UrbanPromise

Elementary School (K-5)

At CamdenForward School, we encourage our children to dream big and then foster their talents so that dreams can become goals. We are a kindergarten through 8th grade private Christian school offering outstanding academics, small class sizes, individual instruction, and opportunities that take our students far beyond the classroom.

With a learning environment rich in love, hope, and structure, we challenge and support students in preparation for high school and beyond. All of our students graduate from high school, and many go on to attend 2- and 4-year colleges. We provide every student the opportunity to reach his or her potential. A maximum class size of 15 students ensures that every child achieves mastery before moving forward academically. CFS students are well prepared for the world.

At CFS, students have challenging courses in mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies. As a Christian school, we are values based, emphasize respect for others and personal integrity, and help each student develop a Christian world view. We round out our curriculum with courses in Spanish, visual and performing arts, technology, bible, physical education, health, music and choir. CFS students are given opportunities to develop their strengths and talents.

UrbanPromise is commitmented to making education even more affordable, by offering customized scholarships based on each family’s size and financial needs. 

Despite living in a city with low rates of academic achievement, CamdenForward School students are eager to learn. This year, they attended school at a rate of 95%!

Low teacher-to-student ratios are key to Academy students' success. Research demonstrates that among students with a low probability of attending college, small class sizes increase college attendance by more than 5 percentage points.

Math

Education experts are in agreement that mastery of math skills is necessary in scholastic success, and imperative in the complicated, high-tech-world out children will inherit and navigate. UrbanPromise schools recognize that a solid foundation in mathematics will serve our students well, allowing them to compete and succeed in college and career. Our math curriculum begins in kindergarten and allows students each year to master concepts and move on to more difficult math levels. With a commitment to small class size and individual attention, opportunities to work with mentors and real-world experiences to use what they learn in the classroom, students are given every opportunity to succeed.  With math mastery comes academic confidence.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Represent, count, and write numbers 0-20
  • Compare numbers
  • Identify and describe two-dimensional shapes
  • Identify three-dimensional shapes
  • Adding and subtracting numbers by pairing to make 10
  • Understand addition as putting together and subtraction as taking apart/from
  • Classify and Sort objects into categories
Grade 1

Curriculum Focus

  • Addition and subtraction concepts, relationship and strategies
  • Count and models by 1, 2, and 10
  • Read and write numbers up to 150
  • Compare numbers using inequality symbols
  • Work with addition and subtraction equations
  • Two-digit subtraction
  • Represent date in graphs
  • Model, take apart, combine and describe two and three dimensional shapes
  • Understand place value
  • Equal or unequal parts, halves, and fourths
  • Tell and write time 
Grade 2

Curriculum Focus

  • Understand number concepts (place value, expanded form)
  • Counting patterns within 1000
  • Learn basic facts and relationships (using drawings to represent problems)
  • 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction
  • Learn money
  • Telling time
  • Length in Customary Units (inch, feet, centimeters)
  • Add, subtract, compare, measure, estimate standard units
  • Reason with shapes and their attributes
  • Basic fractions concepts
  • Solve real-world and mathematical word problems
Grade 3

Curriculum Focus

  • Understand place value
  • Addition and subtraction within 100
  • Represent and interpret data in various graphs
  • Understand multiplication and division
  • Learn multiplication facts and strategies from 0-10
  • Learn division facts and strategies by 0-10
  • Understand fractions, unit fractions, equal parts, fractions as numbers
  • Using a number line
  • Compare fractions
  • Learn interval time, length, liquid volume, and mass.
  • Learn how to find the area and perimeter rectangles
  • Describe/Classify two dimensional shapes
  • Solve word problems
Grade 4

Curriculum Focus

  • Use place value to demonstrate and understand addition and subtraction within one million
  • Read and write numbers within one million
  • Multiply by 1 digit and 2-digit numbers
  • Divide by 1-digit and 2 digit numbers and interpret the remainder
  • Learn factors, multiples, and patterns
  • Understand fraction equivalence, comparison and order fractions
  • Add and subtract fractions
  • Multiple fractions by whole numbers
  • Relate fractions and decimals
  • Learn, identify, and draw lines, rays, angles
  • Classifying triangles and angles
Grade 5

