6-12 Curriculum

English Language Arts

The goal of the English Language Arts (ELA) program of the Stamford Public Schools, an urban district in lower Fairfield County, is to produce a diverse community of critical and creative thinkers and to promote intellectual autonomy and scholarship for all students. As members of learning communities, students become strong, deep and independent thinkers and learners through the language experiences of reading, writing, and collaborating. Active engagement in ELA classes promotes the development of students as thoughtful readers of literature, non-fiction, and informational texts who gain insights about the human condition, appreciate the power of language, and gain a broad range of interpretive skills as they read and view texts. Students of all cultural, racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds exchange ideas about their reading and thinking in a variety of forms, fostering interpretation that reflects multiple perspectives. Students develop as strong, proficient writers who use writing to discover what they think, to develop and extend their thinking, and to communicate ideas to varied and specific audiences.

Stamford ELA students fulfill the following goals of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts/Literacy (CCSS):

engage in regular practice with complex text and its academic language;
use evidence from text, both literary and informational, to present careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information;
read carefully and grasp information, arguments, ideas and details based on text evidence;
answer a range of text-dependent questions, questions in which the answers require inferences based on careful attention to the text;
read and build knowledge through content rich literary non-fiction;
write to assert and defend claims, show knowledge, and convey experiences;
use technology strategically when creating, refining, and collaborating on writing;
gather information, evaluate sources, cite material accurately, and report findings from research and analysis of sources in a clear and cogent manner; and
take part in a variety of rich, structured conversations — as part of a whole class, in small groups, and with a partner — built around important content.

The ELA program has two major features: inquiry and skill-based. These components work together to implement both Stamford’s vision for the learning of ELA and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts/Literacy.

An inquiry-based ELA program is the best way to develop students as readers, writers, and thinkers, because it requires all students to be active learners. It allows students to become college and career-ready by emphasizing these learning experiences for each individual student: close reading and interpretation of complex texts, shaping of questions, posing of problems, evaluation of ideas, and effectively communicating one’s inquiries, positions, and stories to others.

The Stamford Public Schools ELA program creates communities of learners in which students grapple with challenging texts, skills, and concepts. The ELA program aligns with the district's mission statement, preparing each and every student for higher education and success in the 21st century.

Courses

Grade 6

Unit 1: Choices and Courage

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 2: Nature vs. Nurture

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 3: Oppression and Race

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 4: Culture, Community & Environmental Influences

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Essential Questions

How do our choices affect who we will become?
How do our choices affect others?
When should we stand up for what we believe in?
How do narratives help us understand ourselves and others?
How can individuals change their circumstances for the better?
Do our genetics shape our personality and behavior?
What are the characteristics of oppression?
How does culture, race and ethnicity impact how people view themselves and others?
How does social change influence oppression?
What does it mean to seek justice?
Is it ever acceptable to break social norms and rules in pursuit of justice?
How do personal narratives impact one’s motivation related to seeking change or justice?
How and why do people need to become agents of change?

Grade 7

Unit 1: Freedom and Choice

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 2: Oppression vs. Independence

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 3: Community

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 4: Defining Your Place in the World

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Essential Questions

What is the relationship between decisions and consequences?
How do the decisions we make impact who we are?
Who has the power to determine our freedom and choices?
How do choices affect us, our community, and the world?
How do race and class help to define who we are?
How does an individual deal with oppression?
How do choices affect us, our community, and the world?
How have your lived experiences impacted your personal identity?
How do your experiences affect your role as a citizen in your personal community?
How and why do communities evolve and adapt?
How do choices affect us, our community, and the world?
Why do we conform?
What are we willing to sacrifice to belong?
How do choices affect your place in the world ?

Grade 8

Unit 1: Global Identity

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 2: Personal Identity

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 3: Political Identity

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Unit 4: Defining Your Place in the World

Sub Unit A: Writing
Sub Unit B: Reading
Sub Unit C: Speaking and Listening

Essential Questions:

How does your place in the world shape your identity?
How does your place in the world impact your role as a global citizen?
How does culture influence views on identity and citizenship?
How have your lived experiences impacted your personal identity?
How do your experiences shape your role as a citizen in your personal community?
How does identity influence a narrative perspective?
What is a political identity?
How is your political identity shaped by societal forces?
What impact can one's political identity have on their national and global communities?
How does society dictate your identity and to what extent do you allow it to?
How can an individual incite sustaining or lasting change within society?
What is the relationship between your personal identity and social identity?

Grade 9

Unit 1: Sense of Self and Identity

Sub Unit A: Language of the Narrative
Sub Unit B: Structure of the Narrative
Sub Unit C: Reimagining the Narrative

Unit 2: Dreams and Realities

Sub Unit A: Determining a Theme
Sub Unit B: Writing About a Theme
Sub Unit C: Revising Writing

Unit 3: Choices and Consequences

Sub Unit A: Identifying and Understanding Argument
Sub Unit B: Evaluating Argument
Sub Unit C: Crafting an Argument

Unit 4: The Journey of Becoming a Hero

Sub Unit A: Evaluating Sources for a Presentation
Sub Unit B: Research for a Presentation
Sub Unit C: Synthesizing Information

Essential Questions:

How do you define yourself?
How does your community shape you?
How is your perception of yourself different from other people’s perception of you?
How does a person’s journey determine their identity?
How do your dreams define who you are?
What is the importance of our dreams?
How can your dreams drive you?
Is it important to consider the realistic limitations (realities) of our dreams?
What sacrifices are you willing to make to achieve your dreams?
How do we live with the consequences of our actions?
How does a social environment affect a person’s process of decision-making?
What control, if any, do we have over the consequences of our decisions?
What determines the rightness of a choice?
How can you be the hero of your own life story?
Are there qualities that all heroes share? How do you define heroism?
What do heroes learn from their journey?
Are heroes born or made?
Can a hero be flawed?

Grade 10

Unit 1: Social Expectations and Identity

Sub Unit A: Language of the Narrative
Sub Unit B: Structure of the Narrative
Sub Unit C: Reimagining the Narrative

Unit 2: Conformity and Social Norms

Sub Unit A: Identifying and Understanding Argument
Sub Unit B: Evaluating Argument
Sub Unit C: Crafting an Argument

Unit 3: Loneliness and Isolation

Sub Unit A: Determining a Theme
Sub Unit B: Writing About a Theme
Sub Unit C: Revising Writing

Unit 4: Surviving, Coping, and Adapting

Sub Unit A: Evaluating Sources for a Presentation
Sub Unit B: Research for a Presentation
Sub Unit C: Synthesizing Information

Essential Questions:

How does society influence your identity?
How can you challenge societal expectations, when you are part of that community?
How do you challenge the perceptions others have of you?
Why do people conform?
How can you be your authentic self?
How do you change who you are to align with societal expectations?
What are you willing to sacrifice to fit in?
What are the potential consequences of nonconformity?
Do humans need connection?
How does loneliness and isolation impact the human spirit?
Does society have a responsibility to the lonely?
Does being alone always mean a person is lonely?
How does isolation from society impact a person?
Is surviving the same as living?
What does it mean to cope?
How do you cope to survive?
How do you adapt to survive?

Grade 11

Unit 1: My Place in America

Sub Unit A: Developing the Details of the Narrative
Sub Unit B: Overall Structure of the Narrative
Sub Unit C: Adaptation and Revision of the Narrative

Unit 2: Race, Gender, Class, and Invisibility

Sub Unit A: Determining How Structure and Details Contribute to Meaning
Sub Unit B: Using Effective Evidence to Support Insightful Inferences
Sub Unit C: Developing and Strengthening Academic Writing

Unit 3: Responsibility to Yourself and Others

Sub Unit A: Understanding Argument and Point of View
Sub Unit B: Considering Alternate Perspectives
Sub Unit C: Crafting the Argument

Unit 4: Reimagining the American Dream

Sub Unit A: Evaluating and Integrating Multiple Sources
Sub Unit B: Constructing the Presentation

Essential Questions:

What role does society play in shaping our identities?
How important is it to be accepted?
How do my circumstances affect my experience?
What does it mean to be young and American?
How do gender roles affect our actions and reactions?
How do gender and race impact an individual’s voice?
What does it mean to be invisible?
How does an individual's race contribute to their visibility?
What responsibility does an individual have to other people or to society?
What does it mean to have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
How does an individual go about changing an unjust society?
What responsibility does an individual have to create change?
What does it mean to be successful?
What effect does materialism have on society and human relationships?
How has the American dream changed over time?
How does the idea of the American dream influence goals and aspirations?

