Curriculums
At P.S. 145, we implement research-based curricula to establish strong foundational skills during the primary school years. These evidence-based programs collectively ensure our students receive a comprehensive and effective education, preparing them for future academic success. Our curriculum mapping team ensures that student needs are met by planning the school year 2 months at a time, giving the team an opportunity to reflect on student response to the curriculum. Grade teams meet prior to a mapping planning session and contribute both collegial and student feedback towards the forward planning. This process ensures that adjustments are made to the curriculum to ensure the needs of all students are met.
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Literacy: Wit & Wisdom
Wit & Wisdom® is a comprehensive K–8 English language arts curriculum crafted to help students build the knowledge and skills they need to be successful readers, exceptional writers, and effective communicators. Excellent texts are at the center of Wit & Wisdom. Students build knowledge through carefully curated core texts that are rich with content that piques curiosity, represent grade-level complexity, and showcase diverse perspectives. The curriculum features much-beloved, award-winning books from both contemporary and established authors, many of which parents will remember from their own childhoods.
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Phonics: Fundations
The research-based approach of the Fundations program allows teachers to confidently present a carefully structured reading, spelling, and handwriting curriculum using engaging materials and multimodal techniques.
Pioneered by Barbara Wilson, Fundations is grounded in the science of reading and guides teachers to provide effective instructional practices in print concepts, phonemic awareness, phonics and word study, vocabulary, automaticity/fluency, and comprehension. Instruction and practice occur in a systematic, cumulative, and explicit manner that maximizes classroom time and allows students to experience greater gains in the skills required for independent reading.
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Phonemic Awareness: Heggerty
The Heggerty’s Phonemic Awareness Curriculum is easier to implement than ever before. This ESSA rated solution provides embedded professional development, explicit teacher guidance, and systematic lesson instruction in both English and Spanish for preschool, kindergarten, and primary classrooms. The lessons take just ten minutes to complete and are guaranteed to fit seamlessly into your current literacy instruction, providing results in weeks, not years.
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Reading and Math Assessment: i-Ready
i-Ready is an online program for reading and/or mathematics that will help your student’s teacher(s) determine your student’s needs, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows your teacher(s) to meet your student exactly where they are and provides data to increase your student’s learning gains. i-Ready consists of two parts: Diagnostic and Personalized Instruction.
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Mathematics: Singapore Math
The Singapore math method is focused on mastery, which is achieved through intentional sequencing of concepts. Some of the key features of the approach include the CPA (Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract) progression, number bonds, bar modeling, and mental math.Instead of pushing through rote memorization, students learn to think mathematically and rely on the depth of knowledge gained in previous lessons.
In typical U.S. math programs, students get a worked example, then solve problems that very closely follow that example, repeating all the same steps with different numbers. In Singapore math, students must think through concepts and apply them in new ways from the very start. Since they can’t rely on simple replication, students are pushed to greater engagement and broader thinking. In U.S. math programs, concepts and skills are more compartmentalized within and across grade levels than in Singapore math, where a strong sense of connectivity to past learning is woven throughout.
Singapore math not only helps students become more successful problem solvers, it helps them gain a sense of confidence and resourcefulness because it insists on conceptual depth. This naturally prepares students to excel in more advanced math
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Numeracy & Fluency: Number Talks
Number talks are short, 5–15-minute teaching and learning practices that involve students mentally solving computational problems and talking about the strategies they have used. Number talks are powerful tools for developing computational fluency and conceptual understanding at the same time. They focus on sense making as students use number
relationships and structures of numbers to mentally add, subtract, multiply and divide. Teachers then facilitate class discussion in which students explain their reasoning and reflect on the reasoning of others. During this time, teachers visually represent student thinking to reflect the
relationships and structures a student has used and make their thinking clear to all students. Students with different approaches to a problem are invited to present their thinking to highlight that there are multiple ways to arrive at a solution, promoting flexibility and confidence in working
with numbers.
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Math Online Assessment: IXL
Personalized for every student, IXL provides each student with a personalized pathway for growth. As students learn, IXL uses insights from their work to generate personalized skill recommendations in real time. Each recommendation is precise and unique, guiding learners to the specific skills that will help them make the most progress right now. IXL guides students on an individualized learning journey, but we never lock them in. Teachers are empowered to choose what students learn and how they incorporate IXL into their instructional routines. No matter how it's implemented, educators can feel confident that every minute spent on IXL is valuable.
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STEAM: EnjoyTechUSA
After a combined twenty-five years of teaching, the staff of EnjoyTechUSA leverage their experiences in the classroom to create a tool and system designed to close the achievement gap. The aim is to harness the technological boom that has given increased accessibility to cloud computing, wearable technology and an improved web infrastructure. The company has pivoted to support the holistic development of individuals and group interactions. Concepts are coupled with hands-on experiences which make learning come to life for our students.
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Foreign Language Support: Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone's Dynamic Immersion method enables you to tap into your innate ability to learn language. By mirroring the way you first acquired language as a child, Dynamic Immersion provides maximum exposure to your new language through audio spoken by native speakers, written words, and real-world images. You'll use visual and conceptual clues to help you interpret the meaning of new words, phrases, and sentences rather than relying on translations and rote memorization. Dynamic Immersion is a research-based approach to effective language learning that allows you to build a deeper, more enduring understanding of your new language.