Curriculum Central

Introduction

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Curriculum maps and guiding documents are more than just artifacts, frozen in amber. When they are developed effectively, they are living documents that invite continuous improvement and become a dynamic record of institutional knowledge.  Considerable work in this area has been done at Wilbur and McMahon School in ELA, Math, and Science over the past two years. However, there is always more work to do.

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MATHEMATICS: What is listed below is the foundation of our curriculum. New York state hosts EngageNY.org (and EurekaMath, LCSD Grade K-5 math curriculum), which provides free, open educational resources, including PK-12 ELA and math curriculum modules and professional development resources. Several Rhode Island districts, including the Little Compton School Department, use the EngageNY.org curriculum framework -- and build on it. Recently, the LCSD replaced the grade 6 through grade 8 math curriculum (EngageNY.org) with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/HMH Into Math.

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ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS: During the 2022 school year, the LCSD replaced Wilbur McMahon School's K-8 English Language Arts curriculum (EngageNY 2014) with EL Education K-8 Language Arts from Open Up Resources (to include job-embedded training in the delivery of the new resources). 

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SCIENCE: The Rhode Island Model Science Curriculum includes Year-at-a-Glance, Scope and Sequence and Units of Study for K-5 grade levels, grades 6-8 grade span and high school biology, chemistry and physics but will be phased out by RIDE by June 30, 2023.  The Little Compton School Department is ahead of the game and has migrated to FOSS (Full Option Science System) -- a research-based science curriculum for grades K-8 developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. FOSS has evolved from a philosophy of teaching and learning that has guided the development of successful active-learning science curricula for more than 40 years. The FOSS Program bridges research and practice by providing tools and strategies to engage students and teachers in enduring experiences that lead to deeper understanding of the natural and designed worlds. Science is a creative and analytic enterprise, made active by our human capacity to think. Scientific knowledge advances when scientists observe phenomena, think about how they relate to what is known, test their ideas in logical ways, and generate explanations that integrate the new information into understanding of the natural and designed worlds. Engineers apply that understanding to solve real-world problems. Thus, the scientific enterprise is both what we know (content knowledge) and how we come to know it (science practices). Science is a discovery activity, a process for producing new knowledge.

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The best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific and engineering concepts, and develop the ability to think well is to actively participate in scientific practices through their own investigations and analyses. The FOSS Program was created specifically to provide students and teachers with meaningful experiences through engaging with this active participation in scientific practices.

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SOCIAL STUDIES: The Rhode Island Grade Span Expectations (GSEs) for Social Studies and Civics and Government have been developed as a means to identify the content knowledge and skills expected of all students (grades K-high school).  In addition, the LCSD also integrates Open Circle/Choose Love, ELA and Scholastic Classroom and News Magazines content into Social Studies and Civics and Government instruction. The LCSD K-8 Social Studies curriculum will be updated to sync with the emerging revision: in partnership with the Rhode Island History and Social Studies Advisory Committee (RIHSSAC), RIDE has launched the development of new social studies standards K-12 education in Rhode Island. This committee will also serve as a working group for a variety of initiatives, starting with one priority task--to review our current RI Social Studies Grade Span Expectations (RI SS GSEs) in light of recent legislation requiring high quality standards for all content areas (RIGL §16-22-30).

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RELATED LEGISLATION

1. Civics Education – RIGL §16-22-2

2. Genocide and human rights education – RIGL §16-22-22

3. Statewide Education Standards - RIGL §16-22-30

4. Curriculum Frameworks - RIGL §16-22-31

5. Holocaust and Genocide Education in Secondary Schools – RIGL §16-93

6. African American History Education in Elementary and Secondary School – RIGL §16-110

7. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history study – RIGL §16-22-36 [PDF, 12KB]