Curriculum

Lafayette strives to make sure that every child in the school receives the education they deserve. As an official Changing Arts through Education (CETA) school, Lafayette uses arts integration and other techniques to enhance the core DCPS curriculum. Because each child is unique, our teachers work to find ways for every child in the classroom to learn. Using the arts to build bridges between different subject areas allows students to visualize and understand concepts in a whole new way.

Early Childhood (pre-kindergarten and kindergarten)

Coming Soon

See DCPS standards for Reading and Language Arts and Mathematics for Pre-K and Kindergarten

Reading and Language Arts

Reading and writing are fundamental skills for every child to learn. In addition to teaching core concepts, teachers use a variety of activities to enrich the curriculum. Using the Houghton Mifflin reading series and many other works, students at every grade level read authentic literature. Thematic units provide focus while students explore a variety of genre including novels, poetry, short stories, biographies, and more. Additional resources like "Wordly Wise" and "Learning Latin and Greek Roots" help older students expand their vocabulary. Students also have "Daily Language Arts (DLA)" activities to reinforce and challenge their language arts skills.

Students use the Writers Workshop approach to understand the writing process. Rather than learning straight from a book, students brainstorm, create a draft and edit their own work. By using the workshop approach consistently over the school year, kids learn the process of how to give their creative thoughts structure and readability on the written page. The "Handwriting Without Tears" concept helps children gain confidence in their writing skills along the way.

Lafayette is fortunate to have 2 full-time dedicated reading specialists on staff. These teachers can provide customized support to individual students as needed. They also work with students to produce numerous student publications and continuously research opportunities for students to submit work for area writing contests.

See DCPS standards for Reading and Language Arts

Mathematics

Lafayette uses the Everyday Math curriculum developed by the Chicago School Project. This innovative curriculum uses "spiraling" to re-visit concepts regularly, and assumes that children learn best when classroom instruction is based on every-day life. Teachers incorporate many math enrichment activities into their lesson plans, including math games that are both challenging and fun to give students additional opportunities to practice their core skills.

Lafayette has a full-time dedicated math specialist who has really brought math to life at the school. He not only provides support for kids who need extra help with math, he also supervises a school math club and a math team. These activities challenge students to push beyond their classroom curriculum in a fun, supportive environment. For more information about extracurricular math activities, see the "School Clubs and Activities" section of our website.

See DCPS standards for Mathematics

Science

Children are naturally curious about the world and want to learn how things work, why things happen, and how their actions impact what's going on around them. Science is an opportunity to bring many other disciplines together to learn about the world. Children ask questions, observe what's happening, conduct hands-on experiments, collect and interpret data, draw graphs and pictures of their observations, and write reports about their studies.

Lafayette uses the "Full Option Science System" (FOSS), supported by DCPS. This is an inquiry-based system where students construct an understanding of science concepts through their own investigations and analyses, using laboratory equipment, student readings, and interactive technology. Students exercise logical thinking and decision-making skills appropriate to their age level. Rather than just learning from a text book, students explore each theme in-depth with hands-on experiments that allow for problem solving, observation, data collection, and analysis.

See DCPS standards for Science

Social Studies

DCPS standards for social studies follow the highly-rated California and Massachusetts curriculum framework. These standards strive to strike a balance between U.S. and world history. The following themes are the focus of each grade level:

Pre-kindergarten: People and How They Live

Kindergarten: Living, Learning, and Working Together

Grade 1: True Stories and Folktales from America and Around the World

Grade 2: Living, Learning, and Working Now and Long Ago

Grade 3: Geography and History of the District of Columbia

Grade 4: U.S. History and Geography - Making a New Nation

Grade 5: U.S. History an Geography - Westward Expansion to the Present

Social studies is a wonderful opportunity to blend real-time events with classroom curriculum. Teachers enrich lesson plans by organizing material thematically, adding topics of importance, and initiating discussions and activities about current events in the U.S. and around the world.

 See DCPS standards for Social Studies