Elementary School Academic Program

The love of reading and writing is first nurtured through exposure to a wide variety of quality fiction and non-fiction texts. Our English Language Arts program at ACS  provides a balanced literacy approach to learning reading and writing.

Throughout the program, students develop their foundational skills as well as developing rich content knowledge within and across grade levels. As readers, they learn and apply strategies for reading fiction and non-fiction.

Students also acquire the habits of reading independently and closely, which are essential to their future success across grade levels and subjects. As writers, they learn and apply strategies for narrative, opinion, and informational writing. Students learn to use writing as a way of offering and supporting opinions, demonstrating an understanding of the subjects they are studying, and conveying real and imagined experiences and events. Students devote significant time and effort to writing which results in them producing numerous pieces over short and extended time frames throughout the year. The foundation of our literacy instruction is the AERO/Common Core standards and our curriculum, assessment, and instruction are guided by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Program.

The Math program at ACS stresses the use of mathematics as a tool for engaging students in meaningful exploration and investigation. The learning of mathematics is an active process of exploring, justifying, representing, solving, constructing, discussing, using, investigating, describing, and predicting. Conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts is developed through the progressions of mathematical learning.

Mathematics at ACS focuses on rigorous concept development, presents realistic and relevant tasks, and keeps a strong emphasis on computational skills. The teachers encourage students to reason mathematically, evaluate mathematical arguments both formally and informally, use the language of mathematics to communicate ideas and information precisely, and make connections between mathematical topics to other disciplines.

The ACS Science program provides students with opportunities for discovering and developing their own natural curiosity. Students will build a conceptual understanding of the natural world so that they are knowledgeable about the concepts and processes of the three major branches of science: earth, life, and physical sciences. The elementary science curriculum is built upon the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Framework. Using the curriculum framework, conceptual understanding is developed through progressions in the areas of earth, life, and physical sciences.

The Social Studies program at ACS is founded upon students understanding the past, present, and future. As an international school, the program provides opportunities for students to understand the world in which they live. This includes local studies in the host country of Lebanon and moves beyond to a global scale. Students are engaged in learning through a variety of instructional opportunities.

This includes group projects, hands-on activities, classroom discussions, research, and other opportunities that enable them to form an understanding of the world in which they live.

At ACS we believe that music is an important way that students can explore the world and express emotions. Our Music Curriculum develops basic musical literacy through the study and performance of a variety of repertoire. The music program is guided by the National Core Art Standards. It is built around the four anchor standards: create, perform, respond, and connect.

Each student, at varying depths of skill and understanding, will conceive and develop new artistic ideas and work, and realize artistic ideas and work through interpretation and presentation. Each student will understand and evaluate how the arts convey meaning as well as relate artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.

ACS Art Education Program is a sequential curriculum, developing interaction between each student’s creative expressions and their appreciation for art. We strive to prove a maximum opportunity for each student to have hands-on experiences in producing their art, enhanced by the integration of art history, art criticism, and aesthetic critiques. Our Art education classes will encourage critical and creative problem-solving skills, as well as an appreciation for historical and contemporary artworks. The program is designed to encourage perceptual awareness, through the involvement of all senses, and allows for the integration of other curriculums, as art readily relates to all educational experiences.

ACS Physical Education program is designed to provide students the opportunity to learn, practice, and develop a wide range of diverse skills and activities appropriate for upper-elementary school children. This is achieved through a comprehensive sequentially planned Physical Education program that takes into account the ACS space, equipment, and supplies. All skill-based and team cooperative PE activities and lessons are designed to ensure that students are actively engaged in becoming physically literate individuals. At the end of Elementary School, students will have developed a solid foundation of fitness concepts, locomotor, and manipulative skills - both individually and cooperatively with some accuracy.

Modern Standard Arabic
The Elementary School Modern Standards Arabic program is designed for students who are native or near-native speakers of Arabic. It is a literacy-based program that promotes the student's reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Students in the MSA program engage in a Reader-Writer workshop that exposes them to a variety of Arabic genres. In these workshops, students read appropriate grade level books that help them improve their reading fluency as well as comprehension. They also learn and develop their writing skills and produce coherent descriptive, narrative, and informational texts. In addition to reading and writing, students engage in daily oral activities that promote their listening and speaking skills.

Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL)
The AFL program in Elementary School is designed for students who have no prior exposure to Arabic. The course introduces the students to the Arabic language and culture. The main emphasis of this course is on communication in three modes: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. Basic vocabulary and grammar, as well as simple writing structures, are introduced.

French
The ACS French program is offered to all students in grades 3-5. The program is designed to meet the needs of a diverse student population by ensuring that each lesson is differentiated through small group work. The program focuses on the three main modes of communication: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. The French program promotes the French cultural experience by organizing cultural events and celebrating the "Francophonie" week during the month of March.