K Class Curriculum – Beijing World Youth Academy

K Class

Introduction

This booklet is designed to give an overview of all the learning targets for students in K Class throughout the year. The aim is that by the end of their year in K Class, every student at BWYA will be able to achieve all of the outcomes identified in this booklet. However, these standards are by no means meant to limit a student’s achievement, with all students encouraged to extend themselves to learn and grow to their potential.

The standards identified in this booklet come from highly respected curricula from around the world and were chosen because they are developmentally appropriate and sequentially build on each other from year to year. Teaching goals, assessments and student reports at the BWYA primary school all align to these standards, and these standards also align to those used in the BWYA secondary school.

It is hoped that this booklet will enhance parents’ understanding of what their child should be learning during K Class and enable parents to better partner with the school in seeing their child be successful. Both parents and teachers are able to refer to the standards during conversations and then plan future growth goals in line with the standards’ expectations. Through this, everyone can work together in unity for the benefit of the child.

The standards for K Class cover the following learning areas:

English Language Arts

The BWYA English Language Arts Standards come from the United States Common Core Standards.

Reading: Literature

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).
With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

Reading: Information Texts

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in a text.
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.
With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

Reading: Foundation Skills

Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

Writing

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is…).
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Speaking and Listening

Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
Describe familiar people, places, things, and events, and with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Language

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.
With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.

Mathematics

The BWYA Mathematics Standards come from the United States Common Core Standards.

Overview

In K Class, instructional time should focus on two critical areas:

Representing, relating, and operating on whole numbers, initially with sets of objects;
Describing shapes and space. More learning time in K Class should be devoted to numbers than to other topics.

(1) Students use numbers, including written numerals, to represent quantities and to solve quantitative problems, such as counting objects in a set; counting out a given number of objects; comparing sets or numerals; and modeling simple joining and separating situations with sets of objects, or eventually with equations such as 5 + 2 = 7 and 7 – 2 = 5. (K Class students should see addition and subtraction equations, and student writing of equations in K Class is encouraged, but it is not required.) Students choose, combine, and apply effective strategies for answering quantitative questions, including quickly recognizing the cardinalities of small sets of objects, counting and producing sets of given sizes, counting the number of objects in combined sets, or counting the number of objects that remain in a set after some are taken away.

(2) Students describe their physical world using geometric ideas (e.g., shape, orientation, spatial relations) and vocabulary. They identify, name, and describe basic two-dimensional shapes, such as squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, and hexagons, presented in a variety of ways (e.g., with different sizes and orientations), as well as three-dimensional shapes such as cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres. They use basic shapes and spatial reasoning to model objects in their environment and to construct more complex shapes.

Counting and Cardinality

Count to 100 by ones and by tens.
Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1).
Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).
Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.
Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.
Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds (e.g., claps), acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.
Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.
Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1).
For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation.
Fluently add and subtract within 5.

Number and Operations in Base 10

Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (such as 18 = 10 + 8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.

Measurement and Data

Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object.
Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has “more of”/”less of” the attribute and describe the difference. For example, directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as taller/shorter.
Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count.

Geometry

Describe objects in the environment using the names of shapes and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.
Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
Identify shapes as two-dimensional (lying in a plane, “flat”) or three-dimensional (“solid”).
Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/”corners”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).
Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components (e.g., sticks and clay balls) and drawing shapes.
Compose simple shapes to form larger shapes. For example, “Can you join these two triangles with full sides touching to make a rectangle?”

Science and Engineering

The BWYA Science and Engineering Standards come from the US Next Generations Science Standards.

Overview

The performance expectations in K Class help students formulate answers to questions such as: “What happens if you push or pull an object harder? Where do animals live and why do they live there? What is the weather like today and how is it different from yesterday?” Students are expected to develop understanding of patterns and variations in local weather and the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather. Students are able to apply an understanding of the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object to analyse a design solution. Students are also expected to develop understanding of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live.

The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; systems and system models; interdependence of science, engineering, and technology; and the influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world, are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas.

In the K Class performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions, developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analysing and interpreting data, designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.

Science Knowledge

Physical Science
Life Science
Earth and Space Science
Engineering, Technology and Applications of Science

Science Skills

Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Developing and Using Models
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Engaging in Arguments from Evidence
Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information

K Class Achievement Standards

Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.
Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.
Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.
Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live.
Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather.
Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.

Units of Inquiry

The BWYA Units of Inquiry Standards come from the International Primary Curriculum.

