St. Stephen's Armenian Elementary School is a child-centered Armenian Institution committed to academic excellence. At the Elementary level, the core curriculum subjects are taught in English. The Armenian language and history are taught in Armenian, with an emphasis on creating awareness and instilling an appreciation of Armenian culture and traditions.

The curriculum of St. Stephen's Armenian Elementary School is comprised of literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education and the fine arts. The Learning Goals under each core area represent the school's end of the year expectations for students in kindergarten. The kindergarten curriculum will include but not be limited to, these topics. The developmental level of students as well as their varying abilities and interests will be taken into account when designing and implementing instruction

The purpose of the written progress reports is to inform families of students' individual progress in the achievement of these Learning Goals. Progress Reports are supplemented by Winter and Spring parent/teacher conferences. We believe that a child's success in school is enhanced by meaningful home/school communication.


 

Armenian

The Goal is to help students:

  • Recognize the 38 letters of the Armenian Alphabet
  • Blend sounds together to read words.
  • Recognize key words.
  • Retell stories read aloud.
  • Express ideas through illustrations.
  • Read with fluency, expression and understanding.
  • Express ideas in complete sentences.
  • Use age appropriate grammar and vocabulary.
  • Use correct spelling
  • Write legibly.
  • Write numbers 1-50
  • Count numbers 1-100
  • Compare and contrast

Social Studies

  • Introduce students with age appropriate manner to the following:
  • St. Mesrob, creator of the Armenian Alphabet
  • Vartanantz

Religion

  • Der Hayr (priest,)
  • Religious symbols; cross
  • Religions chants (sharagan)
  • Bible
  • Prayer
  • 10 commandments
  • Saints
  • Feast days

General Knowledge

  • Families
  • Seasons
  • Clothing
  • Market
  • Farm Animals
  • Wild Animals

 

Literacy

Reading

  • Recognize and name most letters
  • Recognize and say the common sounds of most letters and write a letter that goes with a spoken sound
  • Use their knowledge of sounds and letters to write phonetically, representing consonant sounds with single letters in the correct sequence
  • Produce rhyming words and recognize pairs of rhyming words
  • Isolate initial consonants in single-syllable words
  • A single-syllable word is pronounced, identify the onset and rime and begin to fully separate the sounds by saying each sound aloud
  • Blend onsets and rimes to form words and begin to blend separately spoken phonemes to make a meaningful one-syllable word
  • Use their knowledge of letter sounds to figure out a few simple, regularly spelled, single-syllable words
  • Read simple texts containing familiar letter-sound correspondences and high-frequency words
  • Read some words on their own, including a small number of simple, high-frequency words that are recognizable by "sight"
  • Read emergent level books that they have not seen before, but that have been previewed for them or by them, attending to each word in sequence and getting most of them correct
  • Re-read a favorite story, re-creating the words of a text with fluent intonation and phrasing and showing through verbal statements or occasional pointing that they understand that the print on the page controls what is being said
  • Self-monitor and self-correct when necessary to determine whether they are looking at the correct page, the word they are saying is the one they are pointing to and what they read makes sense
  • Listening to stories read aloud, children should monitor whether the story is making sense to them (i.e. ask why a character would do that, say they don’t understand, say the character "is scared because…" or "did that because….."
  • Give evidence that they are following the meaning of what they are reading
  • Retell the story in their-own words or re-enact it, getting the events in correct sequence
  • Respond to simple questions about the books' content
  • Create artwork or a written response that shows comprehension of the story
  • Use knowledge from their own experience to make sense of and talk about the text
  • Make predictions based on illustrations or portions of stories
  • Choose reading as a way to enjoy free time and ask for books to be read aloud to them
  • “Reread” or read along – alone or with a partner or adult
  • Engage with a range of genres: literature(stories, songs, poems, plays); functional texts (how-to books, signs, labels, messages); and informational texts (all-about books, attribute texts)
  • Hold a book right side up and turn pages in the correct direction
  • Be able to follow text with a finger, pointing to each word as it is read
  • Pay attention to what the words they read are saying
  • Give reactions to the book, with backup reasons
  • Listen carefully to each other
  • Relate their contributions to what others have said
  • Ask each other to clarify things they say
  • Use newly learned vocabulary
  • Notice words that they don’t know when they are read to and talked with and guess what the words mean from how they are used
  • Talk about words and word meanings as they are encountered in books and conversation
  • Show an interest in collecting words and playing with ones they like
  • Learn new words every day from talk and books read aloud

WRITING WORKSHOP:

