Academics

Intermediate

3rd - 5th Grade

At The Weiss School, our specifically designed intermediate program consists of gifted students enrolled in 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade. The intermediate program focuses on the individual abilities of each students to grow as independent thinkers and learn creative ways to absorb, synthesize, and apply knowledge in hands-on projects and experiences. The intermediate curriculum encourages creativity, exploration, and interactivity as integral curriculum components to develop bright, gifted students. 
 

3rd Grade

At The Weiss School, the 3rd grade curriculum concentrates on the essential academic concepts of literacy, math, science, and social studies for gifted students. The curriculum and instructional approaches are strategically implemented to meet the individual needs of each student. The curriculum incorporates a thematic approach by implementing real world applications to foster the development of higher level thinking skills. In 3rd grade, each student is provided with their own iPad for use at school and home for enhanced learning opportunities through the use of technology. 

List of 4 items.

  • Math

    Math instruction helps students:

    • Learn mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills
    • Demonstrate mastery of math concepts through a variety of assessments
    • Learn math skills including the quick recall of multiplication and division facts
    • Develop fluency skills with whole number multiplication
    • Understand decimals including the connections between fractions and decimals
    • Understand the concept of area and the area of two-dimensional objects
    • Learn how to identify, describe, and extend numeric patterns involving all operations and non-numeric growing or repeating patterns

  • Reading & Writing

    Reading
    In 3rd grade, the goal of the Reading Workshop Model is to balance various genres of reading. Students read realistic fiction, mystery, and both informational and narrative nonfiction. Students focus on developing literal comprehension such as how to predict, envision, retell summarize, and infer about characters. In nonfiction books, students learn how to identify main ideas and details, synthesize information from various sources, summarize nonfiction text, and grow ideas about what they
    are learning in the text.  Students also learn how to apply literary skills to narrative nonfiction. 3rd grade students learn to read as if books are gold!

    Writing
    In 3rd grade, students write personal narratives, informational books, and opinion essays. 

    Vocabulary and Grammar Workshop
    All 3rd – 5th grade students have vocabulary workshop homework and quizzes on these units to assess their understanding. Grammar workshop is utilized once a week in class to learn the necessary grammatical components of the English language.

  • Science

    Science instruction helps students:

    • Explore the four science areas of physical science, life science, earth/space science, and chemistry 
    • Participate in science laboratory work utilizing higher-level thinking, communication, and creativity skills
    • Learn the science foundational concepts including electricity, magnetism, simple machines, classification of living things, plant growth and reproduction, human anatomy, layers of the earth, plate tectonics, natural disasters, energy, and chemical reactions
    • Use technology and research skills for scientific reasoning and discovery activities

  • Social Studies

    Within 3rd grade Social Studies classes, instruction on Ancient Civilizations teaches students the following concepts:

    • Geography: 5 themes and latitude and longitude
    • Early Humans: INB with presentation
    • Mesopotamia: Clay cuneiform project, connect social class, jobs, control, organization
    • Egypt: Mummy’s message game and Pyramids app on iPad
    • China: World teachers press books
    • Rome: Coin project that teaches background on the Republic vs. Empire and need to expand for resources.
    • Middle Ages: Heraldry/Simulations after the fall of Rome, feudalism, manor system

4th Grade

At The Weiss School, the 4th grade curriculum concentrates on the essential academic concepts of literacy, math, science, and social studies for gifted students. The curriculum and instructional approaches are strategically implemented to meet the individual needs of each student. The curriculum incorporates a thematic approach by implementing real world applications to foster the development of higher level thinking skills. Our fourth grade curriculum includes the following core academic subjects: language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. In 4th grade, each student is provided with their own iPad for use at school and home for enhanced learning opportunities through the use of technology.

List of 4 items.

  • Math

    Math instruction helps students:

    • Learn mathematical reasoning and problem solving skills
    • Demonstrate mastery of math concepts through a variety of assessments

  • Reading & Writing

    Reading
    In 4th grade, students dive into realistic fiction, expository nonfiction, and historical fiction. Students shift from developing literal comprehension skills to developing interpretative comprehension skills. This shift involves developing a broader sense of character by studying how characters change over the course of the story and begin to find themes throughout this work and also develop a sense of symbolism. Students work to find evidential support for their interpretative thinking. In nonfiction books, students study an author's craft and technique, synthesis of texts on subtopics, determine how parts of a text relate to the whole, and the summarization of the text. Students journey through this work by studying various topics and then moving into research groups. By the end of the year, students begin work collaboratively in book clubs to explore historical fiction and utilize the information to relate to historical reading.

    Writing
    In 4th grade, students write fictional narratives, informational and opinion essays. 

    Vocabulary and Grammar Workshop
    All 3rd – 5th grade students have vocabulary workshop homework and quizzes on these units to assess their understanding. Grammar workshop is utilized once a week in class to learn the necessary grammatical components of the English language.
     

