ELEMENTARY

Our Elementary program welcomes children as young as six years old by December and runs through the sixth grade.

Our small but powerful Elementary program is very special to us. Many of our students have been with us since they were under two years old:) Whether moving up from our Preprimary program or joining Elementary directly from another setting, our Elementary students are part of a warm, attentive, intimate setting, where peers often seem to interact as siblings. Our smaller size allows us to adjust our dynamics as needed and to know every student very well, making it possible to support their growth with greater knowledge and understanding than is typical. This is especially important in the Elementary years when our students are honing their social skills, testing boundaries, discovering what inspires them, and developing their moral compass and sense of self.

As with our Preprimary students, our Elementary students have a clear understanding of their importance in developing and maintaining their community. They all have weekly classroom jobs, and participate in creating a positive environment by establishing their own classroom and community rules fostering kindness, cooperation and focused work. Over the Elementary years, we have the pleasure of seeing our students develop into mature and capable leaders who we know will contribute thoughtfully and be wonderful additions to any future environment.

Our Elementary curriculum incorporates hands-on Montessori materials that allow for true mastery of concepts. Students do not gloss over subject areas, moving forward before they feel confident in their abilities. Not until children fully grasp a concept at a concrete level do they move on to abstraction.

Teaching our students to become critical thinkers is at the heart of our philosophy. Relying on Socratic questioning and open conversation, students learn to support their ideas with evidence. Our Upper Elementary students have become provocative and insightful debaters.

Our curriculum remains individualized for our Elementary students. It is important to us that our students learn to work well both independently and as a team. While they participate in reading groups, and enjoy group projects and much collaboration, they work with math and language materials based on their individual readiness, which means they have more time to spend on lessons they find particularly challenging, as well as the opportunity to move ahead more quickly when their abilities allow. They are never following a curriculum with a static timeline that has them feeling under or overwhelmed academically.

There is a wide range of work being completed at any given time. Our Lower Elementary students are practicing their writing skills, while our Upper Elementary students are learning to write research papers and to develop their essay and story writing skills. Our curriculum explores Science and History, with lessons that span the geological history of the universe to a discussion of who contributed more to our society, Tesla or Edison.

In addition to daily Recess in our gymnasium or in one of our outdoor spaces, our students are offered many opportunities to move their bodies and practice healthy competition. This year, our Elementary students enjoy Chess, Basketball, Martial Arts, Yoga and Physical Education on a weekly basis, along with Art and necessary dance breaks:)

Our emphasis on growing independence continues in Elementary, where our students have many opportunities to engage in activities that are not usually available for students until they are older. Our Elementary students, as young as six years old, hold a Science and History Fair, to which our Preprimary students purchase tickets to attend. Throughout the day, our Elementary students present their projects to our younger students, and their families. Our Upper Elementary students are also practicing their debate skills throughout the year and have enjoyed squaring off for an enjoyable but fierce competition at the end of the Fair. Opportunities such as these have allowed them to develop confidence in public speaking and in expressing themselves. Most anticipated of all, every spring, our Elementary students spend a week in the Adirondacks, exploring nature and making memories that last a lifetime. They also come back undeniably more mature! Further showing off their creativity and confidence, our Elementary students write and perform their own graduation show every June, always a highlight of our school year.

A simple way to understand our Elementary environment is to take one look at our students at work. While in dress code, and sometimes with a blazer following their Monday morning meeting, they are working in socks or slippers, a reflection of our environment which combines structure and freedom, a highly academic yet relaxed setting.

Our Elementary students have an especially strong connection to our community. They remain in touch with us long after they have graduated and often hold their first jobs as counselors in our summer camp. They are very much a part of our Family School family!