Lower Elementary

Dynamic Environments

Our Lower Elementary classrooms are filled with creativity and imagination! In these dynamic environments, you will see students working individually or in small groups, and engaged with teachers in lessons. The curriculum is designed to explore the “why” and “what” questions that children naturally begin to ask at around the age of six:

• What is the sun made of?
• Why does a compass point north?
• What happens to the food I eat?
• Why do boats float?
  

Empowering the Student

Each day students plan and prioritize their work for that day. They choose the order in which math, language, and cultural lessons are completed on their individual work plans. This empowers them by giving them opportunities to manage their own time along with other executive functioning skills such as prioritization and organization.

Advancing Academic Knowledge

Teachers guide children to connect their special interests and passions to all areas of the classroom. A child interested in horses, for example, might be guided to explore "parts of a mammal" using a horse diagram, write, edit, and publish an imaginative story about a family of horses using rich, descriptive language, asked to practice long division to determine how many pounds of food to feed a group of horses, or invited to research a particular breed of horses and present their findings to their classmates. In the Lower Elementary classroom, fostering a love of learning is the key to advancing academic knowledge and instills a deep understanding of core concepts in math, language, sciences, and cultural studies.

Enriched Curriculum

Music, Theater, Physical Education, Spanish and Art, taught by specialists, are part of the weekly curriculum. In addition to numerous field trips, all 1st to 3rd Year students participate in a spring overnight, and 3rd Year students take a much anticipated annual trip in the fall.