Elementary School is a fun and challenging time for your child. It's a time to build friendships and discover new subjects and special interests. The elementary school curriculum is usually a general education that exposes your child to the arts, technology, music, math and literature, inclusive of phonics, spelling, handwriting and language, sicence, social studies and physical education. As he learns and is being taught in the various subjects, he or she will find out the subjects that stimulate him or her the most and continue to be challenged throughout their educational experience at The Palm Desert Learning Tree Center.

In the elementary school, inclusive of Kindergarten through Fifth grades, students will learn core subjects and develop fundamental skills. We have chosen some new materials for this school year which we are very excited about. The A Beka curriculum is now being used in Mathematics, Phonics, Language Arts, and Social Studies.

In Kindergarten we use:

• Letters and Sounds, children learn to review vowel and consonant sounds, blends, words with one and two vowels and special sounds, and sentence comprehension.
• The Kindergarten writing tablet helps children practice the letters of the alphabet in this seatwork tablet.
• The Mathematic textbook is called Number Skills, grade K, which reinforces: number concepts and formation through 100, simple addition and subtraction combinations, telling time, working with money, and number sequence words.
• Social Studies, grade K focuses on fun activities and coloring pages while teaching about community helpers, America, and children of 10 different countries. Holidays and special event days are also included in the social studies program.
• Supplementary Teaching visuals are also used in the Kindergarten classroom which include: America: Our Great Country Visuals, Children of the World Visuals, Community Helpers Visuals, Health and Safety Visuals, Character Development Visuals, and Language Enrichment Cards.

In addition, Scott Foresman Publishing Company is used for our Reading and Spelling program.

• Reading builds successful readers by providing direct, systematic, and research-based instruction that fully aligns with national and state standards. The effective instructional plan includes reading, phonics, oral language and writing every day at every grade level, Kindergarten through Grade 5.
• D'nealian Handwriting improves penmanship and basic handwriting skills with a D'nealian handbook and charts. Children improve handwriting skills with the worksheets in these manuscript and cursive workbooks through repetition and well calculated daily drills.
• Everyday Spelling is an exciting interactive way for children to practice spelling words and build language skills on a daily basis. Included are pages on writing and proofreading capabilities, vocabulary practice, alphabetical order, sentence writing, and phonics based word lists along with stories and teaching strategies. Each child starts out in Kindergarten with one grade higher than they are presently in and this process continues through the upper grades. Spelling for Kindergarten starts in January of the present school year with a First grade Spelling book.

Harcourt School Publishers is used in our Science program which is California adopted version which offers students exciting and accessible standard based lessons. Engaging activities promote curiosity and foster the development of science inquiry skills. Through a consistent and structured learning cycle, students confidently build upon their experiences to develop a lifelong understanding of science concepts. Science workbooks include process skills practice, lesson concepts and review assessments, vocabulary review and cards.

Academic textbooks for grades First through Fifth Grade include:
A Beka curriculum is used in Language Arts, History, and Mathematics.

First Grade:

Arithmetic 1 uses delightful themes and full color illustrations. Concepts include counting, writing, and reading numbers, place value, addition and subtraction, money graphs, measurement, time, temperature and fractions. The 342 page workbook is perforated and includes classwork and seatwork pages for every day based around themes of zoo, ocean, farm and springtime.

Other textbooks include: Scott Foresman Handwriting, Spelling and Reading. Harcourt

D'Nealian Handwriting helps to improve penmanship and basic handwriting skills with D'Nealian materials and charts. Daily worksheets following the letters of the alphabet.

Everyday Spelling includes weekly phonics based word list, weekly test, reinforcement activities, alphabetizing of words, writing sentences and additional creative writing.

Second Grade:

A Beka curriculum is used in subjects, Language Arts, Grammar and Writing, Social Studies, and Mathematics.

Language Arts 2 - Concepts learned in first grade are reinforced as students go on to master the following areas: recognizing and correctly punctuating three kinds of sentences, working with compound words, rhyming words, antonyms, synonyms, contractions and singular possessive words, forming plurals, and using words correctly.

History - "Our America" Second graders step back into history and learn what life would have been like in our country's early days. They learn the history of our flag and of patriotic songs and holidays and study the lives of groups that made valuable contributions to our American heritage: the Pilgrims, American Indians, early colonists, pioneers, cowboys, and immigrants.

Mathematics - concepts taught include counting, place value, addition and subtraction, money, time, graphs, simple geometry, multiplication and division, and Roman numerals. Story problems are used to provide practice in using the skills and facts learned and are based on concrete situations.

Additional books include: Scott Foresman Reading, Everyday Spelling, D'Nelian Handwriting and Science.

Third Grade:

A Beka curriculum is used in subjects Language Arts, Grammar and Writing, Social Studies and Mathematics.

Language Arts 3 - This write-in text provides and excellent and abundant Variety of practice exercises for your third grade students as they begin their formal study of English as an academic subject. Capitalization, punctuation, correct sentences, proper work usage, knowledge of synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms, and recognition of nouns and verbs are emphasized. Dictionary skills, journal entries, and creative writing skills are also developed.

History - "Our American Heritage" - The biographical format of this chronologically arranged introduction to American history makes it easier for students to remember important dates and events and gives them the right kind of heroes and valuable models of good character.

Mathematics - Extensive work is provided in multiplication and division, story problems of to four steps, Roman numerals, averaging numbers, standard measures, equations, and adding, subtracting, and reducing fractions. This colorful workbook includes two pages per day of class work.

Additional text books include Scott Foresman Reading, Everyday Spelling, and D'Nealian Handwriting.

Fourth Grade:

The A Beka Curriculum is subjects Language Arts, Grammar and Writing, Social Studies and Mathematics.

Language Arts - Language A - An emphasis usage and the writing process. Students are given extensive instruction in writing book reports, letters, and an encyclopedia report. There are also a number of creative writing exercises and excellent sections on using the dictionary and the encyclopedia. Traditional grammar training continues as students learn to recognize all eight parts of speech, identify simple and compound subjects and verbs, diagram subjects, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and learn simple rules for correct word usage and subject /verb agreement.

Social Studies - The History of Our America - The high interest inspiring narrative approach to American history brings to life famous people, major events, changes in ways of travel, communication, and thinking, and the principles that made America great.

Mathematics - The colorful daily worksheets provide practice over familiar concepts and reteach the new material. A major emphasis is on working with fractions, both proper and improper , adding, subtracting , and multiplying fractions , and finding the least common denominator.

Additional text books include Scott Foresman Reading, Everyday Spelling, and D'Nealian Handwriting.

© Copyright 2010 - 2012 The Palm Desert Learning Tree Center, Inc.
Website design and SEO Marketing by e-works media, inc