A programme that grows with your children

Our English Language programme, teaches children to read and write using synthetic phonics, which is widely recognised as the most effective way to teach children to read and write in English. This programme and phonics is becoming central to the UK curriculum.

Our programme also includes the preparation of Cambridge certifications (Starters, Movers; Flyers e P.E.T.).

Enlish Language curriculum

The Key Stage One curriculum covers year 1 and 2

 

CLASS NAME                              AGE OF CHILD

Year 1                                                   age 5 – 6

Year 2                                                   age 6 – 7

 

It is during the Key Stage One phase that children gain the foundation for their reading, writing and numeracy skills. The teachers concentrate on building these basic skills and creating a solid base for continued development in the later key stages. Much emphasis at this stage is placed on spelling, grammar, writing skills, communication and numeracy. The teachers of the year 1 and year 2 classes work closely together in order to ensure that the children progress smoothly and gain the necessary skills by the end of the key stage.
The children’s curiosity and creativity continues to be supported through project-based learning and hands-on activities in most subject areas. The teachers propose educational trips and outings linked with cross-curricular classroom projects. This ensures a deeper and wider understanding of the learning area, as well as encouraging personal and social development. Teaching at this stage balances the use of games and play with academic instruction and learning. In topic learning such as science, history and geography the children are taught through fun activities encouraging thinking and communication skills. The English teachers work meticulously with the Italian teacher in order to create dual language projects and facilitate learning within the two curricula.

Learning Objectives

English in Year 1

 

• Phonics Screening
  A phonics assessment is given to all children in Year 1. It is designed to confirm whether individual pupils have grasped the basics of phonic decoding by the end of Year 1 and will identify those pupils who need extra help, so the school can provide support.

 

• Reading
  The reading curriculum in Year 1 includes a wide range of high-quality poetry and rhymes and provides opportunities for children to apply their developing reading skills appropriately. Teachers promote enthusiasm for reading through reading aloud a wide range of stories, poems, rhymes and information texts. They should be listened to reading independently at least once a week – not all children become fluent readers by the end of Year 1, but most take their first solid steps toward fluid reading. Through phonics, teachers help children listen for sounds in words, write the sounds they hear, and discover parts of written language, like the –at in cat that they can then use to work out the words hat, mat, and sat.

 

• Writing
  Writing, like reading, takes a variety of forms in Year 1. Children “invent” their spellings as they work out their understanding of written language. Writing activities include diary writing, writing creative stories, or writing non-fiction texts. Teachers frequently ask children to sound out the words they write to confirm the sounds that letters make.

 

English in Year 2

• Reading
  By Year 2, most students can read and write at a basic level. They tackle more and more texts in and out of the classroom as they work to become rapid and accurate readers. The reading curriculum includes comics, poetry, stories about the seasons, stories about food. The majority of children entering Year 2 can read automatically some 150 of the most frequently occurring words in English and can spell many of them. During Year 2, their phonic knowledge and speed of blending increases so that they can decode words
  independently and quickly. They routinely apply their phonic knowledge as the prime approach to reading unfamiliar and more complex words.

 

• Writing
  At this stage children become better story writers as they learn to write basic sentences and short narratives about an event or a character. By the end of Year 2, most children write stories with a clear and sustained form, a logical sequence of events and a consistent use of person and time. Children’s handwriting often becomes smaller and neater.

The Key Stage Two curriculum covers years 3, 4, 5

 

 

CLASS NAME                              AGE OF CHILD

Year 3                                                   age 7 – 8

Year 4                                                   age 8 – 9

Year 5                                                   age 9 – 10

 

 

It is during the Key Stage Two phase that a child develops into an independent and secure learner. The teachers concentrate on supporting the child’s continuous personal development in all subject areas. Much emphasis at this stage is placed on self-correction, presentation and developing numeracy skills. The teachers of KS2 classes work closely together in order to ensure that the children progress smoothly and gain the necessary skills by the end of the key stage. Many experiments and hands-on project work is done in science, history and geography lessons as the students begin to observe and evaluate the world around them in a critical manner. The students are supported to work within collaborative groups, learning to solve problems, negotiation and compromise. A lot of attention is given to the students presenting a research project and using the correct vocabulary to enhance their presentation.

During Key Stage Two the Italian and English teachers regularly evaluate the progress of each child in order to ensure a smooth transition all the way to the end of the stage.

 

English in Year 3

• Reading
  The tasks for the Year 3 readers are to develop reading stamina and fluency and to widen their reading range across instructions, fantasy (fables), realistic, descriptive text (persons, animals), diary entries. They’ll often discuss books or texts in small groups and ask questions about what they’re reading. This is a critical year for moving from a primarily phonics- based spelling approach to one that relies upon the child’s memory and the accuracy of spelling high frequency words increases.