  • Write daily
  • Generate content and topics for writing
  • Write without resistance when given time, place and materials
  • Use whatever means are at hand to communicate and make meaning: drawings, letter strings, scribbles, letter approximations, as well as gestures, intonations, and role-played voices
  • Make an effort to reread their own writing and listen to that of others, showing attentiveness by, for example, asking for more information or laughing at funny passages
  • Contain a “story” that may be only a single event or several events loosely linked, which the author may react to, comment on, evaluate, sum up, or tie together
  • Tell events as they move through time(control for chronological ordering)
  • May include gestures, drawings, and/or intonations that support meaning
  • May incorporate story book language (“and they lived happily ever after”)
  • Tell someone what to do (i.e. give directions, send messages)
  • Name or label objects and places
  • Re-enact and retell stories (borrow and burrow into stories, poems, plays and songs)
  • Create their own stories, poems, plays and songs
  • Use literary forms and language (i.e., if they produce a poem, students should write with some poetic language, perhaps even some poetic devices, such as imagery and repetition)
  • Gather, collect and share information about a topic
  • Maintain a focus – stay on topic
  • Exclude extraneous information when prompted
  • Use all of the syntax of oral language
  • Approximate some of the phrasing and rhythms of literary language
  • Independently create a text with words that a teacher can decipher
  • Re-read their own text, with a match between what they say and the words they have written on the paper
  • Pause momentarily in the midst of writing to reread what they have written (tracking)
  • Leave spaces between words
  • Control for directionality (left to right, top to bottom)
  • Represent words, frequently with the initial consonant sound
  • Use words in their writing that they use in conversation, usually represented phonetically
  • Use in their writing some words they like from the books read to them
  • Make choices about which words to use based on whether they accurately convey the child’s meaning
  • Show an awareness of punctuation and conventions
  • Approximate the use of some punctuation and conventions

 

Mathematics

An Overview of Kindergarten

  • Counting and Cardinality
    • Numbers 0 to 5
    • Numbers to 10
    • Numbers Beyond 10
  • Operations and Algebraic Thinking
    • Compose and Decompose Numbers to 10
    • Addition
    • Subtraction
  • Number and Operations in Base 10
    • Compose and Decompose Numbers 11 to 19
  • Measurement and Data
    • Measurement
    • Classify Objects
  • Geometry
    • Position
    • Two-Dimensional Shapes
    • Three-Dimensional Shapes

 

Science

K Science Skills

  • Make appropriate predictions
  • Create observational drawings
  • Collect and graph data
  • Handle insects and animals appropriately

Earth Science

Seasons

Physical Science

Attributes (Size, Shape, Color)

Life Science

Living/Non Living Things

Life Cycles

Insects:

  • Identify basic needs of living things
  • Learn that there are different types of insects
  • Label the parts of insects
  • Represent life cycle of butterfly through drawings
  • Learn about different habitats of insects

Five Senses


 

Social Studies

Living, Learning, and Working Together

At the preschool and kindergarten level, learning in history and social science is built on children's experiences in their families, school, community, state, and country. The picture books chosen for reading aloud, the stories told, and the songs they hear or learn are basic components of the curriculum. Children listen to stories about the people and events we celebrate in our national holidays and learn why we celebrate them. They also become familiar with our national symbols to help them develop a civic identity.

CONCEPTS & SKILLS

History and Geography

  • Identify sequential actions, such as first, next, last, in stories and use them to describe personal experiences.
  • Use correctly words and phrases related to chronology and time (now, long ago, before, after; morning, afternoon, night; today, tomorrow, yesterday; last or next week, month, year; and present, past, and future tenses of verbs).
  • Use correctly the word because in the context of stories or personal experiences.
  • Use correctly words and phrases that indicate location and direction, such as up, down, near, far, left, right, straight, back, behind, and in front of.
  • Tell or show what a map is and what a globe is.

Civics and Government

  • Give examples that show the meaning of the following concepts: authority, fairness, justice, responsibility, and rules.

Economics

  • Use words relating to work, such as jobs, money, buying, and selling.
  • Give examples of how family members, friends, or acquaintances use money directly or indirectly (e.g., credit card or check) to buy things they want.

LEARNING STANDARDS

  • Identify and describe the events or people celebrated during United States national holidays and why we celebrate them.
    • Columbus Day
    • Independence Day
    • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
    • Presidents’ Day
    • Thanksgiving
  • Put events in their own and their families’ lives in temporal order.
  • Identify the student’s street address, city or town, and Massachusetts as the state and the United States as the country in which he or she lives. Identify the name of the student’s school and the city or town in which it is located.
  • Describe the location and features of places in the immediate neighborhood of the student’s home or school.
  • Retell stories that illustrate honesty, courage, friendship, respect, responsibility, and the wise or judicious exercise of authority, and explain how the characters in the stories show these qualities. (C)
  • Identify and describe family or community members who promote the welfare and safety of children and adults.
  • Demonstrate understanding that there are important American symbols by identifying
    • the American flag and its colors and shapes
    • the melody of the national anthem
    • the picture and name of the current president
    • the words of the Pledge of Allegiance.
  • Give examples of different kinds of jobs that people do, including the work they do at home. (E)
  • Explain why people work (e.g., to earn money in order to buy things they want).
  • Give examples of the things that people buy with the money they earn.

*Note-The SSAES Curriculum Guidelines for Social Studies is directly derived from the Massachusetts History & Social Science Curriculum Framework.