Grade 12

Unit 1: Race, Gender, and Identity

Sub Unit A: Determining How Structure and Details Contribute to Meaning
Sub Unit B: Using Effective Evidence to Support Insightful Inferences
Sub Unit C: Developing and Strengthening Academic Writing

Unit 2: Politics of Power

Sub Unit A: Evaluating and Integrating Multiple Sources
Sub Unit B: Constructing the Presentation

Unit 3: Culture and Otherness

Sub Unit A: Understanding Argument and Point of View
Sub Unit B: Considering Alternate Perspectives
Sub Unit C: Crafting the Argument

Unit 4: Defining Your Place in the World

Sub Unit A: Developing the Details of the Narrative
Sub Unit B: Overall Structure of the Narrative
Sub Unit C: Adaptation and Revision of the Narrative

Essential Questions:

How do race and gender define who we are and who we can be?
To what extent is a person’s moral development a result of nature versus nurture?
To what degree does our environment shape who we are?
To what extent can a single choice impact the rest of a person’s life?
How does society define who has power?
How does an individual deal with oppression?
Can the pursuit of power lead to a loss of humanity?
What does resistance look like in the face of power?
What are possible pathways to empowerment?
How do other people’s ideas about me affect my conception/perception of myself?
What does it mean to see the world through a different lens?
What is culture and how does it define me?
Who am I and how do I connect with the world?
What is my responsibility in a global society?
How does my age, gender, social status (etc.) determine my responsibility in a global society?

English Learners

The goal of the English Learner (EL) program in the Stamford Public Schools is to create a safe, supportive, rigorous environment to welcome newcomer EL students and continue to expand English proficiency to continuing students.

The ESL curriculum is aligned to Connecticut English Language Proficiency Standards CELP Standards as well as Connecticut Core English Language Arts Standards.

Vision

Based on the fundamental belief that all students have the right to equitable access to education and that we live in an ever changing and diverse world, students in ESL classes are supported with intense English language development while respecting their home language and culture. The development of the English language offers access to American schooling. While learning English, students are exposed to content area topics, academic language, American culture, and have opportunities for higher order thinking.

Guiding Principles

Education is a right for all students
Oral language is the base for literacy skills
Trajectory of Second Language Acquisition varies based on students’ background
Students should be represented and included in curriculum
Students should have the opportunity to collaborate with peers
Mazlow’s Hierarchy; students need to feel safe in order to learn

High Quality English Language Learning and Instruction

Teachers will:

Provide a safe and supportive learning environment for ALL students
Smile at students, be joyful
Project a belief that all students can successfully achieve
Use a student-centered approach
Provide assessments for student learning
Be culturally responsive and sustaining
Differentiate instruction for linguistic levels and learning styles
Provide students opportunities to collaborate with mainstream peers
Model and explain American school routines and expectations

Students will:

Feel they are part of a community in the classroom
Learn by doing
Develop confidence in their English language skills
Work both individually and collaboratively with a partner or in groups
Be engaged in lessons
Use multiple methods to demonstrate their learning
Be independent learners and thinkers; take ownership of their learning
Use technology for learning
Be aware of attendance policy and class expectations
Respect classroom rules and school environment

Courses

English as a Second Language (ESL) A 9-12
New Arrivals Center (NAC) 6-8

English as a Second Language (ESL) A 9-12

All along the path of developing the High School ESL A curriculum, we maintained a philosophy of rigorous, relevant curriculum with high expectations for the various kinds of learners who arrive at high school with a below beginner level of English. This course helps students begin to form their new identity in English. Students are encouraged to explore aspects of the topics in order to answer the Essential Questions in each of the units for themselves. The units provide opportunities for students to explore various perspectives on a variety of topics to be successful in school and in their new country. In each unit, they will need to read, speak, listen, and write, and synthesize their learning into a coherent project.

Unit 1: Nice to Meet You

Unit 2: Your school

Unit 3: Your School Day

Unit 4: Everything you do

Unit 5: At Lunch

Unit 6: Information Everywhere

Unit 7: How Do you Feel?

Unit 8: Brr! Put on your coat!

Unit 9: Around Town

Unit 10: All Year Long

Unit 11: Where do I live?

Unit 12: My Home

Unit 13: Technology

Unit 14: At the Workplace

Unit 15: Financial Literacy

Essential Questions

How do I introduce myself and meet other people?
How do I go to school in the USA?
What do I do at different times of the school day?
How can I communicate information about what I do in school?
What do I eat and when?
How do we get information?
How do I feel?
Does weather and temperature determine what we wear?
How do I navigate my community?
What special days do I celebrate?
How do I express where I live?
What type of home do I have? What is in my home?
How do we use technology to help us in school?
What do people do for work?
What is financial literacy?

New Arrivals Center (NAC) 6-8

The central curriculum for the English development units in the full day New Arrivals Center is developed using the Inside the USA material by National Geographic.

Prior to starting the curriculum, students are provided with an assessment to determine their English language proficiency. This assessment, along with pre-assessments for each unit, create baseline data to measure student progress as they move through and exit the 10 month program.

Further, embedded throughout the scope and sequence of the curriculum, the New Arrivals program also includes various teacher-designed units focused on important United States history, holidays, themes, and topics as well as curriculum units that are built around topics in the mainstream classroom.

Unit 1

Introductions
Phonemic Awareness
Language Arts: Introductions, Sentence Structure
Math: Operations
Science: Introduction to Science, Making Observations
Social Studies: What is a timeline? & Introduction to Social Studies and American Culture
American Holidays: Labor Day

Unit 2

School Environment
Food and Expressing Likes and Dislikes
Language Arts: Reading Comprehension
Math: Money and Place Value
Science: States of Matter, Solar System
Social Studies: Continents, Oceans, Landforms, Waterways, US Symbols, and Geography

Unit 3

Sentence Elements
Language Arts: Text Structure & Story Elements
Math: Graphing, Introduction to Decimals and Fractions
Science: Living and Nonliving
Social Studies: US Landmarks, Regions of the United States, US Government
America Holidays: Thanksgiving, Veterans Day & Election Day

Unit 4

Language Arts: Concepts of print, Text Structure & Story Elements Cont.
Math: Fractions as Parts of a Whole, Decimals and Fractions Continued
Science: Clouds, Body Parts, Respiratory System
Social Studies: Holidays Around the World, European Settlers and the Thirteen Colonies

Unit 5

Sentence Elements
Language Arts: Text Structure & Sentence Writing, Speaking and Writing
Math: Graphing, Decimals
Science: Weather, Digestive System
Social Studies: US Landmarks, Regions of the United States, Inauguration
Winter Holidays

Unit 6

Sentence Elements
Language Arts: Text Structure & Story Elements
Math: Graphing, Fractions
Science: Weather, Circulatory System
Social Studies: US Landmarks, Regions of the United States, Black History Month
American Holidays: Valentines Day, Black History Month

Unit 7

Sentence Elements
Language Arts: Text Structure & Story Elements
Math: Graphing, Fractions Continued
Science: Living and Nonliving, Biomes
Social Studies: US Landmarks, Regions of the United States, Ancient Civilizations
American Holidays: St. Patrick's Day

Unit 8

Sentence Elements
Language Arts: Text Structure & Story Elements
Math: Percent
Science: Types of Clouds, Matter
Social Studies: Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
American Holidays: April Fools Day, Earth Day, World Heritage Day

Unit 9

Sentence Elements
Language Arts: Text Structure & Story Elements
Math: Graphing, The Metric System
Science: Weather, The Periodic Table and Atoms
Social Studies: Imperial and Ancient China
American Holidays: Mother’s Day

Unit 10

Sentence Elements
Language Arts: Text Structure & Story Elements
Math: Graphing, Geometry/Algebra
Science: Weather, Cel Animation & Technology
Social Studies: US Landmarks, Regions of the United States, Current Events
American Holiday: Flag Day, Father’s Day

Mathematics

As educators, we are always continuously learning and searching for ways to improve ourselves professionally, which naturally leads to improved experiences for our students. They can sense our interest in our subject and our enthusiasm for teaching. This desire to help our students grow as learners is echoed through the Mathematics Vision and Goal for Stamford Public Schools:

Mathematics Vision: All SPS students will participate in a rigorous, standards-based mathematics program and will be prepared for college-level mathematics coursework and competition in the global workforce.

