Jamaican Curriculum

Primary School

Lindsay Laprise Edu 457

Primary Education – The Vision for the Child “The child completing primary school

should be functionally literate and numerate, demonstrating a positive self-concept and a willingness to take responsibility for his/her own learning. They should be culturally, aesthetically, and spiritually aware, and be guided by a commitment to social and moral principals.”

-Vision statement by PEIP Project Conference

Rational for the Curriculum

Let the focus be on LEARNING, rather than teaching.

Children should be educated about important cultural, social, and and health issues, with the curriculum catering to those needs.

Recognize that there are many different intelligences, and encourage the growth of EACH intelligence.

Aim to make the curriculum interesting, and not boring for the children.

Language Arts

Language Arts in grades 1-3 (Primary school) are aimed at children using language to express themselves confidently.

In “language windows” children will be able to hear English in rhymes, poems, and sentence structures AND repeat, retell, and practice the language patterns they hear.

Language Arts Continued In addition, Children will be able to: Practice letter formation and other handwriting skills Write to express themselves in journals, etc Be introduced to, and practice grammatical structures Revise and proof-read (edit) their writing. Read and respond to a wide variety of reading

material, including children’s literature and text in their environment, encouraging them to experience pleasure in reading, and develop a desire to read.

Language Arts Objectives

http://www.moe.gov.jm/sites/default/files/GuideGrade1-3.pdf

(page 298)

A quick glance.. Term 3: Grade 1 MYSELF AT SCHOOL Focus questions; how do I know my school & who are

the people at my school and what do they do? Lesson plan grade 1, term 3 ATTAINMENT TARGETS: Give and receive information,

know and use basic language skills and the conventions of spoken and written language, respond critically and aesthetically to literature and other stimuli, use recognizable handwriting and appropriate spelling and vocabular to write for a variety of purposes.

Objectives: respond to questions addressed to them, attempt to describe themselves, others, objects, and situations, collet information and give directions, talk about their artwork with respect to shape, etc, and recognize that spoken language involves interaction and courtesy.

Key vocabulary: location, class office, bay, playing field, road, near, high, far, low, size, shape, color, set, team, care, similar/different, distances, like/dislike, workers at school, rules, groups and uniforms.

Procedures & Activities: Pupils will: tell what they know about their school

through role-play or “speak easy” drama mode. Do research to find out how the school got its name and motto, and how old it is. Report finding, from which details will be used to compose sentences.

Talk about items in the school they should care for (buildings, plants, furniture, equiptment), and how they should care for them

EVALUATION: Pupils should be able to collect at least one fact

about their school, form sentences, form letter legibly, use words such as bigger, smaller, nearer, and comparisons.

Another look!Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

Theme All about me & My environment

All about me & My environment

All about me & My environment

Sub theme Myself Myself Myself

Unit 1Unit 2

“Who Am I?”My Body

My Body part 2Care and safety of myself

My body part 3Satisfying other needs

Sub theme My Home My family My nation, the community, and the wider world

Unit 1Unit 2Unit 3

My familyThings in the home

Living together as a familySatisfying our needs

Providers of Goods and servicesRelating to others outside of JamaicaAspects of the Jamaican Culture

Sub theme My School My Community My Physical Environment

Unit 1Unit 2Unit 3

Myself at schoolTogether at school

This is my communityPlaces of interest in my-communityPlants and animals in my community

Living and non-living things in my environmentCaring for my environment

Mathematics! New changes to the mathematics curriculum: Measurement- performing measurement tasks

is learned starting at grade 1. Geometry- exploring shapes and patterns,

generating models and making generalizations Algebra- starting at grade 1 using number

sentences statistics and probability- sorting and

classifying real-world data and examples starting from grade 1.

Mathematics Cont’d “Mathematics lessons cannot be just for

obtaining facts, and practicing calculations. Therefore, whether mathematics is delivered in the integrated studies or in a “window”, pupils should be given a chance to begin to take charge of their learning and enjoy mathematics as they use their experiences and are exposed to new concepts.” (Ministry of Education and Culture, 1999).

Mathematics Objectives

http://www.moe.gov.jm/sites/default/files/GuideGrade1-3.pdf

(page 305)

Assessment Methods

Evidence of understanding should be “Has the pupil achieved the attainment targets of objectives for this unit?”

How should evidence of learning be collected?

Evidence of learning should be collected in an on-going continuous process using a variety of techniques. This process of collecting information is called assessment.

Assessing Primary Students (1-3)

Assessments are ongoing. They can begin before, continue during and occur after the lesson or unit has been taught.

Age should play a big part in assessing 6-8 year olds when designing activities or tasks that will provide the evidence that you will need. Children here are still in the concrete operational stage (Piaget) and still experiencing rapid growth and development; mentally, physically, and socio-emotionally.

Assessments should be short, and reading and writing should be interesting due to a short-attention span and just-emerging abilities in young children, especially grade 1.

The need for technology in education

Objectives are to: facilitate the teaching and learning process, promote problem solving and critical thinking skills, help in the development of life-long learning, enhance the various learning strategies required to meet the needs of the diverse population of student, and support the instructional process and classroom administration.

Technology Objectives

What is the internet?How do we use technology today?How is technology continually changing? ** In primary school, the availibility of

computers may be limited in grades one through three, in the learning processes.

Aesthetics on the Classroom

There has been a strong trend in the recent years on the focus of visual aesthetics area of curriculum. Education must nurture various intelligences.

Intelligence Forms to nurture

My references http://www.moe.gov.jm/sites/default/files/Gu

ideGrade1-3.pdf

http://www.macmillan-caribbean.com/pages.aspx/resources_for_jamaica/integrated_studies_language_arts_RG_resources/