Active parental involvement in a child's education is the number one factor that will determine a child's continued success. Here are some ideas how you, the parent, can become involved in your student's studies:

• Be familiar with the Core Knowledge topics being studied in the classroom and discuss them with your child. You can request a copy of the year-long plan and read books related to the topics together with your child.


• Provide enrichment opportunities to reinforce the curriculum - trips to libraries, museums, music venues, and children's theaters.


• Provide your child's teacher with feedback about circumstances that might affect the classroom learning experience


• Keep a scrapbook of schoolwork and student achievements. Let your child know how important his or her school life is to you.

The following sample - one subject for each grade - will give you an idea of the specific content requirements of the curriculum. Teachers are free to teach the subject matter as creatively as they like, but the content is specified and builds from year to year.

• Kindergarten: History - overview of the seven continents, Native American peoples (past and present), early exploration, presidents


• First Grade: World History - early civilization; Ancient Egypt-the Nile River, pharaohs, pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphics


• Second Grade: American History - U.S. Constitution; civil Rights: women's roles (Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, et al); equality: (Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, et al.); Geography of the Americas


• Third Grade: Math - fractions to one-tenth, numerator and denominator, mixed numbers, equivalent fractions; introduction to geometrical concepts


• Fourth Grade: Human body - circulatory and respiratory systems; Chemistry- atoms, matter, elements, solutions; science biographies


• Fifth Grade: American History and Geography - westward exploration and expansion, Daniel Boone, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, land and water routes, major rivers, American Indian resistance, Manifest Destiny


• Sixth Grade: Art History - periods and schools (Classical, Renaissance, Rococo, Romantic, et al.)


• Seventh Grade: Music-classical music, romantics, and nationalists (Brahms, Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, et al.); American musical traditions-blues and jazz


• Eighth Grade: Language Arts - novels and stories such as Animal Farm; The Good Earth; "The Bet"; "The Open Boat"; Writing the research essay- organizing with an outline, quoting materials from secondary sources, summarizing and paraphrasing, acknowledging sources and avoiding plagiarism, preparing a bibliography

In addition to exposing children to classical literature through leveled readers, STRIDE Academy will see that all children have access to the curriculum of science, math, and history by ensuring high-level reading skills for all children. For more than 35 years, Reading Mastery has been helping children learn to read faster and to develop effective strategies for reading comprehension.

Long recognized for its phonemically explicit, intensive approach for teaching reading, Reading Mastery has proven to be superior in research studies that measure outcomes with children, to reduce the prevalence of reading problems, demonstrated the strongest impact on the reading growth of children, and elevated the reading skills of even children at risk.

For more information on Reading Mastery and its research support, visit the Science Research Associates Direct Instruction Division of McGraw Hill at www.sraonline.com

Saxon Math is a thoroughly researched skills-based mathematics program for grades K-12. Saxon's unique approach, based on instruction, practice, and assessment distributed across the grade level, incorporates 20 years of research and classroom experience.

This approach more fully ensures that children not only gain math skills, but that they retain them. Saxon Math is designed so that complex concepts are broken into related increments, recognizing that smaller pieces of information are easier to teach and easier to learn.

This distributed approach has produced significantly higher level of student learning than massed presentations such as those found in programs with a chapter-based approach or a spiral curriculum. Assessments are built into each fifth lesson to help STRIDE teachers frequently gauge your child's progress and make adaptations in instruction based on your child's needs.

For more information on Saxon math and its research support, visit www.saxonpublishers.com

Your child will participate in leadership opportunities through community service, character education, and other exciting group activities.

Teachers will build leadership skills with the research-based and award winning Second Step character education curriculum and through the use of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which provides the foundation of our leadership philosophy at STRIDE.

We will prepare your child for the Wisdom Age of the 21st Century, develop his or her talents, and most importantly, make learning fun.

The Second Step curriculum has received prestigious national awards for demonstrated effectiveness from the following organizations:

• U.S. Department of Education, Exemplary Rating, 2001
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, Casel Select Program, 2002
• U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Model Prevention Program
• New Jersey Department of Education, Character Education Program of Merit
• Utah State Office of Education, Highest Rating Character Education Program

For more information about the Second Step curriculum, visit the Committee for Children at www.cfchildren.org. To examine materials and activities based on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Stephen and Sean Covey, visit www.7habits4teens.com