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ACADEMICS
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ELEMENTARY SCHOOLAt Abilene Christian Schools we provide academic excellence through challenging curriculum and caring teachers. We think that the "college preparatory" mission begins as early as Pre-K, with the teaching of critical thinking skills, good study habits, and the love of learning. We also set ourselves apart as a Christian School. We embed all we teach with the Bible, a Christian lifestyle, and fostering a servant heart.
At our school your child will be offered a very special curriculum called Core Knowledge. It is based on the research and findings of E.D. Hirsch, Jr. In each grade, students will be exposed to a broad range of historical, scientific, and cultural topics that will build on one another to prepare them for later educational success. This wide array of subject matter will not only develop cultural literacy but also will build the strong vocabulary necessary for true reading comprehension. Here is a glimpse of a few subject areas in each grade: Kindergartners learn letter-pattern codes, identify the seven continents, their habits and animals; and interpret simple graphs. They define differences in linear measure, capacity, and weight. Geometric concepts are introduced. First graders hear classical stories from different parts of the world; they learn about early civilizations; world and American histories are explored. They classify animals and environments, talk about matter, and discuss the human body. Second graders practice reading comprehension and produce a variety of types of writings. They study the Civil War, immigration and citizenship, and the Civil Rights movement. They study simple machines, insects, and the life cycle; they work with multiplication and fractions. Third graders diagram sentences; they discover the Vikings and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Native Americans, including ancient Indian art are reviewed. Concepts of number sense and money are refined. The study of the body becomes more detailed with the nervous system, vision, and hearing, which are reinforced with science projects on light and sound waves. Fourth and fifth graders have some special projects: Fourth graders host all the elementary students at a Medieval Faire, with each student portraying a community role - a blacksmith, a falconer, a candle maker, a lady... The fifth grade's Renaissance unit involves vocabulary and spelling from that era, time -appropriate novel studies, the presentation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and period music, such as "Greensleeves" and works by Mendelssohn. Core Knowledge is an excellent curriculum that provides the best Pre-K - 5th grade academic experience you will encounter in Abilene. It is a program where students enjoy learning. They build a useful bank of information that works together and makes sense. Teachers see results. Students promote through the grades with a frame of reference ready to accept and apply new concepts. Parents see value. Children readily progress and understand a body of knowledge relevant to the world. It is solid, specific, sequenced and shared; studentc can understand the shared dimensions of knowledge, how subjects relate to one another and build over time, and how history influences contemporary events. They master the necessary vocabulary to comprehend the complex subjects that lie ahead, as well as the increasingly complex world around them. |
