Curriculum: Teaching and Learning

• Analyzing an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and using this analysis in a game situation
• Demonstrating appropriate sportsmanship in game situations
• Working cooperatively with all peers regardless of skill level
• Identifying personal activities for lifelong fitness

• Exploration and study of world music
• Year two drum ensemble
• Comparsa (Cuba)
• Focus on polyrhythms and syncopated music
• Featured performance at graduation
• Haitian Rara
• Performance band for instrumentalists

• Currency design: contour lines, values, shading, pattern, texture
• 2D design: logo development and applications
• Studio art: figure drawing and painting
• 3D design: current design trends, design thinking process, product re-design, and prototyping
• Silk screen political/social cause posters
• Installation art
• Independent projects
• Public art opportunities

• Use Total Physical Response storytelling model: Canechi y Chipote
• Use Realidades 2 textbook, workbook, and interactive website
• Communicate using four modalities: reading, listening, speaking, and writing
• Write short compositions in Spanish
• Mural critique field trip to the Mission district of San Francisco
• Quarterly self-assessments and action plans
• Use University of Texas at Austin Oral Proficiency site

• Properties of Matter
• Atomic Structure
• Molecules and Bonds
• Motion, Force and Energy
• Electromagnetism and Waves
• Weather and Climate Change
• Critical assessment of research and scientific literacy

• Refining and expanding skills and concepts of algebra 
• Understanding the relationship between algebraic and geometric representations
• Setting up ratios and proportions to solve for unknown values
• Developing multiple representations, problem-solving strategies, and conceptual understanding through writing
• Valuing collaboration when solving problems in small groups

• United States history, culture, and geography; emphasis on Indigenous, African (Diaspora) American influences, Women's History, Personal Identity, American Ideology formation 
• Development of critical thinking skills
• Analysis of primary source documents
• Expository text reading and note-taking skills
• Synthesis of a broad range of factual information
• Analysis of the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and their application to current issues
• Personal and interpersonal awareness development

• Focus on expository, comparative, and creative writing
• Write responses to literature, persuasive arguments, poetry, and creative pieces
• Develop grammar skills: punctuation, parts of speech, and multi-clause sentence structure
• Strengthen vocabulary
• Strengthen proofreading, revision, and editing skills
• Master essay writing skills: thesis development, organization, paragraph writing, and structure
• Strengthen verbal responses and analysis of literature (discussion)
• Strengthen understanding of text, context, and subtext in literature (who is represented in literature and who may be absent and why)

• Examine the main story elements of plot, character development, setting, theme, and point of view in short stories and novels
• Examine literary devices of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism in short stories, poetry, and novels
• Analyze character development and theme in novels and memoir
• Understand elements of poetry

• Analyzing an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and using this analysis in a game situation
• Demonstrating appropriate sportsmanship in game situations
• Working cooperatively with all peers regardless of skill level

• Advanced drum ensemble workshop
• Year one drum ensemble
• 5-part 6/8 pattern
• Dividing beat into three and four parts
• Mayi, Ibo, Samba
• Featured performance at African American Cultural Celebration
• Exploration of the cultural role music plays in a community
• Performance band for instrumentalists

• Drawing: contour lines, shading, grid enlarging, layout, lettering
• Guided self-portraits: Chuck Close
• Day of the Dead papier-mache masks
• Print making: linoleum blocks
• Oaxacan animal sculptures
• Arts of Asia: India, China, and Japan
• Public art opportunities

• Project-based learning that focuses on authentic, meaningful situations. Verbal communication is highly emphasized
• Use Realidades textbook, workbook, and interactive website
• Active learning through Total Physical Response games, art, music, and dance 
• Celebration of Latino culture through study of music, stories, dance, traditional holidays, and geography
• In-depth individual PowerPoint presentations on Mexico 
• Interrogatives, the imperative, the preterit tense, formulas tener que + infinitivo and ir + a + infinitivo

• Work as a scientist: observe, research, develop controlled experiments, communicate findings
• Evolution
• The microbiome, viruses, the immune system
• Life processes: strategies and solutions from cells to plants to human beings
• Genetics and heredity
• Sex and drug education: accurate information leads to informed decisions
• Develop research skills, apply scientific method, create models, write scientific arguments
• Buddy science projects with Lower School students

