Art
Students explore materials and techniques that build understanding of art concepts, visual literacy, fine motor skills, problem solving, and independence. DCPS art curricula are rooted in contemporary art practices connecting art to themes like identity, community, history, and social justice.
For each project, students study an artist or art movement, learning to describe formal qualities — line, shape, color, value, form, and composition — before exploring those elements in their own work.
Music
Music instruction develops students’ understanding of music as a vehicle for self-expression, composition, and improvisation, centered on the digital keyboard. Students are exposed to bilingual nursery, folk, popular, classical, and modern music from around the world, building skills in voice, keyboard, improvisation, notation, composition, and arrangement from Kindergarten through 5th grade.
Physical Education
Each class receives 45 minutes of PE per week. ECE and Kindergarten focus on general movement skills (running, galloping, skipping, jumping, hopping) and ball skills. 1st and 2nd grade add tag games, tumbling, and fitness skills — 2nd graders also complete a biking unit ending in a bike field trip.
3rd–5th graders receive sport-specific instruction (tennis, football, basketball) plus fitness and endurance work, a jump-rope unit, and tinikling (a Filipino pole dance). 4th and 5th graders begin Fitnessgram fitness assessments per DCPS, and 4th graders take a hiking/nature field trip to Rock Creek Park.
Library
Students visit the library with their class weekly. Early Childhood focuses on community-building and reading-buddy habits; K-2 on read-alouds and navigating the library independently; 3-5 on information literacy, research skills, and Digital Citizenship (using the Common Sense Media curriculum). All classes follow AASL and ISTE technology standards.
The library holds over 11,000 titles, with a growing Spanish collection and graphic novels. It’s open after school on Tuesdays (3:30–4:30) and Wednesdays/Thursdays (4:30–5:30), plus a 3rd–5th grade yoga club on Wednesdays. Marie Reed’s library never charges late fines.
Science
Science engages students with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Crosscutting Concepts and Science Practices at every grade, PK through 5th. A Chemistry Club and Technology Club meet during lunch for 4th and 5th graders, and Computer Programming & Robotics is offered through the After-School Program.
Spanish
Students in the English-only program receive 45 minutes of Spanish as a Foreign Language weekly, beginning in Kindergarten. Instruction is aligned with ACTFL World Readiness Standards, covering interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes of language learning.
Swimming
Students in grades 3–5 receive one hour of swim instruction per week, following the American Red Cross “Learn to Swim” curriculum — covering fundamental water safety, floating, and strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke, and more), scaffolded to each swimmer’s skill level.