Curriculum

In This Section

Briarwood's curriculum is delivered by highly trained educators who understand the importance of developing skills and strategies students need in order to reach their academic potential. Structured, explicit, systematic, and multi-sensory approaches are used throughout the grades. An emphasis is placed on teaching students learning strategies across the grade levels that, once internalized, can be used in any academic environment. In this way, students are taught how to learn. The educator's ability to weave together the strengths, needs, grade-level expectations, learning strategies, and social/emotional well-being of each child is one of the things that makes Briarwood different and effective.

Primary (K-2nd Grades)

Language Development - Oral language development includes explicit instruction in phonological awareness, story retell, oral sentence building, and expanding students' oral vocabulary. Reading comprehension and written expression skills are addresses using tactile learning tools.
Phonics and Decoding - Primary students are immersed in evidence-based programs utilizing a structured literacy approach. Fundations, a systematic and repetitive phonics and spelling program developed by Wilson Learning Systems, is used to teach phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, and fluency.
Reading Comprehension - Students are taught to be active readers by learning specific strategies that build metacognition, such as visualizing, making connections, asking questions, making predictions, inferencing, and drawing conclusions.
Language Arts - The Framing Your Thoughts Program teaches sentence structure through a sequential and systematic method of instruction. Using graphic symbols to represent the sentence parts and how they function, students generate sentences with accuracy and creativity. The C.O.P.S. (Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, Spelling) strategy is used for editing. Cursive handwriting is taught beginning in first grade.
Math - Through the use of manipulatives, multi-sensory teaching, and explicit instruction, students progress through curriculum that focuses on developing number sense, understanding the language of math, math fact fluency, and problem solving. Teachers are trained by math consultants, in conjunction with Lower School Math Coordinator, to design and deliver the most effective lessons to the students. Our math curriculum is guided by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.
Social Studies and Science - Students engage in hands-on science experiments and explore the living world around them through science lessons. Social studies focuses on reading, language arts, and math are used in conjunction with science and social studies lessons, creating a cross-curricular learning environment.
Focused Intervention Time - Students receive one hour of focused intervention time (FIT) which is built into their schedule each day. Students are assigned to a specific FIT class based on their area of greatest need.
Instructional Programs
Primary classes utilize a variety of evidence-based programs and methodologies. Some of these include Rave-O, Lively Letters, Fundations, Math-U See, Story Grammar Marker, Framing Your Thoughts, William Van Cleave Writing Methodology, Chris Woodin Math Methodology, Expanding Expression Tool, Studies Weekly, IXL, and Reflex Math.

3rd and 4th Grades

Language Arts - Students are immersed in evidence-based programs utilizing a structured literacy approach. Fundations, a systematic and repetitive phonics and spelling program developed by Wilson Learning Systems, is used to teach phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, and fluency. The Framing Your Thoughts program teaches sentence structure through a sequential and systematic method of instruction. Using graphic symbols to represent the sentence parts and how they function, students generate sentences with accuracy and creativity. The C.O.P.S. (Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, Spelling) strategy is used for editing. Cursive handwriting instruction and practice continues.
Reading - Students are taught to be active readers by learning specific strategies that build metacognition, such as visualizing, making connections, asking questions, making predictions, inferencing, and drawing conclusions. Literacy concepts and genre study are explored through fiction and non-fiction texts. Written expression is incorporated into lessons, and students are guided to crafting responses that express their thoughts. Morphology is taught through word study.
Math - Under the direction of the Lower School Math Coordinator, teachers use manipulatives, multi-sensory teaching, and explicit instruction to guide students through curriculum that has been specifically designed to meet their unique learning needs. Instruction focuses on developing number sense, math language, math facts, and problem solving. Multi-step word problems are dissected and analyzed using reading comprehension strategies, creating a cross-curricular experience for the student. Through extensive training from nation-wide math consultants, teachers use their expertise to deliver lessons that challenge students while providing appropriate support. Our math curriculum is guided by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.
Social-Studies and Science - Students engage in hand-on science experiments and explore the living world around them through science lessons. Social studies lessons include project-based learning focusing on Texas history and a study of geography. Many of the skills taught in reading, language arts, and math are used in conjunction with science and social studies lessons, creating a cross-curricular learning environment.

5th and 6th Grades

Language Arts - Explicit instruction in sentence, paragraph, and multi-paragraph development is delivered by teachers trained in designing lesson plans for students with language based disabilities. Students engage in creating multi-paragraph compositions, including research papers. Peer and self-editing strategies are emphasized with appropriate support, Through the use of one-to-one laptops, students become familiar with using technology to aid their learning and expression. In addition to computer-based skills, cursive handwriting is explicitly taught.
Reading - Using Wilson Learning System's Just Words program, teachers skillfully design lessons that combine phonemic awareness, decoding, word study and spelling. They also teach grade-level literacy concepts while engaging in analysis of various genres.
Math - Under the direction of the Lower School Math Coordinator, teachers use manipulatives, multi-sensory teaching, and explicit instruction to guide students through curriculum that has been specifically designed to meet their unique learning needs. Instruction focuses on developing math language, math facts, problem solving, and critical thinking. Multi-step word problems are dissected and analyzed using reading comprehension strategies, creating a cross-curricular experience for the student. Through extensive training from nation-wide math consultants, teachers use their expertise to deliver lessons that challenge students while providing appropriate support. Our math curriculum is guided by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.
Science and Social Studies - Students engage in hands-on science experiments while exploring a variety of topics from F.O.S.S. program and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Scientific vocabulary is studied using strategies consistent with reading and language arts classes. Through project-based learning, students explore a variety of topics including cells, weather phenomenon, the solar system, physics, and environmental science. In 5th grade social studies, students learn about early American history using the History Alive program. Throughout the lessons, students have the opportunity to engage in role-playing, take on various points of view through debates, and generate their own plausible answers to the mysterious disappearance of the Roanoke Colony.

Focused Intervention Time

All students receive one hour of focused intervention time (FIT) which is built into their schedule each day. Students are assigned to a specific FIT class based on their area of greatest need. FIT classes include small-group targeted intervention in decoding, phonological awareness, comprehension, math and written expression. Determination of a student's FIT class is based upon several factors, including submitted or updated psycho-educational testing, standardized assessment performance, and teacher observation in class. Student data is collected on a continual basis and new educational opportunities are identified based on that information.

After School Programs

Mastery Center is a structured study hall offered on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 3:00 - 3:40 pm. Any student is welcome to attend Mastery Center to work on homework in a quiet environment. Teachers monitor this after-school homework time and help students as needed. There is no fee to attend Mastery Center. TO learn more about Mastery Center click Mastery Center
Mustang Madness is Briarwood's after-school program that offers fun and exciting classes for students on Monday's, Tuesday's, and Thursdays from 4:00 - 5:00 pm. Each semester, a variety of classes are offered such as Tae Kwon Dom International Cooking, Musical Theater, Yoga, Golf, Coding, and more. There is a fee to register for Mustang Madness classes. For more information about Mustang Madness or to register click Mustang Madness