Washington uses a curriculum based on the Core Knowledge Sequence, a rich and rigorous body of information in American and world history, geography, science, literature, music and art. It is our belief that the most effective elementary education balances high expectations for mastery of basic reading, math, writing, and technology skills with a solid foundation of factual information in the content areas. The area of reading stresses systematic phonics instruction in the primary grades and builds vocabulary, comprehension and reading fluency throughout the grades and reading instruction is supplemented with classic literature recommended in the Core Knowledge Sequence. Math instruction uses a traditional style focused on the MN state standards with an emphasis on mastery of basic math facts, computation skills, concepts, and problem solving.