Curriculum Focus

  • Place value, addition and subtraction within one million
  • Read and write numbers within one million
  • Perform operation with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths
  • Fluency with whole numbers and decimals
  • Divide whole numbers
  • Add, subtract, multiple and divide decimals
  • Add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions
  • Learn algebraic patterns
  • Graph points on the coordinate plane
  • Write and interpret numerical expressions
  • Convert units of measure
  • Represent and interpret data
  • Find volume
  • Solve real-world and mathematical word problems

Experiential Learning Integration

Math at the grocery store

The shopping expedition is sponsored by the Eickhoff ShopRite of Cinnaminson who has joined who has joined UrbanPromise in their quest to demystify mathematics. This program helps third graders learn about the basic skills of planning and working with a budget as well as applying math concepts and terminology. At the checkout line, the cashiers will tell students if they are over or under their budget.

Science

According to the U.S Department of labor, the future of our economy depends on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education.  It has become a national imperative to encourage young people to pursue careers in these critical fields and the path to success in these areas starts in the elementary classroom.  At UrbanPromise schools, science education highlights our belief that children learn best through experiential processes that allow them to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real life.  In addition to our classroom curriculum, UP students have many opportunities to learn and grow as scientists, work and interact with real-world mentors and thought leaders from local tech companies and develop curiosity for the world around them and confidence that they can and will make a difference.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Life Science-needs of plants and animals
  • Earth Science- Our land, water, air, weather and seasons
  • Physical science- matter, heat and light
  • Space and Technology- day, night sky, and how things work
Grade 1

Curriculum Focus

  • Life Science-living and nonliving matter, habitats, how animals and plants live, life cycles, food chains
  • Earth Science- land, water, air, weather
  • Physical science- observing matter, movement, energy and sound
  • Space and Technolgy– earth, space, day, night sky
Grade 2

Curriculum Focus

  • Life Science-life science in NJ, all about animals and plants, how living things grow and change
  • Earth Science- earth’s natural resources, our land, water, air, weather, seasons, fossils and dinosaurs
  • Physical science- properties of  matter, energy, heat, force, motion, and sound
  • Space and Technology-Earth and space and how technology helps our world
Grade 3

Curriculum Focus

  • Life Science- plants and how they grow as well as animals and how they live
  • Earth Science-water, weather, rocks, soil, and natural resources
  • Physical Science- matter and its properties, force, motion, sound and energy
  • Space and Technology-patterns in the sky, and the solar system
Grade 4

Curriculum Focus

  • Life Science- Classify plants and animals, learn ecosystems and systems of the human body
  • Earth Science- Water cycles, weather, hurricanes, tornadoes, minerals, rocks and changes to earth’s surface.
  • Physical Science -Properties of matter, heat, electricity, magnetism, sound, light, objects in motion
  • Simple machines and Earths cycle;  inner and outer planets
  • Space and Technology- The effects of technology
Grade 5

Curriculum Focus

  • Life Science- classifying organisms, plants and animals, learn the human body and ecosystem
  • Earth Science- water, earth, weather patterns, earth’s surface and protecting Earth’s resources
  • Physical Science- matter and its properties, force, motion, electricity, and  energy
  • Space and Technology- stars and galaxies, technology in our lives, earth and space

Experiential Learning Integration

Butterfly Life Cycle

Each fall students at UrbanPromise's schools celebrate the monarch butterfly and its journey of migration from the Northeast United States and Canada to the trans-volcanic mountains of Michoacán, Mexico. Students raise the butterflies in the classroom from egg to full-fledged monarch and then release them in UrbanPromise's butterfly garden.

