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After his first learning acquired in nursery school, your child is entering elementary school (often called “primary school”). It is the beginning of a new adventure which will help him to discover and refine essential notions such as language, mathematics, and many other subjects still. But what does this primary school program consist of? We tell you all about what awaits your child!
Primary school or elementary school, what’s the difference?
Strictly speaking, primary school regroup kindergarten (Small Section, Medium Section, Large Section) and Elementary school (CP, CE1, CE2, CM1 and CM2). But it is often to evoke these five years that we speak of primary school.
The two cycles of elementary school
Unlike kindergarten, where education corresponds to a single cycle (cycle 1), elementary school is broken down into two cycles. The first, the 2 cycle, is the cycle of fundamental learning. It takes place du CP up to CE2 understood. Cycle 3, for its part, consists of consolidating these fundamentals. It lasts from CM1 to XNUMX, in college.
The two cycles are both divided into five themes:
- Languages, to think and communicate
- Methods and tools, to learn
- The training of the person and the citizen
- Natural systems and technical systems
- Representations of the world and human activity
What are the hours at primary school?
The primary school hours are 24 class hours per week. It should be noted that overtime can be arranged on an optional basis for pupils in difficulty.
In cycle 2 (CP, CE1 and CE2), the schedules are distributed as follows:
– French : 10 hours
– Mathematics: 5 hours
– Physical and Sports Education: 3 hours
– Living language : 1 hour 30
– Artistic teaching: 2 hours
– Question the world: 2 hours
In Cycle 3 (CM1 and CM2), the hours are slightly different:
– French : 8 hours
– Mathematics: 5 hours
– Physical and Sports Education: 3 hours
– Living language : 1 hour 30
– Artistic teaching: 2 hours
– Moral education / History and Geography: 2 hours 30
– Science and technology : 2 hours
Cycle 2 in primary school: details of the program
Cycle 2: master the basics of French
While the child has already started to develop the basics of oral expression in kindergarten, the Cycle 2 program will allow him to consolidate, but also to develop his writing. At the end of CE2, the pupil should have a solid foundation in reading and writing. He will thus be able to independently read texts adapted to his age. Cycle 2 is also the introduction to the elementary notions of grammar, vocabulary and syntax.
Cycle 2: the discovery of modern languages
In addition to learning the French language, elementary school students will begin to discover foreign languages. The goal will be to achieve an A1 level in the chosen language. This will mainly involve learning the spoken word. At the end of the cycle, the child should be able to understand orally and know how to take part in a conversation. He will also have discovered different cultural aspects of the language studied.
Cycle 2: Music and Plastic Arts
Artistic education in Cycle 2 will be divided into two subjects: plastic arts and music.
The children go, in plastic arts, to experiment their first artistic projects. They will also discover the world of Art and begin to forge a critical mind in this area. Learning takes place through three main themes: representation of the world, expression of emotions and storytelling, and testimony through images.
As for music, the program will give pride of place to singing. Children will learn to explore and imagine, but also to refine their listening and their musical knowledge.
Sport in Cycle 2
Physical education in primary school will continue its role of developing motor functions in children, but will also allow them to build these five skills: develop their motor skills and learn to express themselves using their body, take ownership, through physical and sporting practice, methods and tools, sharing rules, assuming roles and responsibilities, learning to maintain one’s health through regular physical activity and adopting a sporting and artistic physical culture.
Discovering the world and morality
In the first grades of primary school, children will begin to be trained in civics and what characterizes morality. They will thus discover the responsibilities that entail group life, but also the values that characterize the Republic. They will thus be able to develop during these lessons their conscience and their capacity for judgment.
The pupils will also continue their discovery of the world already initiated in kindergarten. They will thus begin to develop scientific approaches, but also train themselves in digital tools. They should also be able to locate themselves in space and time at the end of the cycle.
The basics of mathematics in Cycle 2
Mathematics in Cycle 2 will be based on problems solving. In this way, children will be introduced to the basics of mental calculation. They will thus learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide. The pupils will also develop their writing of numbers, but also assimilate new concepts, such as tens, halves… Cycle 2 will also provide children with basic concepts. geometry. In parallel with the elements of the section “Questioning the world” (see previous paragraph), they will be able to approach the concepts of plane figures and solids, and be tested on these subjects through exercises.
Elementary school: Cycle 3, to consolidate knowledge
Once you have passed CE2, your child will start a new cycle, which aims to consolidate the achievements of the previous cycle. In terms of schedules, students will have, as for cycle 2, 24 hours of lessons per week, but with the possibility of working overtime if they have difficulties.
French in cycle 3: focus on autonomy
If the pupil of cycle 2 must have acquired the bases of reading and writing, the third cycle will allow him to use these capacities in other fields. The child will thus be able to express himself orally in a clear and orderly manner. He will also gain in handwriting speed, but he will also be introduced to word processor. As for reading, at the end of cycle 3, the child should be able to read aloud and silently in a fluid manner. The learning of grammar and syntax will also be more advanced, and the child will be able to begin to analyze texts and develop their understanding of the language. Finally, cycle 3 will sharpen students’ literary culture through various texts that stimulate their imagination and enrich their knowledge.
Modern languages in Cycle 3: further learning
For learning a foreign language, cycle 3 will continue that of the previous cycle and gradually bring students to level A1. They will thus work listening, understanding, writing, speaking and talking, as well as the discovery of the cultural aspects of the studied language. This learning will take place along three axes: the person and daily life, geographical, historical and cultural landmarks in the language studied, and finally the imagination.
Cycle 3: discovery of the history of art
The plastic arts and music will continue, as in cycle 2, to develop children’s artistic sensitivity. In the visual arts, they will continue to express themselves and produce artistically, based on on three main axes : the plastic representation and the devices in presentation, the fabrications and the relations between the object and the space, and finally the materiality of the plastic production and the sensitivity to the constituents of the work. In music, perception and production will be at the heart of the Third Cycle. The novelty will consist for cycle 3 in a more in-depth discovery of History of Art, which will help the pupils to develop their general culture, by working on the identification and analysis of works of art.
Cycle 3: CM1 and CM2: we start History-Geography
If, as in CP, CE1 and CE2, children will be trained in moral and civic questions, they are now going, in the third cycle, discover History and geography. History in CM1 will be made up of these three themes: “And before France?”, “The time of kings”, and finally “The time of the Revolution and the Empire”. In CM2, the themes will be: “The Time of the Republic”, “The industrial age in France” and “France, from the World Wars to the European Union”.
Regarding geography, CM1 students will study the following themes: “Discovering the places where I live”, “Housing, culture, leisure in France” and “Consuming in France”. In CM2, the themes will be: “Getting around”, “Communicating from one end of the world to the other thanks to the Internet” and “Better living”.
Primary school: science and technology at the heart of CM1 and CM2
During CP, CE1 and CE2, children became aware of the world evolving around them. The third cycle will teach them concrete, scientific and technical notions. This material will be divided into four distinct themes:
- Matter, movement, energy, information
- Living things, their diversity and the functions that characterize them
- Materials and technical objects
- The earth. Living things in their environment
Cycle 3 : cmaterials that change little
The mathematics, although obviously still very important in the classes of CM1 and CM2 (5 hours per week) are in Cycle 3 a deepening of what is studied in the previous cycle. The expectations are therefore the same, even if more efficiency and speed will be required in problem solving and mental arithmetic.
We find the same thing for Physical Education and Sports (EPS), which remains in the continuity of what is done in the second cycle.