Overview

We strive to provide a curriculum that has at its core emphasis on a classical education. This means literature, history, mathematics, science, language, music and the arts that have been valued by many generations as important to teach to children are important at BFCCPS.

The Core Knowledge Sequence, originated by Edward Hirsh, Ph.D., stressed the importance of being grounded in these fundamentals for understanding the basis of our culture and participation in it. Such fundamentals include, for example, the basic principles of constitutional government, important events of world history, essential elements of mathematics and of oral and written expression, widely acknowledged masterpieces of art and music, and stories and poems passed down from generation to generation. By clearly specifying important knowledge in language arts, history and geography, math, science, and the fine arts, the Core Knowledge Sequence presents a practical answer to the question, "What do our children need to know?" Shared Literacy depends on shared knowledge. To be literate means, in part, to be familiar with a broad range of knowledge taken for granted by speakers and writers. For example, when sportscasters refer to an upset victory as "David knocking off Goliath," or when reporters refer to a "threatened presidential veto," they are assuming that their audience shares certain knowledge. One goal of the Core Knowledge Sequence is to provide all children, regardless of background, with the shared knowledge they need to be included in our national literate culture

Our curriculum blends the Core Knowledge Sequence with the educational guidelines of the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.  We reach beyond both of these, emphasizing classical education, through our  music and arts programs, and Latin and French language programs. BFCCPS is proud to have been selected by the NAMM Foundation as one of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education" in 2006 and 2008. In language we do not stop at our classes in French and Latin during the school hours. After hours programs have included other languages such as American Sign Language and Mandarin.    

Our vision of "classic" extends to the future as well as we consider the skills our children will need as they mature. Our mathematics, computer technology and science programs are growing. Children learn not just the facts of science but also the ability to reason scientifically and support their data statistically. Our annual science fair, proctored by parents who are scientists, provides a venue for teaching children to communicate in our increasingly technical world.

In the curriculum knowledge is transmitted to children sequentially, grade by grade, so that there are no gaps in learning. A topic covered in the first grade "spirals" back to be covered in greater depth or from a different perspective in later grades. People often find the topics covered in the curriculum to be challenging ones, and so they are surprised that first graders, for example, learn topics such as Mesopotamia and electricity. What parents and teachers together have discovered is that children are sponges, and it is up to us as educators to provide them with the right kind of "liquid" knowledge to absorb.