Curriculum

Our curriculum at Patterson Park Public Charter School will focus around thematic interdisciplinary learning.

Thematic interdisciplinary learning is a model for classroom activity that shifts away from the classroom practices of short, isolated, teacher-centered lessons and instead emphasizes learning activities that are long-term, student-centered, and integrated with real world issues and practices. Students apply and integrate the content of different subject areas at authentic moments in the production process, instead of in isolation or in an artificial setting.

This approach is the unique way that it can motivate students by engaging them in their own learning. The school’s approach will also provide opportunities for students to pursue their own interests and questions and make decisions about how they will find answers and solve problems.

The intent of our instruction is to make learning relevant and useful to students by establishing connections to life outside the classroom, addressing real world concerns, and developing real world skills. Many of the skills learned are those desired by today's employer, including the ability to work well with others, make thoughtful decisions, take initiative, and solve complex problems.

The texts that we will use as resources for our curriculum are:

• MathWorks
• Houghton Mifflin (Reading)
• History Alive (Social Studies)
• FOSS (Science)

We will also use community resources a way to enrich our curriculum:

• Patterson Park
• Audubon
• Creative Alliance
• Food is Elementary

There will be monthly meetings for families about the school’s curriculum for the purpose of informing them on what is being taught in their child’s classroom and as a way of helping them be an effective resource to their child’s education and curricular experiences. We will also hold other various curriculum workshops for families for specific concerns or needs.