Grades 1-2
What Do We Offer Students in Grades 1-2?
A secure beginning in a warm and welcoming community
- Friends of many ages in a close-knit school
- Older student buddies for reading and special events
- Adults who know them well and enjoy their eager learning
- The cultivation of curiosity, joy, creativity, and self-reliance
- Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship
- Generous amounts of time to learn about the natural environment
Balanced foundations to educate the whole child
- An overall approach to learning and teaching that expects and enjoys individual differences, and that allows children to develop foundational skills in the context of following their natural desire to ask, explore, and create
- Science learning through hands-on inquiry outside and inside, critical thinking, observational drawing, increased writing, and stewardship. Year One: The five senses; bridges. Year Two: Habitats in nature; weather.
- English Language Arts with a strong and continuous emphasis on writing and critical thinking; vocabulary development; pre-reading and reading skills including phonemic awareness, phonics, sight words, fluency, comprehension and literature discussions; word play, word study, and handwriting.
- Social Studies that actively explores people, places, and environments through studying transportation and jobs in Year One, and shelter, early Native Americans and mapping in Year Two.
- Mathematics that balances the introduction and practice of core concepts and operations through games and hands-on activities with the mastery of basic facts and real-life application in cooperative and creative problem-solving.
- Foreign Language: American Sign Language and Spanish.
- Art instruction that combines the playful exploration of different materials and media with the introduction of skills, techniques, and perspectives of current and past artists.
- Music literacy in rhythm, melody, ear training, composition, and movement in an active, fun, and creative context.
- Physical Education and Health promoting enjoyment of movement and habits for healthy lifestyle; outdoor running and fitness, sportsmanship, ball skills, game strategy and teamwork, coordination and balance.
