changes in plants and animals and ways they survive in different seasons 
  • Different states of matter: experiments 
  • Different ways of combining: experiments 
  • Sources of energy
  • Water cycle
  • Pollution and methods of conservation
  • Human body: digestion, respiration and circulation 
  • Importance of exercise, rest, and proper nutrition for a healthy body
  • Food and nutrition 
  • Reading food labels and understanding the content
  • Use numbers to count, locate, name, measure, and order
  • Identify place values and read numbers to seven digits
  • Use place value to compare, order, and round numbers to the nearest ten and hundred
  • Solve word problems
  • Count and calculate with money, make change, and use decimals and dollar signs
  • Finding the value of x in a simple equation
  • Use fact families to relate inverse operations
  • Use mental math strategies and estimation to calculate
  • Add and subtract 5-digit numbers with trading
  • Multiplication 3 and 4 digit numbers with a 2 digit multiplier
  • Division 3 and 4 digit numbers with a one digit divisor
  • Tell time to the nearest minute and calculate elapsed time
  • Graphs and tables
  • Measure using customary and metric units for length, weight, temperature and capacity
  • Use probability concepts
  • Research – locate information from appropriate sources, organize and present a report
  • Identify solids, lines, angles, triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, symmetry and congruent/similar/equivalent figures
  • Find perimeter and area
  • Fractions: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
  • Find equivalent fractions
  • Introduction to decimal fraction
     
  • History of written and spoken language
  • Word study including affixes, compound words and word families
  • Parts of speech including the noun, article, adjective, verb, preposition, pronoun, adverb, conjunction and interjection
  • Verb tenses
  • Sentence analysis
  • Reading and responding to a variety of literary works (Great Books: Series 4)
  • Reading informational text 
  • Developing vocabulary, fluency and speaking skills 
  • Reading comprehension: (SRA reading program)
  • Composition including factual writing, imaginative writing and style
  • Read-aloud and silent reading 
  • Summarizing information 
  • Essay writing 
  • Spelling and vocabulary development 
  • Creation of the universe 
  • Key lessons on the concept of the passing of time and the activities on the earth both before and after the appearance of human beings
  • Layers of the Earth
  • Force and gravity, deposition
  • Introduction to plate tectonics / Formation of mountains including volcanic
  • Three states of matter 
  • Solutions, matter in suspension, mixtures, chemical reactions
  • Separation, saturation and super saturation
  • The rotation of the Earth and its consequences 
  • The Earth as a sphere and its consequences 
  • The Earth tilted on its axis / Seasons / Climate zones of the Earth
  • Six regions of the US: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Mountain, Southwest, West 
  • Interdependence of human beings in society / Economic geography
  • Fundamental needs of human beings including materials and spiritual needs
  • Map skills 
  • 50 states and capitals 
  • Research projects, using library and internet resources, organize information for writing, correct documentation and formatting 
  • Time and calendars
  • Needs of the plant
  • Functions and varieties of the leaf, roots, stem, flower, fruit and seed
  • Seed plants, classification, photosynthesis, plant reproduction 
  • Animals with backbones: vertebrates vs. invertebrates 
  • Cold and warm blooded animals 
  • Botany nomenclature
  • Classification of the five classes of animals
  • Animal adaptations: camouflage; mimicry 
  • Animal behaviors 
  • Plant and animal classification
  • Introduction to the nervous system 
  • Brain and its functions 
  • Digestive and respiratory systems 
  • Minerals, rocks 
  • Volcanoes 
  • Earthquakes 
  • Introduction to the ecosystem 
  • Decimal System’s hierarchical presentation and symbols
  • Long multiplication using a variety of materials and approaches progressing to abstraction
  • Commutative and distributive laws
  • Decimal fractions including simple operations
  • Rounding numbers to the nearest thousand 
  • Rules of divisibility
  • Addition and subtraction of whole numbers and decimals 
  • Multiplication of whole numbers and decimals 
  • Division of whole numbers and decimals 
  • Introduction to algebra
