Our Curriculum
Our founders had a vision that all students, regardless of zip code, deserve access to a free, high-quality rigorous education that prepares them for a successful, productive life as a contributing member of our global society. All Sonoran Schools are learning environments that challenge every student, support every student, and where every student can succeed.
Our schools are also environments where success is not solely defined by academics but where we nurture academic, intellectual, and social-emotional growth. Our focus on STEM does not come at the expense of fine arts or P.E. and we ensure students are given regular opportunities to explore, learning more about themselves and the world they live in. Field trips, classroom enrichment programs such as art, and a wide variety of after-school clubs and programs support the core academic curriculum at Sonoran Schools.
Elementary School Core Curriculum Grades K-5
Language Arts
Mathematics
Science
Social Studies
Computer Science
Physical Education
Art
Music
Middle School Core Curriculum Grades 6-8
Language Arts
Mathematics
Science
Physical Education
Social Studies
Computer Science
Curriculum Enrichment (varies by school and grade):
- Art
- Music
- Character Education
- AVID
- World Language
High School Core Curriculum Grades 9-12
Mathematics: 4 years
Language Arts: 4 years
Science: 3 years
Social Studies: 3 years
Electives vary by school and year. Elective options include:
- World Languages
- Art
- Psychology
- Astronomy
- Business Law
- Engineering
- Journalism
- Web Authoring
- Web Development
- AP Computer Science Principles
- AP Computer Science Java
- Python
- Digital Arts
Instructional and Educational Software
Instructional software is a resource used by teachers and schools to integrate technology into classroom learning and enhance the learning process. Software provides a different opportunity to engage students in their own learning, whether learning new content, practicing skills or concepts learned, or evaluating their subject knowledge. Instructional software also facilitates all students gaining familiarity and proficiency with hardware, such as iPads and Chromebooks, thus ensuring digital literacy, a skill that is a fundamental need in today’s society.
Education software generally supports broader goals. An example of education software used by Sonoran Schools is Infinite Campus. This software is used by schools to record items such as attendance, behavior, grades, and immunizations but it also provides parents with 24/7 access to their student’s information, which allows for schools and parents to truly partner in a child’s education.
The following software programs are core to all Sonoran Schools, although many other software programs are used by individual teachers, grades, or schools based on the educator’s determination of their efficacy in classroom instruction and parental engagement.
Code.org, launched in 2013, provides schools across the country, including all Sonoran Schools, with curriculum and online instructional modules to teach computer coding. Sonoran Schools utilize Code.org to teach our K-8 computer coding lessons.
CodeHS is an interactive online learning platform offering computer science and programming instruction for schools and individual learners. CodeHS is focused on spreading access to and knowledge of computer science by offering online instructional materials supported by remote tutors. At Sonoran Schools, it is used in grades six through eight.
Infinite Campus is the student information system (SIS) used by Sonoran Schools. It is a Web-based system that allows educators, parents, and students access to information from anywhere at any time. The systems serves as a district-wide data warehouse that allows parents to view their student’s school record and academic data with an easy-to-use Web portal and mobile application.
i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction combines a valid and reliable growth measure for math and reading and individualized instruction into a single online product. Sonoran Schools uses i-Ready Diagnostic to place students, predict mastery on statewide assessments, monitor student growth, measure teacher effectiveness, and determine eligibility for our RTI and Title 1 programs. All K-3rd grade students take the i-Ready Diagnostic three times a year. Students admitted to our RTI and Title 1 programs for reading intervention use i-Ready Instruction as an additional support tool to improve their skills.
Schoology is a virtual learning environment and social networking service for K-12 schools and higher education institutions that allows users to create, manage, and share academic content. Also known as a learning management system (LMS) or a course management system (CMS), the cloud-based platform provides tools needed to manage a virtual classroom lesson.
Schoology allows teachers to manage classes remotely through posting daily reminders or updates, directly messaging students, and managing scheduled assignments.[1] Assignments can include quizzes, forms, links to websites/videos, and discussions for students to share ideas.
NWEA is a research-based, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency—and provide insights to help tailor instruction. For 40 years, NWEA has developed Pre-K–12 assessments and professional learning offerings to help advance all students along their optimal learning paths.
By supporting grade-level reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills at ELs’ individual proficiency levels. iLitELL is a single, easy-to-manage solution that supports all English learners, including newcomers and long-term ELs. It accelerates English language development through a brilliant mix of strategic scaffolding, interactive content, visual aids, academic vocabulary support, survival vocabulary for newcomers, and home language help.
Pear Deck is a live slides presentation tool that works with Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations, and allows students to see the slides on their own devices. With Pear Deck, interactive slides can be added to solicit feedback, do a quick formative check, or just see how your students are feeling today.
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Support Our Students
Donations can range from monetary donations, to specific items (e.g. science equipment; playground equipment), to tax credit contributions.