 

• Writing
  Children in Year 3 also learn organizational methods that help them prepare for more complex writing tasks. They’ll be asked to take more responsibility for the writing process, including revising, editing, and proofreading. They begin to use research tools, such as a dictionary, encyclopedia, the library and the Internet, to gather information independently on a topic. Most importantly, they start to learn to organize this information into paragraphs, essays, projects, and presentations that help students synthesize their learning.

 

English in Year 4

At the start of Year 4 the majority of children have gained independent control of literacy. The challenge in Year 4 is to use this increased fluency and confidence to read and write extended texts in all curricular areas. Children need to widen their range of reading so they develop new tastes as well as pursuing established personal preferences. The reading curriculum introduces children to a range of genres they may not choose for themselves, for example longer Fantasy/Realistic, Scary Stories, Adventure Stories, Letters/Emails, Descriptive Text, Poetry.

 

• Writing
  Talking and reading continue to provide the foundation for writing. At the same time, Year 4 learners are able to draw on a range of secondary sources. Children learn to develop and refine their ideas in writing and are able to summarise and shape material and ideas from different sources to write convincing and informative non-narrative texts. They organise their writing into paragraphs and start to use adverbs and conjunctions to organise cohesion within them.

 

English in Year 5

 

• Reading
  At the start of Year 5, the majority of children are becoming confident and fast with their acquired reading and writing skills. The reading curriculum includes mystery/detective/crime stories, humorous stories, historical stories, autobiographies, articles (informative texts), appropriate for this age group.

 

• Writing
  In addition, by the end of Year 5, the majority of children are secure in the different stages of the writing process and can review their own work critically. They use language to create specific effects such as emphasis, humour, atmosphere, and settings and characters to engage reader’s interests. They choose different planning tools for a range of writing. They understand the need for re-drafting at an organisational level for a whole text as well as surface revision of spelling and punctuation.

Didactical material and specific tools are provided for foreign students.

 

Here are the goals of our institute.

 

The student takes part in communicative/verbal exchanges (conversation, class or group discussion) with classmates and teachers respecting his/her turn and formulating clear and meaningful messages in the register most suited to the situation.

 

• Listen and understands communications and news “transmitted” by medias and is able to grasp the core of the message, the main information and its purpose.
• Reads and comprehends texts of various types – both continuous and non-continuous – and through the use of reading strategies that are appropriate to the scope of the task, is able to identify the texts overall meaning and main information.
• Uses functional abilities in his/her study: identifies and extrapolates from texts information that is relevant to the “assimilation” of a given topic and is able to compare it with other data; he/she is further able to summarize this same information, also in a view of a possible presentation; lastly, he/she acquires a core set of specific terminology.
• Reads texts of various genre – which are part of children’s literature – both aloud and to him/herself (silently and independently), formulating his/her own personal opinion.
• Writes texts – which are orthographically correct, clear and coherent – linked to the various experiences and writing opportunities offered by the school; he/she also reworks texts paraphrasing, completing and/or transforming them.
• Understands and uses in his/her oral and written exposition both basic and articulate vocabulary; understands and uses the most frequent, specific terms related to the discipline he/she is studying.
• Reflects on own texts and those of others to grasp morphological-syntactic regularity and other features of the lexicon; acknowledges that the different linguistic choices are related to the variety of communicative situations.
• Is aware that, in communicating, different language properties and different languages are used​​(multilingualism).
• Masters and applies, in different situations, fundamental knowledge regarding the logical-syntax organization of simple sentence, parts of speech (or lexical categories) and major connectives.

There has been great attention put into the programming of teaching math. In the Elementary School, plays a fundamental role in the formation and future choices of the students. The bases for the future years are built during the Elementary School.

Our school has chosen to teach Mathematics in the children’s natural language, so that the lack of language and comprehension are not a factor that will determine the attainment of the established goals.

As a matter of fact, the child is exposed to quality and variety of language, and these are the main factors that help the child obtain vocabulary to argue and solve mathematical problems and to be able to explain the acquired strategies.

A didactically captivating strategy to teach math, will therefore help the child with the comprehension and construction of mathematical knowledge, and to create a positive relationship with the subject, stimulating curiosity and pleasure related to this subject which usually creates difficulties to students in the coming school years, and becomes an obstacle for the choices in the Scientific learning fields.

Overcoming the hostility that we frequently hear of from children regarding mathematics is one of the reasons why our school creates fundamental premises,

Treating subjects in both English and Italian.

Co-teaching as a choice to completely develop contents in the child’s natural language. This is done to encourage the possibility to more easily use the opportunities to apply what has been learned daily, and to compare what is done in other scholastic institutions. During co-teaching, contents can be consolidated giving an added value to the learners.