Social Studies

The City of Camden makes headlines for many things, not always positive. But for UP students, it is a daily civics lesson. It provides the perfect setting to learn about their urban world, their state, their nation, their world and their role and responsibility in each. From meeting President Obama to studying the Civil War through the restoration of an historic cemetery to serving their community through a local food pantry, our students connect to and feel a part of an ever changing living classroom.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Exploring earth and maps, including map of New Jersey
  • How government work
  • Justice for all people
  • The Pledge of Allegiance
  • Understand the President
  • Living communities and families
  • Inventors and scientists
  • Time line
  • Early Americans
Grade 1

Curriculum Focus

  • Exploring earth
  • Maps—including map of New Jersey
  • How government works
  • Justice for all people  
  • The Pledge of Allegiance
  • Understand the duties of the President
  • Living communities and families
  • Inventors and scientists
  • Time line
  • Early Americans
  • Compare communities long ago to today
Grade 2

Curriculum Focus

  • Exploring Earth
  • Maps, including map of New Jersey
  • How the government works
  • Justice for all people
  • The Pledge of Allegiance
  • Understand the duties of the President
  • Living communities and families
  • Inventors and scientists
  • Time line
  • Early Americans
  • Compare communities long ago to today
Grade 3

Curriculum Focus

  • Exploring communities and geography
  • Understand how people and food change communities (Cultures)
  • Communities at work (making money choices and Business)
  • How the government work in communities
  • National, state, local governments
  • The Pledge of Allegiance
  • Understand rules and laws
  • Inventors and scientists
  • Use line graphs
  • Compare communities long ago to today
Grade 4

Curriculum Focus

  • Learn about our national story and understand the United States land and people
  • Identify, draw and label all five regions of the United States (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and the West)
  • Gain an understanding of all areas of Government (local, state, national)
  • Citizenship and all the responsibilities of a citizen
Grade 5

Curriculum Focus

  • The United States- people, government, economy, history and culture
  • Native People of North America
  • Explanation and colonization (French, English, middle, southern and slavery in colonies)
  • The Struggle for North America (French vs Indian, Battle of Trenton, Saratoga, Yorktown, Virginia)
  • Revolution
  • Slavery and emancipation
  • Modern era
  • Our local government (current)

Experiential Learning Integration

Students explore the Philadelphia Mint

One of our students' favorite field trips is to the US Mint in Philadelphia. Students learn about the manufacturing and history of the Mint and the craftsmanship required at all stages of the minting process, from original designs and sculptures to the actual striking of the coins.  

Reading & Phonics

From a foundation in grammar, spelling and literacy to an exploration of ethnic literature, our English curriculum is both fundamental and exploratory.  As in all subjects, students are provided with individualized instruction to ensure they stay at grade level and to allow for greater understanding of the world around them through the written word.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Know and apply grade level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
  • Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter sound
  • Learn long and short for the major five major vowels.
  • Read common high frequency words by sight
  • Read emergent-ready texts with purpose and understanding.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of blending (beginning and ending sounds)
Grade 1

Curriculum Focus

  • Ask and answer questions, retell stories, describe literary elements
  • Identify word sensory phrases, explain differences between nonfiction and fiction
  • Who, what, when, where, why, how
  • Context clues
  • Use illustrations and detail to determine what a story is about
  • With prompting read prose and poetry at appropriate grade1 level
  • Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g. ed, s, re, un, pre, ful, and less)
Grade 2

Curriculum Focus

  • Ask and answer questions, retell stories, poems, folktales and fables
  • Describe literary elements
  • Context clues
  • Who, what, when, where, why, and how
  • Identify word regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, and repeated lines
  • Explain major differences between nonfiction and fiction
  • Describe points of view
  • Use illustrations and detail in a story and compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story
  • Read and comprehend literature including poetry at appropriate grade 2 level
Grade 3

