Our Traditional lower school program includes Kindergarten through 5th grade and offers a prepared learning environment that supports the academic, social, and emotional development of each child. Educational standards align with Texas state standards, and provide the opportunity for students to achieve their maximum level of academic excellence.
Our instructional team consists of dedicated, creative, and energetic educators who are committed to implementing best practices to ensure student success. The team consists of the principals, teachers, academic support specialist, director of guidance, art and physical education teachers, and librarian. They take advantage of the many professional development opportunities and collaborate together to create a cohesive, aligned curriculum plan. This reflects an allegiance, on behalf of the educators, to academic excellence.
Small class sizes allow teachers to build a rapport with each student and determine each child’s learning style. This creates an environment that is both challenging and supportive, as teachers differentiate in order to meet their needs. Teachers recognize that inspiring and supporting students’ abilities fosters academic success which leads to a lifelong love of learning.
Robert M. Beren Academy students are active learners. When entering a classroom, you may observe students working independently to accomplish a task, reading and discussing text, working together to solve a challenging math problem, performing a science experiment, or jointly writing a story. Students are encouraged to work hard and will learn to think critically and resourcefully.
Curriculum Overview
Robert M. Beren Academy's curriculum includes programs that have been nationally vetted and implemented across multiple school types in an effort to meet the needs of each child individually. Our teachers participate in regular training and mentoring, giving them opportunities for personal and departmental growth.
Our Columbia Reading Program is based on fluency and proficiency in comprehension. This national program begins in our First Grade classrooms and encourages mastery in reading by creating a differentiated learning environment, individualized skill building in the application of comprehension, and an overall love for reading.
Singapore Math is a curriculum that was designed in the 1980’s for the Singapore Public Schools. Since then, the curriculum has been widely adopted in various forms and has consistently ranked at the top in international math testing. The Singapore Math method focuses on mastery of concepts through intentional sequencing. It helps students learn to think mathematically and rely on the depth of knowledge gained in previous lessons. Singapore Math not only helps students become more successful problem solvers, it helps them gain a sense of confidence and resourcefulness because it insists on conceptual depth. This naturally prepares students to excel in more advanced math.
Mystery Science is an innovative, standards-aligned, hands-on curriculum that teaches children how to think like scientists. Their phenomena-driven instruction helps students to better understand and communicate about the world around them through writing, discussion, and exploration.
Handwriting Without Tears is a handwriting curriculum that was developed by an occupational therapist. The curriculum is a developmentally based program designed to progress a child’s fine motor skills along with visual skills through fun and interactive activities. Handwriting is one of the foundational skills that leads students toward automatic word recognition. As students form letters, they are solidifying the alphabetic principle.
Sounds to Spelling is our kindergarten through second grade phonics program developed by a team of literary specialists and teachers that are dedicated to ensuring that all students achieve reading success. This program combines research- and science-based instruction that teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. This is integral for children to develop to support their reading and fluency. To read, children need to understand the alphabetic principle - the idea that letters represent the sounds of spoken language.
We are confident your child’s experience at Robert M. Beren Academy will be enjoyable and rewarding.
