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Curriculum Overview
Use the links in the blue box to the left to go directly to a curriculum website. Scroll down to read a brief curriculum overview.
Elementary Curriculum - An overview of the elementary curriculum can be viewed by Grade or by Subject. Click HERE. For indepth curriculum information, use the links on the left to go to the individual curriculum website.
Family and Consumer Sciences
All Family and Consumer Sciences courses blend research and discussion with practical, hands-on experiences for both young men and women. From consumer education and food preparation to parenting, the Family and Consumer Sciences Department provides young people with skills and knowledge they will need to handle the situations they will face as adults.
Health and Physical Education
The elementary health program is designed to provide students with basic life skill concepts in mental health, personal hygiene, environmental health, safety, nutrition, substance dependency, and human growth and development.
Elementary Physical Education is a progressive program of activities based upon student needs, interest, readiness and physiological development.
Contact: Secondary Health & PE - David Bolton, 267-892-3400 or Luke Hadfield, 267-893-2300
Elementary Health & PE - Matt Croyle, 267-893-3500
Industrial Technology
The Industrial Technology Department focuses on design and problem solving as an approach to exploring past, current and future technologies. A contemporary program, Industrial Technology provides students in middle school with a broad exposure to communications, construction, manufacturing, transportation and bio-related technologies. Senior high students gain experience in design, engineering, architecture and CAD/CAM. Students will gain insight into the technological world of today and possibly discover their career interest.
Contact: Mike Parry
Language Arts
The elementary language arts program in Central Bucks integrates all the language arts - reading, writing, speaking, listening, thinking, and researching - and helps students apply those skills to meaningful tasks. The writing component emphasizes the process that writers engage in during writing - planning, drafting, responding, revising, editing, and publishing - as well as the final product. Finally, the language component addresses skills such as spelling, mechanics, usage, and grammar with in the context of reading and writing tasks, rather than isolation.
The secondary language arts program in Central Bucks integrates reading, literature study, writing, speaking, and research skills at each grade level. Our program goal is to have students achieve high academic standards in the language arts: reading independently, reading critically, analyzing and responding to literature, writing in various forms for a variety of audiences, producing compositions of high quality, speaking proficiently, and using research skills. Students read and respond to literature (classic as well as contemporary novels) in discussions called literature circles. They respond to their reading in logs and journals, and also learn to analyze the craft of literature. They write personal narratives, informative pieces, persuasive pieces, and creative stories, poems, or plays. They learn to respond to each other's writing and to revise and edit their own work during writing workshops. They learn research skills (including the web, of course) and present their findings in speeches and papers.
In middle level, students engage in interdisciplinary units developed by middle level teaching teams. The textbook Language and Literature (McDougal-Littell) supports the curriculum, and additional novels, plays, and non-fiction works are required each year. In grade 7, students have a double block of language arts/reading each day. Some students are identified for honors English each year. In grade 9, a double block of reading and writing is also provided for students who need extra support to reach the standards.
In senior high, students take core English courses in grades 10, 11, and 12. Central Bucks uses block scheduling, so all students have ninety minute classes for one semester each year: American Literature in grade 10 (using McDougal-Littell's The Language of Literature ), British Literature in grade 11 (using Holt's Elements of Literature), and Contemporary World Literature in grade 12 (using a variety of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and short stories from around the world). All three years of study are offered at different challenge levels (honors, standard, and modified). In addition, AP English is offered to qualified seniors and a remedial reading and writing lab. is available for those needing additional support.
The high school also offers a varied elective program. Journalism, Debate, Creative Writing, Theater, Shakespeare, SAT Preparation, Broadcasting, and Fiction into Film are some of the offerings.
Recommended Summer 2007 Reading Lists
The "Writing Research Papers" handbook for secondary students is also available online.
Elementary Contact: Teena Olson, 267-893-5712
Secondary Contact: Alyssa Walloff, 267-893-2042
Library
The library information skills curriculum in the Central Bucks School District is designed to provide today's information age students with the tools necessary to become independent and self-guided life-long learners. By taking part in this course of instruction students will become effective users of information resources in a variety of formats including traditional and emerging technologies. In addition, students will engage in learning activities in the areas of information retrieval, information management, critical thinking, and literature appreciation. Students will also investigate the world around them through print, non-print and technological resources. They will become critical users of knowledge in an information rich society, and they will experience and respond to quality literature.
