This beginning course teaches the basics of world geography through a storybook tour of the seven continents, and provides an introduction to American history and civics through a series of biographies of famous Americans. Students will explore the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the frozen expanses of Antarctica, the grasslands and rain forests of Africa, the Great Wall of China, and the villages and cities of Europe. Students will learn about American history through biographies of famous figures, from Columbus to Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King, Jr. Course materials include: U.S./world map, inflatable globe, Let’s Journey: Around the World (CD), Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, Possum Magic, and The Great Kapok Tree.

This research-based course focuses on computational fluency, conceptual understanding, and problem-solving. The engaging course features graphics, learning tools, and games; adaptive activities that help struggling students master concepts and skills before moving on; and support for Learning Coaches to guide their students to success. This course introduces Kindergarten students to numbers through 30. Students learn through reading, writing, counting, comparing, ordering, adding, and subtracting. They experience problem-solving and encounter early concepts in place value, time, length, weight, and capacity. They learn to gather and display simple data. Students also study two- and three-dimensional figures—they identify, sort, study patterns, and relate mathematical figures to objects within their environment. Course materials include: Math+ Activity Book, Math+ Lesson Guide, and a custom K¹² block set.

In this course, traditional games and folk songs from many cultures help students begin to read and write simple melodic and rhythmic patterns. Students are introduced to the instruments of the orchestra through Prokofiev’s classic Peter and the Wolf. They explore how music tells stories in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and are introduced to opera through a lively unit on Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Students will sing along with folk songs, practice moving to music, listen actively to different kinds of music, and begin to learn how to read and write music. Course materials include: Let’s Learn Music (DVD, vol.1); Let’s Listen (CD, vol.1); Let’s Sing (CD, vol. 1); Let’s Sing (songbook, vol. 1); Let’s Learn Rhythm (CD, vol. 1); tambourine; and slide whistle.

Students get structured lessons on reading skills, language skills, and literature to help develop comprehension, build vocabulary, and promote a lifelong interest in reading. The advanced K¹² PhonicsWorks program helps students become confident, independent readers. Handwriting without Tears focuses on careful practice at a pace that matches each student’s development of fine motor skills. Literature lessons focus on classic folktales, fairy tales, fables, and poetry. Read-aloud and guided reading lessons help students apply and extend the skills introduced in PhonicsWorks. Course materials include: Listen, My Children: Poems for First Graders; Ready ... Set ... Read; Frog and Toad Are Friends; Amelia Bedelia; Bedtime for Frances; Winnie the Pooh; and The First Thanksgiving.

Through traditional folk songs and games, students learn to read more complicated melodic patterns and rhythms. As the students listen to works by great composers, such as Vivaldi and Saint-Saëns, they learn to recognize these patterns in the music. Students will sing along with folk songs; read and write music; learn to recognize melody in three- and four-note patterns; identify rhythms in music using half notes; become familiar with string and percussion instruments of the orchestra; recognize duple and triple meter; and begin to understand standard musical notation. Course materials include: Let’s Learn Music (DVD, vol. 2), Let’s Listen (CD, vol. 2); Let’s Sing (CD, vol. 2); and Let’s Sing (songbook)

This course provides a comprehensive sequence of lessons introducing students to the writing process, grammar, vocabulary, and handwriting. Guided reading lessons on traditional stories and modern classics, with an emphasis on works that embody exemplary virtues, are designed to develop comprehension and build vocabulary. Students practice writing as a process: pre-writing, writing a draft, revising, proofreading, and publishing (sharing finished work with others). Students learn basic rules of usage (such as “may” vs. “can,” or “lie” vs. “lay”); synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms; parts of speech; punctuation; and more. Course materials include: EPS Primary Analogies, Book 2; EPS Reading Comprehension; EPS Wordly Wise 3000, Book A; George the Drummer Boy; Peter Pan; Robin Hood; and Knights of the Round Table.

The online language-learning program designed specifically for kids, K¹²’s world language offering—powerspeaK¹²—helps students read, write, speak, and listen in a variety of languages. K¹²’s World Language program is language learning your child will actually enjoy. Elementary school students in grades 3, 4, and 5 have the opportunity to take Spanish 1 and 2, French 1 and 2, German 1 and 2, and Latin 1.

Students will learn to recognize and write melodic and rhythmic patterns with four elements, and practice recognizing these patterns in the music of great composers, such as Beethoven and Brahms. Students become familiar with instruments of the orchestra as they listen to music composed by Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, Holst, and others. Students will read and write music; learn to recognize melody in two-, three-, and four-note patterns; and identify rhythms in music using eighth, quarter, half notes, and rests. Course materials include: Let’s Learn Music (DVD, vol. 2); Let’s Listen (CD, vol. 2); Let’s Sing (CD, vol. 2); Let’s Sing (songbook, vol. 2); tambourine; and slide whistle.

This research-based course focuses on computational fluency, conceptual understanding, and problem-solving. The engaging course features graphics, learning tools, and games; adaptive activities that help struggling students master concepts and skills before moving on; and support for Learning Coaches to guide their students to success. This course for students in third grade provides a quick overview of whole number addition and subtraction, but has a greater focus on whole number multiplication and division, encompassing early algebraic thinking. Decimals are studied in relationship to place value and money, and fractions are addressed through multiple representations and probability. Students are introduced to specific methods and strategies to help them become more effective problem solvers. Geometry and measurement are addressed through the study of two- and three-dimensional shapes; early work with perimeter, area, and volume; and applying measuring techniques to time, length, capacity, and weight. Course materials include: Math+ Activity Book, Math+ Lesson Guide, custom K¹² block set, Base-10 blocks set, and place-value mat.

