The Storm King School Curriculum Overview

What The Storm King School values and seeks to develop in our students: The habits and traits of excellent students.

Our motto is TRUTH, RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY. We expect students to value these principles as cornerstones in the development of their own character and intentionally practice them as members of our community:

Truthful character: We expect our students to be truthful in what they say, in their work, and in their interactions with others.

Respectful citizens: treat others—teachers, fellow students, teammates, and the other team—according to the golden rule.

Responsible young adults: We help students understand the need to make good on commitments to finish what they start; to do the work that needs to be done whether it is picking up litter or completing homework.

In preparation for college and life, we work with our students to develop a temperament that leads to success and helps each individual reach his or her potential. Here are the key academic traits we foster; Storm King students:

1. Develop endurance: We ask our students to develop the ability to sustain effort in the face of academic challenges while problem solving, writing, discussing, and when working independently or collaboratively. We help our students build “grit.”

2. Pursue an active commitment to learning and literacy: We ask students to read regularly, write often, be prepared, collaborate well, and have an inquiring mind. We help them learn how to ask good questions to themselves, their teachers, and their peers. We help them develop a healthy and lifelong pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.

3. Discover how they learn: Storm King students learn how they learn, what requires more time, and what tools they require to accomplish their work.

4. Learn deeply: Students pursue knowledge beyond the surface and understand what they know deeply, and what they do not. We encourage our students to be thoughtful and self-reflective at times – to pursue wisdom and learn to decipher facts versus ideas driven by mere opinion.

5. Learn to solve problems as a scientist would: We teach students to use the language of mathematics and demonstrable evidence as a writer or artist might as they resolve a problem of aesthetic.