Our Curriculum

Experiential, Developmental Learning

At Linscott Charter School, we believe that children learn by doing. We know that children (and indeed adults) learn best when they are allowed to question, explore, discover and reconstruct the world around them. Classrooms are designed to provide active, hands-on experiences from which children learn through the playful discovery of new concepts, basic skills, and a wide range of materials and activities. Our students will work with concrete objects to learn, reinforce and connect to abstract ideas and skills. This is experiential learning.

Linscott's Educational Philosophy

At Linscott Charter School, we believe that children bring their whole selves to the learning process, including intellectual, physical, social, emotional and creative needs and possibilities. For every new experience the child draws on all these parts of him or herself. We structure our learning environment to meet the developmental needs of the individual child while building each person's ability to work as a member of the group.

The program and teaching at Linscott will support the idea of education for the whole child. We respect and acknowledge the needs and talents of individual children, and will seek to empower each learner to reach his or her fullest potential. We understand that children learn with their minds, their bodies, their feelings, and their social awareness, often all at once. To encourage this kind of complete learning, we will integrate the content areas that we study, we will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, we will promote our students' self-esteem and awareness of others. Cooperative activities will be central to the way we work in the classroom. We will use a variety of assessment tools with special emphasis on performance-based assessment.

The Educational Program

The Linscott Charter School curriculum will be based on State and National Standards. Content will be integrated; i.e. reading and writing skills will be used to learn math, math will be used to understand about science, music or art. This allows children to learn in depth and to make the learning process their own. The teachers will design the program to help children become independent decision makers and cooperative members of the school community. Teachers will be encouraged to offer expanded learning experiences through innovative and effective teaching methods.

The educational program will consist of the objectives and activities outlined in the school plan (available for review in the office) and will include:

• A project-oriented, thematic teaching approach with language arts incorporated throughout the curriculum.
• Math achievement in all strands with an emphasis on the practical application of concepts.
• Science taught primarily through hands-on experiences with the natural world.
• Developmental curriculum to assist students at every level of achievement.
• Cross-age learning.
• Use of experts in their fields of endeavor.
• Computer/technological learning.
• Field trips - hands on learning through the use of historical and natural surroundings.
• Community service.
• Physical education; health, skills, awareness and application.
• Skills for daily living including, but not limited to, cooking, nutrition, household maintenance, etc.
• Performing/visual arts.

Linscott Charter School will specifically address the needs of low-achieving students through:

• Small class size.
• Low adult-to-child ratio.
• Small group and individual attention and tutoring.
• Parents working with the majority of students while the teacher works one-on-one with those having difficulty.

• Frequent contact between parents and teachers regarding the individual student's achievement.
• Parent education about working with students at home.
• Parent awareness of curriculum. A strong home/school connection.
• Integrated curriculum.
• Awareness of varied learning styles.
• Valuing individual gifts and abilities.

It is our strong belief that all children have areas in which they are low or high achieving, and that children should not be labeled, but should rather be given the tools and assistance they need to feel and be successful.

Students with identified special education (SELPA) needs will continue to be served under the procedures and policies of the PVUSD SELPA. Excess costs (encroachment) will be the responsibility of Linscott Charter School.

• To learn more about our curriculum visit our individual classroom pages.
• You can also learn more about our community curriculum and special programs.

Linscott Charter School 220 Elm Street Watsonville, California 95076 (831) 728-6301