Concluding their investigation into history from the Stone Age to the Space Age, fourth grade students turn to the study of the modern world. They learn about the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution, and meet Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklin; become familiar with James Madison and American constitutional government, as well as Napoleon in France; learn about various revolutions in Latin America; see how great changes—nationalism, industrialism, and imperialism—shaped, and sometimes shattered, the modern world, leading to the two world wars; and study many inventors and innovators who achieved great advances in communication, transportation, medicine, and government. Course materials include: The U.S. Constitution and You; Inventors; inflatable globe; U.S./world folding map; History 4 Student Pages—Semesters 1 and 2;and Map Skills and Our World—Level 4.

This is a comprehensive course covering composition, vocabulary, grammar, usage, and mechanics, including sentence analysis and diagramming. Structured lessons on spelling enable students to recognize base words and roots in related words. Lessons are designed to develop comprehension, build vocabulary, and help students become more independent readers. The emphasis is on classic literature. Students read works of nonfiction, as well as four novels selected from a long list of classics. A test preparation program prepares students for standardized tests. Course materials include: Vocabulary Workshop—Grade 4; Writing in Action—Volume C; If You Lived in the Days of the Knights; Pollyanna; and Robinson Crusoe.

Students develop scientific reasoning and perform hands-on experiments in earth, life, and physical sciences. They construct an electromagnet, identify minerals according to their properties, use chromatography to separate liquids, and assemble food webs. Students will explore topics such as the interdependence of life; plant and animal interactions; chemistry; forces and fluids; the human body; the nervous system; invertebrates; electricity and magnetism; rocks and minerals; weathering, erosion, and deposition; the fossil record and the history of life; and the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. Course materials include: bar magnet (pair), safety goggles, lamp bulb receptacles and bulbs, magnifying glass, intermediate rock and mineral kit, Invertebrates, The History of Life Through Fossils.

Through traditional folk songs and games, students learn to read and write a variety of musical patterns. They learn to play simple melodies and rhythms on the recorder. They become more familiar with the orchestra, especially the woodwind and brass families, and learn about the lives and works of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Students will learn to recognize melody in four- and five-note patterns; identify rhythms in music using sixteenths, dotted half notes, and whole notes; and recognize AB and ABA form. Course materials include: Let’s Learn the Recorder (DVD); Let’s Sing (CD, vol. 3)Volume 3; Let’s Listen (CD, vol. 3); Let’s Sing (songbook, vol. 3); and recorder.

This course provides structured lessons on composition, vocabulary, grammar, usage, and mechanics. Through emphasis on spelling, students learn relationships between sounds and spellings in words and affixes. Lessons are designed to develop comprehension, build vocabulary, and help students become more independent and thoughtful readers. Students practice writing as they write a memoir, an editorial, a research paper, a business letter, and more. Students learn about parts of speech, punctuation, and research skills. Students read works of nonfiction, as well as four novels selected from a long list of classics. Course materials include: Classics for Young Readers—Volumes 5A and 5B; American Tall Tales; Paddle to the Sea; Exercises in English—Grade 5 (Level E); and Bard of Avon: The Story of Shakespeare.

Students perform experiments, develop scientific reasoning, and recognize science in the world around them. They build a model of a watershed, test how cell membranes function, track a hurricane, and analyze the effects of gravity. Students will explore topics such as water resources (aquifers, watersheds, and wetlands), the oceans (currents, waves, tides, the ocean floor), the earth’s atmosphere (weather patterns, maps, forecasts, fronts), motion and forces (pushes or pulls, position and speed, gravity), chemistry (structure of atoms, elements and compounds), cells and cell processes, taxonomy of plants and animals, and animal physiology. Course materials include: Test tube, safety goggles, graduated cylinder, 30 Newton spring scale, advanced thermometer, How Bodies Work, and Classifying Life.

This course’s curriculum builds on the natural curiosity of students. By connecting them to the beauty of geological history, the amazing landforms around the globe, the nature of the sea and air, and the newest discoveries about our universe, Earth Science gives students an opportunity to relate to their everyday world. Students will explore topics such as the fundamentals of geology, oceanography, meteorology, and astronomy; the earth’s minerals and rocks; the earth’s interior; plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, and the movements of continents; geology and the fossil record; the oceans and the atmosphere; and the solar system and the universe. Course materials include: online textbook with printable worksheets, wall map set, advanced rock and mineral kit, stopwatch, and latch magnet.

Intermediate 2 Music begins by introducing notes that are lower or higher than the familiar lines and spaces of the staff. Students expand their knowledge of rhythm and learn about the Romantic period in music. Students also study harmony and practice recognizing pentatonic patterns. Finally, they take a musical trip through Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Japan, and China. Course materials include: Let’s Sing (CD, vol. 4); Let’s Listen (CD, vol. 4); Let’s Sing (songbook, vol. 4).

This course is designed to give students the essential building blocks for expressing their own ideas in standard (or formal) English. After an opening focus on paragraph writing, students write a variety of compositions in genres they will encounter throughout their academic careers. The Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics program offers practice in sentence analysis, sentence structure, and proper punctuation. Intermediate Literature A sharpens reading comprehension skills, engages readers in literary analysis, and offers a variety of literature to suit diverse tastes. Course materials include: Myths of Ancient Greece and Rome; BK English Language; Handbook—Grade 6; Classics for Young Readers—Volume 6; Vocabulary from Classical Roots—Book A; Twelfth Night; Tom Sawyer; and The Secret Garden.