Elementary (K-5)

Our Elementary School (Grades K-5) offers a dynamic and engaging curriculum that integrates reading and writing with social studies, math, science, art, music and drama, physical education, woodshop/robotics, and library sciences - all designed to inspire each child’s innate curiosity and foster individual critical thinking. 

 

Expository, opinion, and narrative writing are heavily integrated into all the core subjects beginning in first grade. In addition, quality literature forms the basis for many interdisciplinary projects. Students are encouraged to develop their own points of view through evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing what at times may be disparate ideas, information, and facts. 

 

Students are motivated to balance analysis with creative thinking, problem solving with critical reasoning across core curriculum. We use the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) for both reading and writing, and for math, the hands-on Math-in-Focus program utilizing a Singapore Math approach. They engage in Socratic discussions and regular reflective assessment of their own, and others’, work. Students also learn to measure their progress against goals and identify and implement next steps. 

And learning beyond the classroom includes day-long field trips to the Santa Barbara mission, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Riley's Farm, the Getty Museum, the Lincoln Shrine Museum, Skirball Center, Disney Concert Hall, the Griffith Park Observatory, and many more exciting destinations, as well as our renowned “outdoor education” program for 5th grade.