Elementary Education
The Elementary Education Department supports the staff, students, and parents in Early Childhood through Grade 5.
Our department is fully engaged with aligning and implementing curriculum in various content areas to the Illinois Learning Standards. The Illinois Learning Standards are based on the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards.
In addition, the department provides student support for our English Language Learners (EL), Gifted Education (GE), and Special Education.
For more information about the Illinois Learning Standards, please visit the
Kindergarten Programming
Welcome to kindergarten in Community Unit School District 308. The kindergarten curriculum is aligned to the Illinois State Learning Standards which define what all students should know and be able to do by the end of the school year.
Full day kindergarten follows the elementary school schedule of 9:00 a.m. - 3:50 p.m. which includes 50 minutes for lunch and recess. In addition, students will participate in physical education, art, music, library and computers.
Half day kindergarten will be offered in a morning session only. The hours for half day kindergarten will be 9:00 a.m. - 11:35 a.m. Due to the shortened day, the primary academic focus of half day kindergarten programming will be math and reading. Since our reading units are based on social studies and science, half day kindergarten students will have the opportunity to engage with these content areas. Our half day kindergarten students will join their full day peers for the first half of the day in a blended program.
You can learn more about how to support your child in kindergarten by viewing the following resources.
• School District 308 Welcome to Kindergarten Video (English) and (Spanish)
• School District 308 Kindergarten Informational Brochure (English) and (Spanish)
For more information about kindergarten registration please visit our parent registration site, click here.
• School District 308 Welcome to Kindergarten Video (English) and (Spanish)
• School District 308 Kindergarten Informational Brochure (English) and (Spanish)
For more information about kindergarten registration please visit our parent registration site, click here.
The Illinois State Board of Education provides the most up-to-date information and resources for developmentally appropriate kindergarten programs. For more information visit the Illinois State Board of Education site.
Kindergarten Links
Art
The goal of art education is for students to gain an appreciation of art, discover how art reflects past and present cultures, and learn art techniques and processes. The art curriculum is designed as a cumulative process and explores four areas in which students will create, respond, connect, and present art. Over the five-year learning period, concepts and skills are developed from identification and recognition to complex application.
All students participating in full-day kindergarten through fifth grade will participate in art education. Students in first through fifth grade will receive standards based grading on MasteryConnect over three trimesters.
The Illinois State Board of Education has adopted the Illinois Fine Arts Learning Standards based off of the National Fine Arts Standards. These standards are intended to reflect best practices and address the curricular areas of visual arts, music, theater, dance, and media arts.
For more information about the Illinois Fine Arts Learning Standards for Visual Arts, please visit the Illinois State Board of Education Standars and Courses site.
Digital Citizenship
Digital citizenship curriculum provides instruction for students to develop the skills and knowledge to effectively use the Internet and other digital technology, especially in order to participate responsibly in social and civic activities.
How can parents support internet safety at home?
There are many resources available for parents in providing support for students to use technology responsibly. Please visit the following sites for more information about how you can support your child's digital citizenship at home.
School District 308 is committed to the focused instruction of students to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to be good digital citizens in the era of technology in which we live. The following scope and sequences provide for each grade level lessons that are aligned to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards.
For more information about the ISTE Standards visit the ISTE site.
Google Suite for Education
School District 308 is proud to expand a partnership with G Suite for Education.
G Suite for Education is used by thousands of schools and universities worldwide to make collaboration tools available for students. G Suite for Education collaboration tools will make it possible for students to work together on documents, presentations, and projects via the web. G Suite for Education provides an online storage space for files, eliminating most needs for flash drives between home and school. Email accounts are required by many web-based educational tools. These accounts allow students and teachers to communicate and collaborate in a safe and structured manner with their class. For more information on G Suite for Education, please visit the Google for Education Site.
The following outlines the access students will have with their google account:
- Students in grades K-4 will not have access to email, but can use their Google accounts to access apps such as Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. Students will be able to share Docs, Slides, etc. within the SD308 domain.
- Students in grades 5-8 will have access to the apps previously provided in grades K-4 as well as email within the SD308 domain. This will limit students from sending and receiving email or sharing docs outside of school district accounts.
- Students in grades 9-12 will have access to previously provided apps in grade K-4 as well as email within and outside of the SD308 domain. This will allow students to communicate and share docs outside of the school district including college admissions, internship sites, etc.
