Curriculum

Rhyming songs and games can be heard from the younger classrooms, as students develop their phonemic awareness. You’ll see students dig deep into phonics to gain a better understanding of word structure that will strengthen and automate their reading skills and prepare them for more advanced texts. Students are putting their expanding knowledge and practice to good use through reading and writing workshops; this prepares students to choose longer texts and write essays and stories with vivid language and more complicated plots and themes. How each child learns is taken into account through thoughtful partnering, small group sessions, and independent work.

By the time a student reaches the OSP, they have a clear understanding of themselves as readers and writers, are having in-depth discussions with their peers about their reading choices, and are writing meaningfully across all genres.

At every level, teacher read-aloud time is treasured as all ages look forward to their teacher sharing curated books aimed to provoke deep thinking, emotions, ideas, and opinions that will be applied across the curriculum.

All of this happens because of experienced and innovative teaching, supported by curricula such as Learning without Tears, UFLI Foundations, and Atwell’s Reading Workshop approach. For students needing extra support, teachers with specific training in Orton-Gillingham are in the classrooms.  Students also have access to Lexia, a research-based online learning program that provides explicit, systematic, and personalized learning.

Your student is somewhere along this path, depending on where they are developmentally. Doing math is both an intellectual and emotional exercise, and it is important to consider both as we progress through the identified concepts for each grade level. These beginning weeks at Touchstone have been primarily about observing and listening to our students as we present ideas for exploration. Whether it is about estimating if there are enough cubes to measure from one end of the school to another, or charting the height of each student, using the length of their own foot as the unit of measurement, the richness of a lesson exists more in the questions and discussions generated than in the final results. 

Each math class develops its own climate over the course of a year, but within each class students are building identified skills and are practicing ‘habits of mind’ (problem solving methods, organization, the use of appropriate tools, expressing one’s thoughts, perseverance, to name a few) as they explore selected concepts. Each teacher finds their own balance of individual and group work, tolerance for activity and conversation, and flexibility to respond to student ideas in the moment, and that is an aspect of each teacher’s individual style. That being said, there is a structural commonality as we follow selected math curricula this year, with an ultimate goal of gaining enough experience to collectively determine appropriate curricula as we move into Touchstone’s future regarding math education. This is a year of exploration for us teachers as we each hold firm to our current curriculum, with an eye to what could be better for our students, and how we can make that happen. We want our students to feel the power of thinking mathematically, and that is about more than skills; it is about knowing how to apply one’s mind to whatever is presented, with the confidence that understanding is within one’s grasp. 

Introduction

Since its founding in 1982, Touchstone Community School has been a school that values inclusion, understanding, and diversity. In alignment with these enduring values, Learning for Justice provides a framework for anti-racist and anti-bias education. Following this framework, we focus on four anchor standards:

• Identity - The collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a person is definitively recognized or known and the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.
• Diversity: The condition of having or being composed of different elements; variety, especially the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization.
• Justice: A combination of fairness and opportunity: In a just society or group, people have the same rights and are not punished more because of who they are.
• Action: Action includes taking steps to honor and celebrate identity and diversity, as well as taking steps to bring about justice.

Early Childhood

Our social studies curriculum focuses on identity and relationships. We share our commonalities and differences and learn what makes each of us unique. We explore the relationship of each child to their family, to the class and Touchstone community, and to the larger community outside the school. We strive to balance individuality and community and are committed to building a community that values and embraces diversity in all its forms - differing ages, races, cultures, gender identities, abilities, sexual orientations, neurodiversity and socioeconomic status.Through books and conversations we begin to explore the idea of individual and group responsibility. Some of the many books that we read during the year to support these explorations include: One by K. Otoshi; I Love My Hair by N.A. Tarpley; I am Jazz by J. Jennings; Be Who You Are by T. Parr; My Princess Boy by C. Kilodavis; Red by M. Hall; Tango Makes Three by J. Richardson and P. Parnell; Heather has Two Mommies by L. Newman; Last Stop on Market Street by M. de la Pena; Maddi’s Fridge by L. Brandt; I am Brown by A. Banker; and Where are You From? by J. Kim. When possible we put our ideas into actions.

Lower Elementary

In Lower Elementary, we focus on celebrating differences in our individual identities within our school community and the world around us. Students explore changemakers who represent differing ages, races, gender identities, abilities, sexual orientations and neurodiversity. This exploration is done through reading books, creating projects, and learning more about each other and our families. Some books we read about these topics that celebrate difference, self-love, identity, and belonging are: Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love, My Name is Bilal by Asma Mobin-Uddin, Laxmi’s Mooch by Shelly Anand, and The Girl Who Thought In Pictures by Julia Finley Mosca.

Upper Elementary

Our systematic approach to anti-bias, social justice and civil rights education makes complex topics more understandable by using a multitude of teaching mediums. Students are introduced to complex concepts by way of read-alouds, videos, group activities, and actions that highlight identity, justice, diversity, and action.

Students work to develop positive social identities based on their membership in multiple groups in society. They will express pride, confidence and healthy self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people. Students will recognize traits of the dominant culture, their home culture, and other cultures and understand how they negotiate their own identity in multiple spaces. Some books read aloud include: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, The Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes, Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk, Wonder by R.J. Palasio, and New Kid, by Jerry Craft.

Middle School

The OWL wellness program is inclusive and affirming of LGBTQIA+ identities.

The middle school’s social justice curriculum, based on Facing History and Ourselves and Teaching for Justice Standards, is inclusive of multiple identities and is representative of multicultural experiences.

Our classroom culture seeks to dismantle white supremacy and other forms of oppression using restorative justice and collaborative problem solving approaches that give students equal voice and participation in decision making.

Classroom discussions and Socratic seminars center questions of equity, identity, diversity, justice and action. Students are encouraged to speak out when faced with issues of injustice or oppression within the classroom, school community, or their broader social context.

The middle school library includes an extensive collection of diverse and inclusive young adult literature, such as Pet by Akweake Emezi, We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, and Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Suenz.

Students participate in a non-threatening environment of activity and movement designed to initiate physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth. Activities are planned and designed to include elements of play, fun, critical thinking, and fitness in an environment geared toward enhancing the student’s personal success through group involvement.

Students have physical education three to four times per week. They engage in the physical education experience through structured multi age classes as well as learn how to weave our unique physical education philosophy of game play through the organic recess experience. Games  incorporate a variety of skills in each of the following domains: psychomotor, affective, and cognitive.