  • Data and graphs 
  • Introduction to squaring and cubing
  • Long division using a variety of materials (distributive and group division progressing to abstraction)
  • Congruence and similarity
  • Equivalence
  • Nomenclature of polygons
  • Angles including the classification of triangles, parts of angles, measuring angles, and the four operations with angles
  • Relationships between pairs of angles including adjacent angles, linear pairs, adjacent complementary and supplementary angles and vertically opposite angle
  • Fractions including simple operations with both common and uncommon denominators
  • Adding and subtracting fractions 
  • Multiplying fractions 
  • Area and perimeter 
  • Measurement including length, weight or mass, time, temperature and money
  • Area and the formulas that derive area: Quadrilaterals 
  • Nomenclature of a circle
  • Introduction to volume
  • Introduction to polyhedron
  • Improving vocabulary and comprehension 
  • Parts of speech: all eight 
  • Types of sentences 
  • Transitive and intransitive verbs 
  • Tenses 
  • Sentence analysis and formation 
  • Written language including heraldry, calligraphy, illustration and illumination
  • Composition including factual writing, imaginative writing and style
  • Spoken language forms such as oral reports, speeches, debates, trials, poetry, dialogue and drama
  • Exploration of literature – (Great Books: Series 5)
  • Giving oral presentations 
  • Read-aloud and silent reading 
  • Reading comprehension skills (SRA reading program)
  • Figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification 
  • Using appropriate and effective research and organizational strategies in writing 
  • Peer review strategies 
  • Spelling and vocabulary development 
  • Map skills: land forms, continents, physical geography 
  • Mapping: Major cities around the world
  • Mapping: the 50 capitals and states 
  • Work of water (Work of the river including highlands and lowlands, names of rivers, towns and cities around rivers and valleys and canyons / Rains including erosion, earth pillars and ocean waves / Work of ice including glaciers and the water cycle)
  • Work of air 
  • Movement of the Earth’s crust 
  • Rock formation 
  • Mountain formation and fold and block mountains and kinds of faults
  • Early civilizations
  • Spread of vegetation
  • The development of timelines
  • Human Society (Interdependence of human beings in society / Economic geography / Geography nomenclature)
  • Migration 
  • American history 
  • Research project, giving oral presentations 
  • Inventions and inventors
  • Periodic table of the elements 
  • Parts of the atom 
  • Chemical symbols of elements 
  • Electricity
  • Seasons and climate change 
  • Pollution: air, water and land
  • Hands on gardening, types of soil and plants
  • Digestive, circulatory and respiratory systems 
  • Functioning of the human heart 
  • Food-chain, food groups 
  • Plant and animal classification
  • Classification of leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, stem and roots 
  • Plant kingdom 
  • Animal kingdom 
  • Invertebrates 
  • Ecology: Ecosystem
  • Earth and its atmosphere
  • Whole numbers and decimals 
  • Rules of divisibility
  • Long division without material 
  • Squaring and cubing 
  • Operations with squares and cubes
  • Cubing binomials and trinomials
  • Extraction of square and cube roots
  • Ratio and proportions
  • Percentage 
  • Time, rate , interest and principal 
  • Intro to probability 
  • Factors: highest common factor and lowest common multiples
  • Data and graphs 
  • Introduction to algebra including balancing equations, solving for unknowns and word problems
  • Signed numbers including simple operations
  • Non-decimal bases including simple operations
  • Powers of numbers including expanded notation and simple operations
  • Number theory and fractions 
  • Addition of fractions and mixed numbers 
  • Subtractions and mixed numerals 
  • Multiplication and division of fractions and mixed numerals 
  • Tools of geometry
  • Measurement of angles 
  • Perimeter, area and volume 
  • Area and the formulas that derive area: triangles and circles 
  • Relationships of angles formed by parallel lines
  • Lines including kinds of lines, parts and positions of lines
  • Exploration of the Pythagorean theorem
  • Measurement including length, weight or mass, time, temperature and money
  • Nomenclature and construction of polyhedrons 

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