Elementary Curriculum

Pre-K & Kindergarten

Students:

  • Learn through play

  • Develop skills in reading and writing, like recognizing and writing letters, learning new words, and telling stories
    (Beginning in kindergarten, schools use the Wit & Wisdom curriculum)

  • Build a foundation for math by recognizing numbers, counting, adding, subtracting, and identifying shapes

  • Learn about being part of a family and a community

  • Study weather, plants, and animals

  • Learn habits for staying healthy

  • Develop self-esteem and how to manage feelings, behavior, and independence

  • Learn to share and work with other children

State testing
Some tests measure where students are in different areas and help teachers know how best to support each child. The KRA is one of these tests. Children in Maryland take this test early in their kindergarten year to measure where they are in language and literacy, math, social skills, physical well-being, and motor development.

First Grade

Students:

  • Build reading comprehension skills, distinguish between fiction and nonfiction, and compare characters in stories

  • Add and subtract up to 20 and solve word problems

  • Investigate light, how plants and animals grow and live, and patterns in space

  • Study geography and the environment

  • Make comparisons between past and present

  • Common Core

  • Time, Currency and Word problems.

Parent Math Guides
Parent ELA Guides
Parent ELA (SP) Guides

Second Grade

Students:

  • Read stories, fables, and folktales from different cultures

  • Ask “who, what, where, when, why, and how” questions about reading

  • Add and subtract up to 1,000

  • Measure and estimate lengths

  • Explore changes to our planet and how plants and animals adapt to where they live

  • Understand the difference between needing something and wanting something.

Parent Math Guides
Parent ELA Guides
Parent ELA (SP) Guides

Third Grade

Students:

  • Retell important details from fables, folktales, and myths from different cultures

  • Learn about point of view in writing

  • Multiply and divide numbers up to 100, begin to understand fractions, and solve word problems

  • Investigate insects

  • Study how individuals and groups protect rights and maintain order in our world

  • Learn about money

  • Study Baltimore’s history, culture, and economy

Parent Math Guide
Parent ELA Guide
Parent ELA (SP) Guide

Fourth Grade

Students:

  • Explain differences between poetry, drama, and prose

  • Figure out the meaning of words and phrases in writing

  • Add, subtract, and multiply fractions, and solve word problems

  • Investigate changes to our planet, waves, and energy

Study Maryland’s history, geography, and economy

Tip: Now is the right time to start planning for middle school. Some programs have entrance criteria, and grades and attendance in 4th grade count! Learn more about middle school choice.

Parent Math Guide
Parent ELA Guide

Fifth Grade

Students:

  • Explain the structure of different kinds of writing

  • Learn more about a narrator’s point of view

  • Analyze how pictures contribute to a text

  • Continue to learn about fractions and study decimals

  • Study environmental and earth science

  • Explain the differences between the British colonies and America

    Tip: All 5th-grade students can choose the middle schools they'd like to go to next year. The first quarter counts toward entrance criteria, so keep working hard!

Parent Math Guide
Parent ELA Guide

Middle Curriculum

Grade: 6th, 7th & 8th

Students keep developing skills in middle school and apply them in more complex areas to build knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving. These are also important years for learning to organize work, manage time, set and meet goals, and work both independently and with others — and to discover interests and talents that affect decisions about high school, college, or career. 

Sixth Grade

Students:

  • Write in different ways for different reasons, like expressing opinions or persuading

  • Read a wide variety of literature, analyzing word choice, point of view, and structure

  • Study the history and geography of Asia and Africa

  • Learn ratios, rates, and statistics

  • Explore light, particles, ecosystems, water cycles, and rocks

Parent Math Guide
Parent ELA Guide

Seventh Grade

Students:

  • Study writing techniques such as analogy, allusion, and irony

  • Compare and contrast written, audio, and video texts

  • Analyze primary and secondary sources in history, and explain the impact of geography on historical developments

  • Work with equations, graphs, and two- and three-dimensional shapes

  • Study matter, energy, weather, and biology

  • Learn about managing money

    Tip: Now is the right time to plan for high school. Some schools have entrance criteria, and grades and attendance in 7th grade count! Learn more about high school choice.

Parent Math Guide
Parent ELA Guide

Eighth Grade

Students:

  • Develop skills in reading, writing, and thinking in different subject areas — for example, historical texts

  • Study linear equations, two- and three-dimensional space, distance, and angles

  • Investigate geological processes, motion, force, heredity, natural selection, and chemical reactions

  • Study U.S. history from the American Revolution through Reconstruction

    Tip: All 8th-grade students choose the high schools they'd like to go to next year. The first quarter counts toward entrance criteria, so keep working hard!

Some middle school science classes will have dissection activities. If your child does not want to participate in a dissection activity, you have the right to request an alternative option. Talk to your child's teacher for more information.

Parent Math Guide
Parent ELA Guide

State Testing

This spring, Maryland students in 6th to 8th grades will take PARCC tests in English language arts and math. The results show whether students are meeting standards for their grade and are on track toward high school graduation. In 8th grade, students also take the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment to see how they are doing in meeting standards in science.