Quality Education
Academics
Quality Education
Arizona College and Career Readiness Standards, EL Education, Open Up, UFLI, Beyond Textbooks, and project-based learning — teaching the whole child.
At South Pointe Elementary, students receive instruction based on the Arizona College and Career Readiness Standards (ACCRS). We believe it is not enough to prepare a child for the next grade — the true goal of education is to prepare a student for a successful life. We teach to the whole child: academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. We are a Cognia-accredited school.
SPES Curriculum Overview
Reading, writing, mathematics, and appropriate socialization are the focal points of our curriculum, with maps aligned to the AZ standards. We use EL Education, Open Up, UFLI, and Beyond Textbooks (K-5) across reading, writing, math, science & social studies — asking: What do we want all students to know? How will we know if they learn it? How will we respond when some don’t? How will we extend learning for students already proficient? Intervention and technology programs include the push-in/pull-out RTI model, an instructional aide per grade level, IXL, DRA2, Raz-Kids, Head-Sprout, and Google Classroom.
Assessments
Teachers use formal and informal assessments daily, plus i-Ready, IXL, and teacher-created tools.
Project-Based Learning
PBL motivates students to gain and retain knowledge by applying 21st-century skills to personally relevant, real-world situations — critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, collaboration, and presentation. Students complete monthly choice-board projects (each project used only once), share work publicly at our monthly family/community events, and are assessed individually with rubrics. Teachers provide the class-specific topic by the first Friday of each month.
House Team
The House System creates healthy competition and a positive teamwork culture across grade levels. During team meetings students do interest-based learning chosen from their Thrively results — dance, sports, music, culinary arts, drama, fashion design, photography, farming, yoga, life skills, D.I.Y., science, coding, e-sports, outdoor recreation, comedy, and more. House shirts are provided by the school; dates are on the calendar.