Literacy

Literacy at Grace is designed to nurture early language and literacy development in a structured yet joyful way, laying a strong foundation for lifelong reading success. 

At Grace, we believe that effective early literacy instruction should be developmentally appropriate, embedded in meaningful experiences, and based on the science of reading.  Our lessons are centered in play-based learning and include interactive activities, songs, stories, and games that foster a love of language and storytelling.  We provide exposure to rich content as children are exposed to a variety of texts, including read-alouds and informational books, to build background knowledge and vocabulary.  We also focus on building foundational skills.  Our literacy curriculum systematically introduces phonemic awareness, letter recognition, and print concepts to prepare children for future reading instruction.
Literacy at Grace also involves active engagement from educators and families to support children’s growth in a cooperative and nurturing way.  We strive to partner with families to support them in their child’s literacy development at home.

In junior kindergarten, our literacy program is designed to build foundational literacy skills in young learners through engaging, age-appropriate instruction. Our curriculum focuses on developing oral language, phonological awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, and early writing skills, all critical components for reading success.  Through interactive read-alouds, songs, and engaging activities, our literacy activities are play-based and designed to meet the developmental needs of 4-year-olds, encouraging exploration, creativity, and problem-solving.  We combine literacy, science, social studies, and math into thematic units that build background knowledge and comprehension.  We aim to create a joyful, inclusive learning environment that helps children build confidence, curiosity, and key academic skills before entering kindergarten.

Kindergarten students experience a comprehensive early literacy curriculum grounded in the science of reading.  Our curriculum combines explicit foundational skills instruction with rich content knowledge to foster strong readers, writers, and thinkers.​  Daily lessons consist of two components: a "Skills," strand and a "Knowledge," strand.​  Our skills strand focuses on phonological awareness, phonics, and writing, progressing from basic letter-sound correspondences to more complex phonics patterns, including consonant clusters and digraphs. It integrates handwriting and spelling, supporting both transcription and composition skills.​  Our knowledge strand builds background knowledge and vocabulary through thematic units and features thematic units such as "Nursery Rhymes and Fables," "The 5 Senses," "Native Americans,” “Seasons and Weather,” and “Taking Care of the Earth,” introducing students to rich vocabulary, important lessons and morals, scientific concepts, and respect for diverse cultures.  Focusing on both “strands” in the early years provides a balanced literacy experience that develops the skills and knowledge necessary for young learners to become confident and capable readers and writers.

The first grade literacy curriculum integrates explicit foundational skills instruction with rich content knowledge to foster confident readers, writers, and thinkers.​  Building on the foundation laid in kindergarten, students are taught “skills” and “knowledge” via two strands. Our skills strand focuses on foundational skills such as phonics, phonemic awareness, handwriting, and spelling.  Students learn to decode and encode words using explicit instruction in sound-spelling correspondences, including consonant clusters and digraphs.  Knowledge strand lessons focus on building background knowledge and vocabulary through thematic content as students learn about topics such as "Fables and Stories,” "Different Lands, Similar Stories," and "Early World Civilizations."  Students engage in daily writing activities that include narrative and opinion writing, focusing on grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. ​ We aim to provide students with the tools they need to become confident readers and writers, laying a steady foundation for a lifelong love of learning.

Additionally, all early childhood students regularly meet with their middle school book buddies to read together and build meaningful connections across divisions. They also enjoy All Star visits with the division head, who introduces other genres—such as nonfiction—as another way to foster a love of reading in our youngest learners.
 
Mathematics

Our math curriculum in early childhood is essential to helping our students build positive math mindsets that travel with them throughout their time at Grace. Whether through Number Corner time exploring the month’s calendar pattern, playing math games, or exploring a puzzling question, our students leave early childhood with the basic place value and numeracy skills, as well as the foundation of algebraic thinking. Joy is also an essential ingredient to our students’ success in math, and when you walk down our halls you’ll hear excitement and finally guessing what’s in the math mystery box, giggles as a teacher finally reveals what’s next on the calendar pattern, and see those ‘aha!’ moments as students figure out a strategy that might help them win the game.

In junior kindergarten, we cultivate math thinking all throughout the day. Each month, students explore math concepts through a contextual theme– apples, pumpkins, snow people– to help build numeracy, cardinality, and subitizing skills. Teachers maximize opportunities for math learning in the way the classroom is organized and arranged, encouraging opportunities for sorting and categorizing, counting, and pattern-making.

Our kindergartners continue to build their mathematical skills in daily math time, whether during Number Corner or a game-filled math lesson. Games are at the center of our kindergarten math curriculum, helping students build and solidify computational and conceptual math skills. A Number Corner session might be spent generating equations to match pictures or stories, counting days of school through different math manipulatives, or exploring the next decade on the number line. Interview based assessments help us collect data on student progress, ensuring that we are meeting the needs of each student we teach.

