Curriculum and Instruction
Topanga Elementary Charter School is adhering to the Common Core State Standards and CAASPP in accordance with District policy and timelines.
English / Language Arts
With regard to the basic tenets of its language arts curriculum, Topanga Elementary strives to:
Mathematics
With regard to the basic tenets of its mathematics curriculum, Topanga Elementary strives to:
Science
With regard to the basic tenets of its science curriculum, Topanga Elementary strives to:
History/Social Sciences Standards-Based Program
With regard to the basic tenets of its history and social science curriculum, Topanga Canyon strives to:
Physical Education and Health
Visual and Performing Arts
The curriculum is designed to develop aesthetic perception and judgment, and creative expression in the context of our diverse historical and cultural heritages. Instructional materials have been purchased to facilitate this goal. All students, including ELL, gifted, and special education enjoy equal access to the visual and performing arts core curriculum, with modifications to meet their individual needs. Integrated instruction is delivered by the regular classroom teacher, as well as by the enrichment staff.
Dance
Topanga Elementary students are involved in dance and movement education. They engage in activities that encourage them to respond to sound through movement, strengthen motor efficiency and control, communicate ideas through movement, acknowledge the multicultural heritage of dance, and develop an appreciation for its aesthetic value. Dance opportunities facilitate student fitness, health, social interaction, and cultural understanding.
Theater
Topanga Elementary is known for a major play production that has taken place for the last ten years. Parents and teachers volunteer time outside of school hours to develop and rehearse a major theatrical production that is usually performed on a stage away from campus. This play offers many opportunities for students to develop skills associated with the theater, and it is a great community event and fund raiser for the school.
Additionally, students are provided numerous opportunities to explore language and concepts, refine communication skills, develop self-esteem, and further investigate their world and themselves through experiences in theater. Students are exposed to drama through the development of skills in storytelling and playwriting and acting. Students are afforded the opportunity to participate in classroom skits, school productions, talent show, poetry recitations, and dramatic play used to reinforce and teach social science, science, and language arts concepts.
Music
Topanga Elementary students learn many aspects of music. Music is an avenue that enriches the social studies program and reinforces mathematics and language arts skills. Students learn about sound, pitch, harmony, form, tempo, rhythm and notation by participation in weekly music classes in orchestra. Students enjoy viewing performances at special assemblies and field trips as well as engaging in their own performances.
Commitment to the Arts
TECS is committed to a comprehensive arts program consistent with our Arts Education Plan. The school has been a participating school in the District Arts Program (formerly Arts Prototype) for the past eleven years. All teachers currently on staff have acquired the necessary expertise to deliver effective arts instruction through this program. We have also purchased extensive resources to support the arts. Although the District Arts Program was scaled down to allow for participation in some form for all District elementary schools, District arts specialist teachers in visual, dance, and theater arts continue to visit the school and work with all teachers and classes on a rotational basis. They provide staff development through weekly lessons with individual classes. Teachers are provided with standards-based lesson plans and appropriate student assessment activities and scoring rubrics to evaluate student progress. A vocal music teacher provides instruction to all grades once weekly in accord with the Standards. Students also have the opportunity to participate in a weekly instrumental program provided by the award winning Children’s Music Workshop. As this is a fee-based program, scholarships are readily available upon request by the participating provider. The arts are integrated in all areas of the curriculum. Students dramatize “conflict” in stories, or sing about historical events in the musical, “Gold Dust or Bust.”
TECS arts education program is firmly rooted, based upon the benefits to all students. The arts program supports our commitment to differentiated instruction and provides an alternative means for assessment. Students can demonstrate their knowledge using multiple intelligences. The arts have shown to increase student achievement in all areas.
The parent body and local community at large are active participants in arts education at TECS. Art Trek, a parent-driven arts program in visual arts, utilizes parent volunteers trained by Art Trek specialists to teach multimedia, standards based arts lessons in the classroom across all grade levels on a six year cycle. Students participate in activities at the nearby Theatricum and exhibit at the local Topanga Art Gallery, a cooperative of community artists who share their space with us once a year. Parent/community artists and musicians perform at school wide assemblies. Each year, under parent direction and support, numerous students are able to participate in an all school musical. TECS has drawn much support from the local artistic community and appreciates their talents to enhance the arts for all students.
Technology Program
English / Language Arts
With regard to the basic tenets of its language arts curriculum, Topanga Elementary strives to:
- Present a rigorous curriculum that Common Core State Standards (California) for language arts at each grade level.
- Develop students’ reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills to support all academic areas through a balanced language arts program.
- Use a balanced approach to teaching reading that includes reading aloud, choral reading, reader’s theater, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, practice in phonemic awareness, and explicit instruction in phonics.
