The Character Tree is a new educational video series that focuses on Social/Emotional Development. It was designed for children in grades K-3. It emphasizes positive character traits through engaging discussions, examples, role modeling and hands-on materials. It features people like Jane Goodall, Mister Rogers and Rosa Parks to teach kindness, bravery, integrity, gratitude and perseverance. The curriculum is designed to help the students to understand the importance of being a good citizen and an active member of their community. MATHEMATICS Levine Academy’s Beck Lower School has adopted the Everyday Math program. This comprehensive program teaches basic math skills in a real world context, encouraging learners to think mathematically. Students are encouraged to reason through problems and to engage themselves in a wide variety of math related activities. The curriculum includes operations and algebraic thinking, number and operations in base ten, measurement and data, and geometry. The first grade program provides opportunities for differentiation at every level, while still teachingwithin the range of one concept or skill. SOCIAL STUDIES Our First Grade has adopted the Texas Studies Weekly Curriculum. It is taught using a weekly magazine, virtual field trips, videos and hands-on materials. It covers the strands of civics, government, geography, economics and history. The curriculum also emphasizes vocabulary, and it enhances our students' reading ability. STEM The STEM-based science curriculum in First Grade follows the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) thematic model using bundles to pique the curiosity and interests of each student scientist. Students begin the year by investigating designs in nature, and build on this knowledge to develop their own designs that copy nature, known as biomimicry. Students dive deeper into life science with a unit on plant and animal trait inheritance and variation by analyzing and collecting data in our science lab and outdoor learning spaces. In our third bundle, student scientists explore the night sky and seasonal patterns. This unit works closely with our Judaic department for crosscurricular STEM fun. We finish the year strong with a unit on the behavior of light and sound. JEWISH STUDIES/HEBREW Ariot-Cal is an internet based multimedia application which is an integral part of the TaL AM first grade Hebrew as a foreign language curriculum. The program allows students to work at their own pace according to their own personal needs. FIRST GRADE HEBREW/JEWISH STUDIES CURRICULUM INCLUDES 5 DIFFERENT UNITS: Shalom Bakita (Shalom In The Classroom) The Shalom in the Classroom unit deals with everyday life in the classroom at the beginning of the school year, and focuses on familiarization with the characters of a “virtual” classroom, the articles and the learning habits in the classroom.
ANN & NATE LEVINE ACADEMY
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