Core Knowledge Sequence
Core Knowledge
At HERITAGE ACADEMY, we have chosen the Core Knowledge Sequence as the foundation for our curriculum. This is not to be confused with the Common Core Standards.
❛ The Core Knowledge Sequence is predicated on the realization that what children are able to learn at any given moment depends on what they already know – and equally important, that what they know is a function of previous experience and teaching. Explicit identification of what children should learn at each grade level ensures a coherent approach to building knowledge across all grade levels. 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 helps ensure that children enter each new grade ready to learn. Core Knowledge sets high expectations for all children that are achievable thanks to the cumulative, sequential way that knowledge and skills build. Teachers in Core Knowledge schools have the assurance that children will emerge well prepared with a shared body of knowledge and skills. ❜
Excerpted from: Core Knowledge Curriculum
Core Knowledge Is
Fours S’s – Solid, Sequenced, Specific, Shared
Solid
Many people say that knowledge is changing so fast that what students learn today will soon be outdated. While current events and technology are constantly changing, there is nevertheless a body of lasting knowledge that should form the core of a K-8 curriculum. Such solid knowledge includes, for example, the basic principles of constitutional government, important events of world history, essential elements of math and of oral and written expression, widely acknowledged masterpieces of art and music, and stories and poems passed down from generation to generation.
Sequenced
Knowledge builds on knowledge. Children learn new knowledge by building on what they already know. Only a school that clearly defines the knowledge and skill required to participate in each successive grade can be excellent and fair for all students. For this reason, the Core Knowledge Sequence provides a clear outline of content to be learned grade by grade. The sequential building of knowledge not only helps ensure that children enter each new grade ready to learn but also helps prevent the many repetitions and gaps that characterize much current schooling.
Specific
A typical state or district curriculum says, “Students will demonstrate knowledge of people, events, ideas and movements that contributed to the development of the United States.” But, which people and events? What ideas and movements? In contrast, the Core Knowledge Sequence is distinguished by its specificity. By clearly specifying important knowledge in language arts, history and geography, math, science, and the fine arts, the Core Knowledge Sequence presents a practical answer to the questions, “What do our children need to know?”
Shared
Literacy depends on shared knowledge. To be literate means, in part, to be familiar with a broad range of knowledge taken for granted by speakers and writers. For example, when sportscasters refer to an upset victory as “David knocking off Goliath,” or when reporters refer to a “threatened presidential veto”, they are assuming that their audience shares certain knowledge. One goal of the Core Knowledge Foundation is to provide all children, regardless of background, with the shared knowledge they need to be included in our national literate culture.
Copyright by the Core Knowledge Foundation