Curriculum

English/Language Arts

Over the course of the multi-level program, all literature genres are studied: poetry, novels, plays, biographies, nonfiction narratives, speeches, and film. Themed units integrate reading, literary analysis, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. Clear learning targets are communicated to students before every instruction period, fostering active learning and encouraging students to take charge of their own learning.

PTAA students learn to write in multiple forms including essays, personal narratives, argumentative texts such as editorials, research papers, and experience. Challenging and rigorous activities lead students into a deeper understanding of cultural and historical influences on literature and drama and require students to evaluate source integrity. Teaching methods stimulate classroom collaboration, discussion, and debate, and cause students to practice presenting, speaking, and listening, life-long and work-related skills.

Science

PTAA students use STEMscopes™ curriculum to engage in and explore science concepts. STEMscopes™ is a comprehensive online curriculum program that provides numerous hands-on inquiry activities, including intervention and acceleration resources.

It is written for teachers by teachers and is maintained at the most current level. Twin reasons for the success of the program are inquiry-based, hands-on scientific exploration for students, and teacher training/development. While students interact with STEM phenomena they are developing the skills and knowledge for tomorrow's careers.

STEAM

PTAA is a Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Academy which leads our curriculum for K-7th STEAM through PLTW Launch and Gateway programs with emphasis on technology, foundational coding, and pre-engineering skills.

Examples of course direction include:

• Design and Modeling - through the design process students develop an understanding of the influence of creativity and innovation in their lives and are then challenged and empowered to use and apply what they’ve learned by designing a solution to a real-world problem.
• Automation, and Robotics - covering the history, development, and influence of automation and robotics. Students learn about mechanical systems, energy transfer, machine automation, and computer control systems.
• Computer Science - students discover the principles of this fast-growing field by focusing on creativity and an iterative design process as they learn skills through code.org scaffolded up in difficulty and create their own basic apps using MIT App Inventor or games in Snap. They learn the fundamentals of the stimulating career path of computer science and eventually venture into text-based programming.

Math

PTAA instruction is Data Driven. The results from our formative assessments truly identify student knowledge gaps and areas of strength, so students are set on the right path, right out of the gate. Math concepts are taught with a concrete–pictorial–abstract learning progression through real-world, hands-on experiences requiring an extra step more than would be used in most American classrooms.

Students are taught how to use model drawing to solve those word problems, diagramming the elements of the problem.

Social Studies

PTAA Social Studies curriculum is provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), into Social Studies.

Specials

PTAA Colorado has a rich offering of Specials Classes including Mandarin, Spanish, Music/Theater Arts, Fine Arts, and Physical Education.