Subject Areas

History
Society
Geography
International Mindedness

Knowledge Standards

Know Stories about a range of people who have lived in a variety of cultures in the past.
Know about a range of events that happened in the past.
Know that people have individual characteristics.
Know some of the rules of groups to which they belong.
Know about some of the factors that can harm or improve their health.
Know about some of the factors that can improve or endanger their safety.
Know about some major celebrations – including some in the host country.
Know about the main physical and human features of particular localities.
Know about similarities and differences between different localities.
Know about how land and buildings are used in particular localities.
Know about the weather and climatic conditions in particular localities and how they affect the environment and lives of people living there.
Know that the world extends beyond their own locality and that the places they study exist within a broader geographical context.
Know that people can harm or improve the environment.
Know that children within the class and school have different home countries.
Know the names and approximate locations of the home countries of children within the class (and/or school).
Know about some of the similarities and differences between the lives of children in the different home countries and in the host country.

Skill Standards

Be able to use key words and phrases relating to the passing of time.
Be able to order events and objects into a sequence.
Be able to identify differences between their own lives and those of people who have lived in the past.
Be able to find out about aspects of the past from a range of sources of information.
Be able to use geographical terms.
Be able to follow directions.
Be able to describe the geographical features of the school site and other familiar places.
Be able to make maps and plans of real and imaginary places, using pictures and symbols.
Be able to use maps at a variety of scales to locate the position and simple geographical features of the host country and their home country.
Be able to use secondary sources to obtain simple geographical information.
Be able to express views on the attractive and unattractive features of an environment.
Be able to communicate their geographical knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways.
Be able to respect one another’s individuality and independence.
Be able to work with each other where appropriate.

Understanding Standards

Understand that events and people’s actions have cause and effects.
Understand that the past is represented in a variety of ways.
Understand that they belong to a number of groups (e.g. family, school, nation).

Chinese Studies

The BWYA Chinese Studies Standards come from the Chinese National Curriculum.

K Class students start to work towards the Grade 1 standards for Chinese Studies.

识字和写字

喜欢学习汉字，有主动识字的愿望。
掌握汉字的基本笔画和常用的偏旁部首，能按笔顺规则用硬笔写字，注意间架结构，初步感受汉字的形体美。
写字姿势要正确，字要写得规范、端正、整洁、努力养成良好的写字习惯。
学会汉语拼音，能读准声母、韵母、声调和整体认读音节，能准确的拼读音节，正确书写声母、韵母和音节。

阅读

喜欢阅读，感受阅读的乐趣，初步养成爱护图书的习惯。
学习用普通话正确、流利、有感情的朗读课文。
结合上下文和生活实际了解课文中词句的意思，在阅读中积累词语，借助读物中的图画阅读。
诵读儿歌，童谣和浅近的古诗，展开想象，获得初步的情感体验，感受语言的优美。
认识课文中出现的常用标点符号，在阅读中，体会句号、问号、感叹号所表达的不同语气。
积累自己喜欢的成语和格言警句。背诵优秀诗文，课外阅读总量不少于2万字。

习作

对写话有兴趣，写自己想说的话。
在写话中乐于运用阅读和生活中学到的词语。
学习使用逗号、句号、问号、感叹号。

口语交际

能认真听别人讲话，努力了解讲话的主要内容。
听故事、看音像作品，能复述大意和自己感兴趣的情节。
与别人交谈，态度自然大方，有礼貌。
有表达的自信心，积极参加讨论，善于发表自己的意见。

Music

The BWYA Music Standards come from the US National Association for Music Education.

Creating

With guidance, explore and experience music concepts (such as beat and melodic contour).
With guidance, generate musical ideas (such as movements or motives).
With guidance, demonstrate and choose favorite musical ideas.
With guidance, organize personal musical ideas using iconic notation and/or recording technology.
With guidance, apply personal, peer, and teacher feedback in refining personal musical ideas.
With guidance, demonstrate a final version of personal musical ideas to peers.

Performing

With guidance, demonstrate and state personal interest in varied musical selections.
With guidance, explore and demonstrate awareness of music contrasts (such as high/low, loud/soft, same/different) in a variety of music selected for performance.
With guidance, demonstrate awareness of expressive qualities (such as voice quality, dynamics, and tempo) that support the creators’ expressive intent.
With guidance, apply personal, teacher, and peer feedback to refine performances.
With guidance, use suggested strategies in rehearsal to improve the expressive qualities of music.
With guidance, perform music with expression.
Perform appropriately for the audience.

Responding

With guidance, list personal interests and experiences and demonstrate why they prefer some music selections over others.
With guidance, demonstrate how a specific music concept (such as beat or melodic direction) is used in music.
With guidance, demonstrate awareness of expressive qualities (such as dynamics and tempo) that reflect creators’/performers’ expressive intent.
With guidance, apply personal and expressive preferences in the evaluation of music.

Connecting

Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music.
Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts, other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.

Visual Arts

The BWYA Visual Arts Standards come from the US National Art Education Association.

