Lower School
Lower School
Grades 1-5
During these early years of education, students develop a love of learning while building a solid academic foundation.
Integrating innovative and traditional educational practices is the hallmark of our successful Lower School curriculum.
Core Curriculum
Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies, & Consciousness, Connections and Life Skills (CCLS)
Arts & Music
Music, P.E., Art, Makers Space, Robotics, Seed to Table Greenhuse & Cooking, and Computers
WOW Walking Technique
We introduce a 5-minute walking children’s meditation technique, a simple practice enhancing focus and providing a quiet moment.
Home-Like Environment
Nurturing Environment
This is a place where your child is nurtured, and where your child is known and valued as a unique member of our family-like community of learners.
Children explore ideas and learn from each other in small, personal classes.
Teachers partner with parents to support students’ budding independence and help them identify how they learn best.
Small-group instruction in the core content areas of reading and writing, mathematics, science, and social studies allows for the full participation of each child. Cooperative groupings emphasize communication and collaboration skills.
Classes in art, greenhouse/cooking, music, makerspace, and physical education round out a stimulating and invigorating schedule that encourages ownership of learning, independence, and most of all, fun.
Social and Emotional Learning
Core Curriculum
In the Lower School, we create a nurturing and joyful environment where the foundations of Deep Learning and Deep Growth are laid. Our Consciousness-Based Education model fosters a love of learning through an integrated, activity-based curriculum. Students begin their day with the simple practice of Transcendental Meditation through the walking technique, which helps cultivate calmness, focus, and receptivity to learning.
Academics focus on core skills in literacy and numeracy, which are interwoven with science, social studies, and the arts to help children see the natural connections between different fields of knowledge. Our approach to social and emotional learning is rooted in the principles of Positive Discipline and Restorative Justice, creating a classroom community built on mutual respect. Students learn fundamental skills like sharing, active listening, and cooperation, laying the groundwork for the five core competencies of Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) that will be developed throughout their time at the school.
“My students come skipping down the hallway every day holding their tiny notebooks of ‘seed ideas’ to write their stories. After a short eight-minute mini-lesson they are sent off to read or write—‘off you go, writers,’ a favorite Lucy Calkins saying.”