Curriculum Focus

  • Ask and answer questions
  • Retell stories, poems, folktales and fables
  • Describe literary elements
  • Identify the meaning of a word
  • Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems
  • Distinguish their own points of view
  • Context clues
  • Determine who, what, when, where, why, and how
  • Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story
  • Read and comprehend literature including poetry of appropriate grade 3 level
  • Determine the main idea, theme, conclusion, cause and effect. 
  • Understand sequence of events, characters and story structure
  • Analyze text, infer/predict events, and draw on information from multiple prints/illustrations
  • Use a glossary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias
  • By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational text complexity band independently
Grade 4

Curriculum Focus

  • Identify the meaning of a word
  • Distinguish their own points of view
  • Quote accurately from a text  
  • Compare and contrast information in two or more texts
  • Determine the main idea, theme, conclusion, cause and effect 
  • Understand sequence of events, characters and story structure
  • Determine who, what, when, where, why, and how
  • Analyze text, infer/predict events, and draw on information from multiple prints/illustrations
  • By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational text complexity band independently and proficiently on a grade 4 level.
  • Listen with a purpose to information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks
  • Use a glossary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias
  • Compare and contrast the test of a story/drama and a visual or oral presentation of the same text.
Grade 5

Curriculum Focus

  • Quote accurately from a text to explaining
  • Compare and contrast information in two or more texts (historical, scientific, or technical)
  • Determine the two or more main idea, theme, characters, setting, events or conclusion
  • Compare and contrast the test of a story/drama and a visual or oral presentation of the same text
  • Determine the cause and effect
  • Understand sequence of events, characters and story structure
  • Analyze text, infer/predict events, and draw on information from multiple prints/illustrations
  • Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning or tone
  • By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational text complexity band independently and proficiently
  • Listen with a purpose to information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks
  • Use a glossary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias

Experiential Learning Integration

A trip to the theater brings The Jungle Book alive

Exposing our students to live theater is very important to the school.  The elementary school had the opportunity to view the world premiere production of the play based on the stories of The Jungle Book at the Arden Theatre Company. Students were enthralled to see the story come alive right in front of them.

Writing

We believe that each student has a unique story to tell and through our writing curriculum, has an opportunity to develop his or her own voice.  We also believe that the ability to communicate effectively and articulately is even more important in a world where social media is a powerful influence.  UP students are taught, along with the fundamentals of grammar, spelling and punctuation, how to articulate their thoughts and have clarity in their communications.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Produce in combination drawing and sentence dictation to convey a single event in a story
  • Write all letters upper case and lower case correctly
  • Write all numbers from 0-9 correctly. 
  • Write by moving from left to right and from top to bottom
  • Write own name
  • Proper pencil posture
Grade 1

Curriculum Focus

  • Write own name
  • Write a personal experience
  • Use oral language to recognize that words are used in a specific order in a sentence
  • Understand and follow two and three step oral directions
  • Write all uppercase and lower case letters
Grade 2

Curriculum Focus

  • Write own name
  • Write a friendly letter
  • Write a personal experience
  • Use oral language to recognize that words are use in a specific order in a sentence
  • Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, verb tense past present and future when writing
  • Understand and follow two and three step oral directions
Grade 3

Curriculum Focus

  • Six traits of writing
  • The process of writing
  • Write opinion paragraphs to support claims
  • Write narratives
  • Write poems
  • Produce informative/explanatory writing pieces
  • Write a descriptive paragraph
  • Write concluding statements
  • Write a book report
  • Use technology to produce a writing piece
  • Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing; (capitalization, plural nouns, pronoun, irregular and regular verbs, adjectives, adverbs, commas, and quotation)
  • Listen with a purpose to information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks
Grade 4

Curriculum Focus

  • Six traits of writing
  • The process of writing
  • Write arguments to support claims
  • Write a narrative essay
  • Write poems
  • Produce informative/explanatory writing pieces
  • Write a descriptive essay
  • Write topic and concluding sentences
  • Write a book report
  • Write a research paper
  • Use technology to produce a writing piece
  • Writes 3 paragraphs with a beginning, middle and end.
  • Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing; (capitalization, quotation marks, relative pronouns, progressive, modal auxiliaries, verbs, adjectives, relative adverbs, commas, prepositional phrases, and frequently confused words two, too, to)
Grade 5

