GRADES THREE TO FIVE
(IN-DEPTH LEARNING CYCLE CE2, CM1, CM2) PROGRAM

Aims & Objectives
During this cycle, students continue to build and develop their learning skills. Over these three years, they will gain knowledge and an understanding of how to apply it to new situations. They will also reinforce what they have already learned and develop autonomy. Approximately two-thirds of the program is taught in French and one-third in English.

CROSS-CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES
Development of Autonomy and Social Skills
Students will:
• understand that our diversity is enriching;
• respect each other;
• develop their personality and their relationships in harmony with others;
• assume personal responsibilities and exercise them fully;
• understand and follow rules;
• identify some major global problems and demonstrate sensitivity toward them;
• show creativity, inventiveness and curiosity;
• assert their aesthetic choices and tastes by explaining and sharing them.

Thought and Research
Students will:
• develop hypotheses, make choices and respond to situations that are more complex than those experienced in previous grades;
• formulate examples to interpret a situation or a process and, by doing so, develop skills to deal with abstraction.

Concepts of Time and Space
Students will:
• organize their own time;
• compare the representation of a given reality on different scales, moving from one scale to another and from one representation to another;
• distinguish between linear time (chronology) and recurrent time (cycles).

Memory
Students will:
• use memorized basic knowledge when the situation warrants it (short- and long-term memory).

Work Habits
Students will:
• organize their personal work;
• develop time management skills, planning work both at home and at school;
• submit precise and clear assignments, demonstrating rigour in the process as well as in the quality of the finished product.

Processing Information
Students will:
• research information by using a variety of documents and tools;
• analyze data presented in different ways and draw relevant conclusions;
• present data in different ways;
• communicate the procedures they followed in researching information;
• present verbally and in writing a well-argued personal opinion, and share it with others.

FRENCH
Cycle 3 is more specific because it is part of a two-pronged continuation of fundamental learning skills on the one hand, and preparation for junior high school on the other.

This paves the way for:
• fine-tuning students’ reading skills by reading on a regular basis, and by dealing with subject matter other than French;
• providing new opportunities for students to handle the language with rigour and exactitude in order to facilitate communication, expression and creative activities;
• helping students put to good use the information already made available for them by expanding their knowledge and progressively develop working methods that lead to autonomy.

At the end of Cycle 3, students will be able to:
• tell, describe, ask, explain;
• begin to use argumentation, express own point of view;
• recite a text (prose or poetry) from memory;
• find the meaning of a word or phrase in a dictionary;
• read different types of texts silently and aloud with good expression; the texts should include literary pieces, documents, instructions and different media (books, posters, screen);
• grasp the meaning of a text and answer questions orally and in writing.

Areas of Activity
• practising oral skills;
• reading (comprehension, out loud);
• writing – expression;
• poetic use of language;
• presentation and formatting written work;
• knowledge necessary for mastering speaking, reading and writing:
- vocabulary
- grammar and spelling in a grammatical context
- conjugation and agreement.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Oral
Students will:
• describe, ask questions, propose answers, explain, justify, express their feelings;
• recite prose or poetry with expression;
• present an idea and take part in a discussion.

Reading
Students will:
• read with comprehension a variety of texts in different media;
• employ phonetic clues to decode unfamiliar words;
• employ word recognition and context to read with fluency and understanding;
• understand and follow written directions;
• answer questions about their reading in oral or written form;
• recount events in a written text in the correct sequence;
• read aloud a grade-level text, employing phrasing and expression to demonstrate understanding;
• adjust reading style to the situation and the type of text;
• use external clues (cover, table of contents, illustrations) to locate materials in a text;
• select books, newspapers, or articles that answer the student’s research needs, in a bookstore, library, or the computer;
• read a lengthy text (story, chapter from a book, a novel).

Writing
Students will:
• write in narrative, informative, expressive and creative modes;
• understand that writing is a form of expression like music, drama, dancing, visual arts;
• apply grade-appropriate rules of punctuation and capitalization to written work;
• use grade-appropriate phonics rules to spell unfamiliar words;
• report on an event from different perspectives, express their opinion on a particular event;
• produce a non-narrative, simple, organized report following a field trip, experiment or reading;
• restructure the layout of a text (paragraphs, types of characters) naturally and by using a computer;
• write neatly;
• appreciate the need to rewrite a text in order to improve its legibility;
• use a computer;
• with appropriate support, work through the stages of the writing process (rough draft, editing, final copy).

MATHEMATICS
At the end of Cycle 3, students will be able to:
• understand whole numbers and master large numbers;
• read, write and break down decimal numbers;
• master several strategies for adding, subtracting, multiplying (within the limits of the curriculum);
• mentally add two-digit numbers (with regrouping), divide numbers taken from the multiplication facts, subtract one-digit numbers;
• mentally estimate the result of an operation;
• use a calculator and check the reasonableness of the answer;
• use the four operations in problem-solving;
• solve a problem requiring one intermediary operation and justify the choice of operation;
• recognize a situation involving ratios, solve a problem involving ratios;
• identify and name a three-dimensional object, real or represented;
• characterize the geometrical elements of a two- or three-dimensional object;
• draw parallel and perpendicular lines, draw or build a square, a rectangle, a circle, a triangle;
• measure a length;
• know the units of length, area, volume, weight and time and use them judiciously in problem-solving.

Areas of Activity
• numbers (natural numbers, decimal numbers, operational techniques, mental arithmetic);
• geometry;
• measurements;
• problem solving.

HISTORY
Objectives:
• Clearly identify the great periods of history and the important periods of Canadian history;
• Order them chronologically;
• Learn characteristics of each period: power structures, lifestyles, values, technologies, monuments, modes of production;
• Relate famous people and events to their period;
• Learn historical vocabulary: society, civilization, state, monarchy, empire, republic;
• Memorize a limited number of particularly important dates, and relate other events to these dates.

Areas of Activity
• duration and signs of the past;
• from the origins of life to the beginning of the Middle Ages;
• the Middle Ages;
• Modern Times (Great Discoveries and the Revolution);
• The 19th Century France/Europe/World (Industrial Revolution);
• The 20th Century Wars, Europe, technological and social transformations;
• The World (main issues).

GEOGRAPHY
On completion of Cycle 3, students will:
• be familiar with several characteristic land forms of Canada and France and the typical activities of their inhabitants;
• draw simple maps of France, Ontario and Canada showing key landmarks;
• situate Canada within North America; locate Canada and France on a world map;
• understand the basic way people relate to their geographical environment (take advantage of the opportunities it presents, transform it, change their use of the land as a result of new technologies, etc.).

Areas of Activity
• a glance at the world;
• French and Canadian landscapes;
• people at work and organization of spaces;
• diversity of regions/provinces and their development;
• France/Europe;
• Canada/America.

CIVICS
Objectives: Self-respect, Respect for others, Duty of responsibility
• Give students benchmarks to help them understand how to behave with others and to acquire and deepen an understanding of the fundamental values inherent in respecting others;
• Teach students to value and participate in community life (which implies teaching them appropriate communication techniques);
• Introduce students to the political system of Ontario; the notions of the rights and responsibilities of the individual, the School’s code of behaviour, the notion of living in a community.

Areas of Activity
• from school to society, becoming a responsible citizen;
• rights and duties in society;
• dignity and Human Rights;
• democratic life.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Upon completion of Cycle 3, students will:
• identify functions and characteristics of living things;
• compare different modes of reproduction;
• start to classify animals;
• observe the local environment to learn about the adaptation of living things;
• learn to distinguish animals from plants;
• study the evolution of species;
• learn the basic principles of digestion, respiration, circulation and movement;
• appreciate behaviours which lead to good health;
• observe the sky and identify stars and planets;
• study the movement of the planets and of the moon, phases of the moon and their significance in our notion of time;
• learn a number of properties of the earth: e.g., magnetic field, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions;
• identify a few properties of states of matter (solid, liquid, gas), mixtures and solutions;
• construct simple electric circuits;
• assemble technical structures;
• use levers and scales;
• understand the basic functions of a computer.
Throughout the curriculum students are introduced to the scientific method.

Areas of Activity
• unity and diversity of the living world;
• the human body and health education;
• the earth and the sky;
• matter and energy;
• technological objects and creations;
• computer science (within the framework of the discipline).

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATION
The student will be able to demonstrate:
• different uses of information technology at school and in the immediate environment;
• a rational use of a computer and various types of software (word processing, spreadsheets and software designed for elementary school level) within the framework of the disciplines;
• understanding of the main functions of a personal computer (memory, information processing, communication).

PHYSICAL EDUCATION & SPORTS
Physical education and sports help the children to:
• acquire specific skills for physical activities;
• use techniques to manage their physical life;
• build up knowledge of safety principles both on an individual and collective level, with emphasis on protecting their health; and
• participate in a swimming program.

At the end of Cycle 3, students will be able to:
• display greater freedom of movement by perfecting previously acquired skills;
• use their knowledge effectively during physical, athletic and expressive activities;
• participate in group activities, playing different roles and observing rules;
• take part in an individual or group project aimed at improving performance and appreciating their level of achievement.

VISUAL ARTS
At the end of Cycle 3, students will be able to:
• choose techniques and organize systems of forms, colours and materials to achieve a desired effect;
• create simple three-dimensional objects with a specific aim in mind;
• produce a non-representational sculpture using various materials;
• present and explain their work, formulate organization rules;
• recognize other works of art, particularly three-dimensional, and analyze them by comparison with their own or their group’s work done in class;
• talk about the items in the “class art gallery”;
• describe, analyze, appreciate artworks (art museum, displays, exhibitions, multimedia).

MUSIC

The program includes instrumental and choral work, together with musical appreciation and the foundations of theory.

At the end of Cycle 3, students will be able to:

• perform a varied repertoire of songs in unison or harmony, from memory and with expression;
• contribute ideas for accompaniment of a melody and carry them out;
• analyze and code elements of sound;
• identify several popular instruments by ear (flute, violin, trumpet, guitar, bass, piano, cymbals);
• understand elements of musical structure and sound;
• identify the name and period of some of the works heard in class;
• compose music individually and in groups;
• play an instrument.

Areas of Activity

• music literacy;
• music appreciation;
• singing;
• recorder and Orff instruments.