Curriculum The following is a brief summary of key curricular components of each grade. For more details, please see the AWSNA website 1st Grade: Fairy tales, nature stories; pictorial and phonetic introduction to letters; reading approached through writing; qualities of numbers; introduction to the four processes in arithmetic, lower multiplication tables; pentatonic flute. 2nd Grade: Legends and animal fables; reading, simple composition, elements of grammar; arithmetic including place value, carrying and borrowing; recorder. 3rd Grade: Old Testament stories introduce history; cursive writing, spelling, original compositions, punctuation and parts of speech; higher multiplication tables, weights, measures and money; study of practical life-farming, housing, clothing; Native American Studies, string lessons. 4th Grade: Norse mythology and sagas; composition, letter writing; fractions; local geography and map making; study of the animal kingdom-introduction to zoology; string lessons. 5th Grade: Ancient civilizations through Greek times, Greek myths; arithmetic, decimals, ratios and proportion; botany; woodwork; strings. 6th Grade: Roman and medieval history; physics (acoustics, electricity, magnetism, optics and heat); biographies; introduction to algebra, geometric drawing with instruments; astronomy; orchestra. 7th Grade: Arthurian legends, voyages of discovery, the Renaissance; world geography; physics (mechanics); physiology; chemistry. 8th Grade: Short stories, Shakespearean drama; algebra, geometry; American history; physics (hydraulics), organic chemistry.