Dear Parents,

We are so pleased that you have chosen Colegio Maya as your child's school. We realize that this was a significant decision on your part and we will honor your trust by providing a quality, broad based, multiply intelligent education for your child. One means by which we can demonstrate our accountability is in providing you with these grade level curriculum books.

Each grade level booklet was produced through the efforts of our elementary teachers and is intended to give you an outline of what your child will learn this year. In addition we want you to understand our philosophy, so we have also included a belief and mission statement for each subject area. You will find a profile of the intellectual, physical and emotional make-up of a child at each grade level. Because we believe as Howard Gardner that all individuals have the capacity to demonstrate intelligence in a variety of ways, we have also provided you with a listing of Gardner's 8 Intelligences. You will find that your child will have the opportunity throughout the school year to experience learning and demonstrate knowledge through these intelligences.

We believe curriculum is a process as well as a product and as such is always changing. Each year as we revise curriculum, we post our most current information on our web site www.cm.edu.gt. Please check the website to see in greater detail what your child will learn in Social Studies. Spanish will be added soon and this year we will add Language Arts.

Colegio Maya Elementary is proud to be partners with you in the education of your child. We welcome your comments and questions regarding this booklet and hope that you will find it useful.

Sincerely,

Donna K. Lyne
Elementary Principal

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Linguistic intelligence	Musical intelligence
Linguistic intelligence consists of the ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings. Authors' poets, journalists, speakers, and newscasters exhibit high degrees of linguistic intelligence.	Musical intelligence is evident in individuals who possess a sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone. Those demonstrating this intelligence include composers, conductors, musicians, critics, instrument makers, as well as sensitive listeners.
Logical-mathematical intelligence	Interpersonal intelligence
Logical-mathematical intelligence makes it possible to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complex mathematical operations. Scientists, accountants, engineers, and computer programmers all demonstrate this intelligence.	Interpersonal intelligence is the capacity to understand and interact effectively with others. It is evident in successful teachers, social workers, actors, or politicians. Just as Western culture has recently begun to recognize the connection between mind and body, so too has it to come to value the importance of proficiency in inter- personal behavior.
Spatial intelligence	Intrapersonal intelligence
Spatial intelligence instills the capacity to think in three-dimensional ways as do sailors, pilots, sculptors, painters, and architects. It enables one to perceive external and internal imagery, to recreate, transform, or modify images, to navigate oneself and objects through space, and to produce or decode graphic information.	Intrapersonal intelligence refers to the ability to construct an accurate perception of oneself and to use such knowledge in planning and directing lif one se. Some individuals with strong intra- personal intelligence specialize as theologians, psychologists, and philosophers.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence	Naturalist intelligence
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence enables one to manipulate objects and fine-tune physical skills. It is evident in athletes, dancers, surgeons, and craftspeople. In Western societies, physical skills are not as highly valued as cognitive ones, and yet elsewhere the ability to use one's body is a necessity for survival as well as an important feature of many prestigious roles.	Naturalist intelligence consists of observing patterns in nature, indentifying and classifying objects, and understanding natural and human-made systems. Skilled naturalists include farmers, botanists, hunters, ecologists, and landscapers.

The Mayan School of Guatemala intends to provide an excellent educational opportunity, based on a U.S. curriculum, primarily for the international community in Guatemala, regardless of race, nationality or creed. The Mayan School shall offer a program of studies to prepare for success in the U.S. university system. Recognizing the transient nature of the student body, the curriculum should enable students to transfer between the Mayan School and other U.S. international and Guatemalan schools, insofar as equivalency requirements do not conflict with U.S. curriculum standards. The Mayan School shall endeavor to provide a program that maintains, and benefits from the international diversity of the community. The Mayan School is committed to the development of the whole individual and is dedicated to fostering students' intellectual, social, emotional and physical growth to prepare them to become good citizens and productive members of society.

We at Colegio Maya Believe in educating lifelong learners by:

Fostering a safe, caring, and joyful environment;
Celebrating the diversity of our Colegio Maya family;
Creating responsible world citizens;
Encouraging a social and environmentally aware conscience;
Preparing for a changing technological world;
Stimulating curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking;
Affirming the students' right and responsibility to explore their potential.

