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Elementary Curriculum

Elementary literacy instruction is shaped by a comprehensive literacy framework that integrates reading, writing, spelling, and language arts (phonics, grammar, and mechanics). Reading units of study are taught in Reading Workshop. Students are explicitly taught reading skills and strategies that are applied as they read independently. Systematic instruction teaches students to construct, critically examine, and apply meaning. Students in the primary grades also participate in guided reading instruction. This small-group format meets individual student needs with the purpose of improving reading fluency and comprehension. Upper elementary students meet in Book Clubs for small group instruction. Small groups of students engage in discourse that deepens reading comprehension. Writing instruction is taught in the context of the workshop model. Through units of study, students learn to write in a variety of genres. Craft, revision, and editing strategies are embedded in every unit.

MATHEMATICS  

 

In 2020, the Medford Township School District adopted the Savvas enVisionMath 2020 Program in grades K-5. This program was chosen by a committee of teachers and administrators and is aligned to the national Common Core State Standards as well as the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS).   EnVisionMath focuses on a deep conceptual math understanding aided by visual models, student-centered projects, 3-act tasks, and personalized learning. Comprehensive vertical alignment from kindergarten through fifth grade addresses all mathematical standards in the most effective way. 

 

The enVisionMath 2020 program is research-based and was developed based on the following concepts:

Essential Understandings: Student understandings are built on research-based best practices.

Interactive Concept Development: Students interact with teachers and other students during problem-based activities.

Visual Concept Development: Students access math skills and concepts by seeing ideas developed in visual displays.

Ongoing Assessment: Regular evaluation helps prevent misconceptions and provides valuable information to guide data-driven instruction based on specific student needs.

Differentiated Instruction: All students get access to the same content, but different levels of instruction occur based on the degree of support individual students require.

English Language Learner Strategies: Program components include strategies to enhance reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills of English language learners.

Problem-Solving Process: Explicit instruction in mathematical processes helps students become effective problem solvers.

Algebra: Good conceptual development in algebra readiness will help increase performance in algebra in middle school and high school.

Vocabulary: Integrated word support is embedded to assist students in the acquisition of the language of mathematics.

Technology Integration: Computers and the Internet increase students’ and teachers’ access to math concepts and resources, provide greater potential for customization, and enable students to work in different modalities.

 

In addition to the resources offered in the classroom, all students will have on-line access to their textbook and visual lessons to review concepts at home via their Clever account.

Additional information:  New Jersey Student Learning Standards NJSLS-Mathematics 

After diligent research and extensive piloting of programs, Medford Township Public Schools has adopted TCI’s Bring Science Alive! (BSA) Science Education program.  This program is designed to guide young learners to observe and understand how the world around them works.  Bring Science Alive! lessons are designed to break away from outdated lessons and make science lessons more exciting for our students.  BSA will allow our teachers to teach using 21st century skills where students are no longer just reading text and recalling the information by answering questions.  Instead, they will be engaged in interactive science investigations that are 100% in line with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS). New Jersey recently adopted the NJSLS for science which are based on the NGSS. According to these standards, a high-quality science education means that students will develop an in-depth understanding of content and develop key skills, such as: communication, collaboration, inquiry, problem solving, and flexibility.  Skills such as these will serve them throughout their educational and professional lives.Bring Science Alive! will also allow our students to experience up to date classroom presentations, interactive science materials, extensive hands-on science investigation materials, and is completely customizable to meet the needs of our students.

Student Textbook Login

The goal of social studies is to enable all of Medford Township's students to develop a deep and rich understanding and appreciation about relationships with the world in order to participate effectively in it.The K-8 social studies curriculum is aligned with the 2009 New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and enables our students to participate in a variety of learning experiences. Students will:
 
  • study history, geography, economics, and civics from a global and diverse perspective;
  • move in a sequence that expands their awareness of self through home, school, neighborhood, community, state, region, country, and world;
  • be exposed to major cultural and geographic regions in the world;
  • empathize with the hopes, dreams, and struggles of people everywhere;
  • learn to reason historically;
  • develop critical thinking skills to examine and evaluate;
  • think conceptually about the world around them by understanding the past, linking it to the present, and planning for the future;
  • recognize how different economic systems operate in the exchange, production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services;
  • understand the fundamental ideas about the government and its function in our state and country; and
  • identify the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and its importance.
 
Kindergarten programming includes a series of lessons with big books. Grades 1 and 2 use Nystrom Social Studies Exploring Where & Why, a hands-on activity-based series of lessons with geography as a foundation. Grades 3-4 use Social Studies Alive!, while 5th Grade uses History Alive! materials which focus on big ideas about history, geography, economics, and civics through an activity-centered approach.