Mathematics Goal: All students will achieve at or above “goal” on the State of Connecticut’s mathematics assessments.

With our vision and goal in mind, there have been changes made to the middle and high school math curricula, pacing guides, and resources. We have modeled our curriculum with McGraw Hill’s Reveal Math. We are implementing the new curriculum in grades 6-8 and Integrated Math 1 (IM1) this year. The remaining courses, Integrated Math 2 (IM2) and Integrated Math 3 (IM3), will be implemented in the following years. While we are transitioning to a more integrated math program, it continues to be aligned to the Connecticut Common Core Standards. Reveal Math used findings from research on teaching and learning mathematics to develop its instructional model. Based on analyses of research findings, these areas form the foundational structure of the program:

Rigor
Productive Struggle
Formative Assessment
Rich Tasks
Mathematical Discourse
Collaborative Learning

Courses

Grade 6

Ratios and Proportional Relationships

Module 1: Ratios and Rates
Module 2: Fractions, Decimals, Percents

Number Systems

Module 3: Compute with Multi-Digit Numbers and Fractions
Module 4: Integers, Rational Numbers and Coordinate Plane

Expressions and Equations

Module 5: Powers and Exponents
Module 6: Equations and Inequalities
Module 7: Relationships Between Two Variables

Statistics and Probability

Module 10: Statistical Measures and Displays

Geometry

Module 8: Area
Module 9: Volume

Essential Questions

How can mathematical expressions be represented and evaluated?
How can you use fractions, decimals and percents to solve everyday problems?
How are operations with fractions and decimals related to operations with whole numbers?
How are integers and rational numbers related to the coordinate plane?
How can we communicate algebraic relationships with mathematical symbols?
How are solutions of equations and inequalities different?
What are the ways in which a relationship between two variables can be displayed?
How are the areas of triangles and rectangles used to find the area of other polygons?
How can you describe the size of a three-dimensional figure?
Why is data collected and analyzed and how can it be displayed?

Grade 7

Proportional Relationships

Module 1: Proportional Relationships
Module 2: Solving Percent Problems

The Number System

Module 3: Operations with Integers
Module 4: Operations with Rational Numbers

Expressions and Equations

Module 5: Simplify Algebraic Expressions
Module 6: Write and Solve Equations
Module 7: Write and Solve Inequalities

Geometry

Module 8: Geometric Figures
Module 9: Measure Figures

Probability and Statistics

Module 10: Probability
Module 11: Sampling and Statistics

Essential Questions

What does it mean for two quantities to be in a proportional relationship?
How can percent describe the change of a quantity?
How are operations with integers related to operations with whole numbers?
How are operations with rational numbers related to operations with integers?
Why is it beneficial to rewrite expressions in different forms?
How can equations be used to solve everyday problems?
How are the solutions to inequalities different from the solutions to equations?
How does geometry help to describe objects?
How can we measure objects to solve problems?
How can probability be used to predict future events?
How can you use a sample to gain information about a population?

Grade 8

Number System

Module 1: Exponents and Scientific Notation
Module 2: Real Numbers

Linear Equations and Functions

Module 3: Solving Equations with Variables on Each Side
Module 4: Linear Relationships and Slope
Module 5: Functions
Module 11: Scatter Plots and Two-Way Tables

Geometry

Module 7: Triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem
Module 10: Volume
Module 8: Transformations
Module 9: Congruence and Similarity

Systems of Linear Equations

Module 6: Systems of Linear Equations

Essential Questions

Why are exponents useful when working with very large or very small numbers?
Why do we classify numbers?
How can equations on variables on each side be used to represent everyday situations?
How are linear relationships related to proportional relationships?
What does it mean for a relationship to be a function?
How can systems of equations be helpful in solving everyday problems?
How can angle relationships and right triangles be used to solve everyday problems?
What does it mean to perform a transformation on a figure?
What information is needed to determine if two figures are congruent or similar?
How can you measure a cylinder, cone, or sphere?
What do patterns in data mean and how are they used?

Integrated Math 1

Algebra

Module 1 : Expressions
Module 2 : Equations in one variable
Module 6 : Linear Inequalities
Module 7 : Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities

Functions

Module 3 : Relations and Functions
Module 4 : Linear and Nonlinear Functions
Module 5 : Creating Linear Equations
Module 8 : Exponential Functions

Statistics and Probability

Module 9: Statistics

Geometry

Module 10: Tools of Geometry
Module 11: Angles and Geometric Figures
Module 12: Logical Arguments and Linear Relationships
Module 13: Transformation and Symmetry
Module 14: Triangles and Congruence

Essential Questions

How can mathematical expressions be represented and evaluated?
How can writing and solving equations help you solve problems in the real world?
Why are representations of relations and functions useful?
What can a function tell you about the relationship that it represents?
What can a function tell you about the relationship it represents?
How can writing and solving inequalities help you solve problems in the real world?
How are systems of equations used in the real world?
When and how can exponential functions represent real-world situations?
How do you summarize and interpret data?
How are points lines and segments used to model the real world?
How are angles used to model the real world?
What makes a logical argument and how are logical arguments used in geometry?
How are rigid motions used to show geometric relationships?
How can you prove congruence and use congruent figures in real world situations?

Science

“The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K-12 science content standards. Standards set the expectations for what students should know and be able to do. The NGSS were developed by states to improve science education for all students. A goal for developing the NGSS was to create a set of research-based, up-to-date K-12 science standards. These standards give local educators the flexibility to design classroom learning experiences that stimulate students’ interests in science and prepares them for college, careers, and citizenship.”

“Science - and therefore science education - is central to the lives of all Americans. A high-quality science education means that students will develop an in-depth understanding of content and develop key skills - communication, collaboration, inquiry, problem solving, and flexibility - that will serve them throughout their educational and professional lives.”

(from the Next Generation Science Standards)

Courses

Grade 6

Unit 1: Land, Water and Human Interactions

Unit 2: Geological Processes

Unit 3: Earth’s Resources

Unit 4: Weather and Climate

Unit 5: Solar System and Beyond

Essential Questions

How can people mitigate the negative impact on the land and water when building new construction?
How do human activities on land negatively impact water quality?
How does the water movement through the water cycle move energy and matter?
How do human activities interact with the processes of erosion and deposition?
How can we engineer structures to mitigate environmental impact?
Where should deep underground sites for storing nuclear waste be developed in the United States?
How does water move above and below Earth’s surface, and how does it affect the land as it moves?
Why do some locations have earthquakes and volcanoes, and others do not?
Why do some locations have earthquakes and volcanoes, and others do not?
Have Earth’s plates moved in the past?
What are natural resources? Where and how are natural resources found and used?
What role have geoscience processes played in the formation of natural resources?
How do you use evidence to determine when major events in Earth’s history have occurred?
What decisions do people make that affect natural resource consumption?
What causes differences in weather and climate?
What causes differences in weather and climate?
How can we learn more about space?
How can we use observations and models to understand the Moon phases?
Why does the Sun’s path through the sky change over the year, and how does that change relate to seasons?
What are the other objects in our universe, and how far away are they?
What determines how objects move in space?