The Colegio Maya Community Will:

1. Integrate and celebrate diversity within and beyond the campus.
2. Enhance information management skills and resources.
3. Create opportunities to improve communication and participation within the school community.

Every child is an individual who grows and develops at his/her own rate. Children in the same grade may be expected to differ widely from others in their group. There are, however, general characteristics, which apply to most of the children at a certain age.

THE PRE-KIDNER CHILD MAY:

Ø Be curious and active.
Ø Be shy and reserved.
Ø Act anxiously about being separated from care givers.
Ø Be impatient.
Ø Enjoy interactions with other children and adults.

THE PRE-KINDER CHILD NEEDS:

Ø To feel secure and loved.
Ø Routine.
Ø To feel accepted.
Ø A secure and safe environment.
Ø Choices, at both active and quiet times.
Ø Opportunities to exercise large and small muscles.
Ø To share toys and take turns while playing.
Ø To be read to DAILY.
Ø Good nutritional habits with ten or more hours of sleep each night.
Ø Opportunities to communicate and opportunities to be listened to.

PARENTS CAN HELP BY:

Ø Being interested in the child's activities.
Ø Providing good food, the opportunity for plenty of sleep, and a quiet time each day.
Ø Understanding that children make errors in the process of learning.
Ø Inviting other children to the home (providing group play).
Ø Talking with your child about new experiences.
Ø Helping your child develop unselfish attitudes.
Ø Notifying the school of problems in the home that cause emotional stress for a child (i.e. divorce, death in family).
Ø Acknowledging good work and behavior.
Ø Monitoring your child's progress by having close contact with the teacher and knowing the school and classroom program.
Ø Establishing limits that fit your child's age and following through with consequences and/or rewards.
Ø Limiting television viewing and encouraging active, creative play.

PK-12 Language Arts Philosophy

We believe language is the foundation for all other learning. We affirm that instruction in English must be a priority, and that the instruction our students receive must balance aesthetic values with practical applications. Instruction in Language Arts should build from basic skills to more advanced skills in a manner based on logical connections and developmental appropriateness. We believe that literacy is the integration of all forms of communication: reading, writing, speaking, listening, and critical thinking.

Language Arts Curriculum Goals

1. Our children will be readers and writers.
2. Our children will use language to understand themselves and others and to make sense of their world.
3. Our children will use language as a tool to accomplish goals.
4. Our children will leave our classrooms as individuals who know how to listen, speak, read, and write effectively.
5. Our children will recognize when language is being used to manipulate, persuade or control them.
6. Our children will become language theorists.
7. Our children will appreciate and respect the languages and cultures of others.

Colegio Maya the American International School's Language Arts Curriculum has eight standards, based on the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English standards for the English Language Arts and it also provides grade level benchmarks to assist teachers in planning, assessment, and instruction.

Standards for the English Language Arts

1. Demonstrates competence in listening and speaking as tools for learning
2. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the reading process
3. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts
4. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts
5. Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process
6. Demonstrates competence in the stylistic and rhetorical techniques in writing
7. Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions
8. Gathers and uses information for research purposes

YOUR CHILD IS LEARNING TO:

¨ Listen and respond appropriately in a classroom situation to oral instruction.
¨ Wait his/her turn and respond appropriately.
¨ Verbalize ideas from personal experiences in complete sentences.
¨ Demonstrate knowledge of rhymes, poems, songs, and finger plays.
¨ Retell a sequence of events.
¨ Listen with understanding to a story or dramatization
¨ Predict outcomes, make a decision and solve a problem.
¨ Follow through to complete a task.
¨ Detect similarities and differences in pictures and forms.
¨ Distinguish parts from whole configurations.
¨ Recognize first name.
¨ State first, middle, and last name.
¨ Use words to describe pictures.
¨ State simple inferences about feelings and relationships given in pictures.
¨ Draw a conclusion to a simple story.
¨ Relate stories in a sequence.
¨ Trace a dotted line.
¨ Print first name.
¨ Write through use of scribbling, drawing pictures, using letters to represent words, or copying words from his/her surroundings.

