 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
 |
|
||||||||||
Bios Christian Academy is divided into kindergarten, primary (grades one through three), elementary (grades four through six), junior high (grades seven and eight), and high school (grades nine through twelve). Kindergarten is a half-day program with an emphasis on academics and teaching the students learning skills. In the three hour day, Bible, math, reading, and physical education make up most of the day. The primary classes emphasize development of the basic subjects of Bible, reading, composition, and math. Music, science, art, and Spanish are also taught. The elementary grades continue the emphasis on the development of the basic subjects of Bible, reading composition, and math with additional time for social studies, Spanish, and science provided. Music and art are also taught. Junior high is a wonderful time in a person’s life to be educated. Our goal is to channel that exuberant energy into preparing for their high school education. The eight courses each year are built around our Philosophy of Education and preparing our students for the rigors of our high school college prep program. Seventh grade classes include: Bible, math, English, science, social studies, music, physical education and computer skills. Eighth grade classes include: Bible math, English, science, social studies, music, physical education, and Spanish.
Curriculum
Kindergarten, Primary, Elementary Junior High
MATHEMATICS Elementary (grades 4-6) Junior High (grades 7 & 8) As with all of the textbooks and teaching materials we use, the math books are tools to assist us in providing our students the skills we expect them to have when they graduate. All three publishers we use employ the practice of “spiraling” in their daily lessons. Essentially, a lesson is introduced, practice is provided and the daily lesson reviews previously taught lessons, keeping knowledge constantly practiced. The Horizons K-3 textbooks are really strong textbooks – high expectations, great spiraling, and good practice. They changed authors for their later books and so did the expectations of the texts. Saxon 5/4, 6/5 and 7/6 have key components the other two publishers do not have built into their systems – mental math and facts practice. Saxon does a fine job with spiraling and practice. Teaching Textbooks (pre-algebra through pre-calculus) continue to include the “spiraling” system of instruction and review. Its strengths are clearer explanations, less problems each lesson, and unlike Saxon there are no lessons which are inserted from out of nowhere to meet a state's math curriculum expectation. Teaching Textbooks is focused in providing the math skills students need. Our instructional method for math is essentially the same for all of the grades. The teachers in the kindergarten and primary classes provide clear one-on-one instruction for each student, check for understanding, then send the student back to their table to practice the concept. If the student makes a mistake or the work is not neat enough, then the student returns to their table to correct their mistake. In the elementary grades through high school, each student reads their lesson, and then explains their understanding of the lesson to the teaching individually. The teacher can say “Great job!” and the student completes their practice, or “Here is what you misunderstood, let me help you” and the teacher will provide additional explanation or practice until the student shows understanding. In grades kindergarten, primary, and elementary, memorization of math facts is emphasized. ENGLISH Learning to be proficient in the English language involves much more than studying grammar from a text book. Our students become proficient in the speaking, reading and writing of the English language through listening and practice. The listening is provided by the interaction throughout the day between the student and his/her teachers. Each teacher in each subject models for the student the correct English and pronunciations when discussing the individual lessons. The teacher also confirms correct speech and corrects incorrect speech from the student during that discussion. Each student's use of the English language is expanded by the literature they are required to read. Classics, popular books, and biographies make up the wide variety of choices each student has in their grade level literature list they have to choose from. Phonics lessons are taught in kindergarten and first grade. Grammar is begun in the second grade and taught through the twelfth grade using the Easy Grammar text. Easy Grammar provides a simple system of identifying parts of speech in a sentence as well as a consistent method of reviewing past skills taught. Word roots are taught using English From the Roots Up, a simple but very effective method of teaching Latin and Greek roots and their derivatives. In all of our grades, composition is taught and practiced often with meaningful assignments. Those meaningful assignments include writing friendly letters, essays, research papers, and poetry. Each student has their own unique individual goals within those assignments. Handwriting Kindergarten and Primary (grades 1-3) In this day of word processors some may ask why we would still include handwriting as part of our curriculum. We include handwriting practice as part of our daily kindergarten and primary curriculum because great penmanship continues to be an important skill in our culture. The program we use is A Reason for Writing . Each week the students practice their handwriting around a different Bible verse. At the end of each week each student copies their verse-of-the-week onto their choice of “Scripture Border Sheets.” Then, these beautifully written sheets are worthy of sharing with friends or family. Technology Junior High: Type to Learn Our seventh grade students spend three quarters of the year learning and improving their keyboard skills using the program Type to Learn. In addition, one quarter is spent learning the basic skills of how to use Microsoft Word 2007. The freshman class spends one semester in furthering their Microsoft Word 2007 skills and the second semester learning the basic skills to maneuver around Microsoft Excel 2007 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007. Of course, each student is instructed in our very effective individualized goal and instructional methods. The students work on one of our 16 MacBook laptops. Science The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Psalm 19:1 “Research is what I am doing when I don't know what I'm doing.” Wernher Von Braun – famous rocket scientist Science instruction in our elementary program focuses on discovering God's amazing creation through well thought out hands-on activities. My goal is to present science where most of a child's time is spent in actively discovering basic ideas of this world through well ordered experiments. We use two different programs which support this idea. One is Science in a Nutshell published by Delta Education and the other program is Lego Technic . Together, in both programs, students spend 90 to 100 minutes each week working individually or with a partner, actively learning about the wonders of creation. In Science in a Nutshell , students work through nine to eleven experiments individually in such topics as Bubbles, Body Basics, Water Physics, Sound Vibrations, Electrical Connections, Flight: Gliders to Jets, and Planets and Stars. Before a student spends time on his experiment, he first must tell the teacher the goal of the experiment, background information, and the basic steps to be performed. In the experiments, students learn how salt affects water, which materials conduct the flow of electrons, learn about the strength of bones and much more. Technic is used to teach physics in our kindergarten, primary, and elementary programs. Working in pairs, students explore the world of physics through building and experimenting with gears, levers, and pulleys. Students spend time learning and experiencing between bevel gears, worm gears, and differential gears. In the elementary grades, electric motors and icon based programming are introduced to further build on previous skills. In middle and high school, textbooks are introduced. Labs in those grades make up to 30% of their class time. Science and the scientific process are a very important aspect of the education provided at Bios Christian. It is also a fun and exciting part of learning about His handiwork.
|
|
||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||
