Lower School

Phonemic awareness, phonics and sight word reading; fiction and nonfiction, plays and poetry for guided reading; listening and reading comprehension; spelling; D’Nealian handwriting; creative writing. 

Number bonds and relationships; place value with numbers to 100; two-digit addition and subtraction; shape attributes; ordinal numbers; nonstandard measurement; grouping and sharing; halves and fourths; time to the half hour; coin combinations. 

Comparative study of human and animal teeth; behavior, anatomical structure and ecology of mollusks; states of matter; the solar system; bird anatomy and identification; soil chemistry and environmental justice.

The uniqueness of each individual; engaging in conversations that help to identify problems; practice in generating positive solutions; developing an understanding of one’s own emotions as well as those of others. 

Listening to stories; learning to find books in the library; exploration of trickster tales and folktales; collaborative research projects.

Introduction to rhythmic and melodic notation. Students collect the songs they sing during the year in a music book which will grow throughout their time in the Lower School.

Writing in response to prompts and with the inspiration of literature; elaborating with pertinent details and sequencing of events; elementary editing of sentence mechanics and spelling.

Yearlong study of the five boroughs of New York City with attention to transportation, geography and cultures.

Poems, songs and games designed to playfully introduce oral communication in Mandarin.

Review of concepts from Kindergarten, including the differences between appropriