Primary School Curriculum

PDR (Plan-Do-Review) courses are taught at Grades 1, 2 and 3. The Plan-Do-Review cycle lies at the heart of the High/Scope Learning Model. It is a type of lesson that includes all aspects of efficient learning (e.g., material use and selection, children’s use of language, adult support). In this course, students learn to think about their actions and express their intentions as they prepare and apply their daily plans and then think back on what they have done. Moreover, they take an active role in decision-making and problem-solving processes. Children transform their former plans into concrete actions through this lesson. They discover new ideas and make choices. While the planning process covers achievements that help children to set a goal and gain active learning experiences, the review process helps children to make sense of these actions.

The PDR program aims to:

• Develop planning skills of students,
• Equip students with the skills they need to transform their ideas into actions,
• Develop the skills they need to solve the problems they encounter while working towards a goal,
• Allow them to structure the information while having the High/Scope experiences,
• Help them reflect on their actions and experiences to enhance their ability to evaluate past events.

The curriculum for the Human Rights, Citizenship and Democracy course aims to teach students the basic values about human rights, citizenship and democracy in addition to equipping them with conceptual information. The program includes topics such as Being Human, Rights, Freedom and Responsibility, Justice and Equality, Compromise, Rules, and Living Together which are taught thematically in Grade 4. The program includes global values such as justice, equality, being determined, friendship, companionship, sharing, love, being sensitive, trust, patience, responsibility, respect and freedom. Human Rights Education program offers experiences that allow students to have democratic participation, and the basic skills to establish a human rights culture. Establishing a school’s democratic structure in parallel with children’s participation is important. Child rights and child participation make up the most fundamental principle of the Hisar School’s Culture. The school practices also reinforce the content of the human rights course.

The aim of the Human Rights, Citizenship and Democracy course is to raise individuals that:

• Embrace humanistic values, respect and have awareness of human rights and basic civil liberties,
• Fulfill their responsibilities towards themselves, others and the society, and develop a respectful attitude,
• Take responsibility to be able to exercise rights and freedom,
• Take part in collaboration and democratic decision-making processes, while observing justice and equality to build a culture of human rights and democracy,
• Promote and protect rights and liberties by taking responsibility,
• Exercise justice and equality in their behaviors, and defend such behavior; seek a compromise to solve the problems arising from sharing living spaces, solve problems in a peaceful fashion,
• Embrace active citizenship and act accordingly, embrace and contribute to shared living culture,

• Eliminate discrimination based on race, religion, color, gender or ethnicity and understand the importance of existing with our differences,

• Listen to different point of views, build arguments to express their own views, notice prejudices.

Social Sciences course taught in Grade 4 is comprised of the following units: Individual and Community, Culture and Heritage, People-Places and Surroundings, Science-Technology and Society, Production-Distribution and Consumption, Active Citizenship and Global Connections. Units are structured as an interconnected and interdisciplinary body of information, skills and values that promote organized learning. In this course, the emphasis is placed on teaching the values such as justice, independence, peace, being scientific, solidarity, being sensitive, honesty, aesthetic, equality, freedom, respect, love, responsibility and philanthropy according to the universal principles.

The aim of Social Science course is to raise individuals that:

• Acquire the 21st century skills,
• Embrace the principles and revolutions of Atatürk,
• Have a good understanding of the history and culture of the republic,
• Are endowed with key democratic values,
• Respect human rights,
• Think critically and make creative and accurate decisions,
• Have advanced social participation skills, lead an active, productive social life, are aware of their rights and responsibilities,
• Have ecological awareness and are sensitive towards the world they live in.

At Primary School, the English language program provides a thematic and communication-based curriculum that supports collaborative learning and the use of enriched language within a holistic approach.

The aim is to integrate listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with holistic activities. High Scope learning approaches are integrated into the curricula for Grades 1, 2 and 3. The program includes interdisciplinary and practical learning activities. It encourages students to use English in order to interact and communicate effectively in various social environments. As global citizens, students develop perspectives to show full participation in necessary skills while interacting and communicating with confidence in English. Besides, they understand the importance of learning another language and culture; develop critical and creative thinking skills throughout the process.

Primary School students spend 80 minutes per day with their English teachers. Classroom activities include small and large group activities and workshops. The Reading program uses reading strategies (making a deduction from the context and associating graphs to texts, etc.) and different types of texts (fiction and non-fiction) to support critical thinking skills (comprehension, argumentation, identification of ideas, etc.). In addition, the program offers opportunities to develop students’ vocabulary, reading comprehension skills (guessing the events and the characters, referring, quoting), and content knowledge. The Writing program promotes students’ abilities to produce narratives, letters, cards, stories, poems and other creative texts. It also encourages students to reflect upon the linguistic mistakes they make and to focus on the correct usage. Students prepare a draft and build on it to form an accurate and well-presented final copy.

The Speaking program helps students to systematically improve their pronunciation by focusing on sound, stress, rhythm and intonation, fostering communication between peers. In addition, it helps students to collect data, analyze the results, solve problems and make presentations. Students improve their social skills and build self-confidence to be able to speak accurately and fluently with other people. The Listening program provides students with different types of English models which can be aimed at understanding stress and intonation or prompt them to listen for gist or details to develop their skills of comprehension. Students are constantly assessed throughout the academic year by process-oriented and result-oriented evaluations.