• Proportional relationships
• Scale drawings
• Percent change
• Circles, angles, triangles, surface area, and volume
• Operations with negative numbers
• Expressions, equations, and inequalities
• Data analysis, probability, and graphing techniques
• Problem-solving strategies
• Interpret and solve problems about real-world situations
• Share multiple perspectives and communicate mathematical thinking

• Explore Medieval Europe, the Arabian Peninsula, West Africa, Japan, China, and The Americas
• Politics, Economics, Geography, and Society of different civilizations
• Note-taking skills: history notebook, document analysis, paragraph, and essay writing
• Cause, effect, and impact of historical events
• Comparison of present-day case studies and literature to historical studies

• Write multi paragraph essays (narrative, memoir, analysis and research paper)
• Practice debate skills in an end of the school year debate
• Practice Courageous Conversations (community circles)
• Focus on writing process: prewriting, writing, editing, and rewriting
• Develop research skills: internet and library
• Maintain a notebook and practice note-taking and organizational skills
• Strengthen vocabulary and grammar skills
• Make oral and visual presentations
• Analyze and write poetry, short stories, and fiction

• Read and explore novels, short stories, poems, and plays whose protagonists represent a variety of backgrounds and challenges
• Identify literary elements: metaphor, symbolism, foreshadowing, theme, and historical and cultural references
• Independent and in-class reading and literature criticism
• Analyze and identify literary themes: friendship, identity, tolerance, diversity, and beliefs
• Connect literature to history, author, personal experience, and the modern world through discussion, journal entries, and group work

• Identifying proper warm-up and cool-down techniques
• Taking responsibility for independent practice
• Demonstrating appropriate sportsmanship in game situations

• Sixth grade choir
• Intermediate conga drum technique
• Develop drum ensemble concepts
• Dividing the beat, pattern development, and rhythm cycles
• Performance band for instrumentalists

• Drawing: one-point perspective
• Clay: animation
• Ancient civilizations: Prehistoric, Egyptian, and Greek
• Background – middle ground – foreground perspective collage

• Use Total Physical Response storytelling model: Canechi y Chipote
• Use Realidades B textbook, workbook, and interactive website
• Communicate using four modalities: reading, listening, speaking, and writing
• Paired communication activities and Mini Speaking Assessments
• One-on-one and small group conversation
• Present, preterite, and future tenses
• Use University of Texas at Austin Oral Proficiency site

• Lake Merritt - Ecology, biodiversity, stewardship
• Chemistry - The building blocks of our universe
• FBI Unit - Fungi, Bacteria, Infections
• Product Testing - Experiment Design, Media Literacy
• Physics - Kinematics: Science of Motion

• Ratio concepts
• Unit rates and percentages
• Area, surface area, and nets
• Operations using integers, fractions, and decimals
• Data collection, organization, and analysis
• Reason about and solve one-variable equations and inequalities
• Interpret and solve problems about real-world situations
• Problem-solving strategies
• Share multiple perspectives and communicate mathematical thinking

• Understand civilization’s cultural universals and their interconnectedness
• Dig 2: an introduction to archaeological methodology and ethics
• Ancient Civilizations: Egypt and Maya
• Study of farmworkers’ rights
• Public speaking skills: practice through simulations and presentations
• Research skills: finding and assessing quality of paper and electronic sources, taking organized notes

• Write effective response to literature, stories, poetry, and expository essays
• Journaling as a means of self-reflection and analysis of society
• Recognize sentence structure and parts of speech with grammar practice
• Develop critical thinking skills through analysis and editing of one’s own and others’ written work
• Increase breadth of vocabulary

• Read and discuss novels, short stories, memoirs, and poetry
• Develop critical thinking skills through literary analysis of character, setting, theme, and tone
• Analyze literature and improve comprehension: whole class discussion, literature groups, and group projects
• Connect literature to social studies; readings that are relevant to what’s happening in the world today and help students make these connections
• Read and extract main ideas from non-fiction sources

• Literature of Own Voices 
• Literature of Notable history/events/holidays reflecting individual / diverse lifestyles and values

• Specialized movement skills related to team sports
• Health-enhancing physical activity
• Relationship between body type and movement skills

• American folk and popular songs
• Caribbean folk and popular songs
• Blues and pre-blues music
• Intermediate North Indian classical singing
• Touch stroke and heel-toe techniques on conga drums
• Scales and arpeggios in solfège
• Introduction to band for instrumentalists
• Introduction to Irish music