PARENTS CAN HELP BY:

¨ Reading to your child daily.
¨ Creating an awareness; while reading, that written words tell something.
¨ Setting an example by reading.
¨ Talking with your child daily about what he/she did at school.
¨ Saying, reading, and singing nursery rhymes or songs.
¨ Providing supplies (pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, and paper) to practice writing and drawing stories together.
¨ Taking your child to the school library.
¨ Discussing the books that the classroom teacher reads at school.
¨ Reading and talking about other books that you read at home.

The goal of mathematics education is mathematical power for all students. The development of mathematical power requires work that is challenging and engaging for every student and which accommodates the full range of diversity within a classroom. Students learn and use skills and concepts within larger mathematical units. Thinking mathematically, using understanding of important mathematical ideas, using tools and techniques, collaborating with other students, and communicating results are all involved in assessment as well as instructional activities.

YOUR CHILD IS LEARNING TO:

¨ Count, read, order, and compare numbers.
¨ Count out sets as named by the teacher.
¨ Identify, match, and name shapes.
¨ Identify the quantities of more/less, and same/different.
¨ Differentiate between longer-shorter, bigger-smaller.
¨ Identify number quantities from one through ten.
¨ Identify a numeral as having more elements than another numeral when working with quantities (e.g. 2 is more that 1).
¨ Arrange the numerals from one through ten in their correct sequence.
¨ Use computers.
¨ Apply math to everyday situations.

PARENTS CAN HELP BY:

¨ Practicing, counting, and reading numbers with your child.
¨ Sorting clothing, dishes, silverware, and other things at home and naming how they can be sorted.
¨ Clapping patterns with your child.
¨ Using silverware to make sequence patters.
¨ Playing dominoes and card games with child.

Science gives children opportunities to explore how things work through activities and experiences. Science activities stimulate them to wonder, predict, and offer explanations. Kindergarten through second grade; students learn to use the sScience gives children opportunities to explore how things work through activities and experience. Science activities stimulate them to wonder, predict, and offer explanations. Pre-Kinder students learn to use the scientific process skills of observing, communicating, comparing, ordering, and categorizing. This helps them construct their own knowledge of scientific principles and concepts, making these a part of the way they see the world and influencing the decisions they make about their lives.

YOUR CHILD IS LIKELY TO INVESTIGATE THESE CONCEPTS:

PHYSICAL SCIENCE:

¨ Objects can be grouped by color, shape, size, weight, length and texture.
¨ Hot and cold can change the temperature of objects.
¨ Objects move in different ways.
¨ A magnet can attract certain objects.

EARTH SCIENCE:

¨ Identify different kinds of weather.
¨ Air and wind are types of weather.
¨ Identify with hot and cold temperatures.
¨ The sun and moon are visible in the sky.
¨ The earth turns. The part the sun is shining on has day.
The part turned away from the sun has night.

LIFE SCIENCE:

¨ Identify animals of farms and ponds.
¨ Describe the development of a plant from a seed.
¨ Identify plant needs of farms and ponds.
¨ Name the five senses.
¨ Know the importance of personal hygiene.
¨ Discuss fire safety.

PARENTS CAN HELP BY:

¨ Reading science-based literature at home.
¨ Providing science enrichment through family outings.
¨ Planting a garden or a window box at home. Observing changes.
¨ Watching nature programs on TV.
¨ Discussing nature observations on family outings.

The Social Studies Program is designed to present students with a growing view of the world. At the initial level students become aware of the self and families and then move to an integrated multicultural approach for different countries of the world and ancient and medieval civilization with a period of discovery and explorations. By learning about history, geography, culture, and current events, students begin to understand the vital connection between the past, present and future. The Social Studies Program is integrated with the Science Program through the study of plant and animal life of determined habitats in assigned countries. It is also integrated with the Language Arts Program through development of communication skills and the reading of literature which explores selected themes.

YOUR CHILD IS LEARNING TO:

¨ Understand that life for all people has a beginning, a time of growth, and ending.
¨ To acquire a basic knowledge of how the body functions.
¨ To adopt personal habits that promote wellness; develop an appreciation for the sacredness of life; and understand how life experiences differ from one culture to another.
¨ To understand that everyone holds membership in a variety of groups and institutions, beginning with the family.
¨ To understand how each of us influences and is shaped by these groups; and to develop a sense of civic and social responsibility.
¨ To learn that all people have the capacity to place themselves in time and space.
¨ To explore a sense of time through history and intergenerational connections.
¨ To discover their own roots; examine the traditions of other cultures; and consider where they are located in the universe that surrounds them.
¨ To learn that all people engage in making and using things.
¨ To recognize the value and dignity of work.
¨ To begin to distinguish wants from needs and to understand the importance of becoming creative producers, informed consumers and responsible conserves.
¨ To recognize that all forms of life are inextricably connected.
¨ To understand aspects of the natural world and the ecology of the planet.
¨ To use processes of scientific discovery; to discover the beauty and wonder of the world; and develop a respect for it.
¨ To learn that all humans seek meaning and purpose in their lives.
¨ To understand the importance of values and ethics.
¨ To examine lives of service; to experience the significance of service to others.
¨ To be familiar with the vital roles spirituality and religion continue to play in the human experience.

PARENTS CAN HELP BY:

¨ Encouraging your child to do the best work possible and praising your child's best efforts.
¨ Discussing daily news during dinner.
¨ Selecting folktales and stories about different cultures for story-telling time.
¨ Reading to your child traditional folktales, biographies of famous people, and stories based on historical events.
¨ Volunteering to go on a class field trip.
¨ Volunteering to make food and bring to the International Food Day and the annual Friendship Fair at school.
¨ Going on family outings to places of cultural or historical interest.

From the early years, students learn about themselves and their world by drawing, painting, sculpting, signing, playing musical instruments, dancing, and performing dramatic exercises and presentations. Each of the arts provides students with increased perception that awakens their senses and helps them better understand and interpret the world around them. In a well-planned arts program, students gain the skills necessary to creatively express their ideas, feelings, and imagination as they produce works in the arts.

YOUR CHILD IS LEARNING TO:

¨ Develop an awareness and appreciation of music.
¨ Develop musical skills by participation in singing, listening to music, moving to musical rhythms, dancing, marching, moving creatively, playing simple games and dances, and repeating musical patterns.
¨ Develop fine motor skills in coloring, tracing, cutting, folding, gluing, lacing and weaving.
¨ Follow directions and recognize materials.
¨ Express feelings and ideas through art experiences.
¨ Experience using a variety of art mediums in painting, collage, sculpture, printing, and drawings.
¨ Appreciate art through exposure to illustrations in books, pictures, paintings, and / or other art forms.

PARENTS CAN HELP BY:

¨ Practicing cutting out pictures with your child.
¨ Singing silly or traditional songs as a family.
¨ Providing a variety of materials to encourage creative art activities.
¨ Visiting museums and galleries.
¨ Watching TV presentations that encourage children to sing-along.
¨ Listening to tapes of favorite songs and instruments.
¨ Providing beginning music or dance training.

A Physical Education Program meets a student's need to develop physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially by providing physical activity and the instruction skills that enable him/her to participate in activities throughout life. A physical education fitness program for primary children should be based upon learning the fundamentals of movement and building a foundation for physical fitness.

YOUR CHILD IS LEARNING TO:

¨ Develop body coordination through motor skills: walk, run, hop, gallop, jump, and skip.
¨ Develop body coordination through body awareness: balance, posture, body image, and creative movement.
¨ Develop body coordination through rhythms: walk, run, slide, jump, hop, gallop, and skip in rhythm with a musical beat.
¨ Develop body coordination through activities: animal walks, jump rope, and simple rolling movements.
¨ Develop body coordination through game skills: catching a ball, hitting a target, passing objects, bouncing a ball, and kicking a ball.
¨ Develop responsibility by taking turns, playing with other cooperatively, following directions, and taking care of equipment.
¨ Develop a positive attitude toward the value of physical activity and cardiovascular system development.
¨ Develop safe and proper use of playground equipment.

PARENTS CAN HELP BY:

¨ Practicing skipping with your child.
¨ Jumping rope with your child.
¨ Playing with a ball or bean bag with your child.
¨ Practicing throwing, catching, hitting, and kicking a ball.