Grade 7

Unit 1: Biomedical Engineering

Unit 2: From Cells to Organisms

Unit 3: Body Systems/Biomedical Engineering

Unit 4: Reproduction

Unit 5: Evolution

Unit 6: Ecology

Essential Questions

What tools and strategies can you design to deal with a broken arm?
How do scientists investigate and gather evidence about the human body?
How do the cells of multicellular organisms compare with the cells of single-celled organisms?
What is the relationship between cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems within a multicellular organism?
What can your observations tell you about how an organism’s nervous system will respond to stimuli?
How are simple inherited traits passed from parents to their offspring and then to the next generation?
How can we model and predict the ratios of traits observed in the offspring of parents with two versions of the trait?
How do sex cells transmit genetic information for determining traits to their offspring?
What causes the differences between genetically identical organisms?
How do animal behaviors and other traits affect the probability of successful reproduction?
How can a change in a gene, like the gene linked to Marfan syndrome, lead to a change in the function of a person’s body?
How do the habitat requirements of individual organisms determine where a species will be found in nature?
How does a new species affect the flow of energy and movement of matter through an ecosystem?
How can abiotic disruptions, such as fire, affect the flow of energy and cycling of matter in an ecosystem?

Grade 8

Unit 1: Energy

Unit 2: Force and Motion

Unit 3: Chemistry of Materials

Unit 4: Chemical Reactions

Unit 5: Waves

Unit 6: Fields and Interactions

Essential Questions

How does energy change and move throughout a system, and how can people manipulate energy transfer and transformation to use energy more efficiently?
How does the release height and mass of an object affect its GPE?
How can we reduce the risk and/or severity of motor vehicle accidents?
What part of sunlight is transmitted through selected films, and how does it relate to thermal energy?
What is the relationship between an object’s speed and its kinetic energy?
How does the particle structure of matter explain the different properties of solids, liquids, and gasses?
What are the environmental impacts of producing, using, and disposing of materials?
What is the best option for reclaiming copper metal from the used copper chloride solution?
How do people use chemical reactions to solve problems?
How are waves both helpful and harmful?
How does light behave at the boundary between two different materials?
What personal ultraviolet protection plan fits your risk factors and lifestyle?
How do different types of force fields help us design transportation?
How is energy transferred with a transporter set in motion by gravity?
Which is the best design for the Moon transporter?

Physical Science

Chemistry

Unit 1: Measuring Matter and Lab Safety

Unit 2: Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table

Unit 3: Chemical Reactions

Unit 4: Nuclear Processes

Physics

Unit 1: Motion and Forces

Unit 2: Energy and Energy Conservation

Unit 3: Electricity and Magnetism

Unit 4: Waves

Essential Questions

How can science be explored safely in the laboratory?
How is matter measured using the metric system?
Why is a CRT ray attracted to a positively charged plate?
What model of the atom is consistent with the “golden data”?
Why do some metals explode in water?
What makes atoms interact with each other?
Can we use atomic structure to help us design inventions or materials?
Why do human activities have such intense effects on the environment?
Why do the stars glow?
What is fusion and how can we use it on earth?
What makes nuclear power plants so efficient?
Why do the objects all fall at the same time?
Why does speed get faster when time gets shorter?
How far do we have to pull the rope to lift the weights when we change the number of strings?
How can metal repel each other?
How do you get the magnets to attract?
Why do the solar cookers get hot?

Biology

Savvas

Unit 1: The Nature of Life

Unit 2: Cells - Foundation of Living Things

Unit 3: Genetics

Unit 4: Evolution & Classification

Unit 5: Diversity of Life

Unit 6: Ecology

Unit 7: Careers in Biology

Essential Questions

How does the process of science help people to understand the world around them?
How does the basic structure of the cell sustain life and provide the basis for all of life’s diversity?
For what purposes should humans genetically modify animals?
What can a fossil tell you about life long ago?
How can you develop a species recovery plan?
How can disease affect captive breeding and reintroduction of success?
How can you reduce the impact of an invasive species in your local ecosystem?
What careers exist in the field of biology?

Storylines

Unit 1: Organisms in Their Ecosystems

Unit 2: Balance in Ecosystems & Human Impact

Unit 3: From Genotype to Phenotype

Unit 4: Cellular Division and Cancer

Unit 5: Evolution & Population Dynamics

Unit 6: Careers in Biology

Essential Questions

Why do some animals live in groups?
How do animals obtain the energy they need?
How are organisms interdependent with their environment?
How do humans impact ecosystems and communities?
How do traits occur in organisms?
What makes one trait different from another trait?
How are cancer cells different from normal cells?
How and when do normal and cancer cells divide?
How can mutations be passed to future generations?
What else can impact the division of cells?
What are viruses?
Does geography affect common ancestry?
How does DNA serve as evidence of common ancestry?
What is the importance of genetic diversity?
How do populations change over time?

Chemistry

Unit1: Structure and Properties of Matter

Unit2: Chemical Bonding and Reactions

Unit 3: Matter, Energy, and Equilibrium

Unit 4: Matter, Energy, and Equilibrium

Unit 5: Oxidation and Reduction Reactions

Unit 6: Organic and Nuclear Chemistry

Unit 7: Careers in Chemistry

Essential Questions

How do fireworks get their colors?
How can understanding chemical bonding and reactions support fire safety?
What is matter and how does it behave?
What changes in ocean chemistry might leave corals vulnerable to bleaching and other harm?
Why do some metals tend to corrode?
How has our use of carbon-based fuels affected our climate?
What careers exist in the field of chemistry?

Physics

Unit1: Measurements, 1D Kinematics, and Graphing

Unit 2: Vectors and Forces

Unit 3: Circular Motion, Torque, & Gravitation

Unit 4: Work, Power, Energy, & Momentum

Unit 5: Waves, Sound, & Optics

Unit 6: Electricity and Magnetism

Unit 7: Careers in Physics

Essential Questions

How do objects move in one dimension and how is this movement measured/calculated?
What is projectile motion?
How do forces affect motion in two dimensions?
What forces govern the motion of objects in circular paths?
What is the relationship between work, power, energy, and motion?
What is momentum and how does it explain the interaction of two or more objects?
What are the characteristic properties of waves and wave motion?
What is the behavior of light and how is it affected by the media in which it travels?
What is the relationship between electrical voltage, current, and resistance?
How do charged particles interact with each other?
What careers exist in the field of physics?

Earth and Space Science

Earth Systems

Unit 1: The Development of Earth

Unit 2: Plate Tectonics and Earth’s Interior

Unit 3: The Changing Earth

Space Systems

Unit 1: Studying Space

Unit 2: The Universe

Unit 3: Space Exploration

Essential Questions

How did Earth form and develop to its current state?
How are changes on the surface of Earth caused by its interior? How does this impact us?
How are changes on the surface of Earth caused by its atmosphere? How are we impacting the atmosphere? How are we impacted by these changes?
How do scientists observe objects in space, determine their distances and relative positions, and monitor and predict their movements?
How has technology been used to collect evidence that verifies the scientific theory of the Big Bang? What is the nature of stars, and how do they produce light? What type of star is our sun?
What is the current state of space exploration? What might the future hold for humans and space exploration?

Social Studies

The goal of the Social Studies program of the Stamford Public Schools is to produce a diverse community of critical and creative thinkers who are collaborative and can communicate in multiple mediums.

The secondary Social Studies curriculum was written according to an inquiry-based framework. Inquiry is a process of asking and refining questions, of debating ideas and making predictions, and of collecting data from multiple sources and asking new questions that organizes teaching and learning. Inquiry focuses on information processing (“how’s” and “why’s,” not simply “what’s”). This inquiry approach differs from traditional approaches by beginning with a consideration of desired outcomes, not necessarily with a page in a textbook, incorporating a variety of appropriate evidence of students’ learning, and by allowing for differentiated instructional experiences.

Our goal of an inquiry-based framework is supported by the National Council for the Social Studies. “The Primary Purpose of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies Standards is to provide guidance to states on the concepts, skills, and disciplinary tools necessary to prepare students for college, career, and civic life. The guidance and support takes the form in an Inquiry Arc- a set of interlocking and mutually reinforcing ideas that feature the four Dimensions of informed inquiry in social studies: 1) Developing questions and planning inquiries; 2) Applying disciplinary concepts and tools; 3) Evaluating sources and using evidence; and 4) Communicating conclusions and taking informed action” National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). The Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies State Frameworks released by the Connecticut State Department of Education in February of 2015 were guided by the C3 Framework.

