Cardinal Community Academy uses the highly successful Core Knowledge Sequence as our base curriculum. Core Knowledge is a detailed outline of specific content to be taught in language arts, history, geography, mathematics, science and the fine arts. As the core of our curriculum, it provides a solid, coherent foundation of learning, while allowing flexibility to meet local needs.

The specific content in the Core Knowledge Sequence provides a solid foundation on which to build skills instruction. Moreover, because the Sequence offers a coherent plan that builds year by year, it helps prevent the many repetitions and gaps in instruction that can result from vague curricular guidelines. Core Knowledge is a challenging and rigorous curriculum, designed to encourage steady academic progress as children build their knowledge and skills from one year to the next.

CCA has implemented the following specific programs to support the Core Knowledge Sequence and meet the standards as set by the state of Colorado:

Open Court - reading instruction for grades K-5. (The newer version for grades K-2 is called Imagine It!)
Riggs: The Writing and Spelling Road to Reading and Thinking – handwriting, spelling and reading instruction for grades K-5
Sitton Spelling – spelling instruction for grades 6-8
Wordly Wise – vocabulary instruction for grades 3 – 5
Saxon Math – math instruction for grades K-8
Shurley English – grammar and writing instruction for grades 1 – 8
Step up to Writing – writing instruction for grades K-8

See Resources for links to their websites.

Articles from past Cardinal Chatter Newsletters

Core Knowledge News
Cardinal Chatter Newsletter, November 2007, Volume 49

The Core Knowledge regional conference this year is being held in Colorado Springs on November 9th and 10th. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a conference so close to home. Fourteen of the CCA staff members will be in attendance.

Since the inception of Cardinal Community Academy in 2000, Core Knowledge has been the backbone of our school. We use the Core Knowledge sequence that was put in place by the Core Knowledge Foundation to provide our students with a broad base of knowledge. This base of knowledge is then built upon with more knowledge. This not only seems logical, but the success of this idea continues to be validated through current educational research.

The Core Knowledge Foundation uses the following four S’s to describe Core Knowledge:

Solid: There is a body of “lasting knowledge” that should form the core of curriculum. Examples might include principles of constitutional government, elements of mathematics, or great literature passed through the generations.

Sequenced: This is the outline of content to be learned from grade to grade. This sequence helps prevent the repetitions and gaps often seen in the elementary school.

Specific: The Foundation clearly specifies the knowledge to be learned in the areas of language arts, history, geography, math, science and the fine arts. This specificity easily allows educators to satisfy state standards, which are often more broad.

Shared: It is the goal of Core Knowledge that this “shared knowledge” is provided to ALL children.

CCA has carefully chosen specific curriculum in the areas of language arts and math that closely match and support the specifics that are laid out in the Core Knowledge sequence. In following issues of Cardinal Chatter I will be writing a synopsis of each of these programs so that everyone can gain a better understanding of the curriculum that is being implemented at the various grade levels.

Saxon Math
Cardinal Chatter Newsletter, December 2007, Volume 50

Saxon Math is the core math program for CCA and has been since the school opened its doors in 2000. John Saxon, a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Force, developed the program. During his retirement he began to teach algebra courses at Rose State College in Oklahoma City. It was then that he began authoring the Saxon Math texts. At the time, he could not find a publisher for his textbooks, so he mortgaged what he owned and published the textbooks himself. John Saxon was a “maverick” in the area of math education and was known for being quite outspoken about what was wrong with mathematics instruction in the United States. Saxon passed away in 1996, and Harcourt Achieve now publishes Saxon Math. It has been especially popular among charter schools and home school parents.

Saxon Math is best known for its incremental approach. Mathematical concepts are introduced in small easy-to-understand pieces and then are continually reviewed throughout the school year, which is why your child’s homework contains a variety of math problems. Although this approach may seem like common sense, it is different than most math textbooks, where new concepts are usually delivered in a single chapter. For example, multiplying fractions may be introduced in one chapter and then never reviewed again until the next school year. This continual review is also a great way for teachers to informally assess whether their students have indeed mastered specific concepts. In addition, there are also assessments that are administered often throughout the year.

Additional information, as well as research results, can be found on the Saxon Math website.

