Primary School (K-2)
A child's foundation for learning begins with reading, writing, and arithmetic. These subjects are given the highest priority for our K-2 students. Having a strong understanding of these basic skills, as well as establishing good work habits and attitudes are of the utmost importance during the early years of a child's education.
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Reading
Once a child has learned the letters of the alphabet and the letter sounds, he or she can begin to learn phonics - the sounds letters make when combined together to form words. In classical education, the written word and high quality literature are extremely important. Here at Monarch Meadows, we want to expose our students to as much quality language as possible, whether it's through poetry, listening to audiobooks, or reading classical tales such as Charlotte's Web, King Arthur, The Chronicles of Narnia, or The Odyssey. Words can be found all around us, from traffic signs to newspapers to cereal boxes, and we desire for our students' day-to-day lives to be saturated with language. Words are everywhere, and so therefore, the opportunity to read and learn is everywhere.
At Monarch Meadows we use the Language Arts curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful. Our kindergarten students begin with the Kinder Prep program, which teaches mastery in letters, introduces long and short vowels, and reading simple words. They then continue with the Level K program that focuses on two- and three-letter words, letter combinations, word families, consonant blends, vowel teams, syllables, simple sentences, capitalization, and parts of speech. When they enter first and second grade, their phonics and reading instruction includes compound words, word decoding, inflectional endings, open and closed syllables, phonograms, prefixes and suffixes, etc. The curriculum also includes the study of grammar, punctuation, literature, spelling, writing, art, and geography.
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View the language arts curriculum for free at:
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Writing
Writing first begins when a child picks up a crayon or pencil and scribbles on a page. This then develops into basic line formation and simple drawing. By the time a child enters kindergarten he or she is ready to learn the formation of letters and numbers, if they haven't done so already. Individual letters should be focused on first and once the child has mastered their letters, he or she can begin writing simple sentences. This will continue with copywork in first grade and dictation in second.
Beginning next school year (22-23), we will be using Memoria Press' New American Cursive Penmanship for all of our K-2 students. Rather than learning print first, our students will learn cursive. This curriculum will help to establish good writing habits for those who are just starting to write and inhibit fixed printing habits that would make learning cursive more difficult in the later years. Why should children learn cursive? First, because they are capable of doing so! Secondly, cursive develops the neurological connections in the brain required for early fine motor skill development. Lastly, writing in cursive is easier than writing in print, especially for children with Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder.
"Handwriting is a vital life skill, and early training in cursive is essential. A child who can write fluidly and neatly can then get his ideas down on paper quickly. He is able to focus on content rather than letter formation and is well on his way to graphic maturity."
You can view the penmanship curriculum at:
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Arithmetic
When a child has learned value and counting, he or she can then begin simple addition and subtraction. This is not only taught in kindergarten, but can also be done in every day situations when the child is not at school. Math in its earliest stages can be fun, explorative, and engaging. Number practice through manipulatives and daily activities can make math exciting and interesting, such as counting with objects, playing store, indentifying geometric shapes, baking, and reading a clock. Skip counting paves the way for multuplication. It is not only our desire for our students to enjoy math, but to also build a strong foundation in basic arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. Having a firm foundation in these skills can help lessen frustration and fatigue when the child enters into the mathematics of algebra and geometry, and then the more challenging mathematics of calculus, trigonometry, statistics, etc.
For our math curriculum, we also use The Good and the Beautiful. The lessons are engaging and hands-on.
You can view the math curriculum at: