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Our Curriculum

Legacy of Dr. Josie R. Johnson Montessori teachers deliver lessons that engage students and provide small-group center activities and discussions.  All lessons are culturally responsive and include social-emotional learning.  There are key points during the day where students may be working individually or engaging with supplemental products designed to enrich or remediate specific skills.  Our teachers create curriculums that meld technology platforms with traditional methods to make learning efficient, effective, and engaging.

Core Subjects

Educational research is clear that the number one factor in determining student achievement is the quality of their teacher. Every teacher creates a detailed curriculum that best supports each student’s learning in the following core subjects.

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  • Language Arts

  • Math

  • Science

  • Social Studies

Language Arts

We help students develop vital communication skills while inspiring a love of literature. Our youngest students learn phonics, grammar, and comprehension skills and prepare for reading through multi-sensory activities. JJ Legacy students comprehend and analyze both fiction and non-fiction texts as early as kindergarten. The program emphasizes classic works, writing as a process, and the skills that will be tested when our students begin taking the MCAs in third grade.

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Learn more about our Kindergarten-2nd grade program here: SuperKids and Functional Phonics.
Learn more about our 3rd-6th grade program here: iReady.

Math

JJ Legacy balances fundamental math skills with critical thinking and problem-solving. Our active approach ensures that students understand the realities that underlie mathematical concepts. The math curriculum promotes a Growth Mindset. Units spark students’ interest and curiosity, provide only enough information to open up students’ thinking, and motivate them to persevere through challenges involved in problem-solving.

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Learn more about our Kindergarten-6th grade program here:  Reveal Math.

Science

Our science program uses hands-on experiments to support the systematic study of life, earth, and the physical sciences. We nurture curiosity as students practice observation and analytical skills. Students also learn how our understanding of the world is shaped by ongoing scientific and technological advances. Teachers provide regular opportunities for students to participate in experiments and projects that include opportunities to apply mathematics and technology through age-appropriate activities.

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Learn more about our Kindergarten-6th grade program here: Science.

Social Studies

With integrated topics in geography, civics, economics, and history, our Social Studies program opens young minds and imaginations to far-off lands, distant times, diverse cultures and their own community. We explore the history, geography and the relationships that exist in our community, nation and world.

Social Emotional Learning

Research says SEL (Social Emotional Learning) builds social and emotional skills that increase students' engagement and lead to improved academic performance. At JJ Legacy, we understand that nurturing the whole child is imperative to student success. We provide SEL-focused classrooms, which include three components: a supportive classroom environment, integration of SEL into academic instruction, and explicit SEL instruction. A part of our SEL work is rooted in The Zones of Regulation Curriculum in collaboration with evidence-based

practices, specifically Dr. Wade Nobles’ world-renowned research and educational

experience that honors the whole child in order to combat white supremacy in

education.

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Learn more about Zones of Regulation here. 

 

Learn more about Dr. Wade Nobles here.

Specialty Subjects

A truly well-rounded education must nourish the body and soul as well as the mind. We believe in the value of exposing children to the arts as well as opportunities for exercise and physical competition.

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  • Art

  • Physical Education

Art

At JJ Legacy, our school is filled with beautiful artwork created by our young artists. Our talented art instructor teaches our students calming social-emotional learning through art therapy.

Image by CDC

Nine Recurring
Cultural Themes

The Center for Applied Cultural Studies for Educational Achievement (CACSEA). The Nsaka Sumsun, Touching the Spirit Educational Process for Achieving Educational Excellence with African American Students, Dr. Augusta Mann, Program Manager. Dr. Wade Nobles, Director. The following themes have been identified by researchers as central in the lives of large numbers of African-American people.

Spirituality

Pervades the traditional African and African American ethos. It is based on the belief that all elements of the universe are of one substance (Spirit) and all matter, animate or inanimate, are merely different manifestations of the Godforce (Spirit).

Communalism

Pervades the traditional African and African American ethos. It is based on the belief that all elements of the universe are of one substance (Spirit) and all matter, animate or inanimate, are merely different manifestations of the Godforce (Spirit).

Realness

Refers to the need to face life the way it is without pretense. It is manifested by a contempt for artificiality and falseness in human conduct, an aversion to formality and standardization, frankness of manner, and casualness in social transactions.

Resilience

Is the conscious need to bounce back from disappointment and disaster and to have the tools of humor and joy to renew life's energy. Verve is a desire for creative extemporaneousness - a sense of utter antipathy for the mundane and monotonous, the ability to focus on and handle several issues at once. The idea of transformation (the process of becoming better) is informed by two distinct yet interrelated ideas, verve and resilience.

Orality and Verbal Expressiveness

Refers to the special importance attached to knowledge that is passed on through word of mouth and the cultivation of oral virtuosity. It implies a special sensitivity to aural modes of communication and a reliance on oral expression to carry meaning and feelings.

Emotional Vitality

Expresses a sense of aliveness, animation, and openness conveyed in the language, oral literature, song, dance, body language, folk poetry, and expressive thought.

Humanism

Describes the African view that the whole world is vitalistic (alive) and that this vitality is grounded in a sense of goodness.

Personal Style and Uniqueness

Refers to the cultivation of a unique or distinctive personality or essence and putting one's own brand on an activity - a concern with style more than with being correct or efficient. It implies approaching life as if it were an artistic endeavor.

Musicality & Rhythm

Demonstrates the connectedness of movement, music, dance, percussiveness, and rhythm, personified through musical beat. Also implied.is a rhythmic orientation toward life. Rhythm, the fundamental principle in human behavior, reigns as the basic ingredient of African-American expressiveness.

(612) 302-3410

2201 Girard Ave N. Minneapolis, MN 55411

Office Hours: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM     

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