School email accounts must comply with the Federal Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Student emails will be filtered, just as Internet access at school is filtered, to ensure student safety online. School District 308 uses filtering tools and makes every effort to block inappropriate content. However, if a student receives any inappropriate emails, they should be reported to an adult.
If you have concerns about your child having access to email through a Google account, please contact your child’s principal in writing to opt out.
Please talk to your child about online manners and safety.
English Language Arts (ELA)
English-Language Arts (ELA) is composed of several interrated areas: reading, writing, listening, speaking, and vocabulary. Our ELA curriculum is aligned to the Illinois English-Language Arts Learning Standards. To learn more about these standards visit the Illinois State Board of Education Standards and Courses site.
State Assessments
The Illinois English-Language Arts Learning Standards are assessed on an annual basis with the required state assessment Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in grades three through eight.
To learn more about IAR visit the Illinois State Board of Education/IAR site.
Library Media Center
Mission Statement
Vision Statement
Library Media Center Program Description
The SD 308 Library Media Center Program will support the district’s mission to educate all students to reach their highest potential, in partnership with our families and communities.
The vision of the SD 308 Library Media Center program, in collaboration with classroom teachers, will ensure that students can:
- Access information efficiently and effectively to inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge
- Evaluate information critically and competently
- Use information accurately, creatively, and ethically to share knowledge and to participate collaboratively and productively as a member of the democratic society
- Cultivate a love and appreciation of a wide variety of literature and pursue knowledge related to personal interests and aesthetic growth
- Practice, promote, and model positive Digital Citizenship
The school library program serves students & staff through both a physical space and a web "space," providing the school community with 24/7 access. The physical library space is open to students throughout the school day, whether they are working as part of a whole class, a small group, or individually. Students have access to computers and the Internet to support learning in all curricular areas. Educational technologies are constantly evolving, and school library resources also are evolving to incorporate the latest technologies to enhance learning.
Students are lifelong learners, and the library program is at the heart of lifelong learning. Through research projects in various subject areas, students learn to ask questions, search effectively and efficiently for answers, think critically about the information they find, and be ethical in their use of published content. Librarians are both teachers and collaborators with a central role in developing information, technology, and media literacy in their students.
Reading is essential to lifelong learning. The library program seeks to promote the habit of reading among all students. A professional librarian has the knowledge and expertise to help any reader find the right book. Librarians are involved in a wide range of activities -- from read-alouds to "book talks" -- all to interest students in reading for enjoyment.
School library programs are mindful of the importance of fairness and equity. Resources are collected, managed and shared for the benefit of all students.
Mathematics
The Illinois Math Learning Standards are "designed to help students acquire a deep, conceptual understanding of core math content through focus, coherence, and rigor. Students are taught a deeper, richer understanding of fewer concepts. Coherence ensures math connections are made between grade levels and builds logical progression. Rigor promotes the equal balance of conceptual understanding, application, and procedural skill and fluency." For more information on the Illinois Math Learning Standards visit the Illinois State Board of Education website.
My Math was built on the Common Core State Standards, aligned to the Illinois Math Learning Standards, and provides an engaging and challenging program for our elementary students. There are many components to this program that students and parents can utilize at home. Please contact your child's teacher for a login and password.
State Assessments
The Illinois Math Learning Standards are assessed on an annual basis with the required state asessment Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in grades three through eight. To learn more about IAR visit the IAR website.
Music
The goal of the music department is to foster instruction for creating, performing, responding to, and connecting to music. We acknowledge that music enables children to acquire skills and knowledge that can be developed in no other way.
All students participating in full-day kindergarten through fifth grade will participate in music education. This instruction happens for a total of 60 minutes a week, typically broken into two times a week for 30 minutes each.
The music curriculum team in School District 308, created a standards-aligned curriculum designed to instruct and assess students in four main categories: Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting. All standards are based on the Illinois Arts Learning Standards that are in coordination with the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS).
To learn more about these standards and organizations, please click on the links provided below:
Grade 4-5 Honor Choir
Honor Choir is an extra-curricular performing group offered at the elementary level. Honor Choir is a volunteer group and is open to all interested fourth and fifth grade students. Honor Choir meets once per week before school. Honor Choir may meet during the spring semester, or throughout the year, at the discretion of the director.
Physical Education
The goal of the physical education department is to increase the knowledge and development of lifelong fitness.
All students participating in full-day kindergarten through fifth grade will participate in physical education.
State Assessments
FitnessGRAM is an Illinois State Board of Education required assessment for all students in grades 3-12. Students will participate in the following assessment activities:
- Aerobic Capacity: PACER or Mile Run (Grades four through twelve.)
