- Pocantico Hills Central School District
- Curricular Resources
CURRICULAR RESOURCES
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At Pocantico Hills, we are committed to the belief that all children have incredible growth potential and that we must do all we can to extend, nurture, and inspire them within the school and beyond. To us, the quality of a child’s classroom experiences is more important than scores on standardized tests, and our collective goal every day is to enrich our students’ lives beyond the standards set by the State.
As part of their everyday engagement with the curricula, students should be actively applying and bridging essential skills, thinking deeply, making connections, asking thoughtful questions, seeing relationships, collaborating, and communicating. We should be modeling and developing flexibility, creativity, and innovation, as well as productive habits of mind so students can excel in the world around them. Our Guiding Principles and Essential Skills frame our thinking for this important work and are embedded in all our decisions.
Thanks to the community’s support, we have many resources at our fingertips, and we are always working to embed them in our instruction. We realize that the world around us is changing more quickly than ever before, and we have a responsibility to thoughtfully and systematically prepare our students for all the demands and challenges ahead.
In addition to the overviews you see below, we have also posted curriculum outlines for our major subject areas. While these are always works in progress, they provide an insight into the units, topics, and skills that are explored and developed at each grade level. Please see our teachers’ class pages for more information and links!
English Language Arts
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At the heart of our English language arts curriculum is a balanced approach to literacy anchored by the reading and writing workshop model. Beginning in 2016-17, our K-6 teachers have been redesigning their writing and reading units with Gravity Goldberg's professional development team to meet the needs of all learners. These customized units incorporate shared, guided, and independent reading and writing across a variety of genre, group and whole-class mini-lessons, conferencing and strategy groups. Additional resources our teachers utilize include Fundations in PK-2, P/NW BOCES’ Integrated ELA/Social Studies curriculum, additional leveled books, class novels, student-selected literature, current events and scientific articles, primary sources, and more.
Math
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The Pocantico Hills School District is implementing the Eureka Math curriculum in all Pre-K – 8 classrooms during the 2019-2020 school year. Eureka Math was developed specifically to meet the Common Core standards and is the only comprehensive curriculum fully aligned with the standards for grades K-8. Teaching mathematics as a "story," Eureka Math builds students’ knowledge logically and thoroughly to help them achieve deep understanding.
Families can access the Eureka Math parent resources, such as games, videos and Parent Tip Sheets, by making a Great Minds account at greatminds.org/signup. Parent Tip Sheets (K—8) provide an overview of each topic to help parents address questions children may have about Eureka Math at home. These tip sheets include suggested strategies and models, key vocabulary, connections to previous learning, and tips for how you can support your child’s learning at home. They are arranged in the same sequence as the student homework, making it easy for parents to follow along with their child’s progress.
Science
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In science, we utilize the Science 21 curriculum K-2 – a hands-on, investigation-based program developed by Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES and used by over 60 districts. Then, for grades 3-8, we use the FOSS Science program - another hands-on program with a robust online program as well. In addition, our teachers use "Gizmos," which are digital simulations where students can adjust different variables and observe the resulting reactions. When students get to 8th grade, they also have the opportunity to accelerate and take Regents Earth Science and receive high school credit.
Science Curriculum Outlines and Links
Social Studies
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We use a variety of resources to teach social studies at Pocantico Hills. In K-6, our primary resource is the Integrated Social Studies/ELA curriculum developed at Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES by teachers in the region including our own. In addition, all of our teachers, regardless of grade level, utilize additional resources such as inquiry modules to build units and lessons tailored to their students’ interests and needs. In 7th and 8th grade, the primary textbook is America: History of Our Nation.
STREAM and Computer Science
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The concept of blending science, technology, research, engineering, the arts, and math (STREAM) into a rich context for Innovation and Design is truly compelling and powerful. In addition, providing children of all ages with opportunities to strengthen their computational thinking strategies through progressively more complex coding experiences pays dividends across content areas. Linked below is a recent presentation to the Board of Education around computer science and STREAM at Pocantico Hills.
