In 1988, the Colorado General Assembly created the Colorado Preschool Program to serve the young children in Colorado who were most vulnerable to starting grade school unprepared. The legislature recognized that providing quality early childhood education would ultimately curb dropout rates, help children achieve their full potential, reduce dependence on public assistance and decrease susceptibility to criminal activities (22-28-102 C.R.S.) Please visit the Colorado Department of Education preschool program site to explore the program.

 

CPP was established to serve three and four year-old children who lack overall learning readiness due to significant family risk factors, who are in need of language development, or who are receiving services from the department of human services as neglected or dependent children and who would benefit from participation in the program.

 

Teaching Strategies GOLD

District 49 uses "Teaching Strategies Gold Objectives for Development & Learning: Birth Through Kindergarten," which aligns with the Colorado Academic Standards. The state standards set the expectations of what students need to know and be able to do at the end of each grade. They also stand as the values and content organizers of what Colorado sees as the future skills and essential knowledge for our next generation to be more successful. State standards are the basis of the annual state assessment.

Download a document that explains how Teaching Strategies GOLD aligns with the Colorado Academic Standards (PDF), content areas, grade level expectations and evidence outcomes.

Colorado Early Learning & Development Guidelines

The Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines describe the trajectory of children’s learning and development from birth to 8 years old in Colorado. They include a broad description of children’s growth to ensure a holistic approach to creating positive early childhood environments. For each age level, this document addresses approaches to learning, health and physical development, social and emotional development, language, literacy, numeracy, logic and reasoning, and other subject-specific learning. Although the specific domains used to organize descriptions of children’s development evolve within the Guidelines to reflect the specific requirements of each age group, they maintain a broad view of the whole child and describe all aspects of children’s growth.

Also of importance to the Guidelines is that they acknowledge and are responsive to variations in culture, languages, and abilities. For instance, child rearing practices, developmental expectations, the role of different family members, and the child’s own individual versus collective identity may vary across cultures. To address this, the Guidelines include examples and resources that address the particular requirements of children for whom English is a second language and children with learning or physical challenges. The Guidelines also acknowledge the great variation in when and in what order children attain particular developmental milestones. The knowledge and skills described are designed to provide support and information to families, caregivers, and educators concerning children’s development within certain age spans, rather than dictate exactly when or how each child should progress.

These Guidelines are aligned with the Colorado Academic Standards for preschool through third grade and with the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. They are designed to show the continuum of development from birth through age 8, while complementing the variety of existing expectations and models being used in the State of Colorado with each age group. Thus, the Guidelines were informed by a wide variety of state and national documents, including current research on early learning and best practices in early education. Additionally, representatives from a wide variety of Colorado agencies were involved in planning the document’s design, providing input and information, and reviewing its final contents.

By including the full breadth of children’s development, addressing diversity, and aligning content across all early childhood settings and early grades, these Guidelines are intended to effect greater collaboration and consistency across early childhood systems in Colorado. With collaboration and common reference points, we can create positive early childhood environments that lay a critical foundation for our young children’s later success.

 

The Guiding Principles (Principles) below describe what we believe to be true both about children and about the environments that best support children’s growth and development. These Principles highlight aspects of children and early learning development that span across the domains. They were adopted from two highly regarded resources, Neurons to Neighborhoods and The Irreducible Needs of Children.

 

The Colorado Early Learning and Developmental Guidelines are based on the following principles:

1. Nature and nurture affect children’s development; child development is shaped by a dynamic and continuous interaction between biology and experience.
2. Culture influences every aspect of human development and is reflected in childrearing beliefs and practices designed to promote healthy adaptation.
3. The growth of self-regulation is a cornerstone of early childhood development that cuts across all domains of behavior.
4. Children are active participants in their own development, reflecting the intrinsic human drive to explore and master one’s own environment.
5. Human relationships are the building blocks of healthy development.
6. The broad range of individual differences among young children often makes it difficult to distinguish normal variations and maturational delays from transient disorders and persistent impairments.
7. The development of children unfolds along individual pathways whose trajectories are characterized by continuities and discontinuities, as well as by a series of significant transitions.
8. Human development is shaped by the ongoing interplay among sources of vulnerability and sources of resilience.
9. The timing of early experiences can matter, but, more often than not, the developing child remains vulnerable to risks and open to protective influences throughout the early years of life and into adulthood.
10. The course of development can be altered in early childhood by effective interventions that change the balance between risk and protection, thereby shifting the odds in favor of more adaptive outcomes.

The Guidelines promote environments that foster growth in young children, which include:

1. Ongoing nurturing relationships that provide the basis for physical and emotional well-being.
2. Physical protection, safety, and regulation for children’s security.
3. Tailored experiences to individual differences so that children have choices and are respectful of others’ choices.
4. Developmentally appropriate experiences that build children’s skills.
5. Limit setting, structure, and expectations that provide a secure environment.
6. Stable, supportive communities and cultural continuity.