The first task of the curriculum committee was to discuss the reasons why we teach our subject. We identified major concepts that we feel are important to our scope and sequence in social studies. Then, we created essential questions to guide student inquiry.

Courses

Grade 6

Unit 1: Geography

Unit 2: Archeology and Early Human

Unit 3: The Characteristics of Civilization

Unit 4: Imperial China

Unit 5: Communist China

Unit 6: Greek and Roman Empires

Unit 7: Europe During the Middle Ages

Unit 8: Europe in the Middle Ages

Unit 9: The European Union

Essential Questions

What are the major components of physical geography and how can we use them to better understand our world?
How does archaeology provide knowledge of early human life?
How does the availability or scarcity of resources affect the settlement of people?
What does it take to be a civilization?
How does physical geography affect the growth of a civilization?
How do philosophy and beliefs influence societies and governments?
How does control over resources and regulation of trade lead to economic power over a region?
What were the causes and effects of the Cultural Revolution in China?
How does physical geography affect the growth of a civilization?
How did early systems of government in Ancient Greece lead to the development of democracy?
How does a civilization go from a republic to become an empire?
What causes civilizations to expand and collapse?
How does physical geography affect the growth of a civilization?
In what ways did feudalism shape society in the early Middle Ages?
What was the structure and role of the early Church in the Middle Ages and the Crusades?
How does physical geography affect the growth of a civilization?
In what ways did feudalism shape society in the early Middle Ages?
What was the structure and role of the early Church in the Middle Ages?
What is the European Union, why did it originate and how is it organized?

Grade 7

Unit 1: The Fertile Crescent

Unit 2: The Growth of Islam

Unit 3: Israel/Palestine Conflict

Unit 4: Ancient Africa

Unit 5: Impact of Colonialism on African Life

Unit 6: Apartheid

Unit 7: Rise and Fall of Ancient Latin America

Unit 8: Independence of Latin America

Unit 9: Amazon Rainforest

Essential Questions

How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia?
Why do civilizations need laws?
How did Judaism originate and develop?
What is the function of religion in shaping a civilization, including economics, government, expansion and relations with other cultures?
Why did the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict start; why has it continued; and what are the key issues that must be addressed for it to end?
How did the physical geography of Africa influence the development of civilization and the movement of people goods and ideas?
What economic, cultural and political impact did the Atlantic slave trade have on Africa, Europe and the New World?
What was the positive and negative impact of imperialism on Africa?
Was apartheid a just system?
Why do civilizations rise and decline?
How did the political, economic and social conditions in Latin America and across the world lead to a revolution?
To what extent was the Latin American revolution a success or failure in terms of overcoming new economic, political, and social obstacles?
Does the cost outweigh the benefits of deforestation of the rainforest?

Grade 8

Unit 1: Revolution in the Colonies

Unit 2: Forming a New Nation

Unit 3: Extended Research Project

Unit 4: Launching the New Republic

Unit 5: Americans in the Mid 1800’s

Unit 6: The Union Challenged

Essential Questions

How did the English colonies’ democratic ideals contribute to the American Republic’s representative government?
How does the United States Constitution guard against tyranny?
How is the Constitution a “living document”?
What were the political, economic and social consequences of “America” expanding her borders?
How was foreign policy shaped in the United States by the early presidents?
What were the political, economic and social causes of the American Civil War?
What were the political, economic and social consequences of the American Civil War?

MS Pilot

Grade 6

Foundations of Social Studies

Sub-unit 1: Identity and Culture
Sub-unit 2: What is Social Studies?
Sub-unit 3: Reliability, Bias, and Current Events

Essential Questions:

Who am I?
How do my experiences shape my identity?
How do my identities connect to my culture(s) at home, school, my community, and the larger world?
How does my identity inform how I view the world and how I participate in it?
Why study the past?
How has the world changed and how might it change in the future?

Grade 7

Regional & Global Economics

Sub-Unit 1: Historical Trade Routes: Connecting Continents and Cultures
Sub-Unit 2: Globalization and Economic Interdependence: Exploring the Impacts of a Connected World
Sub-Unit 3: Land Use Conflict in the Amazon Rainforest

Essential Questions

How has increasing economic interconnectedness impacted civilizations and shaped current global interactions?
How has human existence been transformed by technological innovation?
How have historical trade routes and patterns of trade influenced the development of civilizations and the exchange of goods, ideas, and cultures across regions?
How has globalization impacted our economic interdependence?
To what extent do the benefits of deforestation in the rainforest justify the associated costs?
What are the diverse perspectives on deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest and how can we determine the rights of different interest groups?

Grade 8

Origins of the American Democracy

Sub-unit 1: Colonial Influence and Enlightenment Ideas
Sub-unit: The American Revolution
Sub-unit 3: Building a New Nation

Essential Questions

How did colonization impact the development of America?
How did the different reasons for the development of English colonies, (e.g. desire for religious liberty, natural resources, economic opportunity, technological advances) impact the value systems and the laws of colonies?
How did European settlement impact the native people of the region?
How did the ideas of the Enlightenment impact the development of American democracy?
How did Enlightenment ideas influenced revolutionary thought?
Which events had the greatest impact on the development of the American Revolution?
What similarities/differences existed between the American Revolution and other revolutions of this time period?
How did revolutionary thought impact groups outside of the majority?
How did the Constitutional Convention highlight the problems of the new nation?
How did the American Government rectify the differences in perspective displayed during the Constitutional Convention?
How did American political parties demonstrate the political problems of the New Nation?
What social and political limitations existed in the development of suffrage?
How has the United States corrected some of the social and political problems that existed in the Constitution of 1787 with the use of Judicial Review?

World History

World 1

Belief Systems (Religions)

Subunit 1: Hinduism & Buddhism
Subunit 2: Chinese Philosophies
Subunit 3: Judaism, Christianity, & Islam

Innovations

Subunit 1: Innovations in the Islamic World
Subunit 2: Innovations in Asia
Subunit 3: Innovations in Western Europe

Essential Questions

What factors shape our values and beliefs?
How do belief systems affect a region’s political and economic development?
How do belief systems impact a region’s social systems?
What is creativity and what is its importance?
How have technological advances shaped human development and interactions with both intended and unintended consequences?
How do innovations impact civilizations (PERSIA)?
How do innovations spread around the globe?

World 2

Revolution

Subunit 1: The French Revolution
Subunit 2: The Haitian Revolution
Subunit 3: Latin American Revolutions
Subunit 4: Industrial Revolution
Subunit 5: Russian Revolution
Subunit 6: Taiping Rebellion, The Chinese Revolution 1911 to 1949

Genocide

Sub-unit 1: Genocide

Essential Questions

What are the purposes of government? (Relationship between the people and the government)
What are reasons for people to revolt against their government and challenge the status quo?
What are the short-term and long-term impacts of revolution that make it a success or failure?
How did revolutions build off of and inspire other revolutions in the 18th and 19th century?
What are the characteristics of genocide?
Why does genocide occur?
How can genocide be prevented?
Why is it crucial to learn about atrocities and genocides?

Civics

Civics 1

Foundations of American Democracy

Subunit 1: Foundations of American Government
Subunit 2: How was the Constitution created?

American Political Institutions

Subunit 1: Branches of Government
Subunit 2: The Amendments
Subunit 3: Constitution Principles/Civics in Action

Essential Questions

What are the fundamental beliefs of American democracy?
How did conflict and compromise shape the American government?
How is the United States still working to form a more perfect union?
How do the political institutions of the United States interact to meet the needs of its citizens?
How have the principles of American democracy evolved over time?
Why can the Constitution be considered a living document?

Civics 2

The Role of the Citizen

Subunit 1: Citizenship
Subunit 2: How do citizens share their problems or issues with the government?
Subunit 3: Policymaking System

Civics in Action

Subunit 1: Citizenship Inquiry Project

Essential Questions

What does it mean to be an American citizen?
How do Americans participate in a Constitutional Democracy?
Why is American democracy policy always changing?
What are major societal problems today?
How do we/I participate in a Constitutional Democracy?
How do I/we influence change in government policy living in America?