Curriculum Focus

  • Use writers traits
  • Write arguments to support claims
  • Write narrative stories
  • Produce informative/explanatory writing pieces
  • Write a descriptive essay
  • Write a book report
  • Write a research paper
  • Use technology to produce a writing piece
  • Write 3 paragraphs with an introduction, 3 supporting details, and conclusion. 
  • Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (progressive, modal auxiliaries, prefect verbs tenses, commas, conjunctions prepositions, correlative conjunctions and frequently confused words two, too, to)
Physical Education

We take a holistic approach to education, focusing not just on the mind but on spiritual and physical growth with  the goal of producing students—and citizens—equipped for the  stresses of life and equipped to live healthy and productive lives. Cooperation, team work, mindfulness, and the importance of healthy eating habits are all stressed at UP at every grade level through health and physical education classes.  While we do not have sports teams due to our size, our students can and do participate in local sports, have opportunities to explore their physical world and challenge themselves through UrbanTrekkers and learn about making healthy choices to support strong body, mind and spirit.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Locomotor and non-locomotor movements; motor skills
  • Manipulative movements (throwing and kicking)
  • Team-building and sportsmanship
  • Cooperative games
  • Physical fitness
Grade 1

Curriculum Focus

  • Locomotor and non-locomotor movements; motor skills
  • Manipulative movements (throwing, catching, kicking, dribbling, etc.)
  • Team-building and sportsmanship
  • Cooperative games
  • Physical fitness
Grade 2

Curriculum Focus

  • Locomotor and non-locomotor movements; motor skills
  • Manipulative movements (throwing, catching, kicking, dribbling, etc.)
  • Team-building and sportsmanship
  • Cooperative games
  • Physical fitness
Grade 3

Curriculum Focus

  • Locomotor and non-locomotor movements; motor skills
  • Manipulative movements (throwing, catching, kicking, dribbling, etc.)
  • Team-building and sportsmanship
  • Cooperative games
  • Physical fitness
Grade 4

Curriculum Focus

  • Locomotor and non-locomotor movements; motor skills
  • Manipulative movements (throwing, catching, kicking, dribbling, etc.)
  • Team-building and sportsmanship
  • Cooperative games
  • Physical fitness
Grade 5

Curriculum Focus

  • Locomotor and non-locomotor movements; motor skills
  • Manipulative movements (throwing, catching, kicking, dribbling, etc.)
  • Team-building and sportsmanship
  • Cooperative games
  • Physical fitness
Art

Our Art program provides students with a perspective of how art both reflects and influences society and culture in their own communities and throughout history. At the same time, the Art program helps students develop their unique inner artist, identify and nurture their own abilities and artistic expression. Our students work with various artistic media, getting hands-on instruction in the foundations of art, art theory and art history. They learn how to channel their creativity to illustrate their own personal story, in conjunction with what they are learning and experiencing across the UP curriculum.

Kindergarten

Curriculum Focus

  • Engage in imaginative play and build skills with materials 
  • Create works of art about home, school, or community life 
  • Use observation and memory to describe and create representations of natural and constructed environments 
  • Identify and classify uses of everyday objects through maps and other diagrams 
  • Repurpose objects and materials to make something new 
  • Investigate ways in which artists contribute to communities
  • Key artworks & artists:Eric Carle, Aztec Sun Stone, Lascaux Cave Paintings, Faith Ringgold, Statue of Liberty, Wassily Kandinsky, Alma Thomas, John James Audubon
Grade 1