Creating

Explore and experiment imaginatively with ideas and materials.
Collaborate in creative art-making in response to an artistic problem.
Through experimentation, build skills in various media and art- making approaches, using developmentally appropriate craftsmanship.
Use art materials, tools, and equipment safely.
Create art that represents natural and constructed environments.
Explain the process of making art while creating.

Presenting

Select art objects for personal portfolio and display, explaining why they were chosen.
Explain the purpose of a portfolio or collection.
Explain the function of an art museum and distinguish how an art museum is different from other buildings and presentation spaces.

Responding

Describe what an image represents.
Identify uses of art within one’s personal environment.
Interpret art by identifying subject matter and describing relevant details while using appropriate art vocabulary.
Explain reasons for selecting a preferred artwork.

Connecting

Create art that tells a story about a life experience.
Identify a purpose of an artwork.

Drama

The BWYA Drama Standards come from the US Educational Theatre Association’s Core Theatre Standards.

Creating

With prompting and support, invent and inhabit an imaginary elsewhere in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, use non-representational materials to create props, puppets, and costume pieces for dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, interact with peers and contribute to dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, express original ideas in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., creative drama, process drama, story drama).
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).

Performance

With prompting and support, identify characters and setting in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, understand that voice and sound are fundamental to dramatic play and guided drama experiences (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, explore and experiment with various technical elements in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, use voice and sound in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).

Responding

With prompting and support, express an emotional response to characters in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, identify preferences in dramatic play, a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama), or age-appropriate theatre performance.
With prompting and support, name and describe settings in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, actively engage with others in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).

Connecting

With prompting and support, identify similarities between characters and oneself in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, identify skills and knowledge from other areas in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, identify stories that are different from one another in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
With prompting and support, tell a short story in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).

Physical Education

The BWYA Physical Education Standards come from the Shape America Grade Level Outcomes.

Overview

By the end of Grade 5, the learner will demonstrate competence in fundamental motor skills and selected combinations of skills; use basic movement concepts in dance, gymnastics and small-sided practice tasks; identify basic health-related fitness concepts; exhibit acceptance of self and others in physical activities; and identify the benefits of a physically active lifestyle.

Motor Skills and Movement Patterns

Performs locomotor skills (hopping, galloping, running, sliding, skipping) while maintaining balance.
Performs jumping and landing actions with balance.
Performs locomotor skills in response to teacher-led creative dance.
Maintains momentary stillness on different bases of support.
Forms wide, narrow, curled and twisted body shapes.
Rolls sideways in a narrow body shape.
Contrasts the actions of curling and stretching.
Throws underhand with opposite foot forward.
Drops a ball and catches it before it bounces twice.
Catches a large ball tossed by a skilled thrower.
Dribbles a ball with one hand, attempting the second contact.
Taps a ball using the inside of the foot, sending it forward.
Kicks a stationary ball from a stationary position, demonstrating 2 of the 5 critical elements of a mature kicking pattern.
Volleys a light-weight object (balloon), sending it upward.
Strikes a light-weight object with a paddle or short-handled racket.
Executes a single jump with a self-turned rope.
Jumps a long rope with teacher-assisted turning.

Movement and Performance

Differentiates between movement in personal (self-space) and general space.
Moves in personal space to a rhythm.
Travels in three different path-ways.
Travels in general space with different speeds.

Physical Activity and Fitness

Identifies active-play opportunities outside physical education class.
Participates actively in physical education class.
Recognizes that when you move fast, your heart beats faster and you breathe faster.
Recognizes that food provides energy for physical activity.

Responsible Personal and Social Behaviour

Follows directions in group settings (e.g., safe behaviors, following rules, taking turns).
Acknowledges responsibility for behavior when prompted.
Follows instruction and directions when prompted.
Shares equipment and space with others.
Recognizes the established protocol for class activities.
Follows teacher’s directions for safe participation and proper use of equipment with minimal reminders.

Values Physical Activity

Recognizes that physical activity is important for good health.
Acknowledges that some physical activities are challenging/difficult.
Identifies physical activities that are enjoyable.
Discusses the enjoyment of playing with friends.

Schoolwide Learner Outcomes

The BWYA Schoolwide Learner Outcomes were developed by Beijing World Youth Academy.

Respect

We show respect in the way we treat others and are tolerant of our differences

International Mindedness

We show our international-mindedness in the way we work to make our school, community, and world a better place.

Fairness

We show our fairness in the way we share, listen, stay open-minded, and play by the rules.

Caring

We show that we are caring in the way that we are kind, compassionate, and happy to help.

Resilience

We show our resilience in the way that we persevere, believe in ourselves, and always do our best.

Adaptability

We show our adaptability in the way that we are flexible, abide by local rules and customs, and practice ‘give and take’.

Knowledge

We show our knowledge by having inquiring minds, and by striving to be independent learners that are happy to engage socially and intellectually.