• Digital Citizenship
• Rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world
• Information privacy, cyberbullying, copyright, plagiarism
• Google Applications: Drive, Docs, Slides, etc.
• Adobe Voice
• Accessing information in books and through online resources
• Website and database research skills and practice

• High-frequency words
• Reading of class novel Tumba and related comprehension and extension activities
• Understanding of culture through the study of geography and peoples of Spanish-speaking countries
• Listening and speaking skills
• Writing in Spanish through comprehension activities and “Timed Free Writes”
• The “súper siete” - the seven most frequently used verbs in Spanish Subject pronouns (yo, tú, él/ella/elle, usted, nosotros, ellos/ellas/elles)
• Articles (el/la/los/las)
• Spelling patterns

• Living Systems- Redwood Ecology
• Climate Change
• States of Matter
• Earth & Constellations

• Facility with four basic arithmetic operations applied to whole numbers, fractions, and decimals
• Measure of 2-D and 3-D shapes
• Polygons
• Rounding and estimating whole numbers and decimals
• Relationships among fractions, decimals, and percents
• Problem-solving strategies
• Collecting, organizing, and displaying data

• Primary and secondary sources
• African American Civil Rights movement
• European Resistance movement during World War II
• Activist movements throughout history

• Organized summaries and paragraphs relating literary events to personal experiences, other texts, and the world
• Narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events 
• Opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view 
• Grammar and spelling rules
• Research skills: taking notes and long-term writing assignments
• Informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information 
• Publishing and presenting writing
• Vocabulary using Classical Roots

• Comprehension through oral and written responses to novels and non-fiction
• Critical thinking: make inferences, discuss themes, and analyze personal voice, point-of-view, and author purpose
• Novels, short stories, nonfiction, expository writing, and poetry
• Media for literal text and sub-text
• Thematic novel studies
• Meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes

Literary genres

• Muscle strength and endurance
• Relationship between practice and performance
• Leadership and cooperation

• Intro to American folk music, Irish folk music, and North Indian classical music
• Intro to Caribbean percussion rhythms
• Intro to Caribbean folk and African repertoire
• Basic music terminology
• Singing scales and arpeggios

• Drawing: contour lines, proportion, portraiture, landscapes
• Painting: watercolor techniques
• Clay
• Printmaking: Andy Warhol/pop art
• Self portraits: Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo 
• African masks and shields

• Equipment care
• Technology agreements and proper uses
• Typing and proper position
• Google docs, sheets, and presentations: creating, sharing, collaborating, and printing
• Device orientation
• Digital citizenship

• Class reading of El capibara con botas book and related activities
• Subject pronouns (yo, tú, él/ella/elle, usted, nosotros, ellos/ellas/elles)
• Regular and Irregular verb conjugations
• Conversational skills
• Spelling and vocabulary
• Articles (masculine, feminine)
• Culture through the study of geography and people of Spanish-speaking countries
• Listening and speaking skills through guided conversations with peers

• Energy transformations and collisions
• Waves and messaging (information transfer)
• Animal adaptations
• Natural disasters and mitigation techniques

• California, United States, and world geography
• Black Panther Party
• California artists and musicians
• Dustbowl and World War II in California
• Analysis of primary and secondary documents for point of view and bias

• Writer’s Workshop to strengthen writing
• Writing process with greater independence and effectiveness
• Strategies to improve spelling and grammar
• Proofreading and editing skills for thorough revisions
• Print and online dictionaries and thesaurus resources
• Public speaking skills

• Word recognition and expression in oral reading
• Independent reading skills
• Comprehension strategies
• Produce individual book projects
• Summarize information and re-tell stories
• Understand story elements: symbolism, plot, character, development, and tone
• Theme, character change, author's style, uncover structure, work on words, consider perspectives, compare texts, and use evidence
• Participate in whole-class and small-group literature groups and dramatic read alouds

• Independent book selection
• Refresh looking up information in a book
• African American report and bird research
• Twice a month supervised typing class

• Using feedback to improve performance
• Working independently and maintaining focus
• Using physical activity as a means of self-expression
• Sharing equipment appropriately with peers

• Rounds, two-part music, extended vocal range
• Solfège 
• Rhythm work with percussion
• Refining performing arts elements of movement and drama
• Basic music terminology and singing including scales

