Elementary Curriculum	Bible	English/Language	Math	Science	Social Studies	Special Events
Kindergarten	Kindergartners learn about Creation, Bible families, the Life of Christ (from birth to ascension), and the lives of David and Joseph.  A weekly Bible verse is memorized.	A literature based program is used.  Students dictate stories, author individual and class books, and participate in drama and poetry.  Concentration is focused on letters and sound recognition.  Primary readers and vowel books are read.	The “Math Their Way” program includes units in patterning, sorting and classifying, comparing, graphing, numeral recognition, counting, simple addition and subtraction, and problem solving.	Science lessons are hands on.  There are units on the five senses, food, and nutrition, weather and seasons, animals, plants, insects and the seashore.  Students work weekly in the class Life Lab garden.	Safety and transportation are studied.  Students learn about community helpers, holidays and self-awareness.	Field trips include Johnson’s Home and Farm, and Scotts Valley Market.  Students participate in a Thanksgiving feast, Christmas program, Mother’s Day Tea, Track & Field Day, and a special Kindergarten graduation.
First Grade	Students learn about their relationship to God, others and our world, through Bible characters and Bible stories.  Focus is on how God shows His love, how God chose us and how we worship God.  Emphasis is put on demonstrating God’s love to others.	A literature-based program is used including student anthologies, writers’ journals, practice books, and integrated spelling.  The “Nifty Fifty” reading club and take home books motivate children to read with their parents.	Addition and subtraction facts up to 18 are studied, including two digit numbers.  Measurement, fractions, counting money, telling time and a variety of strategies to find answers to math questions are covered.  Manipulatives are also used.	Topics studied include the sun, moon, stars, force, plants, animals, teeth, sound, matter, effects of heat, air and weather.	Students begin close to home, learning to work together at school.  The scope of study is expanded to include town and country, city and suburb, and finally the world.  First graders become familiar with Canada and Mexico in their study of the world.	Field trips include Johnson’s Home and Farm, a dairy, a play, and dentist.
Second Grade	Bible studies include, the life of Jesus and the lives of Moses, Miriam, Nehemiah, Joshua, Ruth, Abraham, etc.  Skills are developed looking up and memorizing Bible verses.	Two basal readers are completed with strong emphasis on phonics.  Language skills include writing and speaking in full sentences, alphabetizing, capitalization rules, and punctuation.  Students write in their journals daily and write several pieces during the year.	There is an emphasis on mastering addition and subtraction including memorizing math facts, two and three digit problems with borrowing and carrying, and word problems.  Students learn to understand place value, counting money, telling time, and beginning multiplication, division and fractions.	Studies include plants and animals, earth, light and shadows, magnets, measurement, nutrition, muscles and bones.  Skills developed include observation and recording findings.	Units include holidays, famous people, our country, and international influences in our customs.  The class will study how we obtain products.  Skills include reading maps and globes.	Field trips are taken to the County Fair, Gizdich Farm, and a play.  Every Wednesday afternoon is “Wacky Wednesday” in which the students participate in five different learning centers: art, cooking, science, listening and educational games.

Elementary Curriculum	Bible	English/Language	Math	Science	Social Studies	Special Events
Third Grade	Students study the life of Christ (actions, teachings, and miracles), the early church in Acts, and missions from Paul until now.  A Bible verse is memorized weekly.	Short stories and two novels are read (Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and Little House on the Prairie); comprehension and vocabulary are emphasized.  Students prepare four book reports, learn basic grammar and writing skills, and practice a variety of writing styles.  Students also learn to write in cursive.	Students study place value and money, adding and subtracting whole numbers, time, data and graphs, multiplication and division facts, concepts, measurement, geometry, fractions, probability, and decimals.	Topics studied are: types of plants and animals, ecosystems, how living things depend on one another, Earth’s land including minerals, rocks, fossils, forces that shape the land, soils, and Earth’s resources; the water cycle, weather, Earth’s place in the Solar System; properties and changes in matter; energy, heat, forces and motion.	Curriculum covers the study of land and water in the U.S., Native Americans, early American settlers from Pilgrims to the westward movement, U.S. farming and industry, natural resources, land use, management and conservation, and national symbols and holidays.	Field trips include the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Nisene Marks State Park, a play, and the Santa Cruz Natural History Museum.
Fourth Grade	Study is done on the life of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the life of Paul and selected Old Testament characters.  Included is Bible memorization and preparing for special chapels.	Students participate in book projects and special reports.  They create journals, poetry, etc.  Also studied are parts of speech and spelling vocabulary.  Cursive is reviewed.  Books read include: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Cricket in Times Square, The Island of the Blue Dolphins, and more.	Emphasis is placed on multiplication and division of two digit numbers, place value, measurement, graphing, fractions, and decimals.  Students have an introduction to geometry.	Topics studied are Living Things- including animals, plants, human body, ecosystems, Earth’s surface, patterns on earth and in space, matter and energy and forces and motion.	California’s history is the main focus of fourth grade.  Students learn about California’s Native Americans, the mission era, the Gold Rush days, early statehood and modern California.  Map skills are also practiced.	Students participate in special California history projects as well as taking various field trips related to California history such as the overnight trip to ”Rock ‘n Water” Gold Rush Trip in Placerville and “Age of Sail” in San Francisco.  We also attend the Santa Cruz Symphony and a play.
Fifth Grade	Students survey the Old Testament, learning how the stories fit together into one pattern.  A weekly Bible passage is memorized and students complete a project based on I Corinthians.	Grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills are the main focus.  Students prepare several book reports.  Books read include Caddie Woodlawn, Where the Red Fern Grows, Number the Stars, and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Franweiler.	Students review factors, fraction, decimals, multiples, place value, statistics, and graphing.  New concepts introduced are short division, percent, geometry, integers, and measurement of perimeter and area.	Fifth grade science covers the study of fossils, living systems, systems and interactions in nature, processes that change the earth, the solar system and beyond, building blocks of matter and energy and motion.	Subjects covered include United States History up to the American Revolution.  Map and globe skills are developed.  Students prepare a state report and a Revolutionary War report.	Field trips are taken to the Santa Cruz Symphony, Elkhorn Slough, Angel Island O’Neill Sea Odyssey and a play.