THE LOWER SCHOOL APPROACH
The Lower School has three overarching goals in its approach to the education of young children: inspiring a love of learning, encouraging creative exploration, and empowering young minds. As curriculum and programming are designed and implemented, these goals are pursued vigorously and with a student-centered focus. Inspiring a Love of Learning •
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Blending academic growth and achievement (in reading, writing, arts, math, digital technologies, science, language development, etc.) Offering a hands-on experiential and inquiry-based learning environment Learning about our interconnected and diverse world Providing a relevant and personalized learning environment that stimulates curiosity Offering multimedia resources with rich content for enhancing knowledge Realizing the art and beauty of storytelling and creative expression Creating an interdisciplinary curriculum where thematic focus helps students make sense of their world
Encouraging Creative Exploration •
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Working through the Creative Design Process to solve real-life problems Learning to take risks and using a variety of problem-solving skills Applying the STEAM disciplines for creative problem-solving Exploring the Lower School Garden as an open-ended laboratory Learning with mixed grade levels in ColLabs to study the environment and explore an engineering problem Offering choices and opportunities for individual interests
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Using creative expression to expand possibilities for a deeper learning experience
Empowering Young Minds •
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Developing a global understanding with empathy for others Exhibiting knowledge with an understanding of voice, point of view, and audience awareness Developing reading and research skills for content exploration Learning to be a self-directed learner and a curator of individual portfolios Building authentic relationships between teachers and students and equity in the community Working collaboratively with individuals with diverse views Valuing and celebrating individual strengths and interests Understanding self and responsible decision-making
Central Questions and Integrated Curriculum In the Lower School, teachers take an interdisciplinary approach to curriculum design. This type of approach allows students to develop a deeper understanding of the different disciplines taught. Brimmer teachers create meaningful, relevant, and challenging content that helps students make connections to the real world. This allows Lower School students to be more successful and achieve mastery in the classroom. At each grade level a Central Question is presented at the beginning of the school year to frame students’ learning goals throughout the year. The Central Question serves not only as a lens to explore key concepts, themes, and ideas but also as the thread that interweaves multiple disciplines. This question challenges students to think critically and make connections as they discover and explore science,
math, literacy, and history. The Lower School’s approach to learning prompts students to strive for a higher level of learning and academic engagement. Backward Design and Curriculum Planning The curriculum design and planning in the Lower School is grounded in specific educational philosophies and methodologies, is informed by research, and incorporates the experience and expertise of the Lower School faculty. Grant Wiggins’ and Jay McTighe’s “Backward Design” guides the Lower School faculty’s approach to their work. This curriculum, unit, and lesson planning approach requires teachers to 1. identify learning objectives 2. determine acceptable evidence of student understanding 3. plan learning experiences and instructional activities Backward Design promotes student learning from proficiency to mastery. In using Backward Design, Lower School teachers are intentional: they plan lessons and units with clear goals and purposeful actions to achieve sought-after results. Pedagogy and curriculum design are also grounded in and have evolved from the Coalition of Essential Schools 10 Common Principles, specifically by defining roles as “student as worker, teacher as coach,” providing an environment of “unanxious expectation,” and assessing learning through “demonstrations of mastery” (exhibitions and portfolios). Lastly, Lower School teachers and administrators examine and use educational research to inform pedagogy, curriculum development, and programming.