United States History

United States 1

American Identity

Subunit 1: Colonialism-American Revolution
Subunit 2: Expansion 1800s/Industrialization
Subunit 3: The Emergence of Modern America
Subunit 4: Civil Rights to Modern Day

Essential Questions

What is American Identity and how does it differ for various groups?
What are the political, economic and social barriers and achievements faced by various groups throughout United States history?
Does America provide equal political, economic, and social opportunities for all?

United States 2

United States as a World Power

Subunit 1: Imperialism 1898-1916
Subunit 2: The World War I
Subunit 3: World War II

United States as a Superpower

Subunit 1: The Cold War Era 1945-1991
Subunit 2: The War on Terror and Beyond

Essential Questions

How does a nation become a World Power?
To what extent should the United States be involved in world affairs?
How did global conflict impact America gaining world power?
To what extent has America’s world power grown since the late 1800s?
How have politics, the economy and inhabitants of America impacted America’s decisions to intervene in global affairs?
How does a nation become a Superpower?
Identify how global competition leads to conflict, cooperation and innovation?
What forces shaped US foreign policy after World War 2?
What were the economic, political, and social ramifications of 9/11?
To what extent should the United States be involved in world affairs?

Health and Physical Education

The Connecticut State Department of Education’s (CSDE) Health Education Curriculum Framework provides districts with a best practice approach for implementing a planned, ongoing, and sequential PK-12 curriculum that addresses the physical, mental, social, and emotional dimensions of health. An effective, health education curriculum is research-based and theory driven and defines clear goals and behavioral outcomes for all students. Districts must ensure that the curriculum is standards- and skills based, developmentally and culturally appropriate, and designed to motivate students to maintain and improve their health and develop and demonstrate health-enhancing knowledge, attitudes, skills, and practices. In addition, health education is foundational to social and emotional learning and provides an opportunity for students to learn and practice these essential skills. Ultimately, an effective curriculum promotes the development of protective factors, supports healthy outcomes, and enables students to establish and practice health enhancing behaviors and become productive, health literate citizens.

The American Cancer Society publishes standards critical to the healthy development of kids. National Health Education Standards, developed by the Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards, improve student learning across the nation by providing a foundation for curriculum development, instruction, and assessment.

Skills-based health education dictates that the focus and emphasis be on the selection of school health skills infused with essential content. Health literacy is the ability to access, understand, appraise, apply and advocate for health information and services in order to maintain or enhance one's own health and the health of others.

Courses

Health Grade 6

Unit 1: Safety and Injury Prevention

Safety is about taking steps to avoid or reduce risk. This includes steps you take while working, in a car, playing sports, and doing chores. Injury prevention is an effort to prevent or reduce the severity of bodily injuries caused by external mechanisms, such as accidents, before they occur. Students are taught this information and skills not only to help keep them safe and injury free but also to know what they should do when accidents happen.

Unit 2: Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

Healthy eating starts with healthy food choices and being active helps us live a physically and mentally stapled life. Students will learn about healthy foods and how to choose what is best for them and why physical activity is important not only for their physical health but for their mental health as well.

Unit 3: Mental and Emotional Health

Mental and emotional health affects everyone at every age. This unit will help students identify emotions, what they mean and how to deal with them in a positive way. They will learn about self-worth and how to deal with small and large stressors that they will face throughout their lives.

Essential Questions

How could someone get injured in a car?
What is the difference between fats, proteins, and carbohydrates and why are they important to our diet and body?
How can comparing yourself to others lower your self-worth?

Health Grade 7

Unit 1: Optimal Wellness and Disease Prevention

Optimal wellness is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity and disease prevention is aiming to minimize the burden of diseases and associated risk factors. Students will learn the skills needed to have complete optimal wellness as well as the skills needed to prevent the start or spread of disease.

Unit 2: Alcohol, Nicotine, and Other Drugs

This unit will give students the correct information on alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs. The unit is important because it provides knowledge necessary to avoid risky situations and information to make healthier personal choices. It aids in creating personal strategies for avoiding both negative peers and the inherent social pressures associated with substance use in social scenarios.

Unit 3: Violence Prevention

Preventing violence requires addressing the factors that put people at risk for or protect them from violence. Research shows that prevention efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and even students can reduce violence and improve the school environment.

Essential Questions

What are examples of good hygiene?
What is the difference between prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs?
How can bystanders help in preventing or stopping bullying, violence, and fighting?

Health Grade 8

Unit 1: Healthy Relationships

Healthy relationships thrive on respect, kindness, and trust. Unhealthy ones revolve around an imbalance of power that’s maintained through the use of controlling behaviors, emotional abuse, or physical aggression. Sadly, roughly 1 in 10 high school students report being physically hurt by a date. This unit helps students learn to recognize and protect themselves from unhealthy relationships and dating abuse with the following activities.

Unit 2: Sexual Health

Research shows that when sex education is comprehensive, students feel more informed, make safer choices and have healthier outcomes. This results in fewer unplanned pregnancies and more protection against sexually transmitted diseases and infections and that is why this unit it taught.

Unit 3: Sexual Assault and Abuse Prevention

Sexual violence is sexual activity when consent is not obtained or freely given. It is a serious public health problem in the United States that profoundly impacts lifelong health, opportunity, and well-being. Sexual violence impacts every community and affects people of all genders, sexual orientations, and ages, this is why this unit is so important to teach to students.

Essential Questions

What is the difference between gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation?
What are the male and female reproductive body parts and what is their function?
How can power and control differences in relationships contribute to aggression and violence?

Health 9-12

Health 1

Unit1: Accessing Valid Information for Optimal Wellness

Unit 2: Accessing Valid Information and Self-Management for Mental & Emotional Health

Teaching mental and emotional health leads to better outcomes for children and adolescents. Students’ mental health impacts many areas of their lives, including their relationships with other people and with drugs and alcohol. If teens learn about mental health in school, they will manage better in life. The students will learn where they can access information on mental health issues and use coping skills in their life.

Unit 3: Analyzing Influences and Decision Making for Alcohol, Nicotine, and Other Drugs

Recent studies have shown that early-intervention drug education within schools can provide students with a variety of positive social skills. It educates them on the dangers of substance use, even isolated incidents. It equips them with effective refusal skills to implement when confronted with negative peer pressures associated with illicit drug use. It addresses possible cultural issues associated with substance addiction. It provides an improved foundation of knowledge for younger individuals to approach the topic of drug use within the community. The knowledge, skills and attitudes required to understand and avoid the effects of alcohol, of nicotine or tobacco and of drugs, as defined in subdivision (17) of section 21a-240, on health, character, citizenship and personality development shall be taught every academic year to pupils in all grades in the public schools; and, in teaching such subjects, textbooks and such other materials as are necessary shall be used.

Unit 4: Interpersonal Communication and Accessing Valid Information for Healthy Relationships and Violence Prevention

Healthy relationships thrive on respect, kindness, and trust. Unhealthy ones revolve around an imbalance of power that’s maintained through the use of controlling behaviors, emotional abuse, or physical aggression. Sadly, roughly 1 in 10 high school students report being physically hurt by a date. 1 in 3 have been in an abusive dating relationship. This unit helps students learn to recognize the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. They will learn how to recognize the red flags in unhealthy relationships and dating abuse. Students will learn where they can go for help in these situations.

Essential Questions

What important health screenings, immunizations, checkups, examinations, and health screenings necessary to maintain good health including breast and testicular self-exams?
What are the characteristics of a mentally and emotionally healthy person?
What are the differences between proper use and abuse of over-the- counter (OTC) and prescription medicines?
What are the characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships (communication, trust, boundaries, respect)?

Health 2

Unit 1: Decision Making and Self-Management for Safety and Injury Prevention

Unit 2: Decision Making and Goal Setting for Healthy Eating & Physical Activity

When it comes to making decisions about physical activity and nutrition students need to be informed. They will learn what they are putting in their body and how to participate in lifelong fitness in a safe, healthy way. Healthy eating starts with healthy food choices and being active helps us live a physically and mentally stapled life. Students will learn about healthy foods and how to choose what is best for them and why physical activity is important not only for their physical health but for their mental health as well.

