General Studies Curriculum:

Language Arts

Our language arts curriculum is organized around compelling literary works. A steady diet of literature from the earliest years provides the child with significant content through which the language competencies of listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed in an integrated and meaning-centered fashion.

We use the best approach in the instruction of all novice readers and writers by creating a rich environment, steeped in authentic language and stimulating stories that vitally connect with what the children already know and are curious about. In the early grades, phonics is a dominant mode of reading, but never becomes the whole program.

Mathematics

In our exemplary mathematics program, students are not sentenced to endlessly repeating procedures that produce single, correct answers; rather, they are given opportunities to construct their own mathematical understandings from open-ended encounters with challenging situations.

Students experience mathematics as a way of interpreting the world around them, frequently working together. Students use the language of mathematics, explaining their thinking, orally and in writing; building their understanding of mathematics over a long period of time.

Science

Science is more than a collection of facts about the natural world; it is a way of thinking, of approaching problems objectively by theorizing about what might be from careful observation of what is, and then testing the hypothesis. Science helps all students learn how to think as scientists think, even as they become familiar with the laws and principles that govern the natural world. Young students are doing science, not merely listening to stories about it.

Social Sciences

Our strong social sciences program helps all students to develop their full potential for personal, civic and professional life. The curriculum for young students is centered in a core of historical and geographical knowledge, emphasizing ethics and democratic values. It helps students better understand themselves and others and to develop judgment, perception, civic pride and responsibility.