CREATIVE LEARNING ACADEMY - LOWER SCHOOL SPANISH

Spanish is an experience at Creative Learning Academy, not just a subject. The main focus is the acquisition of proper pronunciation, reading, writing, and basic grammar skills. Spanish is enriched with the study of customs, culture, geography and history of Spain, Mexico and Central America. Students prepare and taste the authentic foods and drinks of these different countries. As a class we learn, we laugh, we sing, we recite poems and enjoy dancing to the Latin beat.

Preprimary-Kindergarten: focus is on vocabulary and pronunciation; preprimary meets 3 times per week for 30 minutes; kindergarten meets 4 times per week for 30 minutes

First Grade: reading is introduced; 4 times per week for 30 minutes

Second Grade: emphasis is on vowel sounds, articles, placement of written accents and spelling; 4 times per week for 30 minutes

Third Grade: complete review as the level of difficulty increases; 4 times per week for 30 minutes

Fourth Grade: learn verb conjugation in the present tense with a transition from oral to written communication; 4 times per week for 45 minutes

CREATIVE LEARNING ACADEMY ART

Art classes will emphasize instruction, design, creation, discussion and exhibition of art utilizing the following discipline-based elements:
•    Principals of Art Production
•    Elements of Art/Esthetics
•    Art Critique
•    History of Art and Cultures
These core disciplines will be weaved throughout instruction in each grade level (preprimary through eighth grades) with each grade level interpreting quarterly themes of Reflections, Traditions, Nature, and Connections.  Each quarter will expose the students to a different Art History.
Art Themes              
    Q1        Reflections
        Self-expression
        Human Figure / Portraits
        Ancient Civilizations
        Personal Projects (Art Fair/Original Works)    

    Q2        Traditions    
        Crafts
        Recycle Art
        Still Life
        Folk Art  
        Global Art    
      
    Q3        Nature
        Motion
        Wind, Sky, Clouds, Sun
        Dye Garden
        Landscape Art
        Renaissance to 19th Century Art

    Q4        Connections
        Rhythm, Sound, Pattern, Shapes
        Architecture
        Collage
        20th Century Art
        Performance Art (in conjunction with Music)

CREATIVE LEARNING ACADEMY MUSIC

The Music Department at CLA gives students an appreciation for the performing arts through singing, dancing, playing instruments, and much more. It also gives students the knowledge and tools to enable them to use music as a means of self-expression.

Beginning in preprimary through fourth grade, students learn skills in Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Form, Tone Color, and Musical Expression. Each year the curriculum is continued and the number of sub-skills is increased as the student progresses to the next grade. Throughout the year, students use instruments such as xylophones, hand bells, recorders, and Orff rhythm pieces. They also perform musical programs throughout the year that apply the skills they learn in class.

In Middle School, students rotate through different electives including music. In addition to participating in musical performances, each grade level focuses on a different aspect of music:

Fifth Grade- General Music Appreciation                                                                          
Sixth Grade - Music Theory and Basic Composition                                                           
Seventh Grade - Music History                                                                                       
Eighth Grade - Music in Modern Society (Band)

Students at CLA can also register for after school voice lessons class beginning in 2nd grade.                                                            

CREATIVE LEARNING ACADEMY PHYSICAL EDUCATION

LOWER SCHOOL

The lower school curriculum is designed to promote social growth, fitness and physical competence needed to develop self-confidence.  The activities are designed to improve social skills, motor skills and muscle development, and reinforce positive attitudes of students toward physical activity.

The lower school physical education curriculum includes:
•    Low organization games
•    Tumbling skills
•    Parachute activities
•    Jump rope and hula hoop activities
•    Cup stacking and juggling activities
•    Throwing and catching games and activities
•    Striking skills including balloons and beach balls
•    Lead-up games for a variety of sports in grades 2 – 4

Special activities throughout the year include:
•    Jump Rope for Heart
•    Monthly Fun Runs during the cooler weather

MIDDLE SCHOOL

The Middle School curriculum is designed to introduce students to various team and individual sports.  It is the avenue through which students are taught the importance of exercise as it relates to their overall health.  Students learn proper techniques for sports participation, health issues, and developing good sportsmanship.  Lead-up games are taught to prepare students for sports competition.  Students demonstrating exceptional talent in a particular sport are encouraged to join inter-scholastics.  Physical fitness tests are given to determine how each student ranks in comparison to the national average and to determine strengths/weaknesses.  The results serve as a valuable tool in determining the direction of the Physical Education curriculum.

