Grammar School

Mathematics

Excelsior’s Grammar School uses Math in Focus: Singapore Math.

Core Knowledge (download free CK curriculum here)

In grades K-3, Excelsior uses The Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA)  curriculum. While teaching skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, CKLA also builds students’ knowledge and vocabulary in literature, history, geography, and science.  Reading instruction is carried out through teaching phonics. 

Kindergarten

Nursery Rhymes and Fables; The Five Senses; Stories; Plants; Animals and Their Needs; Farms; Native Americans; Kings and Queens; Seasons and Weather; Columbus and the Pilgrims; Colonial Towns and Townspeople; Taking Care of the Earth; Presidents and American Symbols

First Grade

Fables and Stories; The Human Body; Different Lands, Similar Stories; Early World Civilizations; Early American Civilizations; Astronomy; The History of the Earth; Animals and Habitats; Fairy Tales; A New Nation: American Independence; Frontier Explorers 

Second Grade

Fairy Tales and Tall Tales; Early Asian Civilizations; The Ancient Greek Civilization; Greek Myths; The War of 1812; Cycles in Nature; Westward Expansion; Insects; The U.S. Civil War; The Human Body; Immigration; Fighting for a Cause

Third Grade

Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows; Animal Classification; The Human Body: Systems and Senses; The Ancient Roman Civilization; Light and Sound; The Viking Age; Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond; Native Americans: Regions and Cultures; Early Explorations of North America; Colonial America; Ecology

In grades 4 and 5, Excelsior uses the CKLA curriculum from the Core Knowledge Foundation. In addition, we use Core Knowledge History and Geography (CKHG), Core Classics, and Core Knowledge Science (CKSci).

Fourth Grade

In fourth grade, our students change classes for some subjects. They have one teacher for English Language Arts and Social Studies and another for Math and Science.

CKLA Brown Girl Dreaming (memoir); The Middle Ages; King Arthur and the Round Table; Listen My Children (poetry); Geology; American Revolution; The United States Constitution; Treasure Island

Core Classics King Arthur and the Round Table; Gulliver’s Travels; Robinson Crusoe; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Treasure Island

CKHG Using Maps; World Mountains; Medieval Europe; Medieval Islamic Civilizations; Early and Medieval African Kingdoms; Dynasties of China; The American Revolution; Early Presidents; The United States Constitution; American Reformers; Understanding Civics

CKSci Energy Transfer and Transformation; Investigating Waves; Structures and Functions of Living Things; Processes That Shape Earth; Using Natural Resources for Energy; Human Respiration and Circulation; Problem-Solving and Computers; Making Sense of Science

Fifth Grade

In fifth grade, our students change classes for each subject.

CKLA They Call Me Güero; Early American Civilizations; Adventures of Don Quixote; The Renaissance; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Reformation; Poetry; Native Americans; The Science of Breakable Things

Core Classics Don Quixote; A Midsummer Night’s Dream

CKHG World Lakes; Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations; The Age of Exploration; The Renaissance; The Reformation; England in the Golden Age; Early Russia; Feudal Japan; The Geography of the United States; Native Americans: Cultures and Conflicts; Understanding Economics

CKSci Investigating Matter; Energy and Matter in Ecosystems; Modeling Earth’s Systems; Protecting Earth’s Resources; Astronomy: Space Systems; Human Hormones and Reproduction; Designing Computer Programs; Using Science Knowledge

Spanish

At Excelsior, students in grades K-5 have Spanish class for a half hour each day, learning vocabulary and grammar in areas related to the Core Knowledge curriculum for the grade.

Special Classes

Students in Excelsior’s Grammar School have five Special classes that they rotate through each week, one Special each day: Art, Dance, Drama, Music, and Physical Education. In Art and Music, they cover information from the Core Knowledge Sequence for Art and Music. Lessons in visual art illustrate important elements of making and appreciating art and emphasize important artists, works of art, and artistic concepts. Lessons in music feature activities and works that illustrate important musical concepts and terms, and should introduce important composers and works. In addition, in Music class, our students participate in World Music Drumming.

Social Emotional Learning