- Employ alphabet and sound spelling cards, predecodable/decodable books and phonemic awareness skills in an explicit and systematic manner.
- Develop students’ writing fluency by teaching the writing process and writing genre through shared writing, guided writing, sensory writing, poetry writing, and writer’s workshop.
- Increase ability to access information electronically and integrate the use of technology in all subject matter areas.
- Develop students’ grammar, spelling, oral speaking, and active listening skills through direct instruction and vocabulary development as well as see integration of Language Arts embedded across curriculum.
- Use Core Literature selections in grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 to enable students to have exposure to rigorous literature.
- Use Notice and Note in grades 3,4,5 to give structure to the multiple close readings that CCSS reading standards demand.
- Teach the following eight strategies as developmentally appropriate during reading instruction: Decoding and fluency; Visualize; Connect; Decide What’s Important; Question; Infer and Predict; Synthesize; Repair (decoding and fluency.) These reading strategies are explicitly taught during self-selected reading, guided reading, and when integrated through science and social sciences lessons.
Mathematics
With regard to the basic tenets of its mathematics curriculum, Topanga Elementary strives to:
- Present a rigorous curriculum that addresses the CCSS for mathematics across all grade levels. CCSS emphasis on conceptual understanding shifts students’ thought processes from gaining absolute knowledge to increasing mathematical reasoning skills.
- Utilize supplementary materials to use alongside Pearson’s EnVision Math series which was supplied by the District. Engage NY materials and Eureka Math were evaluated by our curriculum committee to be a valuable tool in transitioning our students to CCSS math standards; they have been ordered and are being used in each grade level.
- Develop students’ mathematics proficiency by applying mathematical concepts and computational skills to a variety of math processes through exploration and skill development.
- Learn mathematics vocabulary to communicate ideas and synthesize concepts.
- Develop students ability to model mathematical thinking utilizing various manipulatives, realia, charts, and diagrams.
- Develop students’ ability to explain their thinking and mathematical reasoning to others.
- Develop students’ quantitative and analytic abilities by becoming proficient in interpreting patterns and graphs relative to their own personal experiences.
- Develop students’ understanding of the concepts of computations, patterns, functions, geometry, statistics, measurement, and probability.
- Develop students’ skills in using mathematical tools such as base-10 manipulatives, place value charts, rulers, compasses, protractors, calculators, and computers, including an understanding of their benefits.
Science
With regard to the basic tenets of its science curriculum, Topanga Elementary strives to:
- Make science relevant, aligned to grade level standards, and provide the opportunity for discovery and inquiry.
- Present a rigorous curriculum that explores the state content standards in depth for science at each grade level.
- Utilize the Next Generation Science Standards, in order to identify content and science and engineering practices that all students should learn from kindergarten to high school graduation.
- Align our science curriculum with the Next Generation Science Standards, which recognizes the need for students to have a rigorous science background in order to succeed in college and the vast majority of careers that will be available to them.
- Teach the sciences as a cumulative learning process that builds upon prior knowledge and experiences as students progress through the grade levels.
- Develop students’ ability to apply the scientific processes of inquiry, hypothesis testing, observation, prediction, communication, comparison, ordering and categorization, and inference.
- Provide students with an opportunity to research and conduct a “science experiment”
- Teach students to use scientific processes to help themselves evaluate the world in which they live.
- Integrate the outdoor science experiences students are presented with into both classroom activities (language arts, math and visual arts), as well as a starting point for further exploration in the science lab.
- Use the science lab to reinforce the science curriculum of the classroom by providing hands-on science lab activities that promote open-ended thinking and facilitate greater learning and understanding of physical, biological and earth sciences. The science lab is a separate classroom used by all grade levels. In the lab are FOSS science kits which are restocked annually. These kits contain materials grouped by grade level and appropriate science standard in the three divisions of the science curriculum (Earth science, physical science and life science).
- Use the technical expertise of the instructors to allow students to not only conduct electronic research to support their science projects, but to use electronic presentation tools (PowerPoint, animated graphs, 3D imaging) to enhance and extend the scope and breadth of their project-based science inquires.
- Specific expository reading strategies and skills at all grade levels, such as vocabulary development and reading comprehension, are infused throughout the science curriculum to address literacy needs of all students and help develop mastery of science concepts.
History/Social Sciences Standards-Based Program
With regard to the basic tenets of its history and social science curriculum, Topanga Canyon strives to:
- Present a rigorous curriculum that addresses the state content standards for history and social studies at each grade level.
- Have students learn about their place in the world through studying communities, cities, states, and countries in terms of geographical settings and periods.
- Emphasize multicultural perspectives in studying the experiences of different racial, religious and ethnic groups.
- Use literature, science, and technology to explore historical times, places and people.
