Below are the schedules for the 5th and 6th grades.
5th grade schedule
6th grade schedule

The Discovery Center New Math & Science Curriculum Overview

During the spring 2007 session The Discovery Center expanded and enhanced the curriculum to include Math, Science, and Language Arts for the 5th and 6th grade residential programs. This curriculum was designed by Lynn Gaumond from The University of Hartford Magnet School, and Cheryl Kloczko, Principal of East School in Torrington CT and a Discovery Center Board Member. The content and performance standard of the curriculum are based upon the State Department of Education Frameworks. The science and math curriculum supports schools in their quest to make Adequate Yearly Progress and meet expected student benchmarks for science, which will be administered in March of 2008. This curriculum was developed and implemented to address the educational needs of urban and suburban schools in accordance with the Connecticut Mastery Test. Response to the new math and science curriculum has been very positive by students, parents, teachers, and superintendents.

Base upon the 5E Instructional Model, content standards are clearly identified, and performance standards state what students will be able to do at the completion of a focus of study. A lesson is broken down into 5 segments in which students: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate.

Engage: students convene as a whole group and participate in a mini-lesson where the teacher models a hands-on activity to develop background knowledge and basic understanding of concepts.

Explore: students, working in pairs or small groups, rotate through learning tasks. As they complete these sections, students record in their individual science journals observations.

Explain: students explain their thinking in their individual science journals.

Elaborate: students share their learning within the small groups.

Evaluate: this serves as the end of the lesson, students reconvene as a whole group to reflect upon learning and to determine conclusions. Students also debrief, sharing their science journal recordings and summaries of concepts presented through the learning tasks.

The 5E Instructional Model provides the opportunity for students to be actively engaged in their learning process, to work together to solve problems by exploring concepts, engaging in dialogue, recording observations, explaining their thinking to others, and planning next steps. The science and math curriculum will drive the daily schedule at The Discovery Center and encompass the whole week making all of this happened in an environment serving diverse learners.

The 5E Instructional Model will also support The Discovery Center in future funding requests to major corporations as well as its work to procure state and federal grant monies. Knowledge and application of science and math skills, concepts, and strategies are critical concern of state and federal agencies as well as science based industries.

Members of The Discovery Center Task Force will monitor and refine the development and implementation of the new curriculum. The Board of Directors and Interim Executive Director for The Discovery Center carefully monitor the implementation process.

This commentary was put together by Cheryl Kloczko, one of the designers of the curriculum so we would like to take this opportunity to thank Cheryl as well as Lynn Gaumund for all the time, hard work, and interest they have placed in The Discovery Center.