NCS - the Charter

NEIGHBORHOOD CHARTER SCHOOL

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

The Neighborhood Charter School's core philosophy is based on the constructivist paradigm. "When teachers recognize and honor the human impulse to construct new understandings, unlimited possibilities are created for students. Educational settings that encourage the active construction of meaning have several characteristics:

Freeing students from the dreariness of fact-driven curriculum and allow them to focus on large ideas.
Placing in students' hands the exhilarating power to follow trails of interest, to make connections, to reformulate ideas, and to reach unique conclusions.
Sharing with students the important message that the world is a complex place in which multiple perspectives exist and truth is often a matter of interpretation.
Acknowledging that learning, and the process of assessing learning, are, at best, elusive and messy endeavors that are not easily managed.

To understand constructivism, educators must focus attention on the learner. However, opportunities for learners to learn are heavily controlled by the structure of schools. We must always remember that in order to realize the possibilities for learning that a constructivist pedagogy offers, schools need to take a closer, more respectful look at their learners."

Brooks, Jacqueline, and Martin G. Brooks. In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1999.

For Level Appropriate Reading Lists click here.

CONTENT OVERVIEW

The charter's goal - to provide students with a solid scientific foundation so that they can make good conservation decisions throughout their lifetimes - was used in the design of the following curriculum maps. The premise that children must first develop a relationship with their world before they can care for it shaped the overarching theme CARING AND SHARING for grades K-2. Only after children have had personal experience and built solid relationships and understandings about their world can they problem solve conservation issues and world crises. Therefore, the overarching theme for grades 3-5 is EXPLORATIONS.

The curriculum uses basic scientific concepts as its focus. Each grade level has a yearlong theme, which serves as an organizing concept for the skills and knowledge expected for each year. Both the Georgia QCCs and national professional standards were considered in the creation of the curriculum maps. Listed below are the themes (with content summaries) for each grade level.

Language Arts standards are imbedded through the curriculum. Specific Language Arts goals are not noted within the maps, but are present throughout the scientific explorations. In order for these skills to be truly integrated into the science curriculum, a Language Arts program that uses content driven materials for reading and writing instruction is utilized.

Within each curriculum map, there are potential mathematical inquiry questions related to the content being taught. These inquiry questions follow National Council for the Teaching of Mathematics standards. They serve as the linking idea between the scientific content and mathematical skill development.

Kindergarten - Awesome Animals

Mammals, Birds, Insects, Reptiles
Patterns, and characteristics of animals (who, what, when, where, why to understand animals)
Getting to know you and your community

How animals and humans relate - similarities and differences

Mathematical Inquiry

How Many? - The students will explore the concept of number with animals.

1^st Grade - There's No Place Like Home - Animals of Georgia and North America

Animal habitats, especially in Georgia
Environmental interactions with animals
Animal classification
Animal habitats in Canada and Mexico

Mathematical Inquiry

How many animals can live in our neighborhood?
What & how much do animal(s) need to survive?
From how far away do our animals come?
How long do they stay?
To where are they traveling?

2^nd Grade - How Does Your Garden Grow? Plants

Plants - structure, process, growth
Interconnections of plants
Plants relationship with culture - local and distant (Japan and Australia)
Plants through history

Mathematical Inquiry

How much space do you need for your garden?
This inquiry question will allow the students to use problem-solving skills while exploring the following math concepts.

1. Whole number computation, estimation, whole number operations
2. Number sense and numeration, fractions, decimals
3. Geometry and spatial sense, measurement
4. Patterns and relationships, algebra

3^rd Grade - Discovery - Water

Water habitats
Interaction of water with plants and animals and their habitats
Sources of water
How we use water

Mathematical Inquiry

Approximately how much water do we have in our pond?
Make a scale drawing of your school pond on the school grounds?
Can you make a scale drawing of some mountain, desert, coastal, glacial area?
What is the difference in cost per ounce of city water versus bottled water?
How much water does your family use in one day? one week? one month? one year?
How much water does your school use in one day? one week? one month? one year?
How long will it take for water to evaporate? Under what conditions?
How much water does a plant need to survive? An animal?
How much water is in your body?

4^th Grade - Expansion Populations

Populations
How plants, animals, and water systems work together and affect populations - interdependency
Populations through history - How do underlying concepts (geography, politics, flora/fauna, economic, technology, culture, etc.) affect populations?
Historical periods - Native Americans, Colonization, Beginning of a Nation, Inventions, Westward Expansion, Civil War, Outer Space

Mathematical Inquiry

How does the number/quantity of plants and/or animals in an ecosystem affect issues of population? How do population change/affect water systems, animals, plants, and habitats?

5^th Grade - Systems-Ecology

Systems - What are the underlying components of all systems?
The different kinds of systems - economic, earth science, political, physical, cultural, biological
What are the ecological issues arising from different types of systems? Evaluate proposed solutions to address ecological issues.
Culminating project - Students will address some community ecological issue.

Mathematical Inquiry

What statistical data informs and supports conclusions, decisions, or opinions made about an ecological issue and its proposed solution(s)?