Unit 3: Accessing Valid Information and Self-Management for Sexual Health

We will be providing accurate information about human sexuality. This unit will provide an opportunity for young people to develop and understand their values, attitudes, and insights about sexuality. It will help young people develop relationships and interpersonal skills. It will also help young people exercise responsibility regarding sexual relationships, including addressing abstinence, pressures to become prematurely involved in sexual intercourse, and a use of contraception and other sexual health measures. The student will learn about resources in our school and community.

Unit 4: Decision Making and Advocacy for Disease Prevention

According to the state of CT we will teach, Cancer awareness, including, but not limited to, age and developmentally appropriate instruction in performing self-examinations for the purposes of screening for: breast cancer and testicular cancer. It is important to be aware of the risk factors and know how to detect them early.

Unit 5: Accessing Valid Information and Advocacy for Sexual Assault and Abuse Prevention

During Adolescent, the students will begin to explore different relationships. This unit will help students understand the dynamics of consent within a relationship and how to navigate through conversations around setting boundaries and expectations. Students learn how to avoid putting pressure on their partners and have healthy dialogue around the topic of consent. Students receive valuable resources that they can use if they, or someone they know, experiences sexual violence and intimate partner violence.

Essential Questions

How do you provide basic First Aid and CPR in a variety of emergency situations?
What are the benefits of limiting the consumption of high sugar, including soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit juices, and sports drinks?
What are some of the uses of contraceptives and their relationship to the process of fertilization and conception?
Why is it important to get health screenings, immunizations, checkups, examinations, and health screenings necessary to maintain good health including breast and testicular self-exams?
Why is it wrong to trick, threaten, or coerce another person into having sex?

Physical Education 6-8

Team Sports

Sub-unit 1: Soccer
Sub-unit 2: Basketball
Sub-unit 3: Football

Individual Sports

Sub-unit 1: Golf
Sub-unit 2: Racket Sports
Sub-unit 3: Bowling

Lifetime Sports

Sub-unit 1: Dance
Sub-unit 2: Paddle Sports
Sub-unit 3: Backyard games

Cooperative Games

Sub-unit 1: Volleyball
Sub-unit 2: Team based Cooperative Game
Sub-unit 3: Capture the Flag Variations

Essential Questions

What can I do to help my team be successful? What does it mean to be a good teammate?
How does teamwork and sportsmanship affect game play?
What are the various things I can do with the ball to help my team?
What is my job, and how do I perform it well so the team can be successful?
How can I participate in individual sports while also being part of a social group?
What cues help you remember how to smoothly strike the ball to the target?
What is most important in hitting a solid forehand?
How does my position on the court help determine if I need to hit a forehand or backhand?
How does my arm swing affect where the ball aims?
How does the velocity of the ball affect how many pins are knocked down?
What is the benefit (health wise and socially) of “Lifetime” activities?
What may be other “lifetime” activities other than the ones learned here?
There are many different types of dance. Is there one kind that I enjoy the most?
How can dance help me become a better basketball/football/baseball, etc player?
What makes paddle sports a “lifetime” activity? Are there places in the community to engage in paddle sports?
How do backyard games differ from more competitive team sports? Are there opportunities to play these games outside of a party, or in the park?
How can I stay involved in the game, or be active in the game even if the ball doesn’t come to me?
How can I be a good teammate and make sure that everyone gets a quality turn?
In a large group, with unassigned positions, how can your team decide who is responsible for offense and defense?

Physical Education 9-12

Team Sports

Sub-unit 1: Volleyball
Sub-unit 2: Floor hockey
Sub-unit 3: Ultimate frisbee

Individual Sports/Activities

Sub-unit 1: Disc golf
Sub-unit 2: Tennis
Sub-unit 3: Archery

Lifetime Sports/Activities

Sub-unit 1: Backyard games
Sub-unit 2: Bowling
Sub-unit 3: Yoga

Fitness Activities

Sub-unit 1: Power walking
Sub-unit 2: Weight training
Sub-unit 3: Cardio fitness

Essential Questions

What makes a successful team?
How do you score? Why is working as a team important? What makes a successful rally? When and where do you rotate positions? How many sets are played?
What are the positions in hockey? What equipment is needed? What is off-sides?
How do you catch a frisbee? Why is it important to move without the frisbee? What are the benefits of man-to-man defense? How do you score?
What individual skills do you need to succeed in an individual sport?
How can you challenge yourself to perform at your best?
What is a personal goal?
How can you compete in individual sports and activities?
What does lifetime activity mean?
Why is it important to remain active throughout your life?
What are the health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle?
Why is it important to be physically active throughout your lifetime?
Would individual or group fitness activities be more appealing to you and why?
What are the essential components of fitness?

First Year Seminar

Who am I as a learner? What is my learning environment?

Introducing the Course, Set Goals, Icebreaker Activity
Breaking the Ice, Building Tour
Understanding the Students' Experiences and Needs
Communicating Professionally, Assessing Your Stress
Maximizing Google Classroom, Stress Inventory Chart
Exploring Google Slides
Developing Research Skills
Conducting Research
Stressing Less, Recognize Series Finale

How do I learn best in my current environment?

Contributing to Your School Community
Managing Your Time
Taking Care of Yourself
Minimizing Distractions
Taking Notes
Building Study Skills
Identifying Learning Styles
Exploring Digital Citizenship
Accepting Failure
Overcoming Failure
Creating Goals with Grit

What are my choices for my future? What are my strengths and interests?

Making Connections
Assessing Your Strengths
Thinking about Who You Are
Documenting Your Experiences
Reflecting on Your Strengths
Writing a Resume

What careers and pathways are aligned to my strengths?

Aligning Your Strengths to Your Future
Communicating Using Your Skills
Building Financial Literacy
Conducting Research on Career Pathways
Student Presentations on Career Research

Visual and Performing Arts

Each school community varies, so it is recommended that teachers communicate within their community and appropriately time units of study that line up with other activities, to facilitate cross-curricular opportunities and vertical retention.

Music literacy is reinforced each year
Students will have a comprehensive understanding of Western music history from Medieval music to contemporary music including but not limited to pop, rock, jazz, and blues.
Students will be exposed to composers and musicians of diverse identities from a varied repertoire of music across cultures.

Topics include but are not limited to: Opera, Music Theory (note reading, rhythm, dynamics) and Literacy, Body Percussion, Instruments of the orchestra and their sound, Absolute and Program Music, Music History and Literacy, Science of Sound, Popular Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries, Careers in Music, Musical Theater, World Music.

Courses

Art K-12

National Core Arts Standards

Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.

Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

Creativity and innovative thinking are essential life skills that can be developed.
Artists and designers shape artistic investigations, following or breaking with traditions in pursuit of creative art-making goals.

Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

Artists and designers experiment with forms, structures, materials, concepts, media, and art-making approaches
Artists and designers balance experimentation and safety, freedom and responsibility while developing and creating artworks.
People create and interact with objects, places, and design that define, shape, enhance, and empower their lives

Standard 3: Refine and complete artistic work.

Artists and designers develop excellence through practice and constructive critique, reflecting on, revising, and refining work over time.

Essential Questions

What conditions, attitudes, and behaviors support creativity and innovative thinking?
What factors prevent or encourage people to take creative risks?
How does collaboration expand the creative process?
How does knowing the contexts, histories, and traditions of art forms help us create works of art and design?
Why do artists follow or break from established traditions?
How do artists determine what resources and criteria are needed to formulate artistic investigations?
How do artists work?
How do artists and designers determine whether a particular direction in their work is effective?
How do artists and designers learn from trial and error?
How do artists and designers care for and maintain materials, tools, and equipment?
Why is it important for safety and health to understand and follow correct procedures in handling materials, tools, and equipment?
What responsibilities come with the freedom to create?
How do objects, places, and design shape lives and communities?
How do artists and designers determine goals for designing or redesigning objects, places, or systems?
How do artists and designers create works of art or design that effectively communicate?
What role does persistence play in revising, refining, and developing work?
How do artists grow and become accomplished in art forms?
How does collaboratively reflecting on a work help us experience it more completely?

