Inspiring Excellence
Curriculum
Elementary
Elementary Curriculum
Curriculum and instruction in Lake Stevens School District are grounded in research, aligned with state and Common Core Standards, and are continually being strengthened by the creative talents and expertise of our teachers.
English Language Arts
Our K-5 ELA curriculum is Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA). Below you will find detailed descriptions of each unit students will experience over the course of the year. NOTE: K-2 classes have two different types of units, skills and knowledge. When students move into 3rd grade and beyond, the skills and knowledge portions are blended into one pathway.
- Kindergarten Knowledge Units
- 1st Grade Knowledge Units
- 2nd Grade Knowledge Units
- 3rd Grade CKLA
- 4th Grade CKLA
- 5th Grade CKLA
Math
Below you will find one page summaries that provide an overview of the math content students will learn in each grade level over the course of a year. Included in these overview documents are short videos for each unit that families can watch to see examples of the key content students will learn and what these concepts look like "in action." Thank you for supporting your child's math learning each year.
For additional activities to build your child's math skills, check out these resources as well:
Science
K-5 students experience science instruction through Mystery Science. This curriculum is highly engaging and uses videos that the whole class watches to learn science content, inspire scientific conversations, and set students up for understanding the hands-on science activities that go with each unit. Below you will find a summary of each Mystery Science unit by grade level.
- Kindergarten Science
- 1st Grade Science
- 2nd Grade Science
- 3rd Grade Science
- 4th Grade Science
- 5th Grade Science
Social/Emotional Learning (SEL)
In Lake Stevens we use Second Step as our K-5 SEL curriculum. This curriculum is aligned to Washington State SEL standards and teachers deliver lessons about once a week. The topics in these lessons are then practiced, reinforced, and retaught throughout the week and the school year as needed. As students move from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade the lessons build on each other under these categories so that students are adding to their learning from year to year on the same topics.
Below you will find the four Unit Topics and a link to the lessons that are taught in grades K-5. NOTE: The K-5 lessons are in one document, so you will need to scroll down to see each grade.
Second Step Unit Topics
Click on the link below to preview the concepts and objectives students will experience through the Second Step Lessons in K-5 Classrooms. The Second Unit Topics are also available as a graphic.
UNIT 1
Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting
5 lessons per unit
Students learn how to develop a growth mindset and apply research-based goal-setting strategies to their social and academic lives. This unit's content helps create classrooms that are connected and encouraging by helping students set and achieve collective and personal goals and learn from challenges and mistakes.
UNIT 2
Emotion Management
5 lessons per unit
Students learn how to build their emotion vocabularies, practice identifying their own and others' emotions, and recognize the importance of labeling and processing their emotions. This unit's content helps students understand and explore how past experiences as well as unique perspectives influence how they feel and respond to situations.
UNIT 3
Empathy & Kindness
5 lessons per unit
Students learn how to recognize kindness and act kindly toward others, and how to develop empathy by learning strategies to take others' perspectives. This unit's content helps students understand others' points of view.
UNIT 4
Problem-Solving
5 lessons per unit
Students learn how to process strong emotions, describe a problem, identify the wants and needs of others, think of and explore the outcomes of potential solutions, and pick the best solution. This unit's content helps students ask, listen, and empathize with all parties involved during problem-solving.
Secondary
Piloted
Oct. 30, 2023
Lake Stevens School District is piloting a grade nine intervention Algebra curriculum titled Intensified Algebra. The curriculum will be piloted during the 2023-24 school year at Cavelero Mid High School. The intervention algebra model at Cavelero’s intervention model this year has two options (based on student needs).
- Students are enrolled in a two period block (one period focusing on math intervention and one period focusing on building math skills and building a math related growth mindset of our students utilizing Academic Youth Development).
- Students are utilizing the piloted curriculum utilizing a one period model.
Rationale for Initiating Pilot
- Big Ideas, the District’s core math curriculum, was adopted in 2015 and has been used in all secondary math classes since that date.
- Each year approximately 10% of ninth graders have needed additional support outside the regular classroom in Algebra 1 at Cavelero Mid High School.
- Various attempts at providing math support have shown some success in helping students to complete the Algebra 1 course, but that success seems to be short term.
- Intermediate Algebra, an algebra course that follows Geometry at LSHS and repeats much of the content from Algebra 1, typically has 3-5 sections due to the fact that students are not likely to be successful in Algebra 2.
- The problem has been exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic. There are currently 7 sections of Intermediate Algebra at LSHS.
- It seems apparent that a new fundamental approach may be necessary.
Pilot Goals
- Address the content area needs of students who are one or more grade levels behind in mathematics when they enter Algebra 1 as a ninth grader.
- Utilize social emotional instructional strategies through the Academic Youth Development portion of the course.
- Promote a growth mindset, student engagement, collaboration, perseverance and a sense of belonging.
- Provide teachers with diagnostic and CCSS-aligned growth measure assessments and data outputs to track student progress.
Why was Intensified Algebra selected for the pilot?
Intensified Algebra aims to transform thinking about how to teach algebra to underprepared students. The program presents a unique, coherent program that incorporates algebra instruction ideas from social psychology and other areas that historically reside outside of the domain of typical algebra classes but are fundamentally important to students’ success.
Intensified Algebra was developed by the Dana Center at the University of Texas, a nationally respected research institution dedicated for the past 30 years to provide equitable access to quality education in the areas of math and science.
Program Design
“Central to the design of the Intensified Algebra I program is the understanding that students who struggle in mathematics need more than simply more instructional time to be successful. Thus, in addition to a rigorous mathematics core, our program addresses the social, affective, linguistic and strategic cognitive and metacognitive dimensional learning of mathematics.”
Pilot Timeline
- Spring 2023: Submit Policy 6008F, Form A. Identify instructor(s) and potential students
- Summer 2023: Curriculum onboarding and instructor training provided virtually by publisher.
- Throughout 2023-24: Direct support from Intensified Algebra personnel
- 6/30/24: Pilot ends
The teacher adoption committee and Lake Stevens School District Curriculum Commission, which includes members from our teachers, administrators, school board and families, will consider the feedback collected from impacted parties to make a decision about the instructional materials at the completion of the pilot.
If families have any questions regarding the curriculum, please reach out to your student’s teacher. If you have any questions about the piloting process, please feel free to contact Mike Snow, Executive Director of Curriculum & Instruction at (425) 335-1500 or mike_snow@lkstevens.wednet.edu.