
To see every subject from two angles. To shape every skill from two mindsets. These are the gifts we strive to instill every day in our bilingual Elementary program, in these critical years when students build the foundation for future learning.
Our Elementary curriculum provides the structure to bring out the student in every child, bringing together the content-rich system of the French Ministry of National Education with the inquiry-based approach of the U.S. Common Core, in both group and individualized learning opportunities. Native-speaking teachers guide each class through Humanities, Math, and Science in both English and French, adding in the study of Mandarin in 3rd grade. Personalized programs then take advantage of our high teacher-to-student ratio, allowing students to dig deeper into areas they find challenging, or expand further in those where they display aptitude and interest.
Agile minds
Learning to make leaps
The Elementary school years are a critical time in a student’s development when they acquire the mindset and toolkit of the lifelong learner. Immersed not just in two languages, but in two educational systems, students at The École have the unique opportunity to learn two ways to approach every problem—strengthening both higher-order critical thinking and creative expression, exploring both friendly competition and group collaboration, and giving their growing learning muscles both twice the exercise and twice the opportunity to understand.
Open hearts
Celebrating differences that make a difference
Surrounded by classmates of wide-ranging nationality, but connected through their two shared languages—and the beginnings of a third—our Elementary students build friendships with people whose experiences are different from their own. From these personal connections, they begin to recognize differences are what makes their relationships more interesting and rewarding—and why respect and caring for others is so important in their community and out in the world. Service clubs and programs then give our students opportunities to build— and be acknowledged for—a strong sense of character.
Bright futures
Creating confident students
Every aspect of our Elementary program—from the content we cover to the character we celebrate—is designed to build our students’ capacity for and independence in learning. As they move through the years, both American and French standardized tests provide opportunities for staff and parents to honor achievements relative to a larger body of students, focus activities around personal growth areas, and map long-term educational plans. So that each student feels well-positioned for success in the next stage of bilingual learning at The École’s Middle School, or at other schools here in New York, or across the world.
Curriculum
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In Reading, as they have learned to decode the sounds of language, it will be time to focus on the meaning of the text.
In Writing, students are led to create their first writing samples, using the French cursive script. During this year, we begin the study of basic grammar and vocabulary in order to better understand the language.
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Reading: elaborate written answers to written questions, decipher an unknown word, read without hesitation and with expression, recognize different types of writings.
Grammar: know the classification and nature of words, the types of sentence, the subject and verb accordance.
Written expression: reinvest the knowledge acquired during the writing phases.
Vocabulary: be able to search in the dictionary, acquire the different meanings of a word, the words families.
Conjugation: identify and use the present, the future, the passé composé and the imparfait for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd group verbs.
Oral Language: recite texts from memory (poetry, fable, ...), foster group work in a bilingual context, individual and collective presentations.
Spelling: be able to correctly spell words, using different types of exercises.
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Grammar: we will work throughout the year on the nominal group, the verbal group, and the sentence. Children will recognize the nature and function of words and spend a lot of time on the grammatical analysis of sentences to create automatisms.
Conjugation: we will ensure the search and recognition of conjugated verb in an automatic way and identify the family of verbs: 1st, 2nd or 3rd group. We will review all the past, present, future in their regularities but also learn the most frequent irregular verbs.
Spelling/Vocabulary: students will take the habit to ask themselves the correct questions when writing.
Poetry/Writing Workshop: poetries will be learned. This exercise will allow us to enrich the French cultural heritage of students and to use the techniques of oral memory. The Writing Workshop will allow the students to stimulate their imagination, and promote their skills to write in a natural way.
Literature/Reading: children will study several complete books during the year. They are organized around different literary genres (humor, novel, drama, fiction…)
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Counting: students will acquire a formal knowledge of whole numbers and their designation up to a million, they will be able to compare, classify, and practice approximations. This is a necessary learning to gradually approach new numbers like fraction and decimals.
Geometry: we will study perpendicular and parallel lines, polygons including triangles, parallelograms, circles, solids, and axial symmetry.
Measures: children will continue to deeper discover measurements of length, masses, capacities, durations.
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Oral language: develop fluency in oral language in order to present information clearly in different contexts, students will be introduced to the world of theater and verbal play situations.
Reading and reading comprehension: acquire a fluent oral and silent reading and to be able to understand and interpret, we will study several complete books during the year. The understanding will be verified by activities requiring a fine reading and understanding of the text.
Writing: practiced daily, it is primarily a training in cursive writing and the use of word processing but it is also convened in writing projects. Copy and layout activities help to develop the skills of the graphomotor gesture. Writing is also used in all activities to assume, question, analyze and show understanding.
Study of the language (grammar, spelling, lexicon): Grade 5 is an opportunity to fully engage in an explicit and reflective language study. In writing texts students learn the regularities of the language’s system. They are led to master the relationships between oral and written and acquire the structure, meaning and spelling of words, the form of words related to the context (e.g., gender, number, and complement of the verb), the functioning of the verb.
Bilingual world: the practice of the second language is done in close collaboration with the first. This is why the English and French programs will often meet to study the same idea, read the same book, use the same tools and be bilingual. Everything will be done to switch seamlessly from one language to another, avoiding translation work.
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In Reading, students develop the ability to read in fine detail through discussions, illustrations, character studies, invented text revisions, and reading comprehension exercises. Students become adept at seeking evidence in the text to support their ideas and personal responses to the books and passages, as well as making inferences. In Writing, students practice the arts of fact and fiction writing. They learn both how to write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information, and to express themselves creatively, crafting narratives of real or imagined experiences and events. As a vital part of developing their language skills, in Speaking and Listening, students will engage in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Grammar study is integrated into our reading and writing work or else in contextualized grammar exercises. In all cases, the goal is to sensitize students to the presence of grammar and mechanics in all aspects of expression, particularly as we find them in everyday texts of various kinds. The expansion of Vocabulary is addressed through weekly spelling activities as well as in our reading work, as students continue to develop their word decryption strategies, such as seeking clues in the context to understand the meaning of a word and looking for roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
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Questions about our Elementary curriculum?
If you’re interested in learning more about our foundational curriculum for Elementary students, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re very proud of our program and would love to answer any questions you may have or discuss in more detail how your child can benefit from a bilingual education at The École.