Curriculum

By design, Westgate Christian Academy’s academic standards and benchmarks meet or exceed
those set by the Massachusetts Department of Education.

Westgate Christian Academy uses the “concept curriculum” model. Concept-based teaching is a way of organizing lessons that stresses the concepts and big ideas that stand behind the topics discussed in class. Concept-based teaching answer the question, “Why do we have to learn this?”

Teachers focus on meaningful understandings to create the bridge between what students know and what they can learn. Having students get used to seeing and predicting patterns and using those patterns to think about the facts they learn helps them to:

• Understand rather than memorize
• Remember ideas and facts longer because they are more meaningful
• Make connections between Math, Language Arts, Social Studies and Science, and the facts that are taught in each subject.
• Relate ideas to their own lives
• Build networks of meaning for effectively dealing with future knowledge.

Teachers use concepts as a lens to focus on a topic or theme. At each grade level, themes are introduced which guide learning for the year. For example,
the fifth grade theme is “Ancient Civilizations and the Journey to Greatness.” This theme is
then infused into all the basic subjects such as reading and science with hands on exploration.
This is based on the idea that children learn best in the context of the “whole,” and when they
can connect subjects together with the real world.

By clicking on the appropriate link(s) below, you can get information specific to the grade level(s)
of your student(s).

Kindergarten Curriculum
First Grade Curriculum
Second Grade Curriculum
Third Grade Curriculum
Fourth Grade Curriculum
Fifth Grade Curriculum
Sixth Grade Curriculum
Junior High Curriculum (Year A)
Junior High Curriculum (Year B)

Our Junior High combines the 7th and 8th grades into one class.  The curriculum alternates between Year A and Year B. For the 2009-10 school year, Junior High Curriculum Year A will be taught.

Want more information about concept-based learning? Two good starter books are:

Stirring the Head, Heart and Soul by H. Lynn Erickson
Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe