Primary & Middle 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.

Action 100 Reading

The Action 100 reading framework is the heart of the Primary and Middle School academic program and builds a lifelong love of reading. The foundation of the program is based on reading books at each child’s level, frequent assessment based on standards, and 30 minutes of reading at home and school. Teachers are trained to identify the different stages of reading, so they can conference with students to provide individualized support that is needed at that moment. To develop a habit of reading 60 minutes a day, students are engaged in reading books at the own level and take those books home each night. Another major component of the program is celebrating student success and practice milestones.

Engage New York/Expeditionary Learning

Engage New York/Expeditionary Learning is the partner literacy curriculum of SPCS Primary and Middle Schools. Whereas Action 100 is individualized to a student’s level, Engage New York provides a rigorous grade-level curriculum to all students. This curriculum embeds socials and science topics into the grade level texts that students are reading. Students practice close reading skills while reading high-interest challenging texts. Each quarter students learn about another topic deeply, by reading novels, articles and informational books about it. Students discuss what they are reading and end the unit with a culminating project that infuses literacy skills.

Math

In the Primary and Middle 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.