Lower School Program
At the core of our instructional program, 1st-4th grade, our fundamental belief is that children benefit greatly from exposure, opportunities to make decisions about their learning, opportunities to engage in learning through “real life” experiences, and opportunities to engage with and learn from peers. This is reflective of our Mission in that it teaches students how to be problem solvers, design thinkers, and agents of change. Intentional play is the foundation of our Primary School program, establishing the conditions in which young children are able to think in imaginative ways, use sophisticated mental functions, and develop foundational literacy and quantitative skills.
Our program provides all students with opportunities to engage in academic and extracurricular activities that promote positive cognitive, creative, and physical development.
Beginning with a balanced breakfast and morning exercise, our extended school day starts at 8:30 am. Our program provides all students with opportunities to engage in academic and extracurricular activities that promote positive cognitive, creative, and physical development. In the Primary School, we have implemented the Success for All Literacy Curriculums. For emergent readers, the Reading Roots program provides a structured approach to teaching foundational reading skills. As students progress through the program, they eventually graduate into the Reading Wings program, which provides engaging text that is appropriate for a student's level helping to further develop their fluency, comprehension and writing skills.
Science begins as early as Pre-K 3 and is embedded into the Tools of the Mind curriculum in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classrooms. As students progress into the elementary program, so does their science curriculum. 1st-4th grade, has units that cover Physical Science, Earth Science and Life Science. The curriculum is hands-on and inquiry based; focused on making observations, developing hypotheses, conducting fair tests, recording accurate results and forming conclusions. These foundational science skills prepares students for the Middle School Science program Activate Learning (5th grade) and IQWST (6th-8th grade).
Trapezium Math is used in the lower school to build strong foundations for success in pre-algebra and algebra in the middle school. In grades K-3 there is a strong emphasis on building automaticity and fluency with basic number facts as well as reasoning with time, money and space. Fourth grade is dedicated to applying this mastery to critical thinking and problem solving with whole numbers including reading tables, charts and graphs, geometry and measurement.