The Lower School curriculum is integrated with a belief that learning should be an inch wide and a mile deep.

Through particular units of study, our curriculum looks long and completely at particular themes, rather than covering a large amount of disparate topics. Students explore these themes across all areas of study, including language arts, writing, math, science, art, music, dance, theatre, library, technology, and physical education (PE).

GRADE	THEMED UNIT
Grade 1	The School Community, Sea Life, Dreams, and Sleep
Grade 2	Cinderella Stories Around the World, Bird Research, and Bird Watching
Grade 3	Immigration, American Indians, Western Expansion
Grade 4	The Silk Road, European/Native Encounters, Pilgrims and Other Early Colonists

More About Themed Units

Grade 1
Grade 1 studies the physical school, the people involved in its operation and takes this study into areas of visual art, song, and movement. As the children in Grade 1 become fluent readers, they undertake the challenge of mysteries, both in text, the universe, and mystery as a metaphor. The children learn the literary structure of a mystery and craft their own mysteries.

Grade 2
Grade 2 studies Cinderella stories from around the world and learns that cultural norms are evident in literature and language. Through this study, children begin to analyze gender stereotypes and mythology attached to cultural norms. A magnificent bird study takes over the second half of Grade 2 as children investigate, research, hypothesize, and create their own guides to Staten Island birds.

Grade 3
Grade 3 students begin their studies with an investigation of child labor around the world. This inquiry is embedded in a study of the continents and is representative of our belief that learning must be connected to real-life, significant events. This study moves into the children looking at 19th century immigration, the reasons for European exodus, and life on the Lower Eastside of Manhattan. Primary sources, such as Jacob Riis photos, trips to both Ellis Island, and the Tenement Museum help bring this rich study to life for the children. The culmination of this study is a theatrical performance written by the children, with musical accompaniment also composed by the children. The children then embark on a study of Western Expansion and the indigenous people who populated the way west. Specialized content area teachers (visual art, music, chorus, dance, physical education and library), in conjunction with classroom teachers, provide a wide range of responses to learning that is complex and engaging.

Grade 4
In Grade 4, children have highly honed literacy skills that allow them to open the year with a well-conceived and well-written memoir that leads them into their first unit of study, the Silk Road. The study supports our belief that all written text and oral language has a point of view and is written for a particular audience. Children explore text that fosters bias, stories that promote stereotypes, and learn to discern accurate accounts of history. The children then move on to the early colonization of our country and the ramifications for the native people of the eastern woodlands. The children create a theatrical production, which is quite stunning, as the children respectfully represent their knowledge of world and historical culture through dance, music, and spoken word.