Curriculum at Columbus Preparatory Academy
Our daily schedule is based on a 120-60-60-90 format. The day starts with a 120 minute Literacy block. Every student is placed in flexible reading groups based on a beginning of the year assessment. Students are reassessed every 10 weeks to determine which group is the best for them and can move groups at this time.
READING
Children are most successful when they learn to read through a balance of literature and explicit, systematic phonics instruction. Mastering phonics skills enables students to get beyond the distractions and mechanics of decoding words so they can focus on the goal of reading: comprehension. That’s why CPA uses SRA/McGraw-Hill and the Open Court Reading approach to reading instruction. The well-designed, systematic program, balancing phonics and literature, has known success for nearly 40 years.
MATH
SRA Real Math is a curriculum that uses manipulatives and hands on experiences to enrich the learning of mathematical concepts. Real Math uses a variety of engaging and enjoyable activities to help students learn and master basic skills. It incoorperates games, mental math problems, and thinking stories that use real life experiences to enhance their learning.
SCIENCE
The science program, Harcourt Science gives students a solid foundation of knowledge about Life, Earth, Physical, and Health Science. At the same time, students master the scientific thinking processes necessary to solve problems.
PARAGON CURRICULUM
Mosaica’s unique Paragon Curriculum is more than just a social studies curriculum. It helps students achieve academic and personal excellence. Students learn about character, ethics, empathy and self-esteem implicitly by studying the world’s greatest thinkers, both canonical and unsung, and by stepping into the shoes of great historical figures, both real and imaginary.
Paragon teaches rich content through hands-on study that addresses student learning styles. Through this engaging curriculum, students gain historical information, and come to understand the expansive potential open to them if they can identify with early clarity their individual strengths and sense of purpose. Paragon students contemplate questions that have captivated thinkers for millennia: What makes a “Hero”? What makes me unique? How can we learn from the past? How do we apply that knowledge to the future?
Rather than teach history in bits and pieces in arbitrary sequence, Paragon’s fully integrated, chronological approach demonstrates to students how one idea builds on and evolves into another. The curriculum illustrates how sweeping cycles repeat and leads the students to understand the evolutions of world cultures.
In Paragon, students study history across continents, which demonstrates the manner in which many ideas develop at the same time in independent cultures unaware of the other’s breakthroughs. Through this, students develop a larger picture of history and the associated interrelationships. Rather than memorize names, dates, and events in isolation, students recall the sequential circumstances surrounding these events and remember more readily both factual information and conceptual relevance.
SPECIALS
Art, Music, Spanish, and Physical Education
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