Primary Program

Primary

In Newfoundland and Labrador, children in Grades 1, 2, and 3 are enroled in the Province's primary schools. The primary school curriculum is designed to develop fundamental knowledge, skills, and values. The curriculum is a differentiated one with prescribed content and core objectives in: English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, French, music, art, physical education, health, and religious education.

The focus of the primary school is on the growth and development of the learner (intellectually, socially, emotionally, spiritually, and physically). The overall method of instruction is the activity-inquiry methods, a hands-on, minds-on approach to learning that helps children meet each learning situation in such a way that it will have meaning for them. Many connections and developing abilities across subject areas is one way of enhancing children's understanding of concepts, values, and skills. However, there is an expectation that student achievement in at the primary level will result from a combination of discrete and connected teaching/learning experiences.

The primary school is a learning environment sensitive to each child's needs and developmental level. It recognizes that each child is a worthwhile individual with potential for growth and development. In the primary school, parents and educators are partners in the child's education.

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Art

Art education at the primary level is intended to be experiential and open-ended to permit the greatest flexibility to the student. The program is designed to cultivate a love of art and a sensitivity to the visual environment. It is designed to foster confidence in expression and develop basic skills in artmaking techniques and processes. Emphasis is placed on the relationship between seeing and feeling and promotion of an atmosphere in which visual creation is an everyday mode of expression.

The elements of design (line, shape, color, texture, space) and the principles of design (movement, repetition, balance, contrast, emphasis and unity) are explored as key elements to visual communication and in articulating a response to imagery or art works. This lays the foundation for aesthetic development.

Through the art program students draw upon personal experience, and physical, social, and cultural environments as the basis for visual expression. Visual awareness is developed through such activities as describing, comparing, classifying, matching and manipulating. Sensory perception is emphasized through such activities as listening, touching, tasting, smelling, and moving.

In addition to the creation of imagery students learn to utilize images and graphics for identifying, discussing, and sharing information. The program has a strong verbal component through which students acquire art vocabulary, reinforce their visual perception, and express their reactions to art and their environment. It also encourages the exchange, modification, and development of ideas.

The Art Program is structured around the following organizers:

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

Recommended

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Core French

The recognized starting point for core French is Grade 4; however, schools may offer core French from Grade 1 to Grade 3. The Department of Education will support school-initiated primary core French programs that meet specific criteria. These criteria have been adopted to encourage schools and school districts to implement well-articulated French programs. Schools seeking departmental support for primary core French should submit their proposals to the Program Development Specialist for Core French for approval. Proposals should be received by the Department of Education by April 30 to allow processing for the new school year.

Proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the following criteria.

Personnel

Teachers should have the following qualifications and experience or their equivalent:

  1. Education - a degree with specialization in primary or elementary education.
  2. Proficiency in French - eight semester courses in French and a recognized six-week course at a francophone institution.
  3. Teaching French as Second Language - one course in the theory and methods of the primary or elementary grades.
  4. Teaching Experience - two years minimum, preferably in the primary grades.

Purpose

Schools should implement primary core French with the intention of preparing students for more intensive French programs, such as expanded core French or late immersion.

Articulation

Schools should plan an instructional sequence for Grades 1-6 that provides for the systematic development and use of language skills and the development of linguistic knowledge.

Scheduling

In Grades 1-3, children should have a daily French period of at least twenty minutes. The general timetable of each class should accompany a proposal.

The optional Primary Core French Program promotes listening comprehension, encourages oral production, fosters positive attitudes towards learning French, and introduces French culture.

Content is drawn from the children's world, their knowledge of themselves and their experience of their immediate surroundings. Specific topics include clothing, numbers, colours, animals, seasons, sports, holidays, and birthdays.

The topics are presented directly in French and provide the context for practice of the language. The Program includes a variety of activities, ranging from those primarily linguistic (comprehension, pronunciation, and repetition) to those involving reinforcement and use of French (singing, games, and colouring). The class should progress from a teacher-directed presentation of new content to student-centred practice and use.

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English Language Arts

The goals of the Primary English Language Arts Program are in harmony with the broad aims of the primary school, related to the nature and function of language and to the linguistic needs of primary children. The goals include:
Assisting children to move from an intuitive grasp of language to a more conscious control of language.

Learning Resources

Authorized (Grades 1, 2, and 3)

Authorized (Grade 1)

Grade 1:

Recommended (Grade 1)

Authorized (Grade 2)

Grade 2:

Recommended (Grade 2)

Authorized (Grade 3)

Grade 3:

Recommended (Grade 3)

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Family Life Education (Roman Catholic)

At the primary level, the Fully Alive series, sponsored and developed by the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, is the approved Family Life Program for Catholic students. The series is intended to support and strengthen the family unit. Its focus is on the ordinary experience of daily life - family relationships, friendships, marriage, birth, death, joys, and disappointments.

Each year the Fully Alive series is organized around the five themes essential to a complete family life program:

  1. Created and Loved by God
  2. Living in Relationship
  3. Created Sexual: Male and Female
  4. Growing in Commitment
  5. Living in the World

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

Recommended

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

* The family edition is available from Maxwell Macmillan Canada Limited

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Health

At the primary level, the Health Program takes a comprehensive approach to fostering and promoting the well-being of young people by making linkages with classroom instruction, health-related services, and a school environment that promotes and is conducive to healthy living. Comprehensive school health, a form of health promotion which has connections with all other areas of the primary curriculum, fosters the creation of environments that provide opportunities for all young people to make healthy choices and enhance their own health and the health of their communities.

