Curriculum Guides on Writing, Spelling, Reading and Mathematics

A curriculum guide is a plan on what subjects will be taught, how they will be taught and by whom they will be taught. It may be general or specific and is a determinant on what ways materials are taught to diverse groups of students (Tannehill & Lund, 2010).  In most cases, public schools setup curriculum guides for every individual subject and the guides are used as a trajectory of the expected standards of performance in the school. That is, the performance levels that are expected of students. The guides may specify the core concepts that must be taught within a given time limit and provide recommendations on the teaching method s that will appeal to a given group of students.

Curriculum guides should embrace objectivity and proper goals if academic excellence is to be achieved (Glass & Strickland, 2009). They should consider the students educational and social needs based on the age group. In addition, they should be based on content standards, thinking skills and mind habits as well as promote collaborative teaching, learning and assessment opportunities that enable all students to achieve high standards. This paper develops curriculum guides for reading, writing, spelling and mathematics in a way that promotes learning in the classroom situation.

In the context of curriculum guide development, the teacher has the responsibility of teaching and following up on the pupils through mentorship sessions so that specific student needs are taken care of (Mattison, O’Shea & Rowe, 2002). The teacher also has the responsibility of building students based on individual student assets. Assessment is done on a continuous basis to find out how much is being learnt. Apart from periodical assessments of written and oral tests, the teacher will provide end of lesson assignments which the students must do and submit results within a given timeline. There will also be end of year exams which will examine students’ strengths and weaknesses (Malloy, 2006).

Curriculum Guide on Reading, Spelling and Writing for Grade One Pupils

Objective: At the end of the learning year, the pupils are expected to be in a position to write a large proportion of correctly spelt high frequency words. In addition, the pupil should be able to write text that is readable by others regardless of the spelling of words. There should also be phonetic representation in the text. The pupil should also be able to draw a range of resources for deciding on how to spell unfamiliar words such as matching familiar words and word parts. The pupil should automatically and correctly spell words that are used commonly.

Presentation of what is to be learnt within the clarified periods

Class: Grade one period	activity
One week	Letter formation of single letters
Three days	Students use magnetic letters to build words
Three days	Students sort words in a pocket chart
Two days	Writing and checking of spellings
Two  days	Friends check on what others have done
Four days	Spelling
Two days	syllables
Three days	Name building
Two days	Matching of names and pictures
Three days	Sorting names by categories
Two days	Sorting names by gender
Two days	Sorting names on a chart
Two days	Identifying consonants
Four days	Sorting names by how they end
Three days	Sorting of names that have double consonants
One week	Introduction to vowels
Two weeks	Syllables and their separation by line
Ten days	Naming of objects
One week	Sorting of attributes
Two weeks	Writing of words
Two and a half weeks	Word building
One week	Making of syllable breaks

 

Curriculum Guide for Mathematics

This guide provides direction on what a grade one student should know at the end of the academic year of doing mathematics (Maxwell, Mendez, Goldsmith & Sorenson, 2001). At the end of the teaching period, the student should be able to have basic knowledge on addition and subtraction, measurements, place value and spatial understanding of geometry. The student should also know weights in terms of what is heavy or light and build number sense.

Objective: The student is expected to have all rounded information on numbers, basic algebra, basic geometry, measurement and introductory probability.

Given that grade 2 students are relatively young, the curriculum will engage the children in hands on activities. They will use manipulative aspects such as identification of numerals, writing of the memorized numerals, understanding one to one correspondence, describing positional words, sequencing events, completing simple patterns and addition and subtraction among other things. Here is a diagrammatic presentation of what is expected of students in Grade 1 in Mathematics as adopted from Team (2008).

Time	Objectives
4 weeks	Number sense: count forward and backward, connect numerals and number words represented.
5 weeks	Foundations of addition and subtraction, number words and ordinals: represent real life number stories, describe addition and subtraction using manipulatives, use two or three addends
3 weeks	Fluency in addition and subtraction and introduction to geometry: solve addition and/or subtraction problems using one or two digit numbers, develop an understanding of fractions by dividing objects into equal parts.
3 weeks	Spatial understanding of geometry, place value, counting: describe characteristics and properties of two and three dimensional geometric shapes, explain similarities and differences in plane and solid shapes, recognize and name environmental shapes
4 weeks	Measurements and operational extensions: use the calendar to identify the day, month and year as well as the day before, the day after among other things. Collect data from the environment.

 

Rubric of Assessment and Evaluation

A rubric is a tool that is used to assess several types of assignments including written work, projects and speeches among other things (Harrison 2001, 12). Rubrics are an excellent way to grading assignments that can lead to subjective grading. Rubrics ought to be given to students before the completion of course work so that they have knowledge on how they will be assessed (Bondi & Wiles, 2011).

In both the above subjects: mathematics and writing, spelling and reading there will be two continuous assessment tests and one final examination. The continuous assessment test will all account to 40% of the overall grade whereas the final exam will contribute to 60% of the final grade. For mathematics, the grades will be auto summed to a hundred percent mark. In the languages (reading, writing and spelling) however, there will be both oral presentations and written tests. Oral presentation in the two continuous assessment tests will amount to a total of 15% of the total grade. Oral presentations in the examinations will also contribute to 15% of the overall grade. In essence, oral presentations contribute to 30% of the overall grade in writing, spelling and reading tests. The following is a breakdown of the distribution of grades across the subjects covered with a basis on the guidelines provided by Soven &McLeod (1992).

Breakdown of Distribution of Marks for Grading

subject	nature	Contribution	Overall effect
Reading, writing and spelling	Continuous assessment tests NB: these are grades for two continuous assessment tests	Oral presentations:15% Written work: 15%	30%
	Final examination	Oral presentation:15% Written exams: 55%	70%
Mathematics	Continuous assessment tests NB: these are grades for two continuous assessment tests	Counting and symbols: 20% Written arithmetic: 10%	30%
	Final examination	Counting and identification of symbols: 20% Written arithmetic:50%	70%

Conclusion

A curriculum should be purposeful, rigorous and related to the real world. It should focus on developing complex and critical thinking skills of individual students thereby helping them develop deeper creativity in the subjects of study. In addition, it should integrate themes, essential questions and standards into the daily work of students. It should also be class specific and coherent both in writing and implementation.