First graders focus primarily on addition and subtraction within 20, and whole number relationships and the foundation of place value. Students begin to build their computational fluency by using efficient strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems, and learning the relationship between these two basic operations. First graders also engage in a study of geometry, which challenges students to identify, draw, compare, and sort shapes. Students learn about fractions through the context of two-dimensional shapes. Math challenges, whether in the form of logic puzzles or brain-teasing story problems, are also available to students in each unit, providing additional opportunities to build perseverance in problem solving. 
 
 
Social Studies

In social studies, early childhood students begin to develop a sense of self within the context of their families, schools, and communities. They explore and celebrate both their similarities and differences with others, fostering an appreciation for the unique qualities that make each person special. At the same time, they begin to recognize the shared human needs that connect us all. A key focus is helping children understand what it means to belong—as valued members of their classroom and the broader Grace community—where kindness, respect, and inclusion are foundational. Additionally, the CKLA literacy curriculum includes a knowledge strand, some aspects of which align with social studies and have been thoughtfully integrated into grade-level curricula to support a more cohesive and enriched learning experience.

Junior kindergarteners begin their first year at Grace learning about their new school, both the people that make it run each day and about the building itself. As they settle into their classrooms and make classroom agreements and jobs, students learn to articulate themselves, listen to their peers, and contribute to the consistent routines of, and responsibilities within, the classroom. All year, students learn and share about the qualities that make them unique as well as the similarities that they have in common with their peers. They continue with units of study on feelings and the qualities that make an upstander before focusing on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other change makers. In April, students learn about the need to be upstanders for the earth and about the impact they have on our natural world. All year,  junior kindergarteners focus heavily on the elements that make them who they are and the community they can create when they work together.
 
The kindergarten social studies curriculum helps students make sense of the world and their community. The students begin the year learning about similarities and differences among themselves and their families. They continue their exploration by meeting and interviewing various members of the school community. The scope broadens and continues to move outward as they learn about New York City. Special highlights include learning about different important landmarks and various transportation methods. Kindergartners also take a field trip to the Transit Museum to get an inside look at NYC’s intricate subway system.
 
First graders take a trip around the world by visiting all seven continents. They learn how children around the world live at home, go to school, eat, and play. These themes are also embedded in other disciplines in the curriculum, such as dance, art, and music.  Rich stories and fables from around the world, as well as non-fiction books are read to the students throughout the year.  First graders take field trips to supplement their study of the world, including the Tibet House to preview their Himalayan Art collection and the Brooklyn Museum to visit for their collection of Egyptian artifacts. Families are invited to the classroom to share their expertise of places around the world.
 
Science 
 
Science in early childhood is designed to satisfy the children’s innate curiosity through hands-on experiences that spark joy in the students' learning. Early childhood science works collaboratively with the teaching team to create cross-curricular studies. Knowledge strands and big topics are woven into the curriculum. The young scientists take advantage of the science classroom as well as the rooftop greenhouse, garden beds, and bee hives to learn about the world around them. 
 
Junior kindergarten science is an exploration of the senses and the world around them. The young scientists engage in thought-provoking hands-on activities. In the beginning of the school year, students get to know the rooftop bees, looking at the members of the hive and the community and how they work together to make each hive thrive. The students also engage in animal group studies, with a large focus on mammals and whales. In the spring, the junior kindergarten incubates and hatches chicken eggs while learning about their life cycles and emphasizing the importance of respecting the natural world around them. The rooftop greenhouse becomes our classroom during the final months of the school year, where we learn about plants and utilize the greenhouse for learning about plant growth and life cycles. Students visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to learn about different plants and what it means to be a botanist.
 
Kindergarteners go to the science lab for weekly classes. They grow champion radishes in the greenhouse and learn how to take care of growing plants. Students learn about the different forms of matter, such as solids, liquids, gases, and non-Newtonian matter, which they explore when making oobleck. Kindergarten students also explore animal classifications and create a book about various animal groups based on their characteristics.  When learning about reptiles, students stop to delve deep into a dinosaur study, which leads to a scavenger hunt field trip at the American Museum of Natural History. Lastly, students explore force and learn about what gravity and friction are and how they affect movement in objects.
 
In first grade, students engage in scientific inquiry and experimentation by exploring light and sound. Using common household objects, students learn about pitch, volume, and how vibrations produce sound. To investigate light, students make shadows, search for reflections, and discover how light can refract in various substances. In addition, Students investigate buoyancy. First graders are given a STEAM task in which they use their understanding of floating and sinking to construct tin foil boats that can transport a specific amount of cargo. They also delve into the characteristics of camouflage and mimicry, and camouflage a paper chameleon onto a pattern background of their choice. Finally, students grow lima beans in the greenhouse and learn what it means for plants to germinate. This lesson gets explored further, as the students visit the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens to learn how plants grow and how they are used for medicine, food, and much more.  These foundational investigations help develop observation and reasoning skills, preparing students for the more abstract scientific concepts introduced in the lower school.
 


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Grace Church School is a co-educational independent school in downtown Manhattan, New York City providing instruction for over 800 students in junior kindergarten through twelfth grade.