CULTIVATING CREATIVE MINDS & CAPABLE HANDS

The Elementary grades teaching aims to develop individuality and freedom balanced with cooperation and collaboration. Academic subjects such as math, reading, and writing are introduced in ways that nurture students’ natural curiosity and imagination. Subjects are brought to life through multicultural and history-based stories. Drama, painting, drawing and movement are used to lead students in learning beyond the memorization of facts. Students learn that even the most abstract concepts can be concretely grounded in the real world.

Grades 1-3

In these years the children’s forces of imitation and delight in learning are employed to their fullest. The creation of a rich language environment draws the students forward to reading and writing skills. In early lessons the vitality of language is preserved through the recitation of playful verses and masterful poetry. Writing down well-loved stories addresses the students’ need to be active in the learning process. Consequently, reading follows naturally when the content is already intimately connected to the students. Learning is less stressful, and all levels of literacy are addressed.

Movement and math go hand in hand as students step and clap rhythmically through the times tables. Numbers likewise begin with the children’s immediate experience and are made concrete by counting shells or beans. Knitting and flute playing develop dexterity in head and hand. Exposure to Spanish develops inner flexibility, setting the tone for interest and appreciation for other cultures and peoples.

In third grade, children begin to separate themselves from their environment and begin to look more critically and consciously at their environment. Practical skills, such as farming, house building and measurement, are studied. At this time, carefully chosen stories provide reassurance and support for the inner stages of growth.

Grades 4 – 5

The fourth grader meets the world with new capacities of thinking and feeling. The students wish to have experiences of self that are wider than the family. The curriculum addresses their need to move beyond themselves while cultivating a warm, human connection with the environment. For example, early science lessons introduce them to the animal kingdom in relation to the human being.

Geography lessons begin with a map of the classroom and expand outward to encompass the local community and countryside, and later to the whole of the United States. Students learn to ask, “What is it about the natural resources of this particular place that led human beings to settle here?”

Botany follows in fifth grade as they learn to observe the characteristics of various plants and the environmental conditions in which they thrive. Students observe, draw, and paint the unfolding phases of plant growth from root to leaf to flower. Hero stories from the great mythological traditions of the world form the thematic heart of the language arts curriculum. Students learn about ancient world culture through the literature and history of the peoples of India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Scandinavia and Greece.