Shurley English
Cardinal Chatter Newsletter, February 2008, Volume 51

Shurley English became a part of CCA’s curriculum in 2002 to help teach specific language arts content as outlined by the Core Knowledge Foundation. In 2007 the Shurley English company published a new version with many great additions and changes. Some of the changes include more writing activities throughout the year and additional opportunities for the students to develop their revising and editing skills.

CCA is currently using this updated version in grades 1 – 6. The 7th and 8th grades will receive their new materials this spring. We are fortunate to have a Shurley English representative located in Greeley who provided training for our teachers at the end of August.

Brenda Shurley developed Shurley English over twenty years ago when she became frustrated with the traditional approach of teaching concepts in isolation and found that her 8th grade students were not retaining the information in her English class. She set out to develop a program that was engaging, used an incremental approach and gave students adequate review, so that important concepts became part of the student’s long-term memory.

Shurley English is probably best known for its jingles that help students learn about the different parts of speech. You may have even heard your child singing or chanting these jingles at home. Some teachers have challenged the students to develop their own tune for the jingles. Whether your child loves or hates these jingles, they are hard to get out of your head, and that’s the point!

Another unique aspect of Shurley English is the use of what is called the “Question and Answer Flow.” The students learn specific questions that need to be asked in order to help them identify the different parts of speech within a sentence. Parts of speech are analyzed with the context of the whole sentence, not in isolated units. As students progress through the program, the types of sentences become more varied and complex. The students are then encouraged to use these various sentence types within their own writing. This knowledge of grammar is also important in developing a student’s writing. For example, if the teacher says, “Try using a stronger adverb in this sentence,” the student needs to know what the teacher is talking about. The Shurley Grammar exercises expose the students to various adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, etc. that can then be used in their own writing as well.

Learn more about Shurley English at their Web site, www.shurley.com. To read about the rationale and research behind Shurley English, click on “Research Info,” which is located at the bottom of their home page. There is also a link that is labeled, “Help for Parents” where Parent Help Booklets are available to download. These booklets can be obtained through your child’s teacher as well. There are two copies in each classroom, grades 1-6. If your child is in the 7th or 8th grade, the level 6 booklet will still provide valuable information.

Sitton Spelling
Cardinal Chatter Newsletter, May 2008, Volume 54

Both teachers and parents alike have observed students study for a weekly test, get a good grade and then be unable to spell those same words in their daily writing. Rebecca Sitton developed the Sitton spelling program with the goal of creating confident spellers beyond the traditional weekly spelling test. Sitton Spelling focuses on core, high frequency words that are most commonly used in writing. These core words are divided between the grade levels and students are held responsible for knowing these words, both on spelling tests and in their daily writing.

Sitton Spelling lessons begin by building visual skills through a visual warm up. In addition, exercises that build spelling and language skills are included. The teacher can choose from these exercises in order to differentiate the instruction for students. These include the following:

• Stretch It – Take a basic sentence and make it better.
• Fix It – Proofread a sentence and then fix the sentence.
• Sort It – Sort words based on their commonalities or differences.
• Add It – Discover the criteria for a list of words and then add words to the list that fit the same criteria.
• Find It – Ex: Find synonyms for the word process.

In addition, common spelling patterns are taught, and students learn to spell by analogy. For example, students may be asked to create a list of words using long e and then sort those words according to their spelling pattern. Lessons encourage students to explore words and expand their vocabulary. In the older grades, grammar usage and etymologies, the origin of words, are emphasized.

The spelling assessment is another aspect of Sitton Spelling that makes this program unique. Spelling words are presented to students using a “cloze” story format, which means that they write their spelling words on the blank spaces in the body of the paragraph while the teacher slowly reads the complete paragraph aloud. Students do not pre-study for their spelling words, rather their missed words become their spelling words. The goal is that these students will master these core words, begin to use them correctly in their writing and write these words correctly on future spelling assessments, as these words continually cycle through on the assessments. In the older grades, students also take a proofreading test and skills test. The skills test assesses the students’ ability to apply spelling skills to a list of words, such as adding suffixes and prefixes, for example.

Although the Sitton Spelling skills practice book is an optional part of the Sitton Spelling program, most CCA teachers (grades 3 – 6), use all or part of this practice book. These pages are intended to further explore words and build vocabulary. They can also be quite challenging. If you are a parent who helps your child with these pages at home, the following websites will be invaluable to you and your child: www.thesaurus.com and www.dictionary.com.