Lower School Academics

Nursery - Grade 3

Guided by extensive classroom experience, as well as attention to current research in the fields of education, child development, and neuroscience, our teachers carefully design the Lower School curriculum to:

• Include highly effective methods for developing core academic skills such as language skills, reading, writing, mathematics, and science.
• Incorporate visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic experiences to help students gain a deeper understanding of abstract concepts.
• Provide a highly integrated, cross-disciplinary learning experience that enables students to see each activity as part of a meaningful whole.
• Cultivate key 21st century skills such as creativity, effective communication, collaboration, and problem solving.
• Foster social and emotional growth as well as character development through the TIGER PRIDE program and by implementing teaching strategies from Responsive Classroom.
• Prepare students for global citizenship through the early introduction of Spanish and the in-depth study of numerous countries, histories, and cultures.
• Encourage effective study skills through classroom routines and structures, an emphasis on responsibility, and instruction in specific techniques such as organizing and planning projects, learning how to manage homework, and ways to use reference materials.

When we design activities that truly integrate the many individual disciplines, we help our children see the real purpose for learning." - Johnna Yeskey, Head of Lower School