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• A Constructivist Classroom
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Program Overview for Grades 2/3

Aurora School's interdisciplinary curriculum and teaching strategies challenge students to explore and experiment through active application of academic and social skills. The goal is for students to master a wide range of skills, have the confidence to use them, and the entrepreneurial spirit to apply them creatively in an increasingly complex world.

Science

The Science Program focuses on developing students' understanding of scientific content and scientific process. Children are natural scientists who are always inquiring, investigating, formulating and reformulating how the world works. In the 2/3 classroom, students cover the following curriculum in their two years together:

• Earth materials and tools to explore properties of rocks and minerals
• Structures of life - observe, compare, and identify cycles of plants through gardening
• Properties of sound - vibration, pitch and volume
• Properties of water, water as a resource and the watershed
• Air, clouds, wind, precipitation and weather patterns
• Balance and motion - explore effects of gravity on balancing, rolling, spinning and sliding

Social Studies

Social Studies is the study of human interaction and the importance of political, social and geographical variables on human history and societal evolution. In the 2/3 classroom, students focus on the themes of people who make a difference, continuity and change.

Students also cover the following topics on a two-year cycle:

• People with Different Abilities
• Oakland History
• Cultural Studies

Mathematics

The Aurora Mathematics Program encompasses a wide variety of constructivist-based activities that emphasize strong development of mathematical reasoning, problem solving and communications skills in addition to computational strategies. Students gain valuable experience in all of the mathematical strands as outlined by the California standards, including Number and Operations, Measurement and Geometry, Algebra and Functions. In the 2/3 Math Program, students learn to:

• Understand place value to 10,000
• Use expanded notation
• Find sums and differences with a variety of strategies including regrouping
• Memorize the multiplication table for number 1 - 10
• Solve one-digit by multi-digit multiplication problems
• Use concrete objects to identify, add and subtract fractions
• Understand that decimals are a special type of fraction
• Use tools and units to estimate and measure the length, width/mass and volume of objects
• Describe, classify and find area and perimeter of given polygons and polyhedrons
• Tell time to the minute
• Conduct simple probability experiments, recording, graphing and summarizing results.
• Apply strategies and results from simpler problems to solve more complex problems
• Express solutions clearly and logically using mathematical notation, terms, graphs and drawings

Reading/Literature Study

Reading is a key literacy tool. The Reading Program at Aurora offers a balance of meaning based opportunities and teacher directed lessons in which specific decoding and comprehension strategies are taught in context. Teachers at Aurora cull from a broad range of resources and experts to teach reading and literature. In the 2/3 classroom, students continue building a foundation of key literacy skills and strategies. The concepts and skills taught meet and exceed the California standards:

• Reading Comprehension
  • Retell, summarize and visualize events in a text
  • Make predictions based on background knowledge; generate questions related to a text
  • Make text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connections
  • Identify and describe elements of a story in detail
  • Infer information about events, characters and settings
  • Distinguish common forms of literature - poetry, drama, fiction or non-fiction
• Decoding and Word Recognition
• Vocabulary

Writing

Writing is one of our most important tools for communicating and is incorporated into all areas of the curriculum, including math, science and art. At Aurora, writing is taught through a process approach in a workshop setting where students brainstorm, draft, conference, edit, revise, publish and celebrate their writing. In the 2/3 classroom, the topics include:

• Writing
  • Develop a sense of audience and purpose
  • Develop an understanding of the writing process
  • Write clear, coherent sentences with some complexity
  • Write simple paragraphs
  • Write in narrative, descriptive and non-fiction forms
• Penmanship
  • Write legibly in cursive and manuscript
• Grammar and Punctuation
  • Identify parts of speech in writing and speaking
  • Identify past, present and future verb tenses
  • Use commas in dates, locations, addresses and for items in a series
  • Capitalize words appropriately
• Word Study (Spelling)

Field Trips

In the 2/3 classes, students spend time in the field, experiencing their education in the real world environment:

• Oakland Chinatown
• San Francisco Symphony
• Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall
• Guide Dogs for the Blind
• Lake Temescal
• Oakland Museum
• Savage Dance Company
• Lawrence Hall of Science
• Sibley Volcanic Preserve
• Berkeley Marina
• Preservation Park
• Mt. Diablo
• Exploratorium