 

Art

  • Use a variety of different media
  • Demonstrate understanding of how to use materials appropriately
  • Express personal experiences in artwork
  • Use and understand the elements of design
  • Express their feelings through their art

 

Music

  • Learn songs by rote; echo singing; matching tones in appropriate range
  • Identify musical aspects of sound (long/short, up/down, high/low, soft/loud, fast/slow)
  • Create body movement to music and rhythm; dances; additional verses to songs; dramatizations of songs, moods, stories

 

Technology Curriculum

Technology Mission Statement

St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School provides for the educational needs of all students through integrating technology-rich curriculum in the areas of basic skills and decision making and encourages a desire for learning, positive social interaction, and mutual respect. This mission is essential if our students are to become productive members of society with its ever-changing technology.

Computer Classroom Vision

St. Stephen’s students will use technology as a tool and resource to facilitate the development of lifelong learners who are equipped for the present and future world of higher education, work and personal pursuits. All students will have access to a technology-rich learning environment that supports and extends the school’s curriculum standards.

Goals and Objectives

St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary School actively supports the use of technology to enhance learning and to prepare students for productive lives in the Twenty-first century. Through technology, students will have rich learning experiences as they strengthen skills and critical thinking to acquire, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information from multiple sources. They will also gain proficiency in communicating and conducting research electronically, enabling them to function effectively and productively in the Information Age.

The objectives are appropriate for each elementary grade level's development readiness. They should be met by the end of the academic year. However, any of these objectives may be introduced earlier than the specified grade level, depending on students’ readiness. Formal keyboarding instruction will begin in Grade 3 with the use of a keyboarding curriculum and will be continued in succeeding grade levels to increase speed and accuracy. With this proficiency, students will use technology more efficiently and possess a vital skill for further education and future employment.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
LEVEL 1 GRADES K, 1, and 2
By the completion of grade 2 all students should be able to perform the following tasks:

  • To identify the basic components of a computer system and how it operates.
  • To start and properly shutdown a computer.
  • To handle properly and care for hardware and software.
  • To be able to insert and eject a floppy disk.
  • To understand basic computer terms such as hard drive, icon, font, menu bar etc.
  • To use the mouse effectively.
  • To select and deselect an icon using the mouse.
  • To use the menu bar and pull down each menu.
  • To use the drag function of the mouse.
  • To open a file or document using the mouse.
  • To open, close, and re-size a window using a mouse.
  • To become familiar and use the keyboard. (Letters and numbers.)
  • To use general function keys namely, return/enter, delete/backspace, space bar, shift, tab, cap lock, arrow, escape, option and control keys.
  • To use basic keyboard shortcuts.
  • To develop keyboarding awareness.
  • To use informal keyboarding techniques.
  • To apply proper hand placement and finger usage on the home row keys.
  • To use a word processor effectively.
  • To understand insertion point and cursor.
  • To open and utilize an application.
  • To open a new document and enter letters and numbers.
  • To create a guided writing assignment.
  • To save and store files to the proper location.
  • To retrieve/open a saved file.
  • To edit a file.
  • To highlight (select) text for editing and customizing.
  • To use different font styles and sizes.
  • To combine text and a graphic within a document.
  • To print a file.
  • To access and use paint, draw or graphics programs.
  • To access and use the tool bar in a graphics program.
  • To create a simple graph.
  • To be able to locate the CD drive, handle a CD and load it.
  • To navigate through a CD program.
  • To quit and then eject a CD.
  • To use the resources of the internet in a controlled setting.
  • To use preselected sites to research a topic.
  • To work cooperatively on a curriculum related website.
  • To work on and complete a simple webquest.
  • To research a topic assigned by the classroom teacher.
  • To create a report using gathered research.
  • To create a slide show using gathered research.
  • To be aware of and to follow posted lab rules.

 

Physical Education

The Physical Education curriculum includes a balance of skills, concepts, game activities, rhythms and dance experiences designed to enhance the cognitive, motor, affective and physical fitness development of every child. Learning experiences encourage children to question, integrate, analyze, communicate and apply cognitive concepts. Activities that are taught in the curriculum allow children the opportunity to work together to improve their emerging social and cooperation skills. These activities also help children develop a positive self-concept. Ongoing fitness activities are part of the continual process of helping children understand, enjoy, improve and/or maintain their physical health and well-being. Grade decisions are based on ongoing individual assessments of children’s skill acquisition as they participate in physical education class activities and/or their effort to do their best while displaying cooperation and positive sportsmanship. The class is designed so that ALL children are involved in activities that allow them to remain active, successful and having fun.

  • Demonstrate traveling, rolling and balancing actions.
  • Travel with control, forward, backward and sideways
  • Move with awareness of others in general space
  • Kick, throw, catch and strike objects
  • Select appropriate actions to match a steady beat
  • Know the rules, procedures and safe practices for participation and respond appropriately
  • Share space and equipment with others

617-926-6979
school@ssaes.org
47 Nichols Avenue, Watertown, MA 02472

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