Curriculum That Sparks the Joy of Learning
At Wisconsin Virtual Academy (WIVA), we believe all students should wake up excited to learn, and that true learning starts by calling out to the innate curiosity in each child and sparking the excitement of discovery.
That’s why WIVA uses the K12 curriculum. It was created by an experienced team of educators using proven instructional approaches. At the elementary level, students take courses in the core subjects listed below. Beginning in grade 3, they also take a self-guided elective course in music or a world language.
ENGLISH / LANGUAGE ARTS
MATH
SCIENCE
SOCIAL STUDIES
ART
4K Approach
Our 4K curriculum is designed to prepare your child for kindergarten while nurturing their social skills through hands-on learning and play. Our approach leverages innovative technology to create a supportive learning environment that emphasizes literacy and joyful exploration. Start your child’s educational journey with us, where every day is filled with growth, discovery, and excitement.
4K Curriculum
Embark is an engaging transitional kindergarten curriculum created by a team of developmental psychologists and academics. It includes high-quality online and offline learning experiences and provides exposure to core subjects. Courses are highly interactive, with audio and visuals to help children follow along, and can be taken at a pace that suits each child’s learning.
Kindergarten Curriculum
Our curriculum is rooted in the principles of how children learn, while the online school platform harnesses the power of 21st-century technology to make learning come alive. All courses are designed to help spark your child’s joy of learning—a joy that’s sure to grow with each academic year.
What does the online kindergarten experience look like?
Our online platform is designed to deliver engaging classes, support students, and keep things organized for parents. Young learners can access tools to help them become stronger readers, build skills through games, and recharge with their learning companion, Strider the Fox. Watch the demo videos to see how it works.
Meet Demonty
Demonty is a kindergarten student building his confidence and growing academically through online school. His mom, Janell, wanted an option that would allow her to be more involved and provide extra support to keep him on track. Demonty loves to explore outside, read books, and make friends while playing sports.
A Strong Foundation for Your Child’s Academic Journey
The elementary curriculum focuses on developing fundamental skills and teaching the key knowledge building blocks that each student needs to master the major subject areas, meet state standards, and complete more advanced coursework. Our personalized approach means students can go as fast or slow as they need to.
Bringing Lessons to Life
Lessons come alive with a rich mixture of online and hands-on materials including interactive animations; printed books with beautiful illustrations and narrative, original music and videos; and materials for hands-on experiments.*
Lessons are followed by formal and informal assessments, so you can be sure that your child has mastered a concept before moving on. Built-in planning and progress tools make it easy to stay on track. And with hundreds of lessons per subject, students can dive deeply into areas of interest.
ACT 20 – Wisconsin’s Literacy Law
What is Act 20?
In 2023, Wisconsin passed a comprehensive state law called Act 20 to ensure all Wisconsin school children will read at grade-level proficiency by the end of 3rd grade. It states that all instructional and curricular materials are based on the science of reading. Meaning, early literacy instruction must be systematic and explicit and contain the following areas:
- Phonological Awareness
- Phonemic Awareness
- Phonics
- Building Background Knowledge
- Oral Language building
- Instruction in Writing
- Instruction in comprehension
- Reading fluency
Act 20 and Wisconsin’s Department of Instruction mandates that each student in 4K-3rd grade will take an early reading screener called AimsWebPlus three times a year to assess their literacy skills based on their grade level.
Key Parts of the Assessment
To follow Act 20, the early literacy assessment system must include:
- rapid naming, phonological awareness, word recognition, spelling, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and, when developmentally appropriate for the pupil, oral reading fluency and reading comprehension
- Phonemic Awareness (recognizing and manipulating sounds in words)
- Decoding Skills (word recognition, spelling)
- Alphabet Knowledge (Rapid naming, fluency)
- Letter Sounds Knowledge (Rapid naming, fluency)
- Oral Vocabulary (vocabulary and listening comprehension)
- Oral Reading Fluency (when appropriate: putting it all together and reading smoothly)
Act 20 then required each school district to create and publish an early literacy remediation plan for all students in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade. This plan must include elements that all students will work on to improve their literacy skills. It must include a plan for students that may need additional support.
When are students assessed?
The AimsWebPlus early reading screen will take place 3 times a year for grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade and two times a year for 4-year-old Kindergarten.
What If a Student Scores Low?
The early reading screener provides insights into a child’s reading skills but does not diagnose dyslexia or other disabilities. Students scoring below the 25th percentile receive a Personalized Reading Plan, which outlines instructional support to help meet grade-level goals. This plan doesn’t automatically mean intervention is needed, but it connects classroom instruction to those goals.
How Will Families Get Information on Student Performance?
Families will receive their child’s test results within 15 days after they take the reading screener if they score below the 25th percentile on the AimsWebPlus early literacy screener.
They will also receive an email about information on the program called NextPath. NextPath is an online tool WIVA uses to help organize and process the screener data. NextPath allows families to see their child’s performance and Personalized Reading Plans.
If a child does not receive a reading plan, families can still access their results at nextpath.app.
Follow Up on PRPs
If a student in K-3rd grade has a personalized reading plan (or PRP), they will be required to complete progress monitoring at least once a month to help track their literacy growth. This also helps us to make sure we are boosting the correct literacy needs for each student.
Recurring Themes
Throughout our 4K–5 courses, you’ll find repeated themes that build on the previous grade’s teaching and weave an ever-richer tapestry of knowledge. That means your child may be reading literature from the same time period as the art or history lesson being studied. A story about a king who lost his wife and built a monument to her dovetails with an examination of the architecture and history of the Taj Mahal.
Schedules are Intentionally Designed to Support Student Growth in Reading
In the spring of 2024, we collaborated with teachers, learning coaches, and virtual schools across the country to create an instructional design that supports increased reading growth for our students. We have prioritized balancing screen time, teacher live instruction, independent work, socialization, play, and family time while providing instruction that meets the needs of individual students. To ensure our instruction meets our learner’s needs we will be administering short assessments at our meet and greets and throughout September so we know what each individual learner needs for their reading instruction. We are doing this as early as possible so we can begin with the appropriate instruction without delay. Given the need for assessment information before instruction, your learner’s schedule will be tentative and may change within the first few weeks of school.
Learning Partnerships at WIVA Elementary School
Partners Active in Learning (PALs): We believe that our learning coaches are our partners in learning, so we intentionally communicate with them to support their role as LCs. PALs newsletters, live sessions or teacher recorded sessions are sent out every week. During the sessions, teachers will walk through the week explaining the needed materials and how LCs can support their child’s learning. The goal is to provide LCs with the skills and information needed to support their learners’ learning.
BOY & MOY Conferences: We start every child’s experience at WIVA Elementary School with a conference with their new teacher during their Week of Welcome (WoW). In addition, every student is invited to a Beginning of Year (BOY) conference prior to the start of school with their homeroom teacher. This is a time for our teachers to get to know the learners and their specific goals for the school year. We also host Middle of the Year (MOY) conferences where we update progress and goals to ensure a strong finish of the school year.
Explore Our Courses
*Materials vary by course and grade. Please check with WIVA staff to see what offline course materials are provided.