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Making ConnectionsThe Core Knowledge curriculum is all about making connections -- not only within each grade, but also from one grade to the next. You will find our curriculum has...
SPECIFIC CONNECTIONS:
Instead of vague curricular goals or standards such as "Students will understand important people and dates in U.S. History," The Core Knowledge curriculum outlines specific content to be covered in each grade level for each subject. In Fifth Grade, for example, students learn about the U.S. Civil War, its causes and conflicts, and the Reconstruction era. In Literacy, they read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In Music, they do a unit on American spirituals such as Down By The Riverside and We Shall Overcome.
In Second Grade, students read Greek Myths in Literacy. At the same time, they're learning about Ancient Greece in Social Studies -- Sparta, Athens, the Persian Wars, Alexander the Great, and Olympic Games. The Art teacher is teaching a unit on architecture which covers columns, domes, symmetry, and buildings like the Parthenon.
SEQUENCED CONNECTIONS:
The Core Knowledge curriculum builds on each year's previous content. For example, every grade level does a science unit on the human body. Kindergarten does a very age-appropriate unit on the five senses. In first grade, we introduce students to the concept of "body systems"....that we have a circulatory system, digestive system, skeletal system, and so on. Second graders learn about the digestive system. Then third graders learn about the skeletal system along with the muscular system and nervous system. Fourth graders learn about the circulatory system and respiratory system. And so on. In doing this in each subject area, Core Knowledge eliminates the gaps and repeats you often find in other curricula.
SHARED CONNECTIONS:
If we tell students they need to "turn over a new leaf" will they know what we mean? If a sports announcer refers to a game as "an example of David and Goliath" will our students understand the reference? What are the little things we want students to know and understand as part of our shared culture? Core Knowledge takes the time to teach the things that connect us as a common culture and as a global society.
SOLID CONNECTIONS:
The Core Knowledge curriculum was developed when an advisory board on multi-culturalism surveyed teachers, scholars, scientists, and specialists around the country to determine what all students should know. This content was looked at in terms of what is important to know now, five years from now, fifteen years from now. It's not the latest educational fad that will fall by the wayside two years from now. It's solid information every student should have by the time they get to college, broken down into an age-appropriate scope and sequence.
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