First Quarter:                                  Second Quarter:    
     Volleyball                                    Basketball
     Flag Football                              Soccer

Third Quarter:                                                                  Fourth Quarter:
     Racquet Sports (badminton & pickle ball)                  Floor Hockey
     Physical Conditioning                                                 Softball
     Physical Fitness Testing            

CREATIVE LEARNING ACADEMY TECHNOLOGY

CLA promotes the potential of technology as a tool that extends and enhances teaching and learning opportunities.

The computer lab consists of 20 iMac Intel Core 2 Duo computers.  Each computer station is Internet ready.  Faculty and students access a server through a fiber optic network.  Printers and scanners are available for student use.  Digital video cameras and video editing equipment are also located in the Computer Lab.


LOWER SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY

Preprimary
Preprimary classes meet in the computer lab biweekly; students are introduced to basic computer concepts and terminology, as well as introductory enrichment software programs.

Kindergarten-Third Grade
Students rotate through the computer lab biweekly and attend classes for two 30-minute blocks. Computer awareness, computer skills instruction, and software programs are utilized by a technology instructor to develop the students’ technology skills and to reinforce the curriculum. Kindergarten-third graders have an i-Mac in the classroom as well.

Fourth Grade
Fourth graders rotate through the computer lab all year.  Keyboarding is introduced in fourth grade and reinforced in fifth grade. Word processing skills are developed, as well as desktop publishing, graphing, and presentation software.  Curriculum integration is coordinated between the classroom and technology teacher through thematic units, using a variety of software programs and the Internet.

MIDDLE SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY

Fifth-Eighth Grades
Middle School students rotate through the computer lab biweekly. Classroom teachers accompany students to the lab.  A technology instructor is also available full-time.  Teachers work together to utilize software programs and the Internet to introduce and/or reinforce their curriculum through assignments, research and projects. Additional computer time is available to middle school students on an as-needed basis.

Middle School students have an additional 50-minute technology class requirement during one quarter of the school year. Students practice research skills for projects and assignments using Microsoft Office 2008 including:  Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  In addition iWorks and iLife  (Garage Band and iWeb) are available on the iMacs.  Digital cameras and digital video cameras are available for use.  In addition seventh graders create the CLA Yearbook online.

CREATIVE LEARNING ACADEMY MEDIA CENTER

Creative Learning Academy’s media center functions as the information hub of the school.  The media center has over 7,000 volumes available to students and teachers. The media center also supports research through subscriptions to full-text magazines and newspaper databases.  An open/flexible schedule accommodates story times, small group instruction, entire classes and individual use.  Information literacy skills are introduced at the preprimary level and advance in scope and difficulty.  Information literacy skills are also tied into the curriculum through research projects.

All books are cataloged are accessible to students and faculty both at school and home through the online catalogue.  Students are permitted to check out books for one week and borrow reference materials overnight.  The media specialist reviews and purchases new reference materials to support the needs of the teachers, students and curriculum.  Teachers are also encouraged to submit suggestions for titles that will enhance their classroom units.  The media center recently purchased a new catalog server and four new IMac computes for student use and check out.  Students and faculty can use these computers for research, word processing, and other classroom projects.  The Scholastic Reading Counts program is also supported in the library with color-coded dots on books with quizzes to facilitate student choice of reading materials.

Online Subscriptions
The Internet has made searching for journal, magazine and newspaper articles much easier. Now one can search multiple journals over a span of several years at the same time. The Internet also allows users to access the full text and images of those articles online, without having to go to the Library.

Ebsco Online -  http://search.ebscohost.com/

This group of databases is for lower school, middle school and faculty. These are also available from home with the user ID and password.

Searchasaurus - a graphical interface intended for the younger researchers. Full text magazine articles along with a general encyclopedia and an encyclopedia of animals.

Middle Search Plus - full text articles from 80 middle school magazines and journals, Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, 6500 primary source documents.

Newspaper Source - full text reference from 160 news sources, including national and international newspapers, news wires, and is updated daily.

Topic Search - research topics is supported by 50,000 hand selected full text articles from 3,000 sources.

EBSCO Animals - provides in-depth information on a variety of topics relating to animals. The database consists of indexing, abstracts, and full text records describing the nature and habitat of familiar animals.

Health Source: Consumer Edition - This database is the richest collection of consumer health information available to libraries worldwide, providing information on many health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health.

Health Source: Consumer Edition features searchable full text for nearly 300 journals. This database is updated on a daily basis.

EbscoHost for Teachers and Staff - Designed for professional educators, this database provides a highly specialized collection of over 500 full text journals, including more than 300 peer-reviewed titles. Professional Development Collection is the most comprehensive collection of full text education journals in the world.