Curriculum

Mrs. Stephanie Hall, Assistant Principal of Curriculum

Mr. Juan Rivera, Assistant Principal of Curriculum

The classroom instruction is based on the expectations identified in the B.E.S.T. Standards.

Hammett L. Bowen, Jr. faculty and staff are proud to deliver a quality education designed to meet the needs of all students and ensure our students become self-sufficient, responsible citizens. By using the resources available, students will be able to continue to grow academically, as demonstrated by data.

The availability of an Instructional Focus Calendar is standard practice within the district for reading, math and science. These calendars map the instructional delivery of each benchmark and identify the window of testing for each District Progress Monitoring Assessments. These calendars were initially mapped by teacher committees. Each spring, teachers are surveyed for recommendations of improvement to the reading, math and science focus calendar.

Teachers are then invited to participate in summer committee work where these recommendations are reviewed, along with the data from the calendar assessments and a draft of any adjustments is made. Once the calendars receive final approval, they are available for download to the teacher's desktop at the start of the new school year. Assistant Principals are trained and in turn facilitate calendar implementation at their respective school sites. The expectation is that classroom instruction is planned around these calendars. The monitoring of them is achieved through Quarterly Standard Mastery Assessments that have been identified for each of the targeted benchmarks and the data that is monitored.

Textbooks

Students following a regular curriculum at Hammett L. Bowen, Jr. Elementary use the Marion County adopted textbooks.

  • Reading: myView by the Savvas Learning Company
  • Reading Foundational Skills: UFLI by The University of Florida
  • Writing: Top Score Writing curriculum
  • Math: enVision by the Savvas Learning Company
  • Science: Florida Science
  • Social Studies: Analytic Orange: Florida History Makers

Students are assigned textbooks to use in school and have digital access for home learning.

Subject Areas 

Content Areas Taught at Hammett L. Bowen, Jr. Elementary

English Language Arts (Reading/Writing/Foundational Skills)

Our current English Language Arts (ELA) textbook adoption is myView by Savvas and UFLI by The University of Florida. This series is a comprehensive K-5 curriculum. This robust design develops foundational skills and oral comprehension with rich and authentic literary and informational texts. Students have a minimum of 90 uninterrupted minutes of ELA instruction daily. Science and Social Studies are integrated through reading during the daily ELA block. In addition to the ELA program, we supplement instruction with Successmaker (an adaptive computer-based program.) Additionally, we use the Top Score Writing Curriculum in Grades 2-5.

Mathematics

Our current math adoption is enVision by Savvas. This series has been aligned with the Florida BEST Mathematics standards. In addition to the core math program, we supplement our mathematics curriculum with SuccessMaker, Reflex Math, and Frax. Teachers also utilize resources from CPALMS. Math is taught for a minimum of 60 minutes each day. Our teachers utilize manipulatives when teaching math and consistently teach critical thinking and problem-solving strategies to our students.

Science

Our current science adoption is McGraw-Hill: Florida Science. This series was built to empower students to ask questions, pose hypotheses, conduct hands-on investigations, and communicate their findings. The program is designed where inquiry lays the foundation for deep understanding of science, where a spirit of discovery improves students’ reading and writing skills, and where the ultimate goal is Florida State Academic Standards for Science (FSAS)mastery and a lifelong love of learning. 

Social Studies

Our current social studies adoption is Florida History Makers by Analytic Orange. This program is Florida's highest rated K-5 curriculum for social studies. The program was strategically selected research based teaching and learning methodologies to provide the maximum benefit to teachers and students. 

Art

We have a full-time art teacher at HBE.

Students will:

  • explore the great art, artists, and cultures of the world
  • develop skills to understand and appreciate artwork
  • participate in hands-on art activities
  • develop critical thinking skills by studying their artwork and others’ artwork

Music

We have a full-time music teacher at HBE.

  • explore the great music and different music genres
  • develop skills to understand and appreciate music
  • participate in hands-on music activities

Physical Education

We have two full-time PE teachers and two full-time PE technician. 

The Physical Education curriculum has been designed to meet the Florida State Standards. These standards include: movement competency, cognitive abilities, lifetime fitness, responsible behaviors, and values. Students are scheduled for PE 150-minutes per week. At Hammett Bowen, the students have PE 3x a week for 50 min. Students should wear the appropriate clothing and shoes to be successful in PE. 

Media

We also have a full-time media specialist. Students will have a scheduled time for their homeroom to attend media class and/or check out books. They will also have the opportunity to check out books throughout the week as well.