1st – 2nd Grade Class
Our program meets the development needs of our students by using a combination of fluency readers and novel studies. Sing, Spell, Read, Write (SSPW) and Voweletics are phonics based reading and spelling program that continues developing phonological skills, reading fluency and emphasizes spelling patterns. Literature based units are used to build skills in reading comprehension, fluency, and develop knowledge of literary elements. Quality, classical literature is selected for both class and individual student reading.
Shurley English is a curriculum championed in classical schools for excellence in grammar instruction. Students learn the parts of speech and proper sentence structure through jingles, chants, and application of a question-answer flow to classifying sentences.
We follow a classical approach to teaching writing using both Writing with Ease and Shurley English. Students learn to model excellent writing by doing copy work and learning to write summaries of classic texts. Writing poetry, narratives, and expository pieces are the primary focus in these grades. Dictation exercises also challenge and improve a child’s ability to retain ideas in their mind, which is a critical skill in the writing process.
Zaner-Bloser manuscript and cursive is taught. Cursive is introduced in second grade with practice continuing throughout the grammar years (grades 1-6).
Saxon is a spiraling curriculum that provides our students opportunities to master material over time with many opportunities to review and build on concepts. Emphasized concepts in this series includes basic word problems, graphing, counting currency, telling time, fact memorization, building number sense, place value, and algorithms with the four basic operations.
We believe that God is the author of all truth and that we are instructed to hide His word in our hearts. Students sing, memorize scripture, and learn the basic grammar of the Bible. Our students learn Salvation history and are inspired by the heroes of faith found in both the Old and New Testaments. We strive to foster a desire in students to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Story of the World forms the foundation of historical studies at Trinity. History is God’s story and we are all part of that story. Even our young students begin to learn dates, places, people, and events of historical significance that continue to shape our world today.
God reveals himself through his creation and has created children with an innate love of the natural world around us. Students study animals, their habitats, and life cycles. They also complete a unit on energy and motion. We are building our program with F.O.S.S science curriculum which is one of three recommended by the National Science Resources Center, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Smithsonian Institution as meeting their criteria for “an exemplary elementary science program.” F.O.S.S is an inquiry based program that allows student hands on access to science learning in a systematic way.
All students also participate in art, music, and P.E.