Curriculum Focus

  • Engage in imaginative play and build skills with materials
  • Create works of art about home, school, or community life
  • Use observation and memory to describe and create representations of natural and constructed environments
  • Interpret selected artworks by identifying subject matter, noticing details, and creating narrative
  • Use learned art vocabulary to describe choices when making art and preferences about works of art
  • Choose artworks for a collection or portfolio and explain why some objects, artifacts, and artworks are valued over others
  • Explain the purpose of a museum and how it is different than other buildings
  • Identify and classify uses of everyday objects through maps and other diagrams
  • Repurpose objects and materials to make something new
  • Investigate ways in which artists contribute to communities
  • Look at examples of how artists are affected by past and present cultures
  • Key artworks & artists:Eric Carle, Aztec Sun Stone, Lascaux Cave Paintings, Faith Ringgold, Statue of Liberty, Wassily Kandinsky, Alma Thomas, John James Audubon
Grade 2

Curriculum Focus

  • Engage in imaginative play and build skills with materials 
  • Create works of art about home, school, or community life 
  • Use observation and memory to describe and create representations of natural and constructed environments 
  • Interpret selected artworks by identifying subject matter, noticing details, and creating narrative 
  • Use learned art vocabulary to describe choices when making art and preferences about works of art 
  • Choose artworks for a collection or portfolio and explain why some objects, artifacts, and artworks are valued over others 
  • Explain the purpose of a museum and how it is different than other buildings 
  • Identify and classify uses of everyday objects through maps and other diagrams 
  • Repurpose objects and materials to make something new 
  • Investigate ways in which artists contribute to communities
  • Look at examples of how artists are affected by past and present cultures 
  • Key artworks & artists:Eric Carle, Aztec Sun Stone, Lascaux Cave Paintings, Faith Ringgold, Statue of Liberty, Wassily Kandinsky, Alma Thomas, John James Audubon
Grade 3

Curriculum Focus

  • Engage in collaboration and creative problem-solving while developing skills with tools and materials
  • Create works of art that represent community cultural traditions
  • Explore how and where different cultures record and illustrate stories and history of life through art
  • Look at examples of how past and emerging technologies have impacted the way works of art are made and experienced
  • Compare oneʼ s own interpretation of a work of art with the interpretation of others Interpret art by describing subject matter, mood, and visual characteristics
  • Infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created
  • Identify cultural and historical associations suggested by works of art
  • Key artworks & artists: Mexican folk arts, Diego Rivera, Lascaux Cave paintings, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Kieth Haring, Horace Pippin, Jacob Lawrence, Marc Chagall, Katsushika Hokusai, John James Audubon
Grade 4

Curriculum Focus

  • Engage in collaboration and creative problem-solving while developing skills with tools and materials 
  • Create works of art that represent community cultural traditions 
  • Explore how and where different cultures record and illustrate stories and history of life through art 
  • Look at examples of how past and emerging technologies have impacted the way works of art are made and experienced 
  • Compare oneʼ s own interpretation of a work of art with the interpretation of others Interpret art by describing subject matter, mood, and visual characteristics 
  • Infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created 
  • Identify cultural and historical associations suggested by works of art 
  • Key artworks & artists: Mexican folk arts, Diego Rivera, Lascaux Cave paintings, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Kieth Haring, Horace Pippin, Jacob Lawrence, Marc Chagall, Katsushika Hokusai, John James Audubon
Grade 5

Curriculum Focus

  • Engage in collaboration and creative problem-solving while developing skills with tools and materials 
  • Create works of art that represent community cultural traditions 
  • Explore how and where different cultures record and illustrate stories and history of life through art 
  • Look at examples of how past and emerging technologies have impacted the way works of art are made and experienced 
  • Compare oneʼ s own interpretation of a work of art with the interpretation of others
  • Interpret art by describing subject matter, mood, and visual characteristics 
  • Infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created 
  • Identify cultural and historical associations suggested by works of art 
  • Key artworks & artists: Mexican folk arts, Diego Rivera, Lascaux Cave paintings, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Kieth Haring, Horace Pippin, Jacob Lawrence, Marc Chagall, Katsushika Hokusai, John James Audubon