Lower School: Grades 1-5
Our goal is to nurture and encourage a lifelong love of learning in the students we serve. Faculty supports the individual needs of each student in grades 1-5 and differentiates instruction so that each student’s unique skills are emphasized. Through a multi-sensory teaching approach including hands-on activities, classroom discussion, and the extensive use of technology, we provide students with individualized attention and direct instruction, prompting them to think creatively and explore their natural curiosity. Faculty strive to maximize the student’s potential and create a learning environment optimal for each child’s success.
Lower school is organized into homeroom clusters with the intent that each child is placed in the best possible learning environment, considering chronological age, academic strengths and areas for growth, work habits, interpersonal relationships, and social/emotional development. Literacy and math classes are ability grouped, and students receive individualized attention and direct instruction in skills based on their academic abilities. The students have a 90-minute block for literacy and a 70-minute block for math daily. Instruction is individualized, and strategies vary from student to student in each subject area.
Accommodations:
- Use of signs/signals to redirect
- Permission to take short breaks when necessary
- Have student articulate/repeat instructions in own her/his words before beginning a task to check for understanding.
- Additional time given for lengthy writing assignments
- Chunking of lengthy material into smaller pieces and shorter tasks
- Use visual aids to support instruction (graphic organizers)
- Read-aloud on mathematics, science, social studies, and writing assessments or when applicable
- Use of calculator when applicable
- Routine and structure in classroom settings
- Opportunities to discuss/process situations
- Multiple opportunities to practice and rehearse new skills
- Preferential seating as necessary
- Small group, direct instruction in reading, and math
- Homework planners and folders issued to reinforce organizational skills taught in the classroom
- Additional remediation and acceleration provided as needed
- Direct instruction of social skills
- “Teachable” moments capitalized upon reinforcement of positive choices
- Positive reinforcement systems
