Signature Programs

The Lower School Signature Programs enhance the core curriculum and provide students with an opportunity to apply what they have learned to interdisciplinary problem-solving. These programs include project work using the Design Process (see earlier “Lower School Approach” section) with an experiential education component. Teachers encourage students to use their experiences to enhance their learning in the classroom as well.

ColLabs

Engineering ColLab The Engineering ColLab is designed to promote collaboration among students in Grades 2 and 3. Units are focused, two-week, hands-on experiences that help students develop an understanding of engineering. Units have included the following: Bridge Building, Hot Air Balloons (understanding how they work and building one), Bouncy Balls (making balls that can bounce as high as possible), and Dog Biscuit Carriers (made with recycled materials).

STEAM/Environmental ColLab The STEAM/Environmental ColLab is an inquiry-based science program for Grades 4 and 5 that promotes active learning by challenging students to think and work both independently and collaboratively. During this two-year interactive program, students explore eight topics relating to nature and the environment. Topics are Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Climate Change, Gardening, Composting, Water Use, Animal Biomimicry, and Water Filtration. Units are focused, two-week, hands-on experiences that bring the current environmental concerns to life for the students.

Design Lab

The Lower School makerspace is a space that allows students to be collaborative, innovative, flexible, persistent, and self-motivated. The students engage in design and STEAM projects using the Design Process. Students build the skills of empathy and apply foundational knowledge learned in the classroom to create and to develop solutions for real-world problems in the Design Lab. Through the STEAM program the students gain a deeper understanding of the world, think creatively and critically, collaborate and share ideas, and apply knowledge to create innovative designs. With all its resources, the Design Lab is another place where students are nurtured and challenged to use their heads and their hands to solve problems. It is a space in the Lower School where a child’s imagination can soar as they explore different low-tech and high-tech tools with the guidance of their teacher. The multitude of materials available allows the students to create, to design, and to construct an understanding of how things work. In the Design Lab, students can share ideas with one another, collaborate on a project, and experience the rewards of persistence.

Science and STEAM

The science and STEAM curricula at Brimmer are designed to foster the love of learning through curiosity, exploration, and discovery. STEAM is an educational mélange of learning that uses science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. The design and implementation of the STEAM curriculum in Grades PK – 5 is founded on the understanding that children are inherently inclined to solve problems and seek solutions. This approach leads to the development of students who are thoughtful risk-takers, who engage in experiential learning, who persist in problem-solving, who embrace collaboration, and who work through the creative process to solve real-world problems. The STEAM program has elements of inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, and responsive teaching approaches, all of which allow learning to be active, student-directed, and integrated across various content areas. All of this is done through the lens of the Design Process. Beginning in PK, students go through the steps of the Design Process when completing an engineering task. Not only are the students developing problem-solving skills, but they are also learning how to reason based on how their prototype works. Metacognition is an important aspect of engineering and a key component of teaching engineering. As students grow and reflect, they develop the capacity to use the data they collect while testing to understand and interpret feedback. They begin to set clear criteria for success through testing their own work and start to make thoughtful, calculated decisions based on these experiences. As developing engineers, they begin to understand what is not working in their own design so they can make design choices to create a successful beta, make improvements, and plan updates for their models.

Lower School Garden

The Lower School Garden is an outdoor classroom where students learn about ecology, connect with nature, learn about healthy eating and where their food comes from, and learn to take care of the environment. The Garden is a special learning environment in which all Lower School students play a role. Each grade level, PK - 5, maintains this green space through various hands-on activities such as planting and tending vegetables and flowers, tilling soil, weeding, watering, pruning, and harvesting. The Lower School Garden is a fully functioning garden where students learn through experience. Much of the food grown is served in School lunches. The Garden is fully integrated into the Lower School Curriculum and allows Brimmer students to engage in authentic scientific observation and inquiry in an outdoor setting, right on campus.

Share Assemblies Share

Assemblies occur most Friday mornings throughout the school year. At Share, Lower School students come together for performances by students and special guests. Buddy Group events are held during Share Assembly time as well. These weekly Lower School gatherings and activities build a feeling of community through shared experience. They also present the opportunity for students to learn how to be part of an audience during a performance and how to engage appropriately and successfully with their peers during Buddy Group activities.