K curriculum: status (updated Oct 19, 2026, ET; English and Math v1 drafts written; Oct 20: Science, Social Studies, Arts, PE and Health v1 drafts written, not merged, not deployed)

Update Oct 20, 2026 (Science, Social Studies, Arts, PE and Health v1 drafts)

Written overnight on the box under James's Oct 20 standing go-ahead (local only). Same NYS-standards, NYC-calendar framing as English and Math. - Science: 7 units, all 14 K performance expectations (NYS P-12 Science Learning Standards). File K-SCIENCE.md. - Social Studies (the "History" subject): 7 units, K.1-K.9 and all 21 Conceptual Understandings (NYS K-8 SS Framework). File K-SOCIAL-STUDIES.md. - Arts: Visual Arts 6 units (16 standards) and Music 6 units (25 General Music indicators) (NYS Learning Standards for the Arts 2017). File K-ARTS.md. - PE and Health (added beyond the six core subjects): 7 units, 13 PE outcomes, Health Standards 1-3, K.PDH. File K-PE-HEALTH.md. - Sources: K-SOURCES-SCIENCE.md, K-SOURCES-SOCIAL-STUDIES.md, K-SOURCES-ARTS.md, K-SOURCES-PE-HEALTH.md. Fact-check: v2 section of K-FACTCHECK.md. Scope and sequence: second table in K-CURRICULUM.md. - .docx copies in /workspace/astor-k-curriculum-v2/. Kids site pages for all subjects in /workspace/astor-academy/kids-v2/ (local only). - Not committed, not pushed, not merged, not deployed.

Origin stories ("first spark") are still not written for any subject.

Branch m/k-curriculum off origin/main 6546df8. Nothing deployed, nothing merged, nothing linked from live pages. The live /methods core cards still show their pre-launch notice. The /methods landing page (m/methods-landing) was not touched.

What "K" means

K is "K, the introduction": the place to start if you have never done the subject before, at any age, adults included. It is not kindergarten in the school sense. Content stays grounded in real kindergarten-level standards (codes are mapped), but it is written for an absolute beginner of any age, respectful and not childish. Activities should work for a curious adult alone or for a parent with a kid.

Update Oct 19, 2026 (English and Math v1)

James's Oct 19 brief asks for a real kindergarten year for English and Math "based on New York City standards, New York State standards". So v1 of English and Math is written for a kindergarten teacher or parent on the NYCPS 2026-27 calendar (Sept 10, 2026 to June 28, 2027), aligned to the NYS Next Generation ELA and Mathematics Learning Standards (not Common Core) and to NYC Reads and NYC Solves. This changes two lines of the Oct 17 framing below: the framework is NYS Next Generation, and the audience is school kindergarten first (household-item swaps and a 2-week sampler keep it usable at home). Needs James's confirmation before the other four subjects follow the same framing.

Files: K-CURRICULUM.md (36-week scope and sequence, both subjects), K-ENGLISH.md, K-MATH.md, K-SOURCES-ENGLISH.md, K-SOURCES-MATH.md, K-FACTCHECK.md. Polished .docx copies: /workspace/astor-k-curriculum-v1/ on the box.

Scope (as briefed by James Oct 17)

• Six courses: Math, Science, English, History, Music, Art.
• Each one is a full year, about 36 weeks: a 36-week scope and sequence covering every K-level standard in its framework, then units (about 6-8), then weekly lessons with hands-on activities (common household items) and a simple check for understanding.
• Easy to start small: every unit stands on its own; a clear "start here" short taste (e.g. a 2-week sampler) plus a week-by-week full-year plan.
• Each unit has a short, true "first spark" origin story, sourced, with contested claims labeled. Every glyph or symbol is real, never invented.
• Frameworks to cite (with URLs, to be verified when work resumes): Common Core K Math and K ELA; NGSS Kindergarten (K-PS2, K-PS3, K-LS1, K-ESS2, K-ESS3, K-2-ETS1); C3 Framework / NCSS for K history/social studies; National Core Arts Standards for K Music and K Visual Art.
• Deliverables: draft pages under site/methods/k/ (noindex, not in nav, search index or sitemap), one page per subject plus a plain index; tools/methods/K-CURRICULUM.md; a sources list per subject; tools/methods/K-FACTCHECK.md; screenshots at 1440 and 390 in /workspace/astor-academy/previews-k-curriculum/.

Done, per subject

Only setup was done before the pause: the branch and worktree (JamesPC C:\Users\james\astor-kcurr-wt), and a box scratch copy of main (/workspace/astor-academy/k-curriculum-work/repo; its site/ was checked byte-for-byte against main, 1,934 files, 0 differences). No curriculum content, standards mapping or research has been written yet, so there is nothing to fact-check.

Next

• James reviews English and Math v1 and the NYS/NYC framing; then Science, History, Music, Art; origin stories; draft pages.

Original next steps (Oct 17)

1. Pull the official standards texts (CCSS K Math/ELA, NGSS K, C3/NCSS, NCAS K Music/Visual Art) and record exact codes and URLs.
2. Write the 36-week scope and sequence for all six subjects first, so the whole year is mapped, with every K-level standard covered.
3. Then fill units and weekly lessons subject by subject (with origin stories, activities, checks, sources), committing and pushing after each subject.
4. Fact-check every origin claim into K-FACTCHECK.md; build the draft pages (noindex, excluded from search index and sitemap; the search index only reads courses//content.js, so pages under methods/k/ will not enter it); run build-search-index, build-xref, sync-stats --check and the smoke suite; screenshots.