Curriculum
The elementary curriculum at Prospect Ridge Academy is based in Core Knowledge, which provides a sequenced set of skills and content in the classroom, and is aligned with Colorado State Model Content Standards and Common Core standards.
The idea behind the Core Knowledge Sequence is simple and powerful: knowledge builds on knowledge. In the late 1970’s, E.D. Hirsch, Jr., founder of the Core Knowledge sequence and professor at the University of Virginia, proposed that there was a core body of knowledge that students need to acquire and that the more students know, the more they are able to learn. Further, Hirsch suggested that students — being given specific guidelines on what they learn at every grade level and making them more “culturally literate” — would receive a more equitable, fair, and rich education.
The curriculum provides a rigorous, rich, comprehensive program that has shown success with students from a wide variety of backgrounds and has demonstrated a record of student achievement locally and nationally. For more information about Core Knowledge, visit www.coreknowledge.org.
Staff utilizes the Singapore Math curriculum for math instruction, which focuses on children truly mastering a limited number of concepts each school year. This program allows students to visualize mathematics and take their understanding from hands-on to pictorial modeling, to numbers. The goal is for children to understand the material on a deeper level; they are not just learning it for the test. Students in the same classroom may learn the concepts at different paces, but ultimately they all learn them and help develop their own solid foundation for further math learning.
All PRA elementary students participate in a weekly science lab, visit the library regularly, and actively participate in weekly music, art, technology and physical education classes.Reading and Writing
Prospect Ridge Academy utilizes Reading Street, Daily 5, Orton-Gillingham, and Lucy Caulkin's to teach Literacy.
PRA's K-3 teachers are trained in Orton-Gillingham to teach reading instruction. Orton-GIllingham is a multi-sensory approach to teach students how to read, write, and spell. It is an intensive, sequential phonics-based system. This method accommodates to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
PRA uses Reading Street curriculum within the Daily 5 structure to teach to students the necessary reading skill for students to be successful. Students are given choice through this model to help them take ownership over their own learning.
Lucy Caulkin's Writer's Workshop is taught at PRA. This approach allows students time to write and share with their classmates through each unit of study.
Colorado State Standards for Reading & Writing
Lucy Caulkin's Writer's Workshop
Math
At Prospect Ridge Academy we use the Singapore math philosophy as the primary means of math education. For the 2017-2018 school year we switched from the standard edition to Math in Focus curriculum in order to provide more resources for our students and teachers.
Why Singapore Math?
Research-based Pedagogy
Singapore Math in Focus® offers you the same authentic Singapore Math® curriculum that has propelled Singapore students to international success. It follows the pedagogical framework developed by the Singapore Ministry of Education.
Concrete–Pictorial–Abstract Learning Progression
Numbers and symbols can be confusing when you don't have a grasp of what they actually mean. Singapore Math in Focus® teaches concepts using a concrete–pictorial–abstract learning progression to anchor learning in real-world, hands-on experiences.
Pedagogy Fit for Specific Skill Needs
Singapore Math in Focus® adapts instruction to the needs of individual learners through scaffolding, the systematic sequencing of prompted content, and support to optimize learning. The ultimate goal of scaffolding is to gradually remove the supports as the learner masters the task.
Integrated Technology for the 21st-Century Classroom
Singapore Math in Focus® provides seamless integration of technology with a range of online tools including online manipulatives, parent resource videos, and online activities.
Colorado State Standards for Math
At home resources:
Science
Prospect Ridge Academy uses Core Knowledge to drive our Science classes. Core Knowledge is a knowledge-based curriculum that allows students to build a strong foundation in Science at a young age. It is a spiraling curriculum. Topics learned in the lower levels will be built on as the kids are developmentally ready, typically a couple of years later. We believe, as stated by Core Knowledge, “You learn something new by building on what you already know. The more you know, the more you are able to learn.”
At Prospect Ridge Academy, students come to the science lab weekly for 45 minutes where they are allowed to explore in a hands-on setting the same material being taught in the classroom. In the lab there are two teachers present so that there is a lower student-to-teacher ratio.
Core Knowledge Science Curriculum
Colorado State Standards for Science
Social Studies
At Prospect Ridge Academy, our Social Studies curriculum is a combination of Core Knowledge aligned with Colorado Academic Standards for Social Studies. Core Knowledge uses a well-rounded curriculum that uses a spiral structure to introduce topics. This structure implies that students will see various topics and events in history repeated throughout Elementary and Middle School years. As the years progress, the content becomes more in depth in history and geography. Core Knowledge helps students build a strong foundation for learning, organizing thoughts, evaluating events in history, and applying previously learned information year after year.
The Colorado Academic Standards for Social Studies are skill based standards that are specific to each grade. These standards are the expectations of what students are required to know and what they should be able to do by the end of the year. The Social Studies standards are composed of four main concepts: history, geography, economics, and civics. By studying these four areas, students will be better able to connect events in history, understand places and regions, obtain economic knowledge to make strong financial decisions, and analyze governmental impact on society.
Colorado State Standards for Social Studies
Core Knowledge History and Geography