• Drawing: expressive lines and shapes
• Painting: color wheel, color mixing
• Clay
• Bat study
• Collage animals: Eric Carle
• Sumi ink painting
• Fruit/flower paintings: Georgia O’Keefe
• Story quilt: Faith Ringgold

• Beginning keyboarding and word processing
• Introduction to online catalog searches
• Choosing information sources for research

• Participate in class reading of Edi el elefante book and related activities
• Subject pronouns (yo, tú, él/ella/elle, usted, nosotros, ellos/ellas/elles)
• Regular and Irregular verb conjugations
• Spelling and vocabulary
• Articles (masculine, feminine)
• Understand culture- geography and people of Spanish-speaking countries
• Listening and speaking skills through guided conversations with peers

• Investigation and Conservation of Birds
• Scientific Method (with Seventh Grade)
• Electricity
• Forces & Motion

• Place value to 100,000
• Telling time to the minute and determining elapsed time
• Multiplication and division to 12, with single- and double-digit problems
• Problem solving
• Measurement: length, mass, and volume with standard and metric measurements
• Fractions: identifying, ordering, and comparing
• 3-digit and 4-digit addition and subtraction
• Complex multi-step story problem solving
• Geometry: 2D and 3D shapes, lines, angles, area, perimeter, and volume

• Hands-on study of the Ohlone People, featuring field trips to the Oakland Museum, Arrowhead Marsh, UC Botanical Gardens, and at a regional park
• Geography of the Bay Area and regions of California
• Study of cultural groups in the Bay Area through performances and field trips
• Black American biography project
• Identity and heritage personal histories
• Impact of explorers and settlers on the Bay Area
• California history focusing on multicultural perspectives

• Utilize Writer’s Workshop
• Write a formal, well-developed informational paragraph
• Practice informational and report writing: Bird Study, Black American biography, and The Ohlone
• Write book reports, personal narratives, letters, responses to literature, and opinion pieces
• Use dialogue and similes in creative writing
• Practice grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling rules
• Learn cursive handwriting
• Develop presentation skills by presenting work to class, parents, and school

• Teach effective reading strategies
• Practice critical thinking and comprehension skills
• Read and discuss multicultural literature
• Read literature about Native American and Black American experiences
• Study literature through independent reading, readers' workshops, literature circles, reading groups, and being read to

• Parts of a book 
• Read Aloud - identify character traits in the protagonist
• Parts of a book 
• Using nonfiction book features - looking up a topic for research

• Chasing, fleeing, and dodging
• Supporting body weight for climbing and hanging
• Identifying feelings related to challenges and successes
• Modeling good sportsmanship
• Playing cooperative games

• Group singing and pitch recognition
• Continued solfège singing
• Rhythm work with percussion
• Movement and drama games

• Exploring media
• Creating in collaboration
• Projects based on famous artists and their techniques
• Painting: color wheel, color mixing
• Collaboration with Performing Arts: masks, puppets, performance props

• Digital Citizenship: online safety and unique usernames and passwords

• iPad - acceptable use, resilience, and persistence

• Songs for vocabulary development
• Pronunciation practice and speaking
• Comprehension practice
• Become multilingual and learn about cultures in our increasingly transnational society

• Amplify Science curriculum
• Plant & Animal Relationships / Investigation
• Properties of Materials / Engineering Design
• Changing Landforms / Modeling

• Use multiple strategies to solve problems, such as open number lines and splitting according to place value
• Pose and solve word problems
• Single and double-digit addition and subtraction
• Place value to 1,000
• Measurement: time and length
• Add coins within a dollar
• Geometry: shape attributes and vocabulary
• Sort, graph, and interpret data

• People Power Skills - Supporting friendships, creating community, caring for one another
• Change Makers - People who inspire change in their communities
• Identity - What makes us, us?  Exploring gender, race, ethnicity, culture, and tradition
• Second Grade Zoo - creating a class zoo incorporating social justice, math, science, writing, and reading

• Writer’s Workshop model
• Personal narratives,
• Informational writing, poetry, and journal entries for reflection and responses to reading
• Writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing
• Study paragraph writing
• Parts of speech, capitalization, and basic sentence punctuation
• Manuscript letter formation- Handwriting Without Tears
• Presentation skills through chapel presentations, publishing parties, and sharing at morning meetings