Central to the library information skills curriculum is the integration of skills instruction with the subject area curricula. It is vital that students master information management skills such as the ability to retrieve, organize, analyze, interpret, evaluate, integrate, and present information. These skills acquire value in context. When the skills instruction is correlated with appropriate subject matter instruction, students will employ information management skills to clarify and extend the learning of the grade level/subject area curricula. Students will also have opportunities to learn in different ways using varied resources and strategies targeted to individual learning styles and abilities.
Classroom teachers and the school librarians will work together to provide opportunities for students to achieve information literacy and foster a lifelong interest in knowledge.
Secondary Contact: Alyssa Walloff, 267-893-2042
Elementary Library Contact: Melissa Yates, 267-893-2056
Mathematics
The teaching and learning of mathematics begins in a math rich environment. The activities, tasks, and discourse provide a framework for the development of mathematical power in all learners. Mathematical power (NCTM, 1991) is unmistakable in learners that exhibit conceptual and procedural understandings. It is evident in learners that can communicate mathematically, reason logically, problem solve, and exhibit a disposition to persevere. The emphasis of the math curriculum is on: Problem solving strategies, Interpretation of data, Measurement, time, and money, Calculator skills, Number sense and operations, Spatial and geometry concepts and patterns, and algebra.
The district's mathematics standards are available online.
Elementary to Middle School Transition
Internet Resources for Mathematics Problems
Elementary Contact: Michelle Jacobs, 267-893-2051
Secondary Contact: Richard Kratz, 267-893-2051
Music
For a description of the music curriculum and links to resources please see the Music Curriculum Department website.
Contact: Frank Bolkus 267-893-5742
Reading
Our district's reading program is literature-based with students reading whole books in addition to selections from a text. This reading serves as a starting point for meaningful skill and strategy instruction. Higher level reading and thinking skills are emphasized along with the connection between reading and writing. Independent reading on self-selected books is encouraged to help students develop a life-long enjoyment of reading.
Summer recommended reading lists for grades one through six are now available online.
The district's "Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening" standards are available online.
Contact: Paul Beltz, 267-893-2041
Science
The Science curriculum emphasizes the thinking skills involved in the scientific method of data collecting, analyzing, and problem solving. It introduces students to the biological, physical, and earth sciences. Early grades use hands-on, experimental kits exclusively, while the upper grades use kits plus supportive written material.
Elementary & Secondary Science Contact: George Mehler, 267-893-2041
Social Studies
Central Bucks recognizes that students today have many experiences which bring the distant world into their lives. In response to the current needs of our society, this teacher-developed, hands-on curriculum moves more quickly, has a global focus, and introduced the students to civics, economics, and sociology, in addition to history and geography.
Elementary Contact: Carla Walls, 267-893-2052
Secondary Contact: James Kearney, 267-893-2054
Visual Arts
The Art education program in the Central Bucks School District is a Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) program, focusing on both State and National Standards. Discipline-Based Art Education, as espoused by national leaders in the field of Art Education, involves the development of skills and knowledge in four basic disciplines in Art. Those disciplines are: Aesthetics and Art Philosophy; Art Production; Art History; Art Criticism. These four disciplines are found in all Courses of Study in Art as they provide the unifying structure of the Central Bucks Art program, from Kindergarten through High School. Additionally, it should be noted that the content in every course of study is sequential in nature. The knowledge and skills that provide the content under each discipline are meant to build upon the knowledge and skills that were taught and mastered in previous art courses.
Contact: Andrea Fein, 267-893-3623
World Languages
Central Bucks World Language courses allow students to study one language for several years so that the language can be used as another learning tool. The language being taught will be the language of the classroom. Beyond the expected learning of writing and speaking the language, students learn how other people live in other parts of the world. The knowledge of how other people work, play, raise families and run governments can be valuable in many classes outside the World Languages Department. The possibilities of using language skills cannot be ignored. Many government and international business jobs demand modern language skills.
While Central Bucks emphasizes one world language, successful language students are encouraged to study a second world language.
Contact: Jo Schuler, 267-893-2359 |