Elementary School

Released in 2011, “Bringing Good News” is the Archdiocese of Baltimore Religion Curriculum for Elementary Schools. This standards-based curriculum serves as a guide, a road map for both teachers and students as they embark on a journey, which will provide them with the knowledge and understanding of the faith as witnessed in the teachings and the traditions of the Catholic Church. The curriculum is built on the Six Tasks of Catechesis: Promoting Knowledge of the Faith; Liturgical Education; Moral Formation; Teaching to Pray; Education for Community Life; and Missionary Initiation and is aligned with the Assessment of Catholic Religious Education (IFG:ACRE).

Kindergarten:

The Archdiocese of Baltimore Kindergarten Religion Curriculum continues the focus on the basic foundation of our Catholic Faith which begins in the Pre-K curriculum. While building upon the foundation of the faith, there is a yearlong focus on Prayer, Service, and the Liturgical Year. In the first three units the students explore the Trinity in progression, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. An additional focus of the Holy Spirit unit is developing an understanding of the Sacraments, especially the Sacraments of Initiation. Students will examine ideas of morality and family life while relating experiences to show respect for all life. The end of the year culminates with lessons on our call to be disciples. Through exploration of service and vocations students will consider their role as children of God and how to be followers of Christ.

First Grade:

The Archdiocese of Baltimore 1st Grade Religion Curriculum continues the focus on the basic foundation of our Catholic Faith which begins in the Pre-K and Kindergarten curriculum . While building upon the foundation of the faith, there is a year long focus on Prayer, Service, and the Liturgical Year. In the first three units the students explore the Trinity in progression, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. An additional focus of the Holy Spirit unit is developing an understanding of the Sacraments, especially the Sacraments of Initiation. Students will examine ideas of morality and family life while relating experiences to show respect for all life. The end of the year culminates with lessons on our call to be disciples. Through exploration of service and vocations students will consider their role as children of God and how to be followers of Christ. 

Second Grade:

The Archdiocese of Baltimore 2nd Grade Religion Curriculum continues to focus on the basic foundation of the faith. Similar to the other grades, there is a yearlong focus on Prayer, Service, and the Liturgical Year. Throughout the year, students focus on the Sacraments of Baptism, the Eucharist, and Penance. In addition to a focus on the Sacraments, students engage in a unit on the Commandments, membership of the Church, and Morality. There is a year long unit that allows teachers to integrate seasonal lessons for Advent, Holy Week, Lent, lives of Saints, and special celebrations of the Church throughout the year. 

Sacramental preparation is the responsibility of the students’ home parish.

Third Grade:

The Archdiocese of Baltimore 3rd Grade Religion Curriculum continues to focus on the basic foundation of the faith. Similar to the other grades, there is a yearlong emphasis on Prayer, Service, and the Liturgical Year. Throughout the year, students focus on their relationship with God and its impact on daily life. The course also follows-up on the 2nd Grade curriculum and its focus on the sacraments by discussing student life now that they receive the Eucharist and go to Confession on a regular basis. The course finishes with a unit of missionary discipleship and Christian morality.

Fourth grade:

The Archdiocese of Baltimore 4th Grade Religion Curriculum focuses on students’ continued efforts to live as a disciple of Christ. Similar to the other grades, there is a yearlong emphasis on Prayer,

Service, and the Liturgical Year. The first standalone unit is “Jesus, God’s Son” and focuses on Jesus’ teaching and their application to students’ lives. The following unit focuses on students’ continued understanding of the sacraments and how they connect them to the Church. The following two units focus on missionary discipleship and are followed by a unit on scripture. The final unit is about Christian morality and includes Family Life.

Fifth Grade:

The Archdiocese of Baltimore 5th grade curriculum helps students understand more deeply the role of signs, symbols and rituals in the prayer life of the church. Prayer is a consistent theme that permeates each unit throughout the school year. Units 2 through 4 demonstrate how God reveals Himself through Scripture and prophecy and continues that revelation through the hierarchy of the church today. Students explore the role of the pope down through the role of each Baptized disciple of Christ. The recognition that everyone does not hold the same beliefs is briefly explored and commonalities between other faiths are noted. Students learn that different faith practices are always to be respected. Unit 5 deepens student exploration of the Seven Sacraments. The sacramental contribution to the development of strong moral consciousness is developed especially as it pertains to Eucharist and Reconciliation. Units 6 and 7 challenge students to put their faith in action by analyzing and putting a corporal and/or spiritual work of mercy into practice.

Revised in 2017, the curriculum for all elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore include the following units:

• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively
• Consruct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others
• Model with mathematics
• Attend to precision
• Look for and make use of structure
• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
• Practice mathematics with a Catholic conscience

Catholic educators never forget that our schools exist to bring our students to Christ. By continuing to implement new standards that are challenging, we work to fulfill the promise of quality Catholic education that educates the whole child, both mind and soul.