- Develop students’ ability to understand and use maps to interpret geography.
- A full, balanced, integrated, literature-enriched history-social science curriculum draw upon students ‘knowledge and cultural understanding, democratic principles and civic values, and academic and social skills necessary for effective participation in diverse societies. The teaching of history is integrated with the humanities and the other social sciences. Activities and lessons are correlated with language arts, sciences, and visual and performing arts curricula.
- Students in all grades study history and social sciences through language arts, (creative writing, factual reports, critical analysis), science (adaptation, survival, utilization of the environment), art (many hands-on projects, artistic rendering (3- dimensional projects), music and dance (culture and ethnic aspects which are incorporated through music and dance), and math (graphs, life experiences, problem-solving, time lines, measuring for cooking indigenous food.)
- Students engage in problem solving as they acquire, evaluate, and use information in a variety of ways.
- Frequent opportunities exist for all students including English Language Learners to share their language, cultural ideas, customs, and heritage, thereby providing multicultural dimensions to the curriculum.
- The teachers provide equal access to the core curriculum for all students through a variety of appropriate strategies.
- The teachers facilitate the exploration of values critical to understanding the democratic process.
Physical Education and Health
- Topanga Enrichment Programs (TEP) funds a Physical Education program provided by YMCA, to deliver the mandated minutes of P.E. instruction.
- Topanga Elementary’s Physical Education program is aligned to the California Standards.
- Physical Education is taught in a manner that helps students develop a healthy and physically fit lifestyle for years to come.
- Topanga Elementary’s Physical Education program teaches grades K-5 students many skills and concepts that will help students achieve physical fitness.
- Skills and concepts are taught in grades 1-5, in accordance with California Education Code and LAUSD policy, for no less than 200 minutes every two weeks, and enable students to further develop healthy bodies and healthy minds as they grow.
- Teachers verify that they met the 200 minutes of Physical Education using the Verification Form designed and provided by LAUSD.
- Students’ Physical Education time, coupled with morning, mid-morning, lunch and afternoon recess as well as after school classes give Topanga Elementary students ample time to practice, play and have fun while developing healthy bodies.
- Topanga’s Health program is taught in a manner that promotes best choices for nutrition, hygiene, and safety.
- Health is often integrated with language arts and science lessons.
Visual and Performing Arts
- The curriculum is aligned with the Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools and includes dance, theater, music and visual arts.
- This program is designed to develop aesthetic perception and judgment, and creative expression in the context of our diverse historical and cultural heritages.
- The arts have a unique ability to communicate the ideas and emotions of the human spirit. Connecting people to history, traditions, and heritage, the arts have a beauty and power unique in culture. At the same time, a growing body of research indicates that education in the arts provides significant cognitive benefits and bolsters academic achievement, beginning at an early age and continuing through school.
- Instructional materials are included in the school’s budget to facilitate this goal.
- All students, including ELL, Gifted, and Special Education has equal access to the visual and performing arts core curriculum, with modifications to meet their individual needs.
- Integrated instruction is delivered by the regular classroom teacher, as well as by the enrichment staff.
- The Arts are powerful avenues for creative self-expression and self-discovery as our program strives to channel emotions into creative forms.
- Visual and performing arts instruction enhances student understanding and enjoyment of learning.
- Topanga Elementary’s Visual and Performing Arts incorporates five components of arts education:
- Artistic perception: processing, analyzing, and responding to sensory information through the language and skills unique to the arts;
- Creative expression: creating and performing in the arts;
- Historical and Cultural Context: understanding historical and cultural contributions and cultural dimensions of the arts;
- Aesthetic valuing: responding to, analyzing, and making judgments about art
- Connections, Relationships, Applications: connecting and applying what is learned in the arts to other art forms, subject areas, and to careers.
The curriculum is designed to develop aesthetic perception and judgment, and creative expression in the context of our diverse historical and cultural heritages. Instructional materials have been purchased to facilitate this goal. All students, including ELL, gifted, and special education enjoy equal access to the visual and performing arts core curriculum, with modifications to meet their individual needs. Integrated instruction is delivered by the regular classroom teacher, as well as by the enrichment staff.
Dance
Topanga Elementary students are involved in dance and movement education. They engage in activities that encourage them to respond to sound through movement, strengthen motor efficiency and control, communicate ideas through movement, acknowledge the multicultural heritage of dance, and develop an appreciation for its aesthetic value. Dance opportunities facilitate student fitness, health, social interaction, and cultural understanding.
Theater
Topanga Elementary is known for a major play production that has taken place for the last ten years. Parents and teachers volunteer time outside of school hours to develop and rehearse a major theatrical production that is usually performed on a stage away from campus. This play offers many opportunities for students to develop skills associated with the theater, and it is a great community event and fund raiser for the school.
