Academic Program

At Avondale Meadows Academy, we offer students curriculums that develop their knowledge of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. Each curriculum has been carefully evaluated and tested to be sure it meets the needs of our students.  Each of our curriculums provide students with the skills they need to set them on the path to college.

Core Knowledge is a science and social studies curriculum that provides a broad base of knowledge and the rich vocabulary needed for reading achievement and academic success taught grades K-4. The program consists of three C’s. Visit http://www.coreknowledge.org/ for more information.

  1. Coherent– Identification of what children should learn at each grade level ensures a coherent approach to building knowledge across all grade levels.
  2. Cumulative– Core Knowledge provides a clear outline of content to be learned grade by grade so that knowledge, language, and skills build cumulatively from year to year. This sequential building of knowledge not only helps ensure that children enter each new grade ready to learn, it also helps prevent the repetitions and gaps that so often characterize current education.
  3. Content-Specific-Core Knowledge clearly specifies the important knowledge in language arts, history, geography, math, science, and the fine arts.

Wit and Wisdom (Great Minds) is a comprehensive, research-based english and language arts curriculum that engages students in close reading of real texts and real writing tasks taught in grades K-4.  Students explore and develop background knowledge about high interest topics through art, videos, and poetry- just to name a few. As students gain knowledge about topics, they also begin to apply these understandings while reading and responding to complex texts about the topic.  Students become very excited about the topics they are exploring as they begin to interact with a variety of texts, both fiction and nonfiction. These texts are carefully selected at each grade level for the rich vocabulary and structures that challenge all students and  prepare them for college and career readiness. We believe it is important for all students to interact with these complex texts, regardless of their individual reading levels.  All students are engaged in authentic and rigorous tasks as they explore each topic. High-performing students are challenged as they engage in guided peer conversations and in writing about big and real world ideas related to text content. Students who need additional support are assisted by the intentional building of knowledge, peer interactions, instructional feedback, and practice opportunities that are part of the Wit and Wisdom Curriculum.  Students also develop their listening, writing, and speaking skills as they interact with texts and with each other. Students will write daily in response to reading and class discussions. These authentic writing tasks allow students to truly speak and write to develop ideas while also refining the grammar skills that are essential for effective communication.

Eureka Math (Great Minds) is taught in all grades, K-8. This program builds math skills by engaging students in fluency-building activities, problem solving, peer evaluation, and specific grade-level skill instruction.  Students are active participants in each lesson. Fluency activities provide students with quick and fun daily practice of the basic understandings students must have in order to interact with more advanced math concepts.  Application Problems allow students an opportunity to interpret a task, attempt to solve, evaluate their process and results, discuss with peers and revise. Students learn to represent their thinking using models and to write about their work. This process helps students develop the logic and reasoning skills they need for math and for life. The daily content lessons build gradually on each other.  From the sequence of lessons to the exact numbers used in each problem, Eureka math is designed to very carefully advance students’ understandings with lots of opportunities to practice each skill.  Students receive peer and teacher feedback to help them along the way toward mastering each concept.

Fundations® (Wilson Language) is a multisensory and systematic phonics, spelling, and handwriting program that benefits all K-3 students.  It also includes a supplementary activity set for Pre-K students. Fundations is designed as a whole-class, general education program used for prevention (Tier 1) purposes. It also can be taught in a small group or 1:1 setting for intervention (Tier 2).

Informed by an extensive research base and following principles of instruction demonstrating success for a wide variety of learners, key features include:

  • Thoroughly teaches the foundational skills, and significantly supports the reading, writing, and language standards, found in states’ rigorous college- and career-ready standards.
  • Presents the following concepts and skills in a cumulative manner from Unit to Unit and year to year:
    • Letter formation
    • Phonological and phonemic awareness
    • Sound mastery
    • Phonics, word study, and advanced word study
    • Irregular (trick) word instruction
    • Vocabulary
    • Fluency
    • Comprehension strategies
    • Written composition (spelling and handwriting)
  • Integrates skill instruction so that a daily lesson teaches and then reinforces corresponding skills.
  • Scaffolds learning while teaching all skills explicitly, sequentially, and systematically.
  • Actively engages students in learning through the use of multisensory techniques, such as when teaching students sounds, their representative letters, and words with spelling options.
  • Provides multiple opportunities for skills practice and application to build mastery.
  • Monitors student learning through formative assessment tools built into the program.
  • Includes comprehensive and teacher-friendly materials to facilitate teachers’ use of the program and promote student motivation.
  • Guides teachers on how to meet individual student needs by differentiating instruction.
  • Supports teachers through the online Wilson Learning Community, offering clear demonstrations of each teaching activity type used in the program.
  • Helps teachers achieve many of the requirements of state, local, and professional standards.
  • Encourages parental involvement through the use of the Fundations Home Support Packet.

For more information on the remedial programs offered, please click here.

For any curriculum and academic related questions, please reach out to Jessica Kohlmeyer, USI Director of Academics (jkohlmeyer@unitedschoolsindy.org).