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Primary School     ywds

at

Designed to provide an outstanding education to children in Kindergarten through sixth grade, our Primary School offers small class sizes, dedicated faculty, and a place for students to develop a life-long love of learning - and make friendships they will keep forever.
     The foundation of our Primary School curriculum consists of several keystones, each representing a critical aspect of a student's education.

Math, Science, and Technology PRograms

 The Primary School curriculum encompasses many levels of mathematics from counting in kindergarten to solving problems algebraically in sixth grade.  Our students advance their math skills through a variety of manipulatives, games, texts, workbooks and smart board activities. 

  
    Students also learn through real world problem solving and higher level thinking.  Our mathematics program groups students according to their academic ability.  Each student is challenged to reach his or her maximum aptitude.

    
    Our science program offers hands-on work and experiments in physical, biological, and earth and space sciences.  Our Nature Trail, located behind the lower field, is used all year long as an outdoor classroom where native plants and animals can be observed in a natural setting.


     Technology plays an important  role in our students' experience.  Students learn to cooperate, collaborate, create, and communicate through the use of technology. Throughout the school year, students will develop keyboarding skills, develop strong digital citizenship, and use technology to discover, compose, and produce cross-curricular multimedia projects.

Reading

To help children become appreciative and competent readers, our reading program in the early grades is a powerful combination of quality literature and phonics.  Each classroom at Young World Day School features books that appeal to a wide range of abilities and interests.  Plays are read and acted out.  Children are also regularly read to as a way to encourage their love of literature and have a model for their own interests.


     In the kindergarten classes, the children learn to read via pre-decodable books which combine sight words and pictures. Their reading ability advances as they gain an extensive sight word vocabulary and learn to decode words phonetically.


     In the upper three grades, the emphasis is on reading both full length children's novels and nonfiction books by award winning authors. Class discussions and end-of-book projects reinforce learning and reflect growing skills and comprehension. Learning to read textbooks for main ideas and details and beginning note-taking are key study skills taught in the upper grades.

Writing

Writing begins for our students in kindergarten with children learning what a sentence is and then how to write one.  Next, journal writing begins with teacher directed sentences and then the children's own sentences with curriculum based topics.  This develops a love of writing.  The children also do written Show and Tell assignments with their parents to advance their writing skills.

  
    In the first and second grades, students develop their capabilities further, with daily writing exercises that come in the form of journals, letters, creative stories, and the recording of simple research. The children learn how to write using paragraphs, and their stories often contain several paragraphs. Book reports utilizing both fiction and non-fiction books.


     In the combined third through fifth grades, students use a five step writing process to build on what they have learned.  They write in a variety of prose, poetry, expository and narrative forms, during both a formal weekly writing lab and across the curriculum in daily assignments.  Their writing projects include response logs, research papers, and documenting science experiments. In addition, the transition from manuscript to cursive handwriting occurs in the third grade.

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Social Studies and fine arts

At Young World Day School we consider Social Studies to be a key part of a well-rounded education.  As a result, geography, with an emphasis on map reading, locating, and learning about people of various regions, is studied at every grade level.  For our kindergarten children, history is taught by delving into our calendar's special holidays and cultural events, such as Presidents' Day and Chinese New Year.  Each holiday is studied with the use of stories, photographs, Scholastic Newspapers, DVD's and art activities.  Families are also an important topic in Kindergarten social studies.  The children discuss and compare and contrast their families to families around the world. 
    In the combined classrooms of first and second grades, students learn about the United States, other countries and cultures, Native Americans, and colonial history.  In the upper grades, they study the presidency, immigration, inventions, exploration, early American history, architecture - as well as the history of New Jersey.
   We also offer a variety of other programs to give your child an ideal educational experience.

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