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What is CWS Elementary School Program (ESP)?
CWS Elementary School Program (ESP) is a curriculum framework designed for students aged 6 to 10.
ESP prepares students for the intellectual challenges of further education and their future careers, focusing on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. Find out how to become a CWS World Schools, in order to implement the ESP program.

Curriculum for Elementary School Program
The CWS Elementary School Program (ESP) is organized according to:

- The written curriculum;
- The taught curriculum;
- The assessed curriculum
The CWS Elementary School Program (ESP) engages the learning student to find himself/herself as they observe and learn their environment. The ESP program initiates the learning experience by allowing the CWS student to explore his/her opportunities, how to achieve them and how to resolve problems. Questions that will be left to the CWS student are described below:
Curriculum Areas of Study
The CWS Elementary Curriculum covers areas of study as follows:
- The Arts
- French As a Second Language
- Health and Physical Education
- Language
- Mathematics
- Science and Technology
- Social Studies
| Inquiry Question |
Area of Learning (Knowledge and Skills) |
| Who am I? |
Knowing Yourself
To help answer the question “Who am I?”, students will:
- identify the characteristics that describe who they are (e.g., interests, strengths, intelligence, accomplishments, values, and skills, which include the learning skills and work habits evaluated on the provincial report cards and may include the Essential Skills described in the Ontario Skills Passport);
- identify factors that have shaped who they are and that is likely to shape who they become over time;
- reflect on how these characteristics influence their thoughts and actions, and how those thoughts and actions may, in turn, affect their development as learners, their relationships, and their education and career/life choices.
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| What are my opportunities? |
Exploring Opportunities
To help answer the question “What are my opportunities?”, students will:
- explore the concept of “opportunity” and how the choices they make can open pathways for them;
- expand awareness of school- and community-based opportunities (e.g., recreational, social, leadership, volunteer, part-time employment) and how these programs/activities help develop skills and relationships;
- explore a variety of fields of work, occupations, and careers, and develop an awareness of the impact of local and global trends (e.g., demographic, technological, economic, social) on the opportunities available to them;
- investigate the preparation required for a variety of school- and community-based opportunities, occupations, and jobs (i.e., acquiring the necessary experience, education/training, and specific skills, including the Essential Skills and work habits documented in the OSP) and how this preparation can be obtained.
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Who do I want
to become? |
Making Decisions and Setting Goals
To help answer the question “Who do I want to become?”, students will:
- identify the demands, rewards, and other features of the various opportunities they have explored, and reflect on the fit between those features and their personal characteristics;
- based on the connections they identify, use a decision-making process to determine personal and interpersonal goals as well as education and career/life goals;
- review and revise their goals in light of changes that they recognize in themselves and in the opportunities that are available to them.
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What is my plan
for achieving
my goals? |
Achieving Goals and Making Transitions
To help answer the question “What is my plan for achieving my goals?”, students will:
- create a plan that identifies in detail the steps required to achieve the goals they have set;
- identify the resources required to implement their plan;
- identify potential obstacles and challenges they may encounter in implementing their plan and devise possible solutions.
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Curriculum Areas of Study
The Arts
Since arts experiences offer other modes and ways of experiencing and learning, children will have opportunities to think and feel as they explore, problem solves, express, interpret and evaluate the process and the results. The CWS Learning experiences in the arts include aesthetic experiences, creative engagement, and the development of skills of expressive participation, as well as the acquisition of knowledge and skills related to specific arts.
ARTS – includes Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts
In this curriculum, fundamental concepts are listed separately for each of the arts – dance, drama, music, and visual arts. These concepts represent essential aspects of each of the arts. They consist of elements in the Dance, Drama, and Music strands and elements and principles in the Visual Arts strand. The elements and principles used in this document are listed in the table below.
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Fundamental Concepts
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Dance
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Elements: body, space, time, energy, and relationship
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Drama
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Elements: role/character, relationship, time and place, tension, and focus and emphasis
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Music
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Elements: duration, pitch, dynamics, and other expressive controls, timbre, texture/harmony, and form
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Visual Arts
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Elements: line, shape and form, space, colour, texture, and value Principles: contrast, repetition and rhythm, variety, emphasis, proportion, balance, unity and harmony, and movement
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French as a Second Language Curriculum
The ability to speak and understand French allows CWS students to communicate with French-speaking people in Canada and around the world, to understand and appreciate the history and evolution of their cultures, and to develop and benefit from a competitive advantage in the workforce. While the knowledge of any language has value, French is not only a global language but the mother tongue of many Canadians and an integral part of the Canadian identity.
Through the study of French at CWS World Schools, students experience multiple opportunities to communicate for authentic purposes in real-life situations. These opportunities enable CWS students to build on and apply their knowledge of French in everyday academic and social situations, thus developing effective communication skills.
In order to develop the skills necessary to become lifelong language learners, CWS students will be given multiple opportunities to:
- listen and respond to texts and to others;
- speak and interact with others;
- read, view, and respond to a variety of texts;
- write a variety of texts for many different purposes and audiences.