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Comprehensive Health

• Apply knowledge and skills to engage in lifelong healthy eating
• Apply knowledge and skills related to health promotion, disease prevention, and health maintenance
• Utilize knowledge and skills to enhance mental, emotional, and social well-being
• Apply knowledge and skills that promote healthy, violence-free relationships
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Dance

• Understand that dance performance requires technical competency
• Improvise and create movement based on an intent or meaning
• Understand and appreciate a dance in terms of the culture in which it is performed
• Demonstrate thinking skills such as describing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and problem-solving through dance movement and verbal discussion

Drama and Theatre Arts

• Employ drama and theatre skills, and articulate the aesthetics of a variety of characters and roles
• Express drama and theatre arts skills in a variety of performances, including plays, monologues, improvisation, purposeful movement, scenes, design, technical craftsmanship, media, ensemble works, and public speaking
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of theatre history, dramatic structure, dramatic literature, elements of style, genre, artistic theory, script analysis, and roles of theatre practitioners through research and application

Mathematics

• Understand the structure and properties of our number system. At their most basic level numbers are abstract symbols that represent real-world quantities
• Apply transformation to numbers, shapes, functional representations, and data
• Make claims about relationships among numbers, shapes, symbols, and data and defend those claims by relying on the properties that are the structure of mathematics
• Understand quantity through estimation, precision, order of magnitude, and comparison. The reasonableness of answers relies on the ability to judge appropriateness, compare, estimate, and analyze error

Music

• Employ musical skills through a variety of means, including singing, playing instruments, and purposeful movement
• Perform music with appropriate technique and level of expression at an appropriate level of difficulty in sight reading and prepared performance
• Demonstrate the processes of development of musical literature from rehearsal to performance, exhibiting appropriate interpersonal and expressive skills, both individually and within ensembles
• Demonstrate the expressive elements of music - including melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, texture, voicing/instrumentation, mood, tonality, and form - through voice, musical instruments, and/or the use of electronic tools
• Display instrumental or vocal improvisation skills by performing extemporaneously what is created in the mind
• Create music by composing and/or arranging what is heard or envisioned, in notated or non-notated form, with or without the use of music technology, demonstrating originality and technical understanding
• Read and employ the language and vocabulary of music in discussing musical examples and writing music, including technology related to melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, voicing/orchestration, mood, tonality, expression, and form
• Demonstrate melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aural skills through identification, transcription, and vocalization or instrumental playback of aural musical examples
• Make informed, critical evaluations of the effectiveness of musical works and performances on the basis of aesthetic qualities, technical excellence, musicality, or convincing expression of feelings and ideas related to cultural and ideological associations
• Develop a framework for making informed personal musical choices, and utilize that framework in the making and defending of musical choices
• Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of aesthetics in music, appropriate to the particular features of given styles and genres, as it relates to the human experience in music
• Know the place of each of the participants in the performance environment and practice appropriate audience participation; recognize the place and importance of music in life

Physical Education

• Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities
• Demonstrate understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to learning and performing physical activities
• Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
• Exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings

Reading, Writing and Communicating

• Use language appropriate for purpose and audience
• Demonstrate skill in inferential and evaluative listening
• Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary
• Demonstrate comprehension of a variety of informational, literary, and persuasive texts
• Write with a clear focus, coherent organization, sufficient elaboration, and detail
• Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language
• Gather information from a variety of sources; analyze and evaluate the quality and relevance of the source; and use it to answer complex questions
• Articulate the position of self and others using experiential and material logic

Science

• Observe, explain, and predict natural phenomena governed by Newton's laws of motion, acknowledging the limitations of their application to very small or very fast objects
• Apply an understanding of atomic and molecular structure to explain the properties of matter, and predict outcomes of chemical and nuclear reactions
• Analyze the relationship between structure and function in living systems at a variety of organizational levels, and recognize living systems' dependence on natural selection
• Apply an understanding that energy exists in various forms, and its transformation and conservation occur in processes that are predictable and measurable
• Describe and interpret how Earth's geologic history and place in space are relevant to our understanding of the processes that have shaped our planet

Social Studies

• Develop an understanding of how people view, construct, and interpret history
• Analyze key historical periods and patterns of change over time within and across nations and cultures
• Examine places and regions and the connections among them
• Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy
• Acquire the knowledge and economic reasoning skills to make sound financial decisions (PFL)
• Analyze origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on societies and citizens

Visual Arts

• Analyze, interpret, and make meaning of art and design critically using oral and written discourse
• Recognize, articulate, and debate that the visual arts are a means for expression
• Analyze, interpret, and make meaning of art and design critically using oral and written discourse
• Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information
• Recognize, demonstrate, and debate the place of art and design in history and culture
• Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art and design
• Recognize, interpret, and validate that the creative process builds on the development of ideas through a process of inquiry, discovery, and research
• Transfer the value of visual arts to lifelong learning and the human experience
• Explain, compare and justify that the visual arts are connected to other disciplines, the other art forms, social activities, mass media, and careers in art and non-art related arenas 

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Comprehensive Health

• Apply knowledge and skills to engage in lifelong healthy eating
• Apply knowledge and skills related to health promotion, disease prevention, and health maintenance
• Utilize knowledge and skills to enhance mental, emotional, and social well-being
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Dance

