Each grade level has a different focus and chunk in the Core Knowledge scope and sequence.

As you click to your child's classroom webpage, you will find a Core Knowledge webpage with information and links.  By visiting these sites, you will gain a better understanding of the activities and curriculum at your child's grade level.

Desert Sun Elementary School is in its first year of Core Knowledge^® implementation.   We are very proud and excited to embark on this endeavor collectively and have already seen tremendous benefits for the students.  Below is a description of the philosophy behind the movement.

The Core Knowledge ^® movement is an educational reform based on the premise that a grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary to ensure a sound and fair elementary education. The movement was started by Professor E. D. Hirsch, Jr., author of Cultural Literacy and The Schools We Need, and is based on a large body of research in cognitive psychology, as well as a careful examination of several of the world's fairest and most effective school systems. Professor Hirsch has argued that, for the sake of academic excellence, greater fairness and higher literacy, early schooling should provide a solid, specific, shared core curriculum in order to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge. Currently, hundreds of schools and thousands of dedicated educators are participating in this school reform movement throughout the United States.

At a Core Knowledge school, the Core Knowledge Sequence represents the common ground upon which a faculty meets and collaborates to teach a sequenced, coherent curriculum. In this cumulative curriculum, the knowledge and skills learned each year become the students' foundation for learning in subsequent years. (Source: The Core Knowledge Foundation )