  • Science

    Science Instruction helps students:

    • Explore the nature and practice of science as it relates to real world experiences with an emphasis on Earth and Space Science
    • Study the nature of Science practices through a virtual journey to the center of the Earth to learn about plate tectonics, weathering and soil formation, and erosion and deposition
    • Study geology and discovery of the rock cycle including the properties of rocks and minerals
    • Explore the Earth’s weather and waters

  • Social Studies

    Within 4th grade Social Studies classes, instruction on Florida History teaches students the following concepts:

    • Geography of Florida
    • Pre-Columbian Florida
    • Exploration and Settlement of Florida
    • Florida during the Civil War
    • WWII and Florida
    • Modern Florida and Economics

5th Grade

At The Weiss School, the 5th grade curriculum concentrates on the essential academic concepts of literacy, math, science, and social studies for gifted students. The curriculum and instructional approaches are strategically implemented to meet the individual needs of each student. The curriculum incorporates a thematic approach by implementing real world applications to foster the development of higher level thinking skills. In 5th grade, each student is provided with their own Macbook Air laptop computer for use at school and home for enhanced learning opportunities through the use of technology.

List of 4 items.

  • Math

    Math instruction helps students:

    • Master the four arithmetic operations using whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and integers
    • Become adept at manipulating numbers and equations and understand the general principles at work
    • Learn and use factoring of numerators and denominators and properties of exponents
    • Learn the Pythagorean theorem and solve problems in which they compute the length of an unknown side
    • Learn how to compute the surface area and volume of basic three-dimensional objects and understand how area and volume change with a change in scale
    • Make conversions between different units of measurement
    • Learn and use different representations of rational numbers (fractions, decimals, and percents) and are proficient at changing from one to another
    • Increase their aptitude in using ratio and proportion, compute percents of increase and decrease, and compute simple and compound interest
    • Graph linear functions and understand the idea of slope and its relation to ratio
     

  • Reading & Writing

    Reading
    In 5th grade, students begin the year working in book clubs with interpretation and then transition to analyzing how authors make choices about the narratives they write. Students study how these decisions impact the telling of the stories as they think about the perspective of characters and how they influence readers. This process helps students empathize with characters in the book. In nonfiction books, students begin working with complex nonfiction texts to summarize, compare and contrast topics, critique author's text, and infer about the relationships of concepts in a book. Students then complete an argument and advocacy unit in which students learn how to study argument writing to support their ideas. By the end of the school year, students work collaboratively in book clubs in the complex study of fantasy in which they read intricate plotlines and study character archetypes to determine universal themes in each story.

    Writing
    In 5th grade students learn how to write personal narratives, informational, argumentative and literary essays using the Writing Workshop Model.

    Vocabulary and Grammar Workshop
    All 3rd – 5th grade students have vocabulary workshop homework and quizzes on these units to assess their understanding. Grammar workshop is utilized once a week in class to learn the necessary grammatical components of the English language.

  • Science

    Science instruction helps students:

    • Use discovery in the classroom by inquiry learning and encourages students to learn by participating in hands-on projects, as well answering real-world questions in all fields of science.
    • Participate in the Palm Beach County Science Fair 
    • Interact with scientists and researchers within the local community
    • Investigate the unseen elements in the world of environmental sciences

  • Social Studies

    Within 4th grade Social Studies classes, instruction on Government and Philosophy teaches students the following concepts:

    • Greece: Need, resources, and different governments
    • Axial Age: How changes in idea and thoughts can change government
    • Rome: Government and republic to the empire.
    • Enlightenment Thinkers: Extension of the Axial age with a heavier emphasis on government
    • Globalization vs. Sovereignty
    • Formation of the United States
    • United Nations and World Wars
    • Human Development, Culture, and Civilization
In a specifically designed and balanced curriculum, The Weiss School supplements core academic subject learning with a variety of elective courses that provide 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade students with a comprehensive educational experience ideal for gifted students. Students receive instruction in the following elective classes each week (1-2 times per week based on grade level): 

  • Art 
  • Spanish or World Language Lab
  • Mechatronics
  • Media 
  • Music 
  • Physical Education 
  • Public Speaking 
  • Robotics
  • STEAM
  • Taekwondo 
  • Technology

    • Students use their imagination to build in STEM class

    • 4th grade Social Studies students work on colorful, fact-based timeline cards

    • Science students show the atom models they made

The Weiss School

4176 Burns Road
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410
Phone: 561-627-0740
Fax: 561-775-7794
info@weissschool.org
The Weiss School is a co-ed private school that serves gifted students in PreK-3 through 8th grade in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. A Weiss School education prepares students to think analytically and creatively, act socially responsible, live vigorously, and create imaginatively in a warm and supportive educational environment.