Curriculum By Grade

Kindergarten

For many children, kindergarten is the first experience in a regular and consistent formal setting away from home. At this age they are eager, curious and ready to engage with all of the wonderful things they are about to be exposed to. This is an ideal time to offer them a broad amount of knowledge and a challenging curriculum with high expectations. Their young minds are rapidly developing; absorbing everything they see or hear from the world around them and are ready for this new challenge.

Our Kindergarten program engages our student's young minds in a wide array of subject matter and exploration. Subjects such as visual arts, music, math, science, history, geography and language arts are all part of their learning experiences. By the end of this important year our students are able to write in cursive as well as print, can count to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's & 10's, know all 7 continents along with specific landmarks that identify each and conduct many experiments testing scientific discoveries.

First Grade

This is the year your child grows from a young and exploring mind to an inquisitive sophisticated reader. During the school year the children will read and write (upper case & lower case) all the letters of the alphabet in Spanish and English. They will read short stories and then analyze the content. They will creatively write short stories and poetry practicing their spelling, grammar and punctuation. Science experiments with magnets help them understand our planet and the principles of gravity. Counting continues through 200 and addition, subtraction, simple multiplication and division are practiced throughout the year. The fundamentals of art and music are discussed and explored from the differences between warm and cold colors and what they represent to identifying rhythm, melody and tempo in songs. Our young explorers begin to use their cardinal points to explore the geography of our world and the history behind it. Spanish explorers like Columbus and Cortez, early civilizations such as the Egyptians and American Indians. American History and the original 13 colonies is just the beginning.

Interview to a First Grade Student

Second & Third Grade

In our second and third grade class your child's Spanish levels will have increased dramatically; in communication, translation and reading skills. They will be exposed to a wide variety of literature (in Spanish, English and French) in order to increase their literary and cultural knowledge. They will have the opportunity to contrast and compare works of literature from a variety of different countries as they improve their own writing skills. There is also an increased focus on Spanish grammar practices such as the correct use of past, present, and future tenses; parts of speech; punctuation; verb conjugation; and proper sentence formation.

English classes are an essential part of the week, with the primary focus on phonics, reading and writing practices. Students will expand their English reading capabilities with increased levels of expression and comprehension. Grammar studies will emphasize the correct use of past, present, and future tenses; parts of speech; punctuation; verb conjugation; and proper sentence formation. Continual creative writing practices allow the students to practice their new grammar skills in depth. Students are exposed to Spelling Bees throughout the year to increase their word and spelling knowledge and capabilities.

All other subjects (excluding French) are taught in the target language of Spanish. Our mathematical program exceeds the Washington State Standards by 1 to 2 years. Our lessons include number recognition and placement, addition, subtraction and multiplication practices of numbers 1 through 10,000, and division and fraction practices. Students also learn complicated shapes and the metric system. Our science curriculum includes experiments and observations of topics ranging from cycles in nature, insects, the human body to simple machines, magnetism and astronomy.

Our social studies curriculum exposes students to the world and American history in great detail. World studies include spatial sense, geographical terms, and important rivers; early civilizations: Asia (China; Japan), ancient Rome and Greece, the Vikings; modern civilization and culture: Japan. American studies include the earliest Americans through the Civil Rights, as well as Washington State History and geography.

Art classes include hands-on lessons which allow the students to practice art through several medians, while learning about the classics and their impact on the world. Music exposes the students to the elements of music, listening and understanding skills, as well as singing, movement and instruments. Physical education includes a wide variety of sports and endurance practices.

Interview to a Second Grade Student

Interview to a Third Grade Student