Core Courses

(2-5 times a week)

 Art AD

Ms. Dillon

Art uses interrelated activities for making, looking at, and responding to art. It presents various activities in understanding, exploring, responding to, and appreciating the visual world. It also involves learning and understanding the visual elements and their interplay in the environment and artworks. Finally, this course provides learners the opportunity to collaborate, communicate, and socialize with their peers in English, and most of all, it is fun!

 

Chinese AD STEAM

Ms. Su

The Chinese course is designed to help students with no prior background in Mandarin develop functional communication abilities in all four language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening). Using the standard Hànyu Pinyin phonetic system, a variety of authentic materials, vocabulary and sentence patterns, students learn to make statements, ask questions, respond to questions and create conversations based upon culturally authentic situations. Grades 1 and 2 focus on sounds and basics, while higher grades learn Chinese as a second language.

 

ESL AD AS STEAM

Mr. Caister, Mr. Cook (other teachers to be announced)

ESL is an intensive program with six levels for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students to master English reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, and spelling. The course uses audio/visual materials, multimedia technology, and individual care. The unique needs of each student are carefully evaluated using a comprehensive series of diagnostic measures designed to place students matched to their level of ability and address the specific skills they need to work on. Progress is closely monitored throughout each student's study to guarantee steady and timely progress to a greater level of English language proficiency.

 

Language Arts AD AS STEAM

Mr. Caister, Ms. Rosaldo, Ms. Merced, Mr. Millar (other teachers to be announced)

Language arts teaches students how to be effective communicators, both as receivers and as senders. One main objective with LIIP language arts is for students to become active readers and listeners. They work with a variety of literary genres, practicing analysis in order to more deeply understand what an author is trying to communicate. Another main objective is to give students the chance to discover their own expressive voice so they can communicate their ideas with efficiency, maturity, and style. Good writers must learn to be self-critical and edit themselves in order to put forth their best work. Longer writing tasks in both narrative and informative styles, along with shorter response to literature and personal response assignments, give students opportunities to hone these skills. In-class discussions and presentations allow students to practice using their speaking voice to be effective real time communicators.

 

Mathematics AD

Mr. Millar (other teachers to be announced)

The mathematics program builds the numeracy and related language skills required to understand and express numerical, logical, and spatial relationships. Students learn a range of problem-solving strategies for fundamental arithmetic operations and the English vocabulary to describe and explain the concepts and procedures involved. Lessons typically begin with an example problem to introduce or review a target concept along with the associated terms to describe the problem and the methods to be used to solve it. Students then complete a set of problems, which generally conclude with one or more word problems. After that, students complete a brief assessment task to demonstrate their understanding of the content. Early finishers use computers to self-paced practice with math websites. Students have daily homework assignments; major assessments are usually given once a month.

 

Science AD AS

Ms. Russell, Ms. Rojas (other teachers to be announced)

Science prepares students to ask questions about the world around them and the facts they know. Students learn science-based vocabulary and explore ideas about experimentation, animals, plants, habitats, earth, space, matter, and forces. They build and learn skills which first involve making a fact-based guess (a hypothesis). Then students conduct guided experiments to prove or disprove their fact-based guess before presenting a summary (a conclusion) of their process. Students are encouraged to ask big questions and then to start looking for the answers bit by bit until they can confidently answer their questions. With the help of their textbooks, students can explore the world around them. LIIP uses different technologies and supplies to do experiments and activities.

 

Social Studies AD

Mr. Cook

Social studies encompasses a wide range of ideas about how to be better humans and create a better world. Students read and discuss themes like civics, geography, history, culture, economics, and technology. The students learn how to build character and social awareness; establish where they are in the world and what their relationships and responsibilities are to others; why money shrinks and grows; how they can be different and alike and what they can learn from one another; and how technology affects and transforms all of these things through time.