CWS Health and Physical Education Curriculum
This curriculum helps CWS students develop an understanding of what they need in order to make a commitment to lifelong healthy, active living and develop the capacity to live satisfying, productive lives.
Healthy, active living benefits both individuals and society in many ways – for example, by increasing productivity and readiness for learning, improving morale, decreasing absenteeism, reducing health-care costs, decreasing antisocial behavior such as bullying and violence, promoting safe and healthy relationships, and heightening personal satisfaction. Research has shown a connection between increased levels of physical activity and better academic achievement, better concentration, better classroom behavior, and more focused learning. Other benefits include improvements in psychological well-being, physical capacity, self-concept, and the ability to cope with stress. The expectations that make up this curriculum also provide the opportunity for CWS students to develop social skills and emotional well-being.
The CWS Health and physical education programs are most effective when they are delivered in healthy schools and when students’ learning is supported by CWS World Schools staff, families, and communities. The CWS Health and physical education offer students a unique opportunity for kinesthetic learning – they learn about healthy, active living primarily by “doing”, that is, through physical activity. In CWS health and physical education, students discover the joy of movement, learn about their bodies, and develop physical and cognitive skills that will contribute to their lifelong health and well-being.
The CWS Language Curriculum 
The CWS curriculum organizes the knowledge and skills that students need to become literate in four strands or broad areas of learning:
- Oral Communication,
- Reading,
- Writing
These areas of CWS learning are closely interrelated, and the knowledge and skills described in the four strands are interdependent and complementary. CWS Teachers are expected to plan activities that blend expectations from the four strands in order to provide students with the kinds of experiences that promote meaningful learning and that help students recognize how literacy skills in the four areas reinforce and strengthen one another.
The Mathematics Curriculum
CWS the mathematics curriculum categorized into five major areas of knowledge and skills in the mathematics curriculum.
The CWS program in all Mathematics grades is designed to ensure that CWS World Schools students build a solid foundation in mathematics by connecting and applying mathematical concepts in a variety of ways. To support this process, CWS teachers will, whenever possible, integrate concepts from across the five strands and apply the mathematics to real-life situations.
The five strands are:
- Number Sense
- Numeration,
- Measurement,
- Geometry and Spatial Sense,
- Patterning Algebra, and
- Data Management and Probability.
THE CWS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM
The CWS science and technology curriculum expectations are organized in four strands, which are the major areas of knowledge and skills in the science and technology curriculum. The four strands are as follows:
- Understanding Life Systems Understanding Structures and Mechanisms
- Understanding Matter and Energy
- Understanding Earth, and
- Space Systems.
The CWS students are expected to learn three skill areas:
- scientific inquiry/experimentation skills
- scientific inquiry/research skills
- technological problem-solving skills.
The CWS Science and Technology curriculum will involve subjects of study as illustrated below:
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Elementary Science and Technology Curriculum Overview
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Understanding Life Systems
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Understanding Structures and Mechanisms
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Understanding Structures and Mechanisms
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Understanding Earth and Space Systems
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Grade 1
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Needs and Characteristics of Living Things
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Materials, Objects, and Everyday Structures
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The energy in Our Lives
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Daily and Seasonal Changes
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Grade 2
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Growth and Changes in Animals
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Movement
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Properties of Liquids and Solids
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Air and Water in the Environment
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Grade 3
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Growth and Changes in Plants
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Strong and Stable Structures
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Forces Causing Movement
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Soils in the Environment
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Grade 4
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Habitats and Communities
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Pulleys and Gears
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Light and Sound
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Rocks and Minerals
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The CWS Social Studies Curriculum
The CWS Social studies program is an interdisciplinary subject that draws upon economics, geography, history, law, and politics, as well as some of the subjects in the social sciences and humanities. The social studies program enables students to investigate various ideas, concepts, and issues using an interdisciplinary approach, giving students an integrated learning experience and leading to a deeper understanding of the interconnections between social, political, economic, and environmental ideas and issues.
The components of the CWS Social Studies are:
- Grade 1 – CWS social studies students will examine various roles, relationships, and responsibilities, how and why these may change, and how they are connected to one’s identity, culture, and sense of self.
- Grade 2 – CWS social studies students will develop their understanding of their local community and begin to examine the global community.
- Grade 3 – CWS social studies students are introduced to some of the diverse communities that existed in Canada between approximately 1780 and 1850. Students will explore what life was like for different groups of people during that time period and will compare the lives of these people to those of present-day Canadians.
- Grade 4 – CWS Social studies students will develop their understanding of how we study the past, as they use various methods to examine the social organization, daily life, and the relationship with the environment in different societies that existed between 3000 BCE and 1500 CE.

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