• Demonstrate awareness of fitness, wellness, and the body's potential for movement
• Understand that dance performance requires technical competency
• Demonstrate and use the principles and practices of choreography in the creative process
• Improvise and create movement based on an intent or meaning
• Explore and perform dance styles from various cultures and times
• Understand and appreciate a dance in terms of the culture in which it is performed
• Demonstrate thinking skills such as describing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and problem-solving through dance movement and verbal discussion

Drama and Theatre Arts

• Create drama and theatre by interpreting and appreciating theatrical works, culture, and experience through scenes and scenarios, improvisation, creating environments, purposeful movement, and research
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of theatre history, dramatic structure, dramatic literature, elements of style, genre, artistic theory, script analysis, and roles of theatre practitioners through research and application

Mathematics

• Understand the structure and properties of our number system. At their most basic level numbers are abstract symbols that represent real-world quantities
• Apply transformation to numbers, shapes, functional representations, and data
• Solve problems and make decisions that depend on understanding, explaining, and quantifying the variability in data
• Make claims about relationships among numbers, shapes, symbols, and data and defend those claims by relying on the properties that are the structure of mathematics
• Understand quantity through estimation, precision, order of magnitude, and comparison. The reasonableness of answers relies on the ability to judge appropriateness, compare, estimate, and analyze error

Music

• Employ musical skills through a variety of means, including singing, playing instruments, and purposeful movement
• Perform music with appropriate technique and level of expression at an appropriate level of difficulty in sight reading and prepared performance
• Demonstrate the processes of development of musical literature from rehearsal to performance, exhibiting appropriate interpersonal and expressive skills, both individually and within ensembles
• Demonstrate the expressive elements of music - including melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, texture, voicing/instrumentation, mood, tonality, and form - through voice, musical instruments, and/or the use of electronic tools
• Display instrumental or vocal improvisation skills by performing extemporaneously what is created in the mind
• Create music by composing and/or arranging what is heard or envisioned, in notated or non-notated form, with or without the use of music technology, demonstrating originality and technical understanding
• Read and employ the language and vocabulary of music in discussing musical examples and writing music, including technology related to melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, voicing/orchestration, mood, tonality, expression, and form
• Demonstrate melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aural skills through identification, transcription, and vocalization or instrumental playback of aural musical examples
• Know the place of each of the participants in the performance environment and practice appropriate audience participation; recognize the place and importance of music in life
• Make informed, critical evaluations of the effectiveness of musical works and performances on the basis of aesthetic qualities, technical excellence, musicality, or convincing expression of feelings and ideas related to cultural and ideological associations
• Develop a framework for making informed personal musical choices, and utilize that framework in the making and defending of musical choices

Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of aesthetics in music, appropriate to the particular features of given styles and genres, as it relates to the human experience in music

Physical Education

• Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities
• Demonstrate understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to learning and performing physical activities
• Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
• Exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Reading, Writing and Communicating

• Use language appropriate for purpose and audience
• Demonstrate skill in inferential and evaluative listening
• Collaborate effectively as group members or leaders who listen actively and respectfully pose thoughtful questions, acknowledge the ideas of others, and contribute ideas to further the group's attainment of an objective
• Demonstrate comprehension of a variety of informational, literary, and persuasive texts
• Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary
• Implement the writing process successfully to plan, revise, and edit written work
• Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language
• Gather information from a variety of sources; analyze and evaluate the quality and relevance of the source; and use it to answer complex questions
• Articulate the position of self and others using experiential and material logic

Science

• Apply an understanding of atomic and molecular structure to explain the properties of matter, and predict outcomes of chemical and nuclear reactions
• Analyze how various organisms grow, develop, and differentiate during their lifetimes based on an interplay between genetics and their environment
• Analyze the relationship between structure and function in living systems at a variety of organizational levels, and recognize living systems' dependence on natural selection
• Describe how humans are dependent on the diversity of resources provided by Earth and Sun

Social Studies

• Develop an understanding of how people view, construct, and interpret history
• Analyze key historical periods and patterns of change over time within and across nations and cultures
• Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and personal connections to the world
• Examine places and regions and the connections among them
• Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy
• Acquire the knowledge and economic reasoning skills to make sound financial decisions (PFL)
• Analyze and practice rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizens
• Analyze origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on societies and citizens

Visual Arts

• Recognize, articulate, and debate that the visual arts are a means for expression
• Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information
• Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art and design
• Recognize, interpret, and validate that the creative process builds on the development of ideas through a process of inquiry, discovery, and research
• Identify, compare, and interpret works of art derived from historical and cultural settings, time periods, and cultural contexts

---

 

 

 

Comprehensive Health

• Apply knowledge and skills to engage in lifelong healthy eating
• Apply knowledge and skills related to health promotion, disease prevention, and health maintenance
• Apply knowledge and skills to make health-enhancing decisions regarding the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
• Apply knowledge and skills that promote healthy, violence-free relationships
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Dance

