Classrooms in Kindergarten through second grade are self-contained. At the third grade level, we are departmentalized with teachers instructing in their area of expertise to better focus on the range of ability of students in fewer disciplines. This provides students with a variety of teaching styles on a daily basis. In all primary classrooms, paraprofessionals work with classroom teachers to provide one-on-one and small group instruction to students for both enrichment and remediation. The content of our program in all areas is tightly aligned with the Ohio Learning Standards at each grade level.

The KRAL, Kindergarten Reading Readiness Assessment Literacy test, is a state requirement for all entering kindergarten students for use as a diagnostic tool. Second grade students take the Terra-Nova, a standardized test given to provide information necessary to help determine qualifications for our gifted and talented program. Third Grade students take a fall Ohio Achievement Assessment in Reading and a spring Ohio Achievement Assessment in Reading and Math. All primary students are also assessed quarterly through the Voyager Learning Program. All students will be participating in short cycle assessments in academic content areas every two weeks this year. Students in SCPA’s elementary program in grades 3-6 are instructed by teachers in a departmentalized setting, providing students with specialized instruction from master teachers.

Language Arts — SCPA’s language arts program, Voyager Learning, is a structured program that includes essential skills such as phonics, sight words, reading fluency and comprehension. The program focuses on developing phonic skills at the lower grades and teaching hands-on decoding skills to learn phoneme segmentation. There is an emphasis on building a large sight word vocabulary that is embedded in a rich use of quality trade books. Voyager is a data-driven reading program with frequent monitoring of the progress each child is making towards meeting or exceeding the required reading standards for their grade level. Small group instruction and daily intervention for struggling and emerging learners help to ensure student success.

Teachers supplement this program with a writing program, The Write Source, to provide mini lessons and guided writing to develop skills. Students demonstrate mastery of reading and writing skills through interdisciplinary projects. Language Arts encompasses all reading, writing and spelling fields.

SCPA’s math program, Scott Foresman, provides a hands-on approach to help develop basic math skills. At every grade level, hands-on activities and manipulatives are used to build an understanding of concepts and develop number sense. Our program focuses on teaching students multiple strategies for solving problems. Beginning in the first grade, students have a math journal in which they complete a “problem of the day’ activity that includes solving a problem using words, pictures and/or numbers, writing a number expression that shows how the problem was solved and using words and sentences to write an explanation that displays understanding of the problem and solution. An emphasis is put on understanding and using math vocabulary.

SCPA has a rich, standards-based science program where specific science kits used at different grade levels are focused on completing hands-on investigations. Quality informational reading materials accompany these kits. These programs emphasize the five essential features of investigation: questioning, finding evidence, interpreting evidence, connecting evidence to scientific knowledge and effectively communicating knowledge gained from the investigative process to others. Inquiry through “what if” questions and the communication of observations through writing and/or drawing allow our students to make better predictions and inferences based on findings.

The Macmillian/McGraw-Hill big book series and Scholastic News are the basis of our kindergarten and first grade social studies program. At other levels, students have textbooks and programs accompanied by quality informational-leveled trade books. Interactive maps and manipulative tools are used to complete class projects. Trade books allow teachers to develop cross-curricular activities that connect social studies and literacy.

The following is a list of academic course offerings for students in grades K-6, sorted by grade level.

SCPA Academic Course Offerings for Kindergarten:

• Reading K
• Writing K
• Math K
• Science K
• Social Studies K

SCPA Academic Course Offerings for First Grade:

• Reading 1
• Spelling 1
• Writing 1
• Math 1
• Science 1
• Social Studies 1

SCPA Academic Course Offerings for Second Grade:

• Reading 2
• Spelling 2
• Writing 2
• Math 2
• Science 2
• Social Studies 2

SCPA Academic Course Offerings for Third Grade:

• Reading 3
• Writing 3
• Math 3
• Science 3
• Social Studies 3

SCPA Academic Course Offerings for Fourth Grade:

• Language Arts 4
• Math 4
• Science 4
• Social Studies 4

SCPA Academic Course Offerings for Fifth Grade:

• Language Arts 5
• Math 5
• Science 5
• Social Studies 5

SCPA Academic Course Offerings for Sixth Grade:

• Language Arts 6
• Math 6
• Science 6
• Social Studies 6