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Elementary School
The Elementary Program comprises grades one through five. All subjects in the Elementary Program are united across grade levels and subject matter by the following characteristics:
Hands-on Learning
Students interact with rich, concrete materials in addition to reading and class discussions. Choice examples of hands-on learning include Cuisenaire rods to visualize math concepts, measuring distances all around the school with tape measure in hand, building simple machines from art scraps in order to study physics, sculpting a topographical map of the Bay’s ecosystem from salt clay, and performing Ghanaian folk dances as part of a study of Africa.
Minds-on Learning
Students are asked to question, look for evidence, compare, express opinions, act on convictions, and develop an awareness of how their thinking grows. Thinking routines such as “What Do You Know, How Do You Know That,” or “Connect, Extend, Question,” guide and inspire such thinking work.
Student-Centered
Student motivation for learning is inspired through choice, careful selection of topics that match an age group’s interest, and an emphasis on individual passions. Whether achieved through the first grade’s dinosaurs study to stir our budding young paleontologists’ excitement to write the first research report of the academic careers, or each third grader’s own selection of a topic (anything from sushi-making to ancient Mayans) to “teach” their classmates in a full-blown oral report – the effect is the same: highly and genuinely motivated learners who enjoy school so much, they are enthused to get up and go every day!
Integrated Curriculum
Teachers work together to show students how all aspects of a subject matter weave together to form a whole. The Art teacher may help students make puppets for a dialogue in Spanish, and the Music teacher may teach authentic lion dance steps to students studying Lunar New Year.
Traditions
Celebrations and traditions mark the passing of time joyously and memorably for elementary students. From the first day of school, students gather with teachers for a ceremony that includes singing together, celebrating the school from the freshness of first graders to the wisdom of eighth graders, and gonging in the new year with great seriousness and pomp. Throughout the year, students look forward to annual rituals such as Halloween and Martin Luther King Day in which they eagerly look forward to role their grade traditionally plays as part of the celebration. More frequently, an old-fashioned writing journal and scrapbook called The Black Journal accompanies the students as they move up every year and record self-portraits and written and drawn memories of field trips, concerts, and other occasions. Students never tire of looking back through memory lane to see the evolution of their writing and drawing.
Classroom Community
Each classroom celebrates a Person of the Week routine in which each student gets a turn in the spotlight. Students also share classroom jobs to learn responsibility and care of their environment. They feed the pets, prepare snack, and serve a hot lunch to one another (including composting and recyclying afterwards)! Students and teachers agree together on norms of respect and care for each others’ feelings and use class meetings and other conflict resolution approaches when disagreements arise.
Field Trips
Field Trips and overnight trips enrich particular areas of study. A few examples: a class studying China visits the Asian Art Museum, a class studying the Bay Area overnights at The Headlands Institute, and a class studying California history overnights in the Coloma Gold Country.
Multicultural Education
Students explore our multi-cultural world by experiencing world cultures through music, art, literature, specific culture studies, field trips, language, and physical education. Teachers draw on guest speakers, performers and parents to ensure varied cultural experiences and celebrations. From book fairs, to holidays, to cultural studies, the school reflects a deep commitment to cultural literacy.
Environmental Studies
From young children learning to identify native plants in our own school garden to older students studying man’s impact on marine life in Oceanography, students experience a repeated emphasis on observing and protecting the environment. In addition to science at every grade level, students actively recycle and compost, or write letters to raise lawmakers’ awareness, or raise money to preserve rain forest land in Central America. They muck about in the wetlands and learn how much energy it takes to ship a food to our grocery shelves. They hear about successes as well. By hearing about the comeback of the peregrine falcon, the impact of Rachel Carson, to the achievements of our very own local environmental heroes, students are positively motivated by the difference they can make in the world.
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