• Understand that dance performance requires technical competency
• Demonstrate and use the principles and practices of choreography in the creative process
• Demonstrate an understanding of form and structure to create dances
• Improvise and create movement based on an intent or meaning
• Explore and perform dance styles from various cultures and times
• Understand and appreciate a dance in terms of the culture in which it is performed
• Demonstrate thinking skills such as describing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and problem-solving through dance movement and verbal discussion

Drama and Theatre Arts

• Employ drama and theatre skills, and articulate the aesthetics of a variety of characters and roles
• Use a variety of methods, new media, and technology to create theatrical works through the use of the creative process for performance, directing, design, construction, choreography, playwriting, scriptwriting, and dramaturgy
• Express drama and theatre arts skills in a variety of performances, including plays, monologues, improvisation, purposeful movement, scenes, design, technical craftsmanship, media, ensemble works, and public speaking
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of theatre history, dramatic structure, dramatic literature, elements of style, genre, artistic theory, script analysis, and roles of theatre practitioners through research and application
• Make informed, critical evaluations of theatrical performance from an audience member and a participant point of view, and develop a framework for making informed theatrical choices

Mathematics

• Understand the structure and properties of our number system. At their most basic level numbers are abstract symbols that represent real-world quantities
• Are fluent with basic numerical and symbolic facts and algorithms, and are able to select and use appropriate (mental math, paper and pencil, and technology) methods based on an understanding of their efficiency, precision, and transparency
• Solve problems and make decisions that depend on understanding, explaining, and quantifying the variability in data
• Apply transformation to numbers, shapes, functional representations, and data
• Understand quantity through estimation, precision, order of magnitude, and comparison. The reasonableness of answers relies on the ability to judge appropriateness, compare, estimate, and analyze error

Music

• Employ musical skills through a variety of means, including singing, playing instruments, and purposeful movement
• Perform music with appropriate technique and level of expression at an appropriate level of difficulty in sight reading and prepared performance
• Demonstrate the processes of development of musical literature from rehearsal to performance, exhibiting appropriate interpersonal and expressive skills, both individually and within ensembles
• Demonstrate the expressive elements of music - including melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, texture, voicing/instrumentation, mood, tonality, and form - through voice, musical instruments, and/or the use of electronic tools
• Display instrumental or vocal improvisation skills by performing extemporaneously what is created in the mind
• Create music by composing and/or arranging what is heard or envisioned, in notated or non-notated form, with or without the use of music technology, demonstrating originality and technical understanding
• Read and employ the language and vocabulary of music in discussing musical examples and writing music, including technology related to melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, voicing/orchestration, mood, tonality, expression, and form
• Demonstrate melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aural skills through identification, transcription, and vocalization or instrumental playback of aural musical examples
• Read and employ the language and vocabulary of music in discussing musical examples and writing music, including technology related to melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, voicing/orchestration, mood, tonality, expression, and form
• Know the place of each of the participants in the performance environment and practice appropriate audience participation; recognize the place and importance of music in life
• Make informed, critical evaluations of the effectiveness of musical works and performances on the basis of aesthetic qualities, technical excellence, musicality, or convincing expression of feelings and ideas related to cultural and ideological associations
• Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of aesthetics in music, appropriate to the particular features of given styles and genres, as it relates to the human experience in music
• Develop a framework for making informed personal musical choices, and utilize that framework in the making and defending of musical choices

Physical Education

• Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities
• Demonstrate understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to learning and performing physical activities
• Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
• Participate regularly in physical activity
• Exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Reading, Writing and Communicating

• Collaborate effectively as group members or leaders who listen actively and respectfully pose thoughtful questions, acknowledge the ideas of others, and contribute ideas to further the group's attainment of an objective
• Demonstrate skill in inferential and evaluative listening
• Demonstrate comprehension of a variety of informational, literary, and persuasive texts
• Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary
• Implement the writing process successfully to plan, revise, and edit written work
• Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language
• Gather information from a variety of sources; analyze and evaluate the quality and relevance of the source; and use it to answer complex questions
• Discriminate and justify a position using traditional lines of rhetorical argument and reasoning

Science

• Observe, explain, and predict natural phenomena governed by Newton's laws of motion, acknowledging the limitations of their application to very small or very fast objects
• Explain and illustrate with examples how living systems interact with the biotic and abiotic environment
• Analyze the relationship between structure and function in living systems at a variety of organizational levels, and recognize living systems' dependence on natural selection
• Evaluate evidence that Earth's geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere interact as a complex system

Social Studies

• Develop an understanding of how people view, construct, and interpret history
• Analyze key historical periods and patterns of change over time within and across nations and cultures
• Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and personal connections to the world
• Examine places and regions and the connections among them
• Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy
• Acquire the knowledge and economic reasoning skills to make sound financial decisions (PFL)
• Analyze and practice rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizens
• Analyze origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on societies and citizens

Visual Arts

• Transfer the value of visual arts to lifelong learning and the human experience
• Critique personal work and the work of others with informed criteria
• Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information
• Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art and design
• Recognize, interpret, and validate that the creative process builds on the development of ideas through a process of inquiry, discovery, and research 

---

 

 

 

Comprehensive Health

• Apply knowledge and skills to engage in lifelong healthy eating
• Utilize knowledge and skills to enhance mental, emotional, and social well-being
• Apply knowledge and skills to make health-enhancing decisions regarding the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
• Apply knowledge and skills that promote healthy, violence-free relationships
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Dance

• Understand that dance performance requires technical competency
• Demonstrate awareness of fitness, wellness, and the body's potential for movement
• Demonstrate and use the principles and practices of choreography in the creative process
• Demonstrate an understanding of form and structure to create dances
• Explore and perform dance styles from various cultures and times
• Understand and appreciate a dance in terms of the culture in which it is performed
• Use criticism and analysis to reflect upon and understand new works, reconstructions, and masterpieces
• Discover connections to academic content areas, social activities, mass media, and careers
• Demonstrate thinking skills such as describing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and problem-solving through dance movement and verbal discussion

Drama and Theatre Arts

• Employ drama and theatre skills, and articulate the aesthetics of a variety of characters and roles
• Use a variety of methods, new media, and technology to create theatrical works through the use of the creative process for performance, directing, design, construction, choreography, playwriting, scriptwriting, and dramaturgy
• Create drama and theatre by interpreting and appreciating theatrical works, culture, and experience through scenes and scenarios, improvisation, creating environments, purposeful movement, and research
• Express drama and theatre arts skills in a variety of performances, including plays, monologues, improvisation, purposeful movement, scenes, design, technical craftsmanship, media, ensemble works, and public speaking
• Demonstrate the evolution of rehearsal and product through performance and/or production teamwork while simultaneously validating both as essential to the theatre making process
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of theatre history, dramatic structure, dramatic literature, elements of style, genre, artistic theory, script analysis, and roles of theatre practitioners through research and application
• Discern and demonstrate appropriate theatre etiquette and content for the audience, self, venue, technician, and performer
• Make informed, critical evaluations of theatrical performance from an audience member and a participant point of view, and develop a framework for making informed theatrical choices

Mathematics

• Understand the structure and properties of our number system. At their most basic level numbers are abstract symbols that represent real-world quantities
• Understand that equivalence is a foundation of mathematics represented in numbers, shapes, measures, expressions, and equations
• Are fluent with basic numerical and symbolic facts and algorithms, and are able to select and use appropriate (mental math, paper and pencil, and technology) methods based on an understanding of their efficiency, precision, and transparency
• Solve problems and make decisions that depend on understanding, explaining, and quantifying the variability in data
• Make claims about relationships among numbers, shapes, symbols, and data and defend those claims by relying on the properties that are the structure of mathematics
• Understand quantity through estimation, precision, order of magnitude, and comparison. The reasonableness of answers relies on the ability to judge appropriateness, compare, estimate, and analyze error

Music

• Employ musical skills through a variety of means, including singing, playing instruments, and purposeful movement
• Demonstrate the processes of development of musical literature from rehearsal to performance, exhibiting appropriate interpersonal and expressive skills, both individually and within ensembles
• Demonstrate the expressive elements of music - including melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, texture, voicing/instrumentation, mood, tonality, and form - through voice, musical instruments, and/or the use of electronic tools
• Perform music with appropriate technique and level of expression at an appropriate level of difficulty in sight reading and prepared performance
• Display instrumental or vocal improvisation skills by performing extemporaneously what is created in the mind
• Create music by composing and/or arranging what is heard or envisioned, in notated or non-notated form, with or without the use of music technology, demonstrating originality and technical understanding
• Read and employ the language and vocabulary of music in discussing musical examples and writing music, including technology related to melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, voicing/orchestration, mood, tonality, expression, and form
• Demonstrate melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aural skills through identification, transcription, and vocalization or instrumental playback of aural musical examples
• Make informed, critical evaluations of the effectiveness of musical works and performances on the basis of aesthetic qualities, technical excellence, musicality, or convincing expression of feelings and ideas related to cultural and ideological associations
• Develop a framework for making informed personal musical choices, and utilize that framework in the making and defending of musical choices
• Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of aesthetics in music, appropriate to the particular features of given styles and genres, as it relates to the human experience in music
• Know the place of each of the participants in the performance environment and practice appropriate audience participation; recognize the place and importance of music in life

Physical Education

• Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities
• Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
• Exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings

Reading, Writing and Communicating

• Use language appropriate for purpose and audience
• Collaborate effectively as group members or leaders who listen actively and respectfully pose thoughtful questions, acknowledge the ideas of others, and contribute ideas to further the group's attainment of an objective
• Demonstrate comprehension of a variety of informational, literary, and persuasive texts
• Engage in a wide range of nonfiction and real-life reading experiences to solve problems, judge the quality of ideas, or complete daily tasks
• Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary
• Implement the writing process successfully to plan, revise, and edit written work
• Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language
• Demonstrate the use of a range of strategies, research techniques, and persistence when engaging with difficult texts or examining complex problems or issues

