Grades 3-5 Academic Overview

Overview

The Upper Elementary (UE) Program is designed to meet the unique developmental needs of students in grades 3-5. Bridging the transition from elementary to middle school, we focus on helping students develop independence and ownership of their learning, while building the strong set of skills and understandings necessary to grade level (and future) academic success.

Students at UE have several core subjects: Math, Science, and Humanities (which includes both Literacy and Social Studies). Our curricula are chosen or designed to cover crucial grade level standards, as determined by Massachusetts, as well as develop the thinking skills and dispositions so important to success. Students also participate in encore courses in art, computer science, and physical education, which are an important part of our overall programming.

Our programming has a strong focus on developing age-appropriate social and emotional competencies. This skill building is integrated into our curricula and our daily instructional approaches. Our advisory program is a key component of this daily support. Through this program students engage in community building and social-emotional learning activities aimed at fostering their development, sense of belonging, and social and emotional competencies. Students are then supported throughout the day.

Curriculum Components

Humanities

Upper Elementary students participate in a rich humanities curriculum, which combines rigorous work toward grade-level English Language Arts standards with deep, culturally relevant study of history. Our units of study are intentionally designed to encourage students to embrace a love of literacy and reading. We use a literacy curriculum designed especially for our students here at PHA. Students engage with fiction and nonfiction text in a variety of genres, and learn about key features and elements of these texts. Most importantly, they learn about the thinking strategies that they can use to make sense of these texts, and in the process develop strong thinking strategies that they can use on any text going forward.

To support Social Studies, we employ the curriculum Investigating History, recently designed by the state of Massachusetts to create a rigorous and culturally responsive approach to civics and history instruction. For more information on this curriculum, click here.

Writing is a strong focus in both Science and Humanities. Students learn about the features of different types of writing, and then apply what they have learned to their own writing. They write daily to capture their thinking about what they are reading or learning, and to deepen and refine that thinking. They also write more extended pieces in a variety of genres, including narrative, informational, and argument. Talk is also an important part of our approach. Students have regular opportunities to share and build their thinking with classmates; these structured opportunities support language development, help develop social skills, support increasing independence, and refine growing understandings.

Our programming in Social Studies and Literacy aligns to the Massachusetts Literacy Standards, and provides our students with a strong foundation in reading and writing, as well as supporting critical thinking, vocabulary and content knowledge development.

For more information specific to the Humanities curricula at each grade level, click the grade level link on this page.

Math

In the K-6 math program at PHA, we are guided by the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum. This is a problem-based curriculum in which students spend most of their time in class working on carefully crafted and sequenced problems. Teachers help students understand the problems, ask questions to push their thinking, and orchestrate discussions to be sure that the mathematical takeaways are clear. Learners gain a rich and lasting understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures and experience applying this knowledge to new situations. Students frequently collaborate with their classmates—they talk about math, listen to each other’s ideas, justify their thinking, and critique the reasoning of others. They gain experience communicating their ideas both verbally and in writing, developing skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.

This kind of instruction may look different from what you experienced in your own math education. Current research says that students need to be able to think flexibly in order to use mathematical skills in their lives (and also on the types of tests they will encounter throughout their schooling). Flexible thinking relies on understanding concepts and making connections between them. Over time, students gain the skills and the confidence to independently solve problems that they've never seen before.

Science

Students in grades 3 - 5 work together to become scientists through the Amplify Science curriculum. In science class, students study natural phenomena through a combination of real-life demonstrations, hands-on experiments, and online simulations. Amplify Science also helps students to develop non-fiction literacy skills through reading and writing about science.

Encore Classes

Students in grades 3-5 participate in four specials, or “Encore,” classes: Art, Computer Science, Music, and Physical Education (PE).

The UE art program is designed to expose students to various media and to use artistic techniques to express themselves and learn about other people and the world. Through art students explore aspects of their individual identities, create collaborative pieces, and use art to make statements about the world.

In computer science, students build on the concepts introduced in earlier grades, developing their knowledge and skills in problem solving, computational thinking and coding. Students learn to integrate coding concepts into products they have designed, creating games, animations and using robotics to solve problems. Students learn how they can use Computer Science to collaborate and solve problems in their communities.

During physical education classes, students engage in movement, exercise, and activities that provide the opportunity to explore themselves and at the same time interact with others. Students also get a chance to recognize individual differences and how to establish group relationships through play.

Advisory and CREW

At the Upper Elementary, CREW means more than a group of people working toward the same goal. It stands for the values and qualities that we strive to cultivate in everyone from students to teachers to leaders in our community. We work on these skills throughout the day, giving special attention and time for them during morning advisory meetings.

The C stands for Courageous. We show courage by taking on positive challenges, doing what’s right, even when it’s hard and no one is looking, and setting high goals.

R is for Responsible, which means reflecting on the causes and effects of our actions, taking steps to make sure we understand and meet expectations, and caring for the wellbeing of our community, shared spaces, and materials.

Next, we are Empathetic when we work productively and respectfully with others, even when we disagree with their ideas; use active listening to learn what others need and provide support without expecting anything in return; and offer genuine apologies and repair when our actions harm others.

Finally, W stands for Well-Balanced. To show balance, we strive to be aware of our emotions and match our reactions to the size of a problem, recognize that we all have ways we can grow, work to understand and address our own strengths and needs, and feel good about ourselves.