• Develop reading comprehension strategies and vocabulary
• Practice fluency, expression, accuracy, and decoding strategies
• Predict, summarize, infer, and find the main idea in texts
• Use mentor texts as models for writing
• Identify non-fiction text features
• Identify character traits
• Build stamina with daily independent reading
• Use evidence to support responses to literature

• Parts of a book
• Fiction vs nonfiction
• Introduction to chapter books
• Identify character traits in the story
• Biographies
• Choosing books for practicing reading
• Community inclusion and looking at the world from someone else's perspective
• Holidays- immigrant traditions / experiences

• Traveling and changing direction quickly
• Engaging in sustained physical activity to increase heart and breathing rates
• Modeling good sportsmanship
• Playing cooperative games

• Group singing and pitch recognition
• Solfège 
• Rhythm work with percussion
• Movement and drama games

• Line, shape, texture, and color
• Watercolor and tempera painting
• Decoupage
• Papier mâché
• Oil pastels
• Weaving
• Collage
• Drawing
• Cross-curricular projects

iPad use - unique passwords/passkeys and intellectual property

• Songs for vocabulary development
• Pronunciation and speaking
• Comprehension practice
• Spark students’ desire to become multilingual
• Learn about cultures in our increasingly transnational society.

• Blossoms, bees, and seeds- life cycles
• Engineering- How do human-designed objects work?
• Solar system- observing patterns

• Number formation and number sense to 100
• Identify odd and even numbers
• Addition and subtraction to 20
• Measurement: non-standard and standard
• Estimation and prediction
• Money: identifying and counting coins
• Telling time to the hour and half hour
• Identifying 2D and 3D shapes
• Problem solving

• Community- self, family, larger community
• Conflict resolution and friendships
• RAD Women A-Z
• People Power Skills

• Focus on a topic
• Respond to questions and suggestions from peers
• Add details to strengthen writing as needed
• Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of "how-to" books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions)
• Recall information from experiences
• Gather information from provided sources to answer a question

• Recognize features of a sentence
• Spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonics)
• Strengthen decoding and comprehension through guided reading
• Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension
• Build stamina with daily independent silent reading
• Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print

• Choosing books
• Book and library care
• How to check out and return materials
• How to use the library
• Wordless picture books / telling a story
• Word Families
• Define and give examples - author and illustrator
• Types of books

• Traveling safely through space: walking, running, jumping, galloping, sliding, and hopping
• Exploring balls: tossing, catching, striking, and kicking
• Modeling good sportsmanship and playing cooperative games

• Introduction to solfège singing and group singing
• Rhythm work with hand percussion
• Movement and drama games

• Color mixing
• Developing confidence in using art materials
• Cross-curricular art projects
• Exploration of various media and techniques
• Artist studies- Georgia O'Keefe, Yayoi Kusama, Jean-Michel Basquiat

• Active and fun lessons that include: songs for vocabulary development, pronunciation practice, speaking, and comprehension practice

• Engage with student understanding of cultures in our increasingly transnational society

• Exploration in physical science
• Forces and Motion- Pushes and Pulls
• Five Senses- Collaboration with 7th-grade
• Animals and Their Habitats- Rainforest
• Experimentation focusing on prediction and observation
• Sustainable environmental practices

• Numbers: recognizing, writing, sequencing (numbers 1-20), and exploring mathematical operations (simple addition and subtractions)
• One-to-one correspondence
• Patterning: creating, recognizing, and extending simple patterns
• Concepts of time: days, weeks, months, and seasons
• Graphing: measuring, sorting, and classifying
• Recognize and reproduce shapes
• Concepts of money (pennies and nickels)
• Concepts of more than, less than, and equal to
• Counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's
• Estimation strategies

• Building a safe, respectful, and empathetic community
• Conflict resolution
• People Power Skills
• Non-violent communication
• Developing awareness of diversity within families, cultures, and religions
• Developing awareness of growth and change
• Earth stewardship
• Relationships across grade levels through Buddy Projects

• Practice letter/sound correspondence
• Reinforce correct pencil grasp
• Practice correct letter formation
• Practice left-to-right progression in writing
• Use developmental continuum of spelling
• Write and draw in journals
• Begin Writer's Workshop

• Practice letter/sound correspondence
• Develop phonemic awareness and knowledge of phonics
• Grow as readers through explicit instruction in small groups
• Strengthen listening and comprehension skills through read-aloud activities
• Study literature genres
• Develop oral language skills
• Develop concepts about print
• Read with second grade buddies