| Full-Time, on-campus Adda Clevenger School is an independent TK-8 school offering an accelerated academic curriculum plus a fully integrated performing arts program for San Francisco Bay Area school children. Our educational program is inspired by the child-centric experientialist philosophy of John Dewey. Our school day consists of a dual curriculum of arts and academics, and students from as early as TK move through subject matter with different teachers on a period rotation throughout the day. Math Department Mission: The goal of the ACS math program is to create confident, flexible thinkers and to promote personal growth. Personal growth is obtained by setting and achieving goals pertaining to the grade as well as reflecting on individual strengths and weaknesses. Goal setting is an instructional focus marked by the desire to add the ‘why’ to math work instead of just the ‘how’ of math work. Our goal will be to take students beyond learning mathematical methods, to challenge our students to think about how to solve problems, how to investigate and find mathematics and patterns in the world. We aim to make the experience of every student in math class more practical and engaging from kindergarten through eighth grade. The upper school math program begins in fifth grade. Our program teaches math in sequence, using age and grade appropriate math activities to progressively build understanding, skills, and confidence, creating a firm foundation for students that allows them to excel within an accelerated mathematics curriculum. Throughout the year our students make decisions about how to approach a problem. Students develop their ability to grasp underlying mathematical relationship without relying on rote memorization. They should successfully generalize from concepts they have mastered. They should improve their problem-solving skills, confidence, abstract-thinking skills, and hopefully their love of mathematics. They will express solutions clearly and logically using the appropriate mathematical notation. Students will develop generalizations, represent them in algebraic form and apply them in new situations. They will take clear notes from classroom instruction and demonstrate their understanding through assigned tasks, working in groups and individually. Students will take an assessment test at the end of each section of study. They will receive short and long-term homework assignments that will require them to demonstrate good study skills and manage their time effectively. Teaching at Adda Clevenger: Students have math daily and the expected course load for a math teacher is 4-5 instructional periods per day, rounded out by lunch/recess supervision, advisory duties, substitute coverage, special projects and prep periods. Our regular school day is from 8:00am - 5:00pm and academic classes are scheduled throughout the entire day. Teacher prep takes place during the school day. There are 180 instructional days, with several 1-to-3 week breaks throughout the year. All teachers participate in school life in a variety of ways. For example, some teachers support student productions and performances as stage managers, others take the lead in organizing Spirit Day activities or moderating a student club. Adda Clevenger teachers enjoy considerable autonomy in their classrooms and are responsible for developing and maintaining their own subject matter curricula. We believe that the teacher and the students are the two critical elements of an effective classroom and the curriculum must derive from and be continually and creatively adapted to their changing needs and environment. Full course descriptions of Grades 5-8 Math can be found here: http://www.addaclevenger.org/academics/ | 
