positively
Pike
Lower & Middle Schools Andover, Massachusetts • pikeschool.org
Our promise:
We will surround your child with positive energy. It’s in the air. Along the hallways. Throughout every classroom. And on every child’s face. Because of it, our students believe they can do anything.
LOWER SCHOOL: Pre-K through Grade 2
Making learning the most natural thing in the world. That’s the power of the positive energy that flows through The Pike School. It originates, of course, with our teachers. They model the behaviors such as communicating and problem-solving we want even our youngest students to know, while helping students understand they are active participants in the learning process. It’s not something that happens to them; it’s something they engage in with others. In Lower School, every interaction contributes to creating a truly cooperative learning environment. The Open Circle curriculum provides a forum for addressing interpersonal issues and building positive relationships. And through the Buddies program, Lower School students are paired with eighth and ninth grade mentors and friends, who orient the younger students in the Pike experience.
Be kind. Be safe. Try your hardest. Those are some of the tenets of the Lower School Community Rules, created by Pike students themselves. The idea is to help students identify their hopes and dreams and then pinpoint the behaviors that will best achieve them.
LOWER SCHOOL
Positive energy in action.
It starts with cultivating an intense excitement around learning. As one parent said recently, “Learning is fun for our kids. They come home talking about school. Their eyes light up!” The Lower School curriculum is rooted in activities that develop essential skills while fostering confidence and creativity, from puppets and puzzles in Pre-K language class to reenacting the Ellis Island experience in second grade social studies. Art, music, library, and physical education classes greatly enrich the learning experience and build on core academic themes, providing a concrete – and hands-on – method of exploring the subject matter.
Connecting to other cultures. As part of the Japan unit, Pike first graders learn origami, create their own Haiku, and discover the fine art of the tea ceremony. They also visit the Japanese house at the Children’s Museum in Boston.
The joy of movement. Running, jumping, throwing, skipping, climbing! In Lower School, physical education is an exercise in exuberance, with an emphasis on collaborative play. And this joyful spirit extends to intellectual and social development, as well: children use all their senses while outside and are naturally inclined to interact with others (through inventing games and characters and acting out scenarios). Lower School students also have plenty of opportunities to experience the wider world, with excursions to Hammond Castle, the Peabody Museum, and the Phillips Academy Observatory. Lower School is about enjoying the journey. Every experience is designed to instill genuine wonder. These are the years to learn to love learning!
LOWER SCHOOL
Positively thrilling. Campus visitors are always a highlight for Lower School students. Musicians, artists, and animal experts are just some of the people who come to campus to inform and delight.
Nurturing passionate learners. Respect for the natural world is a running theme at Pike. A Middle School science unit on vernal and tide pools investigates how ecosystems work and how human activity impacts those systems.
MIDDLE SCHOOL: Grades 3–5
Positively empowering. In Middle School, we continue to build on everything that has been introduced in the lower grades – in profound and personal ways. Students begin to develop more self-awareness and to see the connectivity among all the things they’re studying. In third grade, that might mean combining math and science skills to identify and chart birds spotted on campus. In fourth grade, students undertake a Greek mythology research project. Inspired by mythological characters and stories, students write an original script, then act and direct dramatic scenes for a delighted audience. And in fifth? Technology takes center stage. Pike fifth graders put on their engineering hats to design and build “taskbots” that are able to navigate an obstacle-filled landscape.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
It’s okay to be invested.
In fact, it’s a cornerstone of the Pike culture. A positively infectious enthusiasm for the topic at hand is something that students and faculty share. In Middle School, the curriculum adds complexity, without losing any of the engagement of applied learning from the lower grades. A unit on forensics demonstrates how scientists use observation to make inferences and create a narrative, with students conducting their own experiments and then writing a crime report. In language arts, students work to refine their writing skills by honing in on the mechanics of voice, style, and organization. They also engage with increasingly more complex texts – in a wide variety of formats – and are introduced to keyboarding instruction to begin to develop word processing skills.
Positively well-read. In third grade, Pike students stage a Caldecott Mock Election, learning about the illustrator (and the award) and evaluating eligible texts with criteria similar to that used by the Caldecott committee.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Spreading positivity far and wide. As Middle School students become more and more attuned to their whole selves – as learners, artists, athletes, community members – they also broaden their understanding of the wider world. On campus, you’ll see them working in our organic garden as part of science class. Students also have the opportunity to participate in Big Green, a club designed to make our community a better place by putting our Pike non sibi solum spirit to work! Other clubs are just for fun – for exploring everything from cartooning to improv. No wonder Pike students are so excited to come to school. Every. Single. Day.
Into the woods. Each October, Pike fifth graders head to Camp Merrowvista in New Hampshire for three days of learning about leadership, the environment, and themselves.
“It’s not our small classes; it’s what happens in those small classes.” — John “Muddy” Waters, Head of School
At The Pike School, we believe every child has unlimited potential. That’s why we provide unlimited possibilities – for thinking, creating, competing, and unleashing curiosity. We surround every student with a web of positive energy – small classes, one-on-one attention, and, of course, fabulous teachers. The kind who teach children the most important lesson of all: to believe in themselves. History shows that our students do. That’s the power of positive energy.
That’s The Pike School.