Kindergarten, students will master a variety of skills including:

• Counting and Cardinality
  • Know number names and the count sequence
  • Count to tell the number of objects
  • Compare numbers
• Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from
• Number and Operations in Base Ten
  • Work with numbers 11-19 to gain foundations for place value
• Measurement and Data
  • Describe and compare measurable attributes
  • Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category
• Geometry
  • Identify and describe shapes
  • Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes

First Grade, students will master a variety of skills including:

• Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction
  • Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction
  • Add and subtract within 20
  • Work with addition and subtraction equations
• Number and Operations in Base Ten
  • Extend the counting sequence
  • Understand place value
  • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract
• Measurement and Data
  • Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units
  • Tell and write time
  • Represent and interpret data
• Geometry
  • Reason with shapes and their attributes

Second Grade:

• Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction
  • Add and subtract within 20
  • Work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication
• Number and Operations in Base Ten
  • Understand place value
  • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract
• Measurement and Data
  • Measure and estimate lengths in standard units
  • Relate addition and subtraction to length
  • Work with time and money
  • Represent and interpret data
• Geometry
  • Reason with shapes and their attributes

Third Grad:

• Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division
  • Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division
  • Multipy and divide within 100
  • Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic
• Number and Operations in Base Ten
  • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic
• Number and Operations – Fractions
  • Develop understanding of fractions as numbers
• Measurement and Data
  • Solve problems involving measurements and estimation of intervals of time, liquid volumes, and masses of objects
  • Geometric measurement: understand concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and to addition 
  • Geometric measurement: recognize perimeter as an attribute of plane figures and distinguish between linear and area measures
• Geometry
  • Reason with shapes and their attributes

Fourth Grade: 

• Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems
  • Gain familiarity with factors and multiples
  • Generate and analyze patterns
• Number and Operations in Base Ten
  • Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers
  • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic
• Number and Operations – Fractions
  • Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering
  • Build fractions from unit fractions by applying and extending previous understandings of operations on whole numbers
  • Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions
• Measurement and Data
  • Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit
  • Represent and interpret data
  • Geometric measurement: understand concepts of angle and measure angles
• Geometry
  • Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles

Fifth Grade:

• Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Write and interpret numerical expressions
  • Analyze patterns and relationships
• Number and Operations in Base Ten
  • Understand the place value system
  • Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths
• Number and Operations – Fractions
  • Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions
  • Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multipy and divide fractions
  • Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system
  • Represent and interpret data
  • Geometric measurement: understand concepts of volume and relate volume to multiplication and to addition
• Geometry
  • Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems
  • Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties

Revised in 2014, the English Language Arts Curriculum for the Archdiocese of Baltimore is designed using the Catholic, College and Career Ready clusters as its foundation. Through literature, this course of study fosters students’ Catholic identity, shaping them to be models of Christian living for others. This curriculum is fully integrated with our Catholic faith. We provide students with a curriculum that is rigorous and rich in literature, oral and written language, grammar, writing, vocabulary, informational literature, and multimedia/technology.

By the completion of kindergarten, students will master a variety of skills including:

• Making connections to the text.
• Greater emphasis on the writing process.
• Memorizes and recite address, phone number, and birthday.
• Fine motor control in order to draw, color, and print.
• Ability to hold pencil and crayon properly, control pencil and crayon and scissors, and color within boundaries.
• Ability to sit properly and hold the paper in the correct position for writing.

First grade:

• Reading Literature: Students will be exposed to diverse complex fictional texts.  They will use reading strategies to determine central themes, develop understanding, identify and utilize various text features, determine key ideas and describe connections.
• Reading Informational: Students will be exposed to diverse complex nonfiction texts.  They will use reading strategies to determine central themes, develop understanding, identify and utilize various text features, determine key ideas and describe connections.
• Reading Foundation: Students will become proficient readers with the capacity to comprehend texts across a range of types and disciplines.  Students will identify basic features of print.  The skills they will learn include: aphabetic principle, phonological awareness, phonics, decoding, and blending.
• Speaking and Listening: 
• Participate in collaborative discussions; communicate effectively using a variety of tools demonstrate efficient relay of information; and produce complete sentences appropriate to the task and situation.

By the completion of second grade, students will master a variety of skills including:

• Use an inquiry process to locate, evaluate and use sources based on accuracy, authority, and point of view to explore a question/topic and synthesize and share findings and give appropriate credit/ citation.
• Select and use appropriate format to effectively engage the target audience in a topic, point of view, argument and/or creative work.
• Analyze and evaluate information, ideas, or objects to develop a point of view, make predictions, or draw inferences
• Identify and define a problem-situation and work through a procedure to determine viable and appropriate solutions and next steps and carryout as applicable.
• Generate and develop ideas, solutions and connections to create something original/ novel that is meaningful or useful.

By the completion of third grade, students will master a variety of skills including:

• Students will use text presented orally and visually to engage in collaborative discussions with peers.
• Students will learn to write in cursive, and will learn and apply spelling patterns and standard English language conventions.
• Using vowel digraphs and diphthongs.
• Compare and contrast historical fiction from various cultures.
• Understand the use of dialect within literature.

By the completion of fourth grade, students will master a variety of skills including:

• Through reading a diverse array of literature and informational text, students are expected to analyze the structure of the text, compare and contrast, and refer to the evidence in the text, to interpret, integrate, explain, and describe their reading perspective.
• Students should show an ability to write informative, opinion and narrative pieces with clear and coherent writing. Using the writing process, students will develop and strengthen their writing skills.
• Research skills should be practiced over an extended period of time, using evidence from various text to support, analyze and reflect the research.
• Students should participate in a range of class discussions, posing specific questions, paraphrasing text and giving support for their opinions.
• Instruction should focus on correct punctuation, capitalization, multi-meaning words, and figurative language.

By the completion of fifth grade, students will master a variety of skills including:

• Demonstrate a command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
• Summarize a written text read aloud or from information presented in a variety of media and formats, including visual, quantitative, and oral.
• Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in the story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic and be able to summarize the text.
• Write arguments to support claims in analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation; additionally, produce more substantial research projects demonstrating understanding of the subject.

The following subject areas are currently under revision across the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and if you would like more information regarding these standards and essential skills please contact the school directly.

• Science
• Instructional Technology
• Social Studies
• Visual and Performing Arts
• Physical Education/Health
• World Languages