Science

• Apply an understanding of atomic and molecular structure to explain the properties of matter, and predict outcomes of chemical and nuclear reactions
• Analyze how various organisms grow, develop, and differentiate during their lifetimes based on an interplay between genetics and their environment
• Evaluate evidence that Earth's geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere interact as a complex system

Social Studies

• Develop an understanding of how people view, construct, and interpret history
• Analyze key historical periods and patterns of change over time within and across nations and cultures
• Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and personal connections to the world
• Examine places and regions and the connections among them
• Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy
• Acquire the knowledge and economic reasoning skills to make sound financial decisions (PFL)
• Analyze and practice rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizens
• Analyze origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on societies and citizens

Visual Arts

• Analyze, interpret, and make meaning of art and design critically using oral and written discourse
• Explain, demonstrate, and interpret a range of purposes of art and design, recognizing that the making and study of art and design can be approached from a variety of viewpoints, intelligences, and perspectives
• Critique personal work and the work of others with informed criteria
• Use specific criteria to discuss and evaluate works of art
• Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information
• Recognize, demonstrate, and debate philosophic arguments about the nature of art and beauty (aesthetics)
• Recognize, demonstrate, and debate the place of art and design in history and culture
• Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art and design
• Create works of art that articulate more sophisticated ideas, feelings, emotions, and points of view about art and design through an expanded use of media and technologies
• Identify, compare and justify that the visual arts are a way to acknowledge, exhibit and learn about the diversity of peoples, cultures and ideas
• Transfer the value of visual arts to lifelong learning and the human experience
• Identify, compare, and interpret works of art derived from historical and cultural settings, time periods, and cultural contexts 

---

 

 

 

Comprehensive Health

• Apply knowledge and skills to engage in lifelong healthy eating
• Apply knowledge and skills related to health promotion, disease prevention, and health maintenance
• Utilize knowledge and skills to enhance mental, emotional, and social well-being
• Apply knowledge and skills to make health-enhancing decisions regarding the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
• Apply knowledge and skills that promote healthy, violence-free relationships

Dance

• Understand that dance performance requires technical competency
• Demonstrate competence and confidence in performing a variety of dance styles and genres
• Demonstrate and use the principles and practices of choreography in the creative process
• Demonstrate an understanding of form and structure to create dances
• Explore and perform dance styles from various cultures and times
• Understand and appreciate a dance in terms of the culture in which it is performed
• Demonstrate thinking skills such as describing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and problem-solving through dance movement and verbal discussion

Drama and Theatre Arts

• Create drama and theatre by interpreting and appreciating theatrical works, culture, and experience through scenes and scenarios, improvisation, creating environments, purposeful movement, and research
• Use a variety of methods, new media, and technology to create theatrical works through the use of the creative process for performance, directing, design, construction, choreography, playwriting, scriptwriting, and dramaturgy
• Create drama and theatre by interpreting and appreciating theatrical works, culture, and experience through scenes and scenarios, improvisation, creating environments, purposeful movement, and research
• Demonstrate the evolution of rehearsal and product through performance and/or production teamwork while simultaneously validating both as essential to the theatre making process
• Express drama and theatre arts skills in a variety of performances, including plays, monologues, improvisation, purposeful movement, scenes, design, technical craftsmanship, media, ensemble works, and public speaking
• Make informed, critical evaluations of theatrical performance from an audience member and a participant point of view, and develop a framework for making informed theatrical choices
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of theatre history, dramatic structure, dramatic literature, elements of style, genre, artistic theory, script analysis, and roles of theatre practitioners through research and application

Mathematics

• Understand the structure and properties of our number system. At their most basic level numbers are abstract symbols that represent real-world quantities
• Understand that equivalence is a foundation of mathematics represented in numbers, shapes, measures, expressions, and equations
• Are fluent with basic numerical and symbolic facts and algorithms, and are able to select and use appropriate (mental math, paper and pencil, and technology) methods based on an understanding of their efficiency, precision, and transparency
• Make claims about relationships among numbers, shapes, symbols, and data and defend those claims by relying on the properties that are the structure of mathematics
• Make sound predictions and generalizations based on patterns and relationships that arise from numbers, shapes, symbols, and data
• Solve problems and make decisions that depend on understanding, explaining, and quantifying the variability in data
• Understand quantity through estimation, precision, order of magnitude, and comparison. The reasonableness of answers relies on the ability to judge appropriateness, compare, estimate, and analyze error

Music

• Employ musical skills through a variety of means, including singing, playing instruments, and purposeful movement
• Demonstrate the processes of development of musical literature from rehearsal to performance, exhibiting appropriate interpersonal and expressive skills, both individually and within ensembles
• Demonstrate the expressive elements of music - including melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, texture, voicing/instrumentation, mood, tonality, and form - through voice, musical instruments, and/or the use of electronic tools
• Perform music with appropriate technique and level of expression at an appropriate level of difficulty in sight reading and prepared performance
• Display instrumental or vocal improvisation skills by performing extemporaneously what is created in the mind
• Create music by composing and/or arranging what is heard or envisioned, in notated or non-notated form, with or without the use of music technology, demonstrating originality and technical understanding
• Read and employ the language and vocabulary of music in discussing musical examples and writing music, including technology related to melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, voicing/orchestration, mood, tonality, expression, and form
• Demonstrate melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aural skills through identification, transcription, and vocalization or instrumental playback of aural musical examples
• Make informed, critical evaluations of the effectiveness of musical works and performances on the basis of aesthetic qualities, technical excellence, musicality, or convincing expression of feelings and ideas related to cultural and ideological associations
• Develop a framework for making informed personal musical choices, and utilize that framework in the making and defending of musical choices
• Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of aesthetics in music, appropriate to the particular features of given styles and genres, as it relates to the human experience in music
• Know the place of each of the participants in the performance environment and practice appropriate audience participation; recognize the place and importance of music in life