The program is organized around the following components:

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

Recommended

Grades 1 and 2:

Grade 3:

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Mathematics

At the primary level, the Mathematics program helps students mature mentally in the context of meaningful mathematical experiences. Children begin to develop specific skills and strategies for mathematics problem solving. These skills and strategies are applied as part of the development of number and operation sense, basic geometric concepts, spatial relations, measurement processes, and basic statistical techniques. A variety of manipulative materials are used for concept formation.

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

The following materials are shared by Grades 1 and 2:

Grade 3:

The following materials are shared by Grades 1, 2, and 3:

Recommended

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Music

Music in the primary school provides experiences which are meaningful and enjoyable to the child and which develop a greater love, understanding, and sensitivity to music. Music is an essential part of the primary curriculum because it promotes growth in the three major areas of learning: the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor. The elements of rhythm, melody, harmony and form, and the expressive controls of texture, timbre, dynamics, tempo, and articulation, are explored through direct experiences - singing, speaking, playing, moving, listening, hand signing, notating, reading, writing, deriving, analyzing, improvising, composing, evaluating.

The Music Program is learner based and flexible, matching the teaching process to the children's natural learning process. The Primary Music Program sequences the discovery of musical concepts and musical skills.

While skills, knowledge, and concepts constitute the essential component of the music program, it is for aesthetic growth that such content is needed. The Music Program establishes a foundation for aesthetic development by encouraging children to realize and express their feelings through musical experiences and to discover the beauty and expressive qualities inherent in music.

The delivery of music curriculum involves two organizers:

  1. Curricular Settings
  2. Individual/Ensemble Performance

The Program utilizes three strands:

  1. Elements of Music
  2. Styles of Music
  3. Skill Development

Learning Resources

Authorized

Recommended

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Physical Education

At the primary level, the physical education program introduces children to a wide range of locomotor and manipulative skills, reinforces concepts of space and nonlocomotor movement, provides introductory information on the human body and the effects of physical activity, develops social skills and emphasizes personal development and success through participation.

The program uses physical activity as the basic medium for cognitive, psychomotor, and social learning; provides children with the opportunity for extensive individual experimentation and practice; and introduces a wide range of childhood and cultural games. This should be done through a wide range of locomotor, nonlocomotor, and manipulative activities which encourage cooperation and competition through childhood games.

Learning Resources

Authorized

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Religious Education (Integrated)

The major goals introduced at the Kindergarten level are further extended and developed at the Grade 1 level and again in Grade 2. While the goals are the same for each grade, the focus and emphasis changes and new resources are identified. The goals throughout are concerned with developing self-concept and relationships, reflecting on the created order, and broadening understanding of religious observances and celebration.

At the Grade 3 level the issue of stewardship is explored by exposing children to incidents from the lives of people who have engaged in exemplary conduct and were, therefore, friends of God.

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

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Religious Education (Pentecostal)

The Primary Program is developed around the communication of biblical themes and concepts to provide a clear understanding of God's providential care:

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

Recommended (for Grades 1, 2, and 3)

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Religious Education (Roman Catholic)

At the primary level, the Born of the Spirit series, the catechetic instrument approved by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, addresses one of our most basic needs: the need to know that we belong. Belonging can be very fragile in human relationships, but our ultimate belonging is to God.

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

Recommended

Grade 1:*

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

The recommended materials listed for each of the Programs are essential resources for these Programs. The music is especially important to the proper implementation of the Program. These materials are available from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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Science

The study of science at the Primary Level involves a hands-on, activity oriented approach to learning. The Program emphasizes the development of attitudes, skills, and knowledge, with the knowledge component drawing on topics from the life, earth, and physical sciences. Teachers should consult the Primary Science Curriculum Guide (Interim edition, 1995) for identification of these topics.

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

Recommended

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Social Studies

The overall goal of the Social Studies Program is to promote personal growth and to develop the values and skills essential for effective citizenship. The Primary Program is designed thematically to help children understand the society in which they live, appreciate the interdependence of people, foster children's sensitivity to their cultural heritage, and develop values and skills essential for developing children's potential as individuals and Canadian citizens.

At the primary level the major themes include:

Learning Resources

Authorized

Grade 1:

Grade 2:

Grade 3:

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Recommended Time Allotments

Physical Education, Music, Art 20%
Mathematics, Science, Technology Education 25%
English Language Arts* 25%%
Social Studies, Health, Religous Education 20%
Optional 10%

* Schools introducing core French at this level should increase this allotment to 35%.

Organizational and instructional strategies employed by primary teachers (e.g., interdisciplinary learning experiences, learning centres, blocked-time approach to scheduling) make it difficult to determine exact percentages of time spent on the various curriculum areas. Thus, the time allotments recommended above should be viewed as approximations.

Multigrade Classrooms

Time allotments for multigrade classrooms are the same as those recommended for single-grade classrooms. Organizational and instructional strategies, which are helpful in multigrade classrooms, include multi-age grouping, interdisciplinary learning, use of learning centres, peer tutoring, and block scheduling.

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