Lower School is where children decide, mostly without noticing, whether school is a place where they are capable. Our job in these six years is to make sure the answer is yes — while the stakes are still low enough to make mistakes cheaply.
Classrooms are active. Children move, build, argue about books, and keep work over time so they can see their own progress. Reading and mathematics are taught with real structure; almost everything else is taught through projects that require the reading and mathematics.
Times vary a little by grade. Literacy and mathematics sit in the morning, when attention is longest.
| Time | Grades K–2 | Grades 3–5 |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 | Arrival and morning meeting | Arrival and advisory |
| 8:30 | Literacy block | Mathematics |
| 10:00 | Snack and outdoor play | Break |
| 10:30 | Mathematics | Literacy and writing |
| 12:00 | Lunch and recess | Lunch and recess |
| 13:00 | Specials — art, music, PE, Spanish | Science or humanities project |
| 14:00 | Project and inquiry time | Specials — art, music, PE, Spanish |
| 15:15 | Dismissal | Dismissal |
After-school clubs run until 4:30 PM and are included in tuition.
It means children learn by doing work that has a purpose beyond the grade — building, writing for a reader, investigating a question with a genuine answer. It does not mean the absence of structure. Reading, handwriting, and arithmetic are taught directly and sequentially.
Classes are capped at 16. Kindergarten through Grade 2 have a lead teacher and a full-time assistant; Grades 3–5 have a lead teacher — an overall ratio of about eight students to each adult.
Teachers keep running records of reading, samples of writing across the year, and math work that shows method rather than only answers. Families receive narrative reports twice a year and can see the portfolio at conferences.
A full-time learning specialist supports the Lower School and coordinates minor accommodations with classroom teachers. For needs requiring dedicated one-to-one aides or clinical services, we help families arrange an outside evaluation.
Our approach is restorative: a conversation about what happened, who was affected, and how to repair it. Families are contacted early, and only repeated or serious harm leads to suspension.
Doors are staffed at arrival and dismissal, all visitors sign in at the front office, and every employee and regular volunteer clears a background check. We run monthly safety drills and reach families by text in an emergency.
Grades 3–5 have a 1:1 device program; devices stay at school. Early reading, handwriting, and math fact work are kept deliberately off-screen.
Lower School students move into our Middle School without reapplying. Placement conversations happen in the spring of 5th grade with the child's teachers and the Middle School director.
Replace the subject descriptions below with your own scope and sequence. The structure repeats for each grade.
Systematic phonics, daily read-alouds, and the first independent sentences.
Counting, number sense, patterns, and early measurement through play.
Seasonal science and social-studies units built around big questions.
Art, music, PE, Spanish, and library each week.
Decoding fluency, sight words, and writing full sentences with punctuation.
Addition and subtraction within 100 and the meaning of place value.
Close observation and the first simple, testable investigations.
Art, music, PE, Spanish, and library each week.
Chapter books, paragraph writing, and a first real taste of revision.
Multi-digit addition and subtraction and an introduction to multiplication.
Community, geography, and the story of the local region.
Art, music, PE, Spanish, and library each week.
Genre study, research writing, and structured book discussion.
Multiplication and division fluency and the meaning of fractions.
Life science with controlled, hands-on investigation.
Art, music, PE, Spanish, and library each week.
Essay structure and citing evidence directly from the text.
Fractions, decimals, and multi-step word problems.
State and regional history with real map work.
Art, music, PE, Spanish, and library each week.
Seminar discussion and a sustained, multi-week research paper.
Ratio, proportion, and the first pre-algebraic reasoning.
Lab practice with data, measurement, and error.
Art, music, PE, Spanish, and library each week.
The Lower School director is glad to talk through placement, readiness, or a mid-year transfer.