Physical Education

• Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities
• Demonstrate understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to learning and performing physical activities
• Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
• Participate regularly in physical activity
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Reading, Writing and Communicating

• Use language appropriate for purpose and audience
• Demonstrate comprehension of a variety of informational, literary, and persuasive texts
• Engage in a wide range of nonfiction and real-life reading experiences to solve problems, judge the quality of ideas, or complete daily tasks
• Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary
• Implement the writing process successfully to plan, revise, and edit written work
• Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language
• Use primary, secondary, and tertiary written sources to generate and answer research questions
• Articulate the position of self and others using experiential and material logic

Science

• Apply an understanding that energy exists in various forms, and its transformation and conservation occur in processes that are predictable and measurable
• Analyze how various organisms grow, develop, and differentiate during their lifetimes based on an interplay between genetics and their environment
• Explain how biological evolution accounts for the unity and diversity of living organisms
• Explain and illustrate with examples how living systems interact with the biotic and abiotic environment
• Describe and interpret how Earth's geologic history and place in space are relevant to our understanding of the processes that have shaped our planet

Social Studies

• Develop an understanding of how people view, construct, and interpret history
• Analyze key historical periods and patterns of change over time within and across nations and cultures
• Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and personal connections to the world
• Examine places and regions and the connections among them
• Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy
• Acquire the knowledge and economic reasoning skills to make sound financial decisions (PFL)
• Analyze and practice rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizens
• Analyze origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on societies and citizens

Visual Arts

• Analyze, interpret, and make meaning of art and design critically using oral and written discourse
• Transfer the value of visual arts to lifelong learning and the human experience
• Explain, demonstrate, and interpret a range of purposes of art and design, recognizing that the making and study of art and design can be approached from a variety of viewpoints, intelligences, and perspectives
• Recognize, articulate, and debate that the visual arts are a means for expression
• Critique personal work and the work of others with informed criteria
• Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information
• Create works of art that articulate more sophisticated ideas, feelings, emotions, and points of view about art and design through an expanded use of media and technologies
• Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art and design
• Recognize, interpret, and validate that the creative process builds on the development of ideas through a process of inquiry, discovery, and research
• Identify, compare and justify that the visual arts are a way to acknowledge, exhibit and learn about the diversity of peoples, cultures and ideas 

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Comprehensive Health

• Apply knowledge and skills to engage in lifelong healthy eating
• Apply knowledge and skills necessary to make personal decisions that promote healthy relationships and sexual and reproductive health
• Apply knowledge and skills necessary to make personal decisions that promote healthy relationships and sexual and reproductive health
• Apply knowledge and skills related to health promotion, disease prevention, and health maintenance
• Utilize knowledge and skills to enhance mental, emotional, and social well-being
• Apply knowledge and skills to make health-enhancing decisions regarding the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
• Apply knowledge and skills that promote healthy, violence-free relationships
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Dance

• Understand that dance performance requires technical competency
• Demonstrate and use the principles and practices of choreography in the creative process
• Participate in a dance production
• Demonstrate an understanding of form and structure to create dances
• Explore and perform dance styles from various cultures and times
• Understand and appreciate a dance in terms of the culture in which it is performed
• Demonstrate thinking skills such as describing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and problem-solving through dance movement and verbal discussion

Drama and Theatre Arts

• Use a variety of methods, new media, and technology to create theatrical works through the use of the creative process for performance, directing, design, construction, choreography, playwriting, scriptwriting, and dramaturgy
• Create drama and theatre by interpreting and appreciating theatrical works, culture, and experience through scenes and scenarios, improvisation, creating environments, purposeful movement, and research
• Demonstrate the evolution of rehearsal and product through performance and/or production teamwork while simultaneously validating both as essential to the theatre making process
• Express drama and theatre arts skills in a variety of performances, including plays, monologues, improvisation, purposeful movement, scenes, design, technical craftsmanship, media, ensemble works, and public speaking
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of theatre history, dramatic structure, dramatic literature, elements of style, genre, artistic theory, script analysis, and roles of theatre practitioners through research and application
• Make informed, critical evaluations of theatrical performance from an audience member and a participant point of view, and develop a framework for making informed theatrical choices

