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Green Chimneys

Academic Program

Green Chimneys School at Clearpool Campus follows the New York State academic curriculum designated for Intermediate School programs under Next Generation Learning Standards. All students participate in New York State Standardized Testing.

Our Education Team collaborates with families, service providers and home school districts to meet the individual academic and social-emotional goals of each student. All students receive counseling, and families are encouraged to participate in parent education and training offered several times throughout the year. Related services and support include speech/language and occupational therapies and vocational counseling to meet each child’s Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Green Chimneys School Delivers Established Nationally Recognized Curriculums

As part of our commitment to our students and to provide a sense of familiarity and consistency within their academic progression, Green Chimneys School delivers established, nationally recognized curriculums that are used by many of our referring districts. Students receive a modified curriculum that supports the New York State Next Generation Standards and is based on their abilities, strengths/weaknesses, and individualized IEP goals.

Green Chimneys teachers employ the Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) model for teaching. Classroom lessons follow an “I Do, We Do, You Do” approach, which begins with teacher-directed instruction and transitions to a gradual release to independent tasks. This method incorporates whole and small groups, as well as individual instruction. Grade-level information is delivered to the students together as a group. Teachers use an ability-based method for students to demonstrate understanding, and for the teacher to assess each student’s comprehension of the material being taught.

Classrooms are equipped with current technology including SMART Boards, and students have regular access to computers to benefit from educational online resources. Each student is provided their own Chromebook to participate in classwork and complete homework assignments.

Green Chimneys students also benefit from the vast array of therapeutic programs and enrichment activities offered, connecting each child to nature as a means of developing social skills, improving self-confidence, and impart a general sense of well-being.

Mathematics

Math courses for students in intermediate grades are designed to help students reach learning benchmarks and achieve goals for each grade:

Grade 5

  • Developing fluency with addition and subtraction of fractions, and developing understanding of the multiplication and division of fractions in limited cases (unit fractions divided by whole numbers and whole numbers divided by unit fractions)
  • Extending division to 2-digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, developing understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths, and developing fluency with whole number and decimal operations
  • Developing an understanding of volume

Grade 6

  • Connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication/division and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems
  • Completing the understanding of division of fractions
  • Extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, which includes negative numbers;
  • Writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations
  • Developing an understanding of statistical thinking

Grade 7

  • Developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships
  • Developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations
  • Solving problems involving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions, and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume
  • Drawing inferences about populations based on samples

Grade 8

  • Formulating and reasoning about expressions/equations, solving linear equations, and systems of linear equations
  • Grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships;
    Analyzing two- and three-dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence
  • Understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem

English Language Arts / Reading

Students are taught English and Language Arts skills through the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt literacy curriculum for elementary and middle school students, Into Reading for grades 2-8 and Into Literacy for grades 6-8. This comprehensive product focuses on the Five Pillars of Literacy: Phonological Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension, with a strong writing component integrated throughout. As a highly interactive program that offers differentiation of instruction to respond to individual learning needs–including adaptability both for students working below grade-level and those who need a bigger challenge–it works hand-in-hand with the school’s Explicit Direct Instruction teaching model.

  • Green Chimneys School at Clearpool Campus follows the academic curriculum standards designated for  Intermediate School programs.

  • Green Chimneys School at Clearpool Campus follows the academic curriculum standards designated for Intermediate School programs.

  • Green Chimneys School at Clearpool Campus follows the academic curriculum standards designated for  Intermediate School programs.

Science

The science curriculum focuses on exploration:

Grade 5

Using our environmentally-rich campus environment, students investigate all living things, both plant and animal, as they become familiar with the Scientific Method.

Grade 6

Curriculum encourages students to explore the physical sciences by discovering the characteristics, properties and chemical composition of all forms of matter.

Grade 7

Students explore the characteristics of the plant and animal kingdom in greater depth through a focus on the living environment and are introduced to the microscopic world.

Grade 8

Students explore the great diversity of organisms that share the planet, study the method by which energy is transferred from the sun to all known life forms, and learn about replication of these forms through the duplication, growth and reproduction of DNA.

Teachers in all grades incorporate age-appropriate lab experiments into their class curriculum.

Social Studies

The Green Chimneys social studies curriculum incorporates culture and global understanding of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres, and U.S. and New York State history:

Grade 5

Students learn about the different cultures of the U.S., Canada and Latin America as they compare and contrast the cultures of the Western Hemisphere and focus on the geographic, economic, social/cultural and political understanding of these countries.

Grade 6

Global understanding continues as students learn about the geography and economic interdependence of all people living in the Eastern Hemisphere and develop an understanding about the social/cultural, political, and historical aspects of life in that area of the world.

Grade 7

Students study chronologically the global heritage of our nation’s people as it was prior to 1500 through the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, incorporating NY state history along with the history of the existing U.S. states and territories of the time.

Grade 8

Students continue their chronological study of the U.S. and New York State history from the industrial, post-Civil War era through the changing nature of the American people from World War II to present.

Meet Our Animals
gyr

Gyrfalcon

Crowned the best for falconry in medieval times, gyrfalcons were once reserved for kings. As the largest falcon in the world, with exquisite plumage ranging from bright white to deep charcoal, gyrs are revered for their powerful skill of flight. Their long wings make hunting waterfowl from 3,000-feet-high a feasible and fantastical feat. This falcon was flown in the sport of falconry for several years.