Presenting: Interpreting and sharing artistic work.

Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation. 

Artists and other presenters consider various techniques, methods, venues, and criteria when analyzing, selecting, and curating objects, artifacts, and artworks for preservation and presentation.

Standard 5: Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.

Artists, curators and others consider a variety of factors and methods including evolving technologies when preparing and refining artwork for display and or when deciding if and how to preserve and protect it.

Standard 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Objects, artifacts, and artworks collected, preserved, or presented either by artists, museums, or other venues communicate meaning and a record of social, cultural, and political experiences resulting in the cultivating of appreciation and understanding.

Essential Questions

How are artworks cared for and by whom?
What criteria, methods, and processes are used to select work for preservation or presentation?
Why do people value objects, artifacts, and artworks, and select them for presentation?
What methods and processes are considered when preparing artwork for presentation or preservation?
How does refining artwork affect its meaning to the viewer?
What criteria are considered when selecting work for presentation, a portfolio, or a collection?
What is an art museum?
How does the presenting and sharing of objects, artifacts, and artworks influence and shape ideas, beliefs, and experiences?
How do objects, artifacts, and artworks collected, preserved, or presented, cultivate appreciation and understanding?

Responding: Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning.

Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work

Individual aesthetic and empathetic awareness developed through engagement with art can lead to understanding and appreciation of self, others, the natural world, and constructed environments.
Visual imagery influences understanding of and responses to the world.

Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. 

People gain insights into meanings of artworks by engaging in the process of art criticism.

Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.

People evaluate art based on various criteria.

Essential Questions

How do life experiences influence the way you relate to art?
How does learning about art impact how we perceive the world?
What can we learn from our responses to art?
What is an image?
Where and how do we encounter images in our world?
How do images influence our views of the world?
What is the value of engaging in the process of art criticism?
How can the viewer "read" a work of art as text?
How does knowing and using visual art vocabularies help us understand and interpret works of art?
How does one determine criteria to evaluate a work of art?
How and why might criteria vary?
How is a personal preference different from an evaluation?

Connecting: Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.

Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

Through art-making, people make meaning by investigating and developing awareness of perceptions, knowledge, and experiences.

Standard 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding

People develop ideas and understandings of society, culture, and history through their interactions with and analysis of art.

Essential Questions

How does engaging in creating art enrich people's lives?
How does making art attune people to their surroundings?
How do people contribute to awareness and understanding of their lives and the lives of their communities through art-making?
How does art help us understand the lives of people of different times, places, and cultures?
How is art used to impact the views of a society?
How does art preserve aspects of life?

Music Grade 6

Create

Create a minimum of 8 measures in standard and/or iconic notation based on the the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Improvise rhythm to demonstrate understanding of AB and/or ABA form.
Assess whether they used teacher-provided criteria effectively in their musical creation.

Perform

Perform a minimum of 8 measures in standard and/or iconic notation based on the the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Perform a steady beat, with visual assistance (where applicable), while playing individually and with others, note and rest values in simple and complex meters as encountered in the repertoire based on: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Identify and demonstrate musical text and symbols encountered in a variety of repertoire.
Perform literature from memory based on the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Rehearse and refine basic chord progressions in music.

Respond

Select music that reflects the creator’s intent based on the areas of; music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Share live or recorded performances of an original composition or assigned musical work.
Use established criteria and feedback to identify the ways in which performances convey the formal design, and historical/cultural context of the works based in the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater.

Connect

Explain how the elements of music and compositional techniques are used to convey the intent of the composer based on the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Describe the historical/cultural context of works based in the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater.
Select and relate to socio-cultural and historical background of music based on teacher-provided criteria.

Music Grade 7

Create

Create a minimum of 12 measures in standard and/or iconic notation based on the the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Improvise rhythm to demonstrate understanding of AB form, ABA form, and theme and variations.
Assess whether they used teacher-provided criteria effectively in their musical creation based on teacher and peer feedback.

Perform

Perform a minimum of 12 measures in standard and/or iconic notation based on the the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Perform a steady beat, with limited assistance, while playing individually and with others, note and rest values in simple and complex meters as encountered in the repertoire based on: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Use collaboratively developed criteria to identify and demonstrate musical text and symbols encountered in a variety of repertoire.
Use collaboratively developed criteria to rehearse and refine basic chord progressions in music.

Respond

Select and compare different types of music that reflects the creator’s intent based on the areas of; music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Use collaboratively developed criteria and feedback to identify and compare the ways in which performances convey the formal design, and historical/cultural context of the works based in the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater.

Connect

Select and compare music using collaboratively developed criteria based in the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater in relation to personal experiences, interests, and identity.

Music Grade 8

Create

Create a minimum of 16 measures in standard and/or iconic notation based on the the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Improvise rhythm to demonstrate understanding of expanded forms, including but not limited to introductions, transitions, and codas.
Assess their composition by selecting effective, applicable criteria.

Perform

Perform a minimum of 16 measures in standard and/or iconic notation based on the the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Perform a steady beat, while playing individually and with others, note and rest values in simple and complex meters as encountered in the repertoire based on: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Select effective, applicable criteria to identify and demonstrate musical text and symbols encountered in a variety of repertoire.
Select effective, applicable criteria to rehearse and refine basic chord progressions in music.

Respond

Select and compare larger collections of music that reflect the creator’s intent based on the areas of; music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater
Select effective, applicable criteria and feedback to identify and compare the ways in which performances convey the formal design, and historical/cultural context of the works based in the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater.

Connect

Select effective, applicable criteria to compare music based in the areas of: music theory, music history, world music, harmonic or fretted instruments, electronic music, and musical theater in relation to personal experiences, interests, and identity.

Music 9-12

Voice Class (SHS)

This class is intended to help develop untrained voices in the basic fundamentals of singing. Techniques in breathing, tone development, and style are stressed. Students are encouraged to perform in solo and in ensemble situations.

Piano 1&2 (SHS/WHS/AITE)

These courses are intended to introduce and further a student’s experience on a musical instrument. Students will learn and expand on how to read notation for the piano while playing music from various cultures and styles. This is a performance-based class where students will be working alone and in groups. Students will also use computers to aid instruction and evaluation.

Guitar 1&2 (SHS/AITE)

These courses are intended to introduce and further a student’s experience on a musical instrument. Students will learn and expand on the basics of chords, rhythm, and notation for the guitar. These classes will focus on the fundamentals of playing the guitar while performing music from various cultures and styles. This is a performance-based class where students will be working alone and in groups.

AP Music Theory (WHS)

This course is designed as an introductory college course in music theory and is intended for the serious music student. It develops a student’s ability to compose, analyze, and sight-sing. It addresses advanced aural and compositional skills using both listening and written exercises. Students must read music and demonstrate proficiency on an instrument or voice.

UCONN ECE Fundamentals/Ear Training (SHS)

This course is intended for students who have experience on the guitar. The focus of this class is to further the students’ abilities on the guitar through sight-reading and performing music from various cultures and styles. This is a performance-based class where students will be working alone and in groups.

UCONN ECE Popular Music and Diversity in American Society (SHS)

An introduction to popular music and diversity in America: Jazz, Blues, Top-Pop, Rock, Hip-Hop, and other genres. Musicians and their music studied in the context of twentieth-century and contemporary American society, emphasizing issues of race, gender, SHS class, and resistance.

Introduction to the Music Business (SHS/WHS/AITE)

This course explores the job opportunities available to students with an interest in and love of music. Designed for both music and non-music students interested in working in the music/entertainment industry, students are given an opportunity to learn and understand the requirements and training needed to pursue a music-oriented career. Class sessions include guest lecturers, field trips, research-based and practical projects, and written tests.

Digital Music Production (WHS/AITE)

This is a project-based class where students will compose and produce their own music that will be recorded to CD. Students will learn a variety of recording and production software that they will use to create their own compositions. Students will also learn the fundamentals of music and the piano.