The Science course is comprised of units that form a shared subject area between Grades 3 and 4. In Grade 3, units consist of the following subjects: “Let’s Explore Our Planet, Five Senses, Let’s Learn About Force, Let’s Learn About Matter, Light and Sound Around Us, Journey To The World of Living Creature”. And the following subjects are covered in Grade 4: “Earth’s Surface And Movements Of The Earth, Nutrients, Effects Of The Force, Characteristics of the Matter, Light Power And Sound Technology, Human And Environment, and Simple Electric Circuits.” While covering the units, learning environments are adjusted according to the differences of students and they are encouraged to get actively involved in the learning process. Students who investigate, question, discuss and explain events and phenomena based on cause and effect relationships are encouraged to manage their own learning processes and achieve outcomes.

Science courses are taught three hours per week in Grades 3 and 4. In grade 4, the courses take place in the labs, under the supervision of branch teachers. In Grade 3, courses are planned collaboratively by the class teacher and the branch teacher. Two lessons per week are taught in the classroom by the class teacher and one lesson is co-taught in the laboratory by the branch teacher and the class teacher.

The aim of the Science course is to help students achieve the following:

• Monitor the natural changes that are happening in the region and explain these situations using scientific processes,
• Identify scientific knowledge and use it accordingly,
• Understand the relationship between science, technology, community and environment,
• Develop problem-solving, scientific thinking and decision-making abilities,
• Understand the importance of reliability in scientific studies,
• Use and understand the basic scientific concepts, principles, laws and theories

The Information Technologies course is focused on problem-solving and programming. The course is carried out by the Information Technologies Department and in line with k12 system. The Information Technologies course is comprised of the following units: “Information and Communication Technologies”, “Designing Digital Products”, “Communication, Research and Collaboration”, “Computational Thinking” and “Ethics and Security”. Students are provided with the opportunity to carry out interdisciplinary studies and put what they have learned in other courses into perspective by using information technologies.

Problem-solving and programming course aims to develop the analytical thinking and coding skills of the students. The course covers the processes of thinking, design, implementation and creation and it is taught in both computer-based and regular learning environments.

Primary School Information Technologies Courses

At our school, we teach the Information Technologies course on a weekly basis starting from Grade 2.

The “Information and Communication Technologies”, “Designing Digital Products”, “Communication, Research and Collaboration”, “Computational Thinking” and “Ethics and Security” units that are covered in our curriculum can be changed and updated in line with the new technologies that occur during the academic year, or as per our students’ interests, desires and needs.

We carry out interdisciplinary studies for all levels throughout the year so that our students can put what they have learned in other courses into perspective by using information technologies.

Primary School Problem-Solving and Programming Courses

Problem-solving and Programming course is offered to 2nd Graders and 3rd Graders in order to help develop their data processing, analytical thinking, and coding skills.

The course is created to improve our students’ abilities to plan, implement and create. It covers curriculum units such as identifying the problems, generating proper solutions, understanding the concept of algorithm and developing analytical thinking skills. It also covers plugged and unplugged programming activities.

Primary School Workshops

The aim of the Primary School Workshops is to introduce different themes in the field of Information Technologies to our 3rd and 4th Graders. Workshops are carried out under the guidance of computer teachers and with the help of high school students.

“Programming for Kids” at Primary School

Students who are interested in the “Programming” field, one of the key learning outcomes of our Information Technologies course, can participate in this club. The club addresses to our 3rd and 4th Graders and its primary aim is to develop their programming skills. Our students can experience every step of project development throughout their participation in the club.

Information Strategies Policy 

Hisar School believes that when used efficiently, technology provides numerous and invaluable opportunities and experiences for the users (student, teacher, staff). When technology is structured and used to support education programs, it will help students to gain 21st-century skills… Read more

Games and physical activities course is taught as part of the Physical Education program. The learning program is within the scope of MEB’s curriculum and is comprised of the “Movement Competency, Active and Healthy Life” units. The curriculum is planned by taking the personal differences, interests and needs of the students into consideration. We enriched the MEB curriculum by adding different and unique branches of sport to the program. We aim our students to gain the habit of doing regular sports after finding out the right branch of sports for themselves by taking their personal differences into consideration.

The Visual Arts curriculum is comprised of the following units: “Visual Arts and Designing, Cultural Heritage, Art Criticism and Aesthetics”. The content of these areas are being enriched according to the personal development, interests and differences of the students. We organize learning environments that allow our students to discover their true potential and express themselves in an artistic way. We support the creativity of students in all areas and encourage them to produce original pieces of art. In order to support the personal interests and performances of our students from all levels, we organize the annual Hisar Series Of Mixed Exhibition at the Art Gallery in our Cultural and Arts Center.

We teach the Music course to our 1st, 2nd and 3rd Graders for two hours per week in line with the MEB curriculum. Starting from Grade 4, we encourage our students to choose a branch from the options of piano, violin, classical guitar, flute, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, vocal and percussion and then help them to specialize in the branch they have chosen. Our students improve themselves in the branch they chose in Grade 4 and they start to participate in our school orchestra starting from Grade 5. The reason we get into branches is to help our students specialize in a certain instrument and encourage them to go on stage with the school orchestra.