Inspiring Community At St. Andrew’s, we believe how children learn is as important as what they learn. In the Lower School, we carefully craft the classroom community so our broadly diverse group of students have a sense of belonging, significance, and emotional safety. In keeping with the Responsive Classroom® approach, students begin each day by gathering in a circle to greet and share with one another. Teachers and students work together to name individual and class goals and create a plan to support the goals. The class meets again at the end of each day to reflect. Within this positive and caring environment, your child will feel comfortable taking risks, collaborating, negotiating, and self-advocating with peers and teachers. We also build community through service. Students get to know each other across grade levels and practice leadership skills as older students help younger ones with projects and academic activities. Children connect with the wider community and apply their knowledge through integrated service learning projects such as running bake sales and packing meals.
Visionary Leadership
PRESCHOOL – GRADE 5
“The science and design programs are amazing—as a kindergartner my son came home and said he wanted to be an ichthyologist! Teachers are amazingly respectful of children as learners.”
Lower School Curricular Highlights
AMY MOORHUS BAUMGARDNER | PARENT
SAMPLE SCHEDULES DAILY SCHEDULE: PRE-KINDERGARTEN, AGE 4
DAILY SCHEDULE: GRADE 5
Free Play/Stations
Morning Work
Morning Meeting (circle time)
Morning Meeting
Recess
Math
Snack
Break
Specials:
Language Arts
Chapel – 1x/week
Recess and Lunch
Art – 2x/week
Social Studies
Music – 2x/week
2
Lower School design labs where students learn design thinking, coding, and robotics
5
days of physical education each week for grades 3–5
20
clubs and after-school programs offered to Lower School students
Science – 2x/week Spanish – 2x/week Physical Education – 3x/week Lunch and Recess Language Arts and Math Centers Closing Meeting
Specials: Design: Art and Science – 6x/week Physical Education – 5x/week Spanish – 3x/week Performing Arts – 2x/week Library and Technology – 1x/week Chapel and Religion – 2x/week Closing Meeting
9
field trips per year per grade in K–5
31,000
square feet in our new Lower School building, all purposefully designed based on the latest research on optimal learning environments
100%
of K–5 students engage in service learning
OUR MISSION
A coed, college preparatory day school | Age 2 to Grade 12 8804 Postoak Road Potomac, MD 20854
SAES.org admission@saes.org 240.477.1700
To know and inspire each child in an inclusive community dedicated to exceptional teaching, learning, and service
Dynamic Growth and Transformative Achievement
PRESCHOOL AND PRE-K
The Responsive Classroom approach we use strengthens social and emotional skills. This is part of prioritizing children’s well-being, which research shows is as important as academic potential.
To create learning that lasts, our talented Lower School faculty has carefully chosen and connected curricula that increase in complexity while reinforcing previous learning. Teachers are adept at challenging and supporting each child to maximize individual growth and achievement. Your child will gain an exceptional foundation for the academic and leadership opportunities of our Middle School.
Our preschool programs for ages 2 and 3 offer full- and half-day options. Our Pre-K program is a full-day program. All offer a well-balanced curriculum rich in choice-based activities, free play, guided discovery, and academic instruction.
MATH
LANGUAGE ARTS
SOCIAL STUDIES
Preschoolers build fundamental skills such as counting, sorting, and shape recognition. Pre-K through grade 5 students learn to be flexible in their computation and problem-solving skills through Everyday Mathematics®, a program developed by the University of Chicago that helps children progress from intuitions and concrete operations to assertions and symbolic manipulations.
Preschool and Pre-K classes build vocabulary, letter recognition, reading readiness, and handwriting skills. Through shared study and small-group instruction, grades K–2 develop good habits for engaged reading and authentic writing. Word knowledge is taught sequentially and systematically so students can focus on knowledge-based comprehension and analysis.
In this proven program, number sense is continually layered with new concepts and connected in exciting, real-world applications. Students hone their abilities in mental computation, reasoning, and oral and written communication as they examine and explain their thinking process.
The program in grades 3–5 seeks to develop avid lifelong readers and writers, emphasizing high volume and personal interests. Phonics, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary are taught explicitly and within context through high-impact writing and reading mini-lessons.
In grades K–2, the social studies curriculum centers on what it means to be a responsible member of the community. Students move from a focus on self-identity and celebrating similarities and differences to a focus on the local community and then on Washington, D.C. In grades 3–5, students examine citizenship, history, and geography through yearlong explorations of the state of Maryland, American history, and world geography.
DESIGN: ART AND SCIENCE The design process encourages students to think about a question, sketch a plan, test the model, and iterate to improve the original concept. This art and science collaboration provides a unique platform for students to be creative, analytical innovators. Students in preschool through grade 2 have art and science twice per week. In the design lab, they study simple machines, LEGO® Robotics, coding, circuitry, life cycles, and animal adaptations. Students in grades 3–5 are in purpose-built studios and labs four to six times per week, exploring chemistry, biology, physical science, and engineering.
LIBRARY AND TECHNOLOGY Pre-K through grade 5 library and technology classes meet once per week to support other subject areas through book talks, research projects, and keyboarding skills. Digital citizenship conversations include online safety, digital footprints, and privacy. All Pre-K through grade 5 students are issued an iPad for use in the classroom.
“The curricula we use are spiraled, interwoven, and spaced. Research suggests this is how students learn best. Teachers maximize retention and balance challenge by differentiating instruction.”
JORDAN LOVE | CO-HEAD OF THE LOWER SCHOOL
SPANISH
PERFORMING ARTS
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
RELIGION
Spanish is taught once a week for preschool I, twice a week for preschool II through grade 2, and three times a week for grades 3–5. Through projects, songs, and dramatic play, students demonstrate communicative skills and cross-cultural competence. The study of language allows students to see the world through the eyes of others, thus learning empathy, respecting differences, and creating solidarity with local and global communities.
Classes in preschool through grade 2 feature musical and creative movement activities, taught by specialist teachers. In grades 3–5, classes emphasize musical literacy and performance skills, including tablature reading, choral and instrumental opportunities, improvisation, and drama productions. Students explore music in historic and sociocultural contexts and progress from Orff xylophones to folk flutes.
Preschool and Pre-K have P.E. twice per week. Grades K–2 have it four times per week, and grades 3–5 have it five times per week. Students develop and pursue physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and social interaction. Rules, safety, sportsmanship, and team play for different sports are a focus. Units include baseball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, team-building activities, tennis, track and field, tumbling, and gymnastics.
All grades attend weekly chapel services, and grades K–5 have weekly religion classes. Through inclusive discussions and projects, students reflect on “who I am” and “who I am in the community.” Drawing on foundational stories from a variety of faith traditions, students are called to strive for justice and peace among all peoples and respect the dignity of every human being. Students also participate in service learning projects.