Additionally, students are provided numerous opportunities to explore language and concepts, refine communication skills, develop self-esteem, and further investigate their world and themselves through experiences in theater. Students are exposed to drama through the development of skills in storytelling and playwriting and acting. Students are afforded the opportunity to participate in classroom skits, school productions, talent show, poetry recitations, and dramatic play used to reinforce and teach social science, science, and language arts concepts.
Music
Topanga Elementary students learn many aspects of music. Music is an avenue that enriches the social studies program and reinforces mathematics and language arts skills. Students learn about sound, pitch, harmony, form, tempo, rhythm and notation by participation in weekly music classes in orchestra. Students enjoy viewing performances at special assemblies and field trips as well as engaging in their own performances.
Commitment to the Arts
TECS is committed to a comprehensive arts program consistent with our Arts Education Plan. The school has been a participating school in the District Arts Program (formerly Arts Prototype) for the past eleven years. All teachers currently on staff have acquired the necessary expertise to deliver effective arts instruction through this program. We have also purchased extensive resources to support the arts. Although the District Arts Program was scaled down to allow for participation in some form for all District elementary schools, District arts specialist teachers in visual, dance, and theater arts continue to visit the school and work with all teachers and classes on a rotational basis. They provide staff development through weekly lessons with individual classes. Teachers are provided with standards-based lesson plans and appropriate student assessment activities and scoring rubrics to evaluate student progress. A vocal music teacher provides instruction to all grades once weekly in accord with the Standards. Students also have the opportunity to participate in a weekly instrumental program provided by the award winning Children’s Music Workshop. As this is a fee-based program, scholarships are readily available upon request by the participating provider. The arts are integrated in all areas of the curriculum. Students dramatize “conflict” in stories, or sing about historical events in the musical, “Gold Dust or Bust.”
TECS arts education program is firmly rooted, based upon the benefits to all students. The arts program supports our commitment to differentiated instruction and provides an alternative means for assessment. Students can demonstrate their knowledge using multiple intelligences. The arts have shown to increase student achievement in all areas.
The parent body and local community at large are active participants in arts education at TECS. Art Trek, a parent-driven arts program in visual arts, utilizes parent volunteers trained by Art Trek specialists to teach multimedia, standards based arts lessons in the classroom across all grade levels on a six year cycle. Students participate in activities at the nearby Theatricum and exhibit at the local Topanga Art Gallery, a cooperative of community artists who share their space with us once a year. Parent/community artists and musicians perform at school wide assemblies. Each year, under parent direction and support, numerous students are able to participate in an all school musical. TECS has drawn much support from the local artistic community and appreciates their talents to enhance the arts for all students.
Technology Program
- Topanga Enrichment Programs (TEP) funds PlanetBravo Technology Education for all students, to teach technology skills that can be applied to classroom assignments, projects, and research.
- Teachers use the information available to them via the internet.
- Topanga’s technology goal is to provide a technology curriculum that promotes safety, awareness, efficiency, and integrity.
- Electronic devices are provided in K-5 classrooms to enable students to employ technology skills learned in the Lab with their classroom instructional program.
Special Education
Topanga Elementary serves the needs of special education students in the same manner as at any other public school of the District, and is responsible for meeting all requirements.
Topanga Elementary serves the needs of special education students in the same manner as at any other public school of the District, and is responsible for meeting all requirements.
GATE - Gifted and Talented Students and Students Achieving Above Grade Level
Our instructional plan for gifted students supports the overall goals of the instructional program of the school. We identify students for GATE programs by offering the District 2nd grade OSLAT-8 for early identification every spring. In addition, we have a GATE Coordinator who provides professional development through the year to help teachers identify students in the areas of: Gifted, Highly Gifted, Highly Gifted Applicable, High Achievement, Drama, Dance, Music and Art.
Gifted students are clustered together in self-contained classrooms and participate in a curriculum that is differentiated through acceleration and depth and complexity. Teachers also facilitate meetings with students to promote goal setting and self-reflection.
For more information, Download Our Charter or Contact the school.
Our instructional plan for gifted students supports the overall goals of the instructional program of the school. We identify students for GATE programs by offering the District 2nd grade OSLAT-8 for early identification every spring. In addition, we have a GATE Coordinator who provides professional development through the year to help teachers identify students in the areas of: Gifted, Highly Gifted, Highly Gifted Applicable, High Achievement, Drama, Dance, Music and Art.
Gifted students are clustered together in self-contained classrooms and participate in a curriculum that is differentiated through acceleration and depth and complexity. Teachers also facilitate meetings with students to promote goal setting and self-reflection.
For more information, Download Our Charter or Contact the school.