Curriculum

Our curriculum is based on the K-5 Arizona College and Career Readiness Standards. We choose and create our curriculum with the whole child in mind.  Our goal is to foster an independent spirit and innate love of learning through a rigorous and engaging curriculum. Childhood is a time of exploration, and we celebrate the important work of making connections from school to the world beyond, learning about ourselves and others, and gaining independence and mastery with meaningful practice.

Language Arts

Our primary classrooms (K-2) incorporate phonemic awareness & Jolly Phonics, early writing skills, and daily opportunities to experience literature, poetry, songs, spoken stories, and non-fiction texts to build a strong foundation for literacy skills. Our upper elementary classrooms (3-5) hone their skills and deepen comprehension in reading and writing through creative cross-curricular projects, literature studies, exploring the written word, and classroom discussions. We use a variety of materials and texts across all grade levels to enhance reading and writing instruction, including Houghton Mifflin leveled readers as a resource for targeted instruction.

Math

We are proud to offer “Bridges in Mathematics” since 2018-19. Bridges is a nationally recognized and evidence-based math curriculum that focuses on developing students’ deep understandings of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and ability to solve complex and novel problems.  It is a rigorous and engaging curriculum that encourages exploration and creates a platform for mathematical thinking across all disciplines.

For more information on Bridges, click here:

Orientation
FAQ

Social Studies & Science

Teachers organize Social Studies and Science instruction in thematic units that incorporate all disciplines to provide meaningful opportunities for exploration and experiential learning.  Field trips, guest speakers, in-class experiments, and projects provide hands-on and meaningful experiences allowing students to master the content. Students showcase their learning through class projects, in school presentations (eg. Economic and Science Fairs) and school-wide events (eg. STEAM night and Family Cultural Night).

Special Classes

Music

Music at Mountain School is active, creative, and rigorous.  We use our bodies to discover and understand the different elements of music, incorporating language arts, math, science, and social studies to develop an appreciation for music and all those involved in creating music. We build confidence by providing a safe space for students to create and perform.

Art

Art class at Mountain School is project-based!  Throughout the year, we create multi-media pieces of art and are introduced to a wide-variety of materials. Lessons focus on the elements and principles of art, techniques, artists, and particular works of art. Students’ interests, enthusiasm, and creativity guide them as they create!

Spanish

Learning to communicate in Spanish and attaining a passion for learning a foreign language and culture is our goal. Learning a foreign language is not only exciting, it increases your cultural sensitivity and future job possibilities, it also develops classification skills, concept formation, analogical reasoning, visual-spatial skills, creativity, and other cognitive gains!

Physical Education

A variety of skills, sports, games, and healthy lifestyle lessons are taught throughout the year, with an emphasis on working together and having fun!  Our goal is to teach students that exercise can be fun, and to prepare them for a life of physical activity. Healthy bodies equal healthy minds!

STEAM

Science . . . Technology . . . Engineering . . . Art . . . and Math! 

Mountain School is dedicated to transforming our classrooms, kindergarten – 5th grade into an exciting world of curiosity, problem-solving, and creativity using STEAM. It is another opportunity for students to take ownership of their learning and become actively engaged. In addition to STEAM being integrated into the regular classroom setting, we have installed STEAM Fridays where students use project based learning to explore the engineering process and build on collaboration, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.

Join the Mountain family!

Enroll today!