The following are the objectives of the five years of elementary school:

• The student is able to confidently complete both written and mental calculations with whole numbers and knows how to identify when the use of a calculator represents an opportunity.
• Recognizes and represents various geometrical forms both in 2D and in 3D, relationships and structures found in nature or that have been created by me
• Describes, names and classifies figures based on geometric characteristics, determines its measures, and designs/manufactures concrete models of various types.
• Uses tools for geometric design (line, compass, set square) and the most common measuring instruments (meters, protractor etc.).
• Analyses data in order to get information and constructs representations (tables and graphs). Also extracts information from data presented in tables and graphs.
• Recognizes and quantifies, in simple cases, situations of uncertainty.
• Reads and understands texts that involve logical and mathematical aspects.
• Can solve simple problems regarding a wide-range of content, while maintaining control on both the solution process and on the results. Describes the procedure followed and recognizes solution strategies that are different from the one he/she adopted.
• Builds reasoning based on assumptions, supporting his/her ideas and respecting the point of view of others.
• Recognizes and uses different representations of mathematical objects (decimals, fractions, percentages, reduction stairs etc.).
• Develops a positive attitude towards mathematics, through meaningful experiences, that make him/her realize the meaning behind the mathematical tools he/she learnt and the usefulness these have when applied to real life problems.

Italian Ministry of Education Program

The topics are taught by our native English-speaking teachers. The approach used to teach these lessons is concrete and through experiences, and its main objective is to acquire the competencies and specific language, oral and written presentation skills in English, on all the subjects discussed.

The school has written the topic textbooks in English:

The topics are also taught in Italian, without it being a simple repetition or translation of what is taught by the English teacher. The main teaching instrument is the textbook approved by the Italian Ministry of Education, experiences, and production of materials.

Both the English and the Italian teachers use a lot of time to create mind-maps, the highlighting of key concepts and words, with the aim of helping the students, and throughout time, help them acquire an effective study method.

 

The following are the objectives of the elementary school:

HISTORY

• The student recognizes the significant elements of his/her past living environment.
• Recognizes and explores an increasingly thorough way the historical traces on the territory and understands the importance held by the artistic and cultural heritage.
• Uses timelines to organize information, knowledge, and eras and identify sequences, contemporary elements, durations, and periodization.
• Identifies the relationships between human groups and spatial contexts.
• Organizes information and knowledge, by schematizing and using relevant conceptualizations.
• Comprehends the historical texts assigned and is able to identify its main characteristics.
• Uses geo-historical maps, aided by digital resources and ICT tools.
• Is able to orally expose the studied facts and knows how to produce simple historical texts, using also digital resources.
• Understands events, facts and phenomena of society and civilization that have influenced mankind’s history from the Paleolithic to the end of the ancient world with a possibility of comparison with the contemporary
• Includes basic aspects of Italy’s past from the Paleolithic era to the end of the Western Roman Empire, with a possibility of comparison with the contemporary world.

 

GEOGRAPHY

• The student is able to orient both in his/her surrounding space and on maps, using topological and cardinal references.
• Uses geographical language to: interpret maps and the terrestrial globe, make simple cartographic sketches and thematic maps, and plan routes and itineraries.
• Extracts geographic information from a plurality of sources (cartographic and satellite-based, digital technologies, photographs, along with artistic and literary representations).
• Recognizes and names the main physical geographic ‘objects’ (rivers, mountains, plains, coasts, hills, lakes, seas, oceans, etc.).
• Locates the elements that characterize various landscapes – namely, mountains, hills, valleys, volcanoes, etc. – with particular attention to Italian ones, and identifies both similarities and differences between major European and other continents’
• Appreciates, in world-history landscapes, the progressive changes brought forth by men on nature
• Is aware that the geographical space is a territorial system, made ​​up of physical and human elements, linked together by connection relationships and/or interdependencies.

SCIENCE

• The student develops curiosity and interest, which in turn enable him/her to look at the world in an inspired way and lead him/her to seek explanations regarding what he/she sees happening.
• Explores phenomena with a scientific approach: aided by his/her teachers, comrades, but also independently, he/she observes and describes the unfolding of events, asks questions and, also on the basis of personal assumptions, proposes and carries out simple experiments.
• Identifies similarities and differences within different phenomena, makes measurements, records significant data, and identifies relationships between space and time.
• Locates quantitative and qualitative aspects in phenomena, produces graphical representations and patterns of appropriate level, and develops simple models.
• Recognizes the main features and ways of living of organisms and animals.
• Demonstrates knowledge about the structure and development of his/her own body, its various organs and systems, recognizing and describing its functions using intuitive models and takes care of his health.
• Displays care for the school’s environment that he/she shares with others; respects and appreciates the value of both the social and natural environment.
• Exposes with clearly what he has experienced, using appropriate language.
• Finds a variety of sources (books, internet, speeches by adults, etc.) of information and explanations about the issues that interest him.

After a fixed number of encounters with the parents and children regarding technology, and the dangers of the virtual world, the children begin to learn the basics of Microsoft Office and PowerPoint to finish in Fifth Grade with Excel. This will allow the students to use what they have learned to do research, create presentations, in a cross-curricular way. In every class, starting from First Grade, the children have access to a LIM as well as the traditional whiteboard. This allows students and children to use apps that support and integrate with the traditional methods.