- Flexibility: Sit and Reach
- Muscular Endurance: Curl Up
- Muscular Strength: Push Up
For more information about physical education fitness testing, please contact your child's physical education teacher or visit the Illinois State Board of Education site.
Science
Illinois Vision of K-12 Science Education
Effective science teaching and learning will mean that Illinois K-12 students will be better prepared for entrance into college and careers. The Next Generation Science Standards call for a three-dimensional approach to science instruction: Core Ideas, Crosscutting, and Practices. They are designed to help students acquire a deep understanding of core science and engineering content and ideas as well as experience applying that knowledge in any context. Students will demonstrate their scientific proficiency by engaging in practices that demonstrate the ability to apply scientific concepts. For more information from the Illinois State Board of Education visit the Illinois State Board of Education site.
State Assessments
Illinois Science Assessment (ISA)
Illinois will administer a science assessment to students in grades five, eight, and once in high school. For more information about the state assessment for science visit the Illinois Science Assessment page.
Social Studies
The Illinois Social Science Standards fall into two complementary categories: inquiry skills and disciplinary concepts. Inquiry skills involve questioning, investigating, reasoning, and responsible action while disciplinary concepts make use of social science ideas, principles, and content to pursue answers to the questions generated by student inquiries. The inquiry skills are used simultaneously with the disciplinary concepts.
Disciplinary Concepts:
- Civics
- Economics/ Financial Literacy
- Geography
- History
For more information about the Illinois Social Science Standards visit the Illinois State Board of Education site.
Homework, Grading, Reporting, and mastery connect
Homework, Grading, Reporting, and mastery connect![]()
Homework, Grading, Reporting, and mastery connect
Purpose
Grading
Length
BOE Policy
At the elementary level the purpose of homework, when assigned, is to reinforce or extend classroom learning for individual student success.
On a student's report card, homework will not be calculated in the grade representing a student's academic achievement. Homework completion can be communicated to parents by documenting as a learning behavior characteristic.
On average, students in grades kindergarten through second will have 15 minutes per day and students in grades third through fifth will have 30 minutes per day.
In Oswego School District 308, our primary purpose for grading and reporting is to communicate growth towards proficiency of targeted learning standards.
Trimesters:
Elementary grading periods run on a trimester framework. Parents/guardians can monitor student progress at any time using the MasteryConnect Parent Portal. Accessing student progress will create the opportunity for you and your student to discuss the learning that is occurring in our classrooms. MasteryConnect can be a valuable tool to engage students, parents, and teachers in conversations around learning and expectations necessary to develop college and career readiness skills.The trimester grading periods for the 2024-2025 school year are as follows:
Trimester 1: August 15, 2024 - November 8, 2024
Trimester 2: November 11, 2024 - February 21, 2025
Trimester 3: February 24, 2025 - May 23, 2025
Trimester 1: August 15, 2024 - November 8, 2024
Trimester 2: November 11, 2024 - February 21, 2025
Trimester 3: February 24, 2025 - May 23, 2025
MasteryConnect:
MasteryConnect is a system that keeps track of student understanding of the Illinois Learning Standards. Parents are able to access the Parent Portal of MasteryConnect to view their child's progress towards mastery of the learning standards. Please view the video below to learn more about the MasteryConnect Parent Portal. Contact your child's teacher if you have not received access to your MasteryConnect parent account.Standards-Based Progress Reports:
Elementary students receive a Standards-Based Progress Report. Standards-based reporting is used to communicate how students perform on a set of clearly defined learning standards. The purpose for a standards-based progress report is to identify what a student knows or is able to do in relation to learning standards over the course of the grading period by identifying a student’s mastery level for each standard.
Mastery levels indicate the level of proficiency for each standard based on the most recent assessment of the standard. The expectation is for students to reach mastery on grade level standards by the end of the school year.
Levels of Mastery:
Mastery (M): Demonstrates proficiency at this time; may require minimal or no support.
Near Mastery (NM): Demonstrates progress towards proficiency at this time; may require some support.
Emerging (E): Demonstrates limited proficiency at this time; requires frequent support.
Levels of Mastery:
Mastery (M): Demonstrates proficiency at this time; may require minimal or no support.
Near Mastery (NM): Demonstrates progress towards proficiency at this time; may require some support.
Emerging (E): Demonstrates limited proficiency at this time; requires frequent support.
