Curriculum

Integrated learning is a critical element in all classrooms at BCS.  The ability to understand big themes common to human experience, past and present, provides students with a framework for thinking about themselves and their world.  The themes and essential questions for this year were carefully chosen to connect and link all curriculum areas.

3-4: PATTERNS

What is a pattern?

How do patterns help (you) to make predictions?

How do patterns influence behavior?

5-6:  INTERDEPENDENCE

What is interdependence?

How does interdependence play a role in my life at school, at home and with friends?

In what ways can a person be interdependent and also be an individual?  Is one more important than the other?  Why or why not?

7-8: DIVERSITY: A Matter of Perspective

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

How does a culture in which a person lives affect that person’s understanding of the world?

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

What obstacles (physical, social and mental) does an individual encounter and how does one resolve them?

QUEST FOR IDENTITY

What are ways individuals react when faced with challenges to their culture/customs/beliefs?              

For an overview of the elementary curriculum in the Birmingham Public Schools visit: Birmingham Public School Curriculum