elementary School Academics
Saint Paul City School strives to have all of our students be prepared and excited for the next chapter in their education. We offer a rigorous program that teaches students to be strong readers, writers, problem-solvers and mathematicians. Saint Paul City School’s curriculum is aligned with the Minnesota State Standards which drive our curriculum and instruction.
GROVES LITERACY PARTNERSHIP
Our foundational phonics curriculum is based on the Groves Literacy Partnership framework, emphasizing structured literacy, explicit instruction, and a systematic approach aligned to the science of reading. Students build skills in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
All K–3 students receive daily phonics instruction through both whole-group and small-group settings. Whole-group lessons introduce new concepts, while small groups provide targeted support based on student needs.
Instruction follows a clear progression from basic skills like letter-sound relationships to more advanced decoding and encoding. Students practice through reading, writing, and word work, with ongoing assessments used to guide instruction and provide support.
This approach ensures students develop strong foundational reading skills and become confident, proficient readers.
EL Education
For knowledge building and language development, we use the EL Education curriculum, a standards-aligned program widely used across Minnesota. This curriculum integrates reading, writing, speaking, and listening with content-rich topics in science, history, and social studies to deepen both literacy skills and background knowledge.
Instruction includes a mix of whole-group, small-group, and independent learning, with a strong focus on academic language development and access for all learners, including multilingual students. Students engage with complex texts, participate in discussions, and complete meaningful writing tasks.
EL Education also emphasizes equity, character, and real-world connections, helping students see themselves as capable learners. Ongoing assessments are used to guide instruction and support student growth.
Math
In the Elementary School, the Pearson’s Investigations in Data, Number and Space series is used as the guide in kindergarten through fifth grades with the Rational Number Project supplementing it. Investigations in Data Number and Space focus on developing the student’s essential ideas of number and operations, geometry, data measurement and early algebra. It is a curriculum that is built around students practicing ideas with hands-on materials, games and reflective discussions. Big Ideas Math is the curriculum used in sixth through eighth grades. It focuses on building abstract reasoning process to prepare students for Algebra. By using a balanced approach of instruction, it combines both discovery of topics and direct instruction. These programs all build students thinking and problem solving skills.
Trauma-Informed Education
At St. Paul City School, we are a trauma-informed program. Our full staff is trained to respond with support before punishment. We seek to understand what is happening with each child and we build relationships of support. Our trauma informed program places a high premium on building safe, calm spaces where every child is truly known. Kids cannot learn if they do not feel safe. At SPCS, we work very hard to ensure that every child feels safe and is thus able to meet the highest of expectations.
Roughly 64% of the US population has experienced childhood trauma. Trauma can come from a wide spectrum of situations that cause a person's internal stress response system to become overacted. When unsupported, this overactivation can lead to a wide range of responses that can often be interpreted in children as "behavior problems." From daydreaming to explosiveness, impulsivity to shutting down - the historical response of schools when they see such presentations is typically punitive in nature and most often deeply counter-productive.
