Our Curriculum
Core Themes
The core curriculum is interdisciplinary, emphasizing the study of artistic communication and language arts as well as technological, mathematical and scientific inquiry skills. It is designed to help students develop the skills necessary to participate as informed and responsible citizens in a rapidly changing world. MSC believes they can do this best by exploring and studying the world around them.
Classes engage students in an extended period of study, research and reading. The curricular themes build upon each other from year to year with students studying material of increasing levels of complexity and sophistication. The core curriculum integrates City and State standards into daily inquiry-based learning. This means that children’s work balances hands-on exploration with skill acquisition in a variety of subjects.
Advanced Courses
All of our 8th grade students are eligible to take the Living Environment and Algebra I Regents, through our accelerated curriculum in our middle school grades.
Foundational Literacy Skills
In Kindergarten through 2nd grade, our teachers employ Wilson FUNdations to support foundational literacy skills. “FUNdations utilizes a structured literacy approach grounded in the science of reading to make learning to read fun while laying the groundwork for lifelong literacy. The program’s research-based approach and extensive materials allow K–3 teachers to confidently present a carefully structured reading, spelling, and handwriting curriculum using engaging, multi-sensory techniques. FUNdations is aligned with the science of reading and guides teachers to provide effective instructional practices.”
English Language Arts
District 3 is part of Phase 2 of Chancellor Banks’ NYC Reads Initiative. This means the district as a whole is leaning into a new English Language Arts curriculum.
Wit & Wisdom (Grades K-5)
“Wit & Wisdom® is a comprehensive K–8 English language arts curriculum crafted to help students build the knowledge and skills they need to be successful readers, exceptional writers, and effective communicators. Instead of reading basals or practicing skills in isolation, Wit & Wisdom® students read authentic, complex texts while practicing reading, writing, speaking and listening, and vocabulary together to build knowledge of the world around them.
Wit & Wisdom underscores the importance of a combined approach to literacy, where foundational skills, rich knowledge, and critical ELA skills work cohesively together. When paired with an explicit foundational skills program, the careful sequence of literacy skills in Wit & Wisdom leads students to mastery as they build their knowledge in key content areas such as science, history, the arts, math, and more.
They apply their new knowledge and skills by engaging in lively discourse, writing detailed responses rich in evidence, and honing their critical-thinking skills to ultimately become successful readers, exceptional writers, and effective communicators.”
Families can check out this Wit & Wisdom resource to learn more.
Expeditionary Learning (Grades 6-8)
“Students acquire substantive knowledge—science and social studies—as a means of building deeper literacy skills. Teachers build knowledge and skills simultaneously. Students tackle grade-level texts that stretch and grow their abilities, while experiencing the joy of learning from their favorite books by diverse authors. Students engage in original research and deep interdisciplinary investigations, developing habits of inquiry, analysis, critical thinking, and craftsmanship. The curriculum encourages compassionate leadership and thoughtful citizenship by helping students connect their learning to their communities, where schoolwork has real impact on issues they care about.”
Math
Our math curriculum is Illustrative Math, a problem-based curriculum that makes rigorous mathematics accessible to all learners. “In a problem-based curriculum, students spend most of their time in class working on carefully crafted and sequenced problems. Teachers help students understand the problems, ask questions to push their thinking, and orchestrate discussions to be sure that the mathematical takeaways are clear. Learners gain a rich and lasting understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures and experience applying this knowledge to new situations. Students frequently collaborate with their classmates—they talk about math, listen to each other’s ideas, justify their thinking, and critique the reasoning of others. They gain experience communicating their ideas both verbally and in writing, developing skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.”
Science & Greenhouse Learning
Amplify Science is a K-8 science curriculum that blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write and argue like real scientists.
In addition to Amplify and in partnership with NY Sun Works, environmental science education is taught in our state-of-the art Greenhouse classroom that offers students the opportunity to grow food, while learning hands-on about nutrition, water resource management, efficient land use, climate change, biodiversity, conservation, contamination, pollution, waste management, and sustainable development. Our Greenhouse classroom includes hydroponic growing systems, a fish farm, a rainwater catchment system, a weather station, integrated pest management and a vermicomposting station.
The curriculum introduces students to cutting-edge technology and connects science and the environment through sustainable urban farming asking questions, investigating systems, making predictions and designing solutions. The curriculum emphasizes the child’s perspective in the process of learning and promotes project based, critical thinking, and collaborative work. Students not only learn the general requirements of the mandated New York State Science Standards and the Scope and Sequence Standards, they go beyond by addressing issues of today’s environmental global concern.
Social Studies
We follow The NYCDOE K-8: Passport to Social Studies program that integrates the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) and the New York State K-8 Social Studies Framework to support strong social studies teaching and learning.
It allows students to make sense of the world in which they live, make connections between major ideas and their own lives, and see themselves as active members of a global community. It engages our students in historical thinking and challenges students to think like historians and encourages them to raise questions, think critically, consider many perspectives, and gather evidence in support of their interpretations through the practice of chronological processing, decision-making, and historical research and analysis.
Field Trips
Children learn best when they are engaging and exploring in real time. In addition to arts programming, our students experience multiple opportunities for learning outside the classroom. In collaboration with our Friends of MSC Parent Teacher Association, these trips include but are not limited to:
New York Public Library
Neighborhood farmer’s market
New York Historical Society
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park Zoo & Bronx Zoo
New York Aquarium
Junior Achievement Financial Park
Fraunces Tavern Museum
Morgan Museum
Philadelphia
Washington, D.C.
Frost Valley, CT
and fun trips, just because we want kids to have fun too!
Check out our Instagram for fun photos!
Celebrations of Learning
Publishing celebrations and student work showcases in each classroom community are celebrations of learning for children, their teachers and families. Publishing celebrations, are organized by the teachers after a unit of study. This is a culmination of all the work the students have learned throughout the course of the unit. Each child should be an active participant in the celebration—planning and organizing, sharing their work, listening and responding to the work of others. Likewise family members and staff should also be active participants. Teachers will establish a protocol that allows all students who have published to share and that also allows families to understand the importance of listening and responding.