From Cradle to Careers at World Academy
World Academy’s Personalized Learning Plans Inform Each Student’s Roadmap To Success
At World Academy, development of the ‘whole’ child is a pillar of our school philosophy. This term refers to all facets of the child’s being, including cognitive/intellectual, physical, social-emotional, cultural, and creative aspects. For each student, development of these variables will differ. As our students learn more, they grow more independent. We embrace this growth and ask that they – at the appropriate age – get involved with determining their own educational path. In a coalition with the student, teachers create Individual Learning Plans based on detailed observation, class performance, and standardized testing specific to each child’s developmental and educational needs and interests.
Infants & Toddlers
Learn More
Infants & Toddlers
How We Prepare Your Child
- Individualized care plans to gain skills and opportunities
- Become independent learners through critical thinking
- Learn through sensory integration and child-directed play
- Learn to establish trusting relationships
- Develop a sense of effective communication
- Establish a sense of self-identity
- Begin to coordinate body movements and explore the world around them
Preschool
Learn More
Preschool
How We Prepare Your Child
- Engage in cooperative play
- Use coping skills to self-regulate
- Demonstrate increasing confidence, self-direction, through purposeful and inventive play
- Demonstrate increased independence through self-help skills
- Display curiosity , inquiry, and investigation
- Sustain interactions by cooperating, helping, and sharing
- Recognize cultural differences through acceptance and tolerance
- Move with confidence and stability, coordinating movements to accomplish tasks
- Daily classroom curriculum focused on Mathematics, Literacy, and Problem Solving
- Expand self regulation with a focus on conflict resolution skills
- Observe and actively participate in classroom structure
- Display leadership qualities, and demonstrate self-control in appropriate situations
- Share experiences and ideas about art and creative expression
Elementary
Learn More
Elementary
How We Prepare Your Child
- ocus on all aspects of the child’s development recognizing that each student has different needs
- Appropriate academic rigor begins for each student
- Increases student independence
- Students develop into active learners
- Teacher becomes a facilitator
- Cross-curricular approach is applied
- Critical thinking and problem solving are a focus
- Effective communication and collaboration are encouraged
- Technology introduced to enhance instruction, curriculum, and communication
- Responsive assessment to personalize curriculum for Kindergarten through 8th grade
- Differentiated and seamless curriculum with a focus on core subject areas which includes STEAM activities
- Develop global citizens
- Connecting with our local community
- World Languages and Cultures
- Global Connection
- Current Events
- Electives
- Character building increases
Middle School
Learn More
Middle School
How We Prepare Your Child
- Focus on all aspects of the child’s development recognizing that each student has different needs
- Appropriate academic rigor continues for each student
- Increases student independence
- Students continue to develop into active learners
- Teacher is a facilitator
- Cross-curricular approach continues
- Critical thinking and problem solving continue to be a focus
- Effective communication and collaboration are encouraged
- Technology is integrated to enhance instruction, curriculum, and communication
- Develop global citizens
- Connecting with our local community
- World Languages and Cultures
- Global Connection
- Current Events
- Electives
- Character building increases
- Fostering a sense of community spirit within World Academy
- Student Council
- Student Ambassadors
- Service Learning
The Importance Of Individualization
Individualized Lesson Plans scaffold upon themselves and lay the framework for each subsequent stage of your child’s education. Each stage of this progression focuses on the development of 21st century skills such as collaboration, early introduction to World Languages, critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication, grounded in a firm understanding of the digital tools at their disposal. Technology introduction begins in preschool and is embedded into the curriculum of our Elementary and Middle School students.
In The Beginning [Infants, Toddlers, Preschool]
World Academy’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) Program begins with learning focused on sensory integration opportunities and directed play that builds the necessary foundation for critical thinkers and independent learners. Students at this stage learn the basis of cooperation by helping and sharing with one another. Teachers closely monitor these social interactions and introduce necessary coping skills for the child to learn in order to self-regulate and learn to accept differences.
As students transition into Kindergarten, they begin to demonstrate leadership qualities and self-control. The students become active participants in this newly introduced structure called the classroom. This is a new community to them where they learn to expand self-regulation, test theories, and learn to grasp conflict resolution skills as an expansion on tolerance and cooperation skills learned in earlier years.
In terms of curriculum, students learn sound recognition, spelling patterns, and basic grammar skill. Students also begin to investigate their developing mathematical and scientific thinking. This curriculum is introduced using various means; from creating models with manipulatives, to expressing thoughts and developing ideas in writing, to using applications and web-based programs on our mobile iPad cart.
Laying the Foundation [Elementary School]
Students transition with acquired skills from our ECE program into the primary grades. As students progress from Kindergarten to Grade 1 and Grade 2, we provide more opportunities to develop independence and student-driven learning. This includes cross-curricular projects involving Language, Math, Science and Social Studies, realizing that reading and writing are essential in all content areas. Students are also introduced to creating simple codes using our mobile iPad lab and to the online grade book, class pages, and digital communication tools that eventually become a part of their daily school routine. A gradual increase in responsibility is granted for students to maintain a classroom space that supports learning by having them take ownership of their workspaces.
Set Up For Success [Middle School]
As students progress, the unique individual continues to emerge. Starting in Middle School, students target their learning interests in a variety of elective courses and comprehension from earlier grades leads to analysis here. This caters to each student’s personal learning-style and interests as well as helping teachers to track progress and avoid any gaps in understanding supportive services.
Entering Grade 4 and Grade 5, students are exposed to more technology-driven platforms on their laptops that build upon those introduced in Grade 3. Students also have increased opportunities to delve into world languages and cultures through our talented World Languages Team and partnership with VLACS (Virtual Learning Academy Charter School). Starting in Grade 4, teachers are able to use data from the online-based NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) testing to further develop each student’s Individual Learning Plan, and the students are given digital learning paths based directly off of the NWEA results.
Beyond curriculum, students in Grade 7 and Grade 8 participate in service learning opportunities throughout our school community, working with children in the Early Childhood programs and Lower Elementary classrooms. Other community-based projects begin as early as Kindergarten. For instance, this year a group of World Academy Kindergarteners collected the paper goods needed for Thanksgiving Dinner at a Harbor Homes - a local nonprofit that provides low-income, homeless, and disabled citizens with supportive services.
Summary
Children’s discovery of both themselves and the world that surrounds them begins the moment that they are born. No child is exactly alike and no student learns the exact same way. With Individual Learning Plans at World Academy, we nurture the intricacies and seamlessly guide them on their path from ECE, to preschool and Kindergarten, into Elementary School and up through graduation from Middle School. By this stage, your child is now a well-rounded, digitally- and culturally-acute individual ready to facilitate the next step in their education and beyond as an informed and well-formed citizen.