Mathematics

• Understand the structure and properties of our number system. At their most basic level numbers are abstract symbols that represent real-world quantities
• Are fluent with basic numerical and symbolic facts and algorithms, and are able to select and use appropriate (mental math, paper and pencil, and technology) methods based on an understanding of their efficiency, precision, and transparency
• Make sound predictions and generalizations based on patterns and relationships that arise from numbers, shapes, symbols, and data
• Solve problems and make decisions that depend on understanding, explaining, and quantifying the variability in data
• Understand quantity through estimation, precision, order of magnitude, and comparison. The reasonableness of answers relies on the ability to judge appropriateness, compare, estimate, and analyze error
• Make claims about relationships among numbers, shapes, symbols, and data and defend those claims by relying on the properties that are the structure of mathematics

Music

• Employ musical skills through a variety of means, including singing, playing instruments, and purposeful movement
• Demonstrate the processes of development of musical literature from rehearsal to performance, exhibiting appropriate interpersonal and expressive skills, both individually and within ensembles
• Demonstrate the expressive elements of music - including melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, texture, voicing/instrumentation, mood, tonality, and form - through voice, musical instruments, and/or the use of electronic tools
• Perform music with appropriate technique and level of expression at an appropriate level of difficulty in sight reading and prepared performance
• Display instrumental or vocal improvisation skills by performing extemporaneously what is created in the mind
• Create music by composing and/or arranging what is heard or envisioned, in notated or non-notated form, with or without the use of music technology, demonstrating originality and technical understanding
• Demonstrate melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aural skills through identification, transcription, and vocalization or instrumental playback of aural musical examples
• Read and employ the language and vocabulary of music in discussing musical examples and writing music, including technology related to melody, harmony, rhythm, style, genre, voicing/orchestration, mood, tonality, expression, and form
• Make informed, critical evaluations of the effectiveness of musical works and performances on the basis of aesthetic qualities, technical excellence, musicality, or convincing expression of feelings and ideas related to cultural and ideological associations
• Develop a framework for making informed personal musical choices, and utilize that framework in the making and defending of musical choices
• Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of aesthetics in music, appropriate to the particular features of given styles and genres, as it relates to the human experience in music
• Know the place of each of the participants in the performance environment and practice appropriate audience participation; recognize the place and importance of music in life

Physical Education

• Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities
• Achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
• Participate regularly in physical activity
• Exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings
• Apply personal safety knowledge and skills to prevent and treat intentional or unintentional injury

Reading, Writing and Communicating

• Use language appropriate for purpose and audience
• Deliver organized and effective oral presentations for diverse audiences and varied purposes
• Collaborate effectively as group members or leaders who listen actively and respectfully pose thoughtful questions, acknowledge the ideas of others, and contribute ideas to further the group's attainment of an objective
• Demonstrate skill in inferential and evaluative listening
• Demonstrate comprehension of a variety of informational, literary, and persuasive texts
• Evaluate how an author uses words to create mental imagery, suggest mood, and set tone
• Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary
• Implement the writing process successfully to plan, revise, and edit written work
• Apply standard English conventions to effectively communicate with written language
• Use primary, secondary, and tertiary written sources to generate and answer research questions
• Articulate the position of self and others using experiential and material logic
• Discriminate and justify a position using traditional lines of rhetorical argument and reasoning

Science

• Apply an understanding of atomic and molecular structure to explain the properties of matter, and predict outcomes of chemical and nuclear reactions
• Analyze how various organisms grow, develop, and differentiate during their lifetimes based on an interplay between genetics and their environment
• Analyze the relationship between structure and function in living systems at a variety of organizational levels, and recognize living systems' dependence on natural selection
• Describe how humans are dependent on the diversity of resources provided by Earth and Sun
• Evaluate evidence that Earth's geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere interact as a complex system

Social Studies

• Develop an understanding of how people view, construct, and interpret history
• Analyze key historical periods and patterns of change over time within and across nations and cultures
• Develop spatial understanding, perspectives, and personal connections to the world
• Examine places and regions and the connections among them
• Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy
• Acquire the knowledge and economic reasoning skills to make sound financial decisions (PFL)
• Analyze and practice rights, roles, and responsibilities of citizens
• Analyze origins, structure, and functions of governments and their impacts on societies and citizens

Visual Arts

• Explain, demonstrate, and interpret a range of purposes of art and design, recognizing that the making and study of art and design can be approached from a variety of viewpoints, intelligences, and perspectives
• Recognize, articulate, and debate that the visual arts are a means for expression
• Analyze, interpret, and make meaning of art and design critically using oral and written discourse
• Use specific criteria to discuss and evaluate works of art
• Recognize, demonstrate, and debate philosophic arguments about the nature of art and beauty (aesthetics)
• Recognize, articulate, and implement critical thinking in the visual arts by synthesizing, evaluating, and analyzing visual information
• Develop and build appropriate mastery in art-making skills using traditional and new technologies and an understanding of the characteristics and expressive features of art and design
• Recognize, interpret, and validate that the creative process builds on the development of ideas through a process of inquiry, discovery, and research
• Identify, compare and justify that the visual arts are a way to acknowledge, exhibit and learn about the diversity of peoples, cultures and ideas
• Identify, compare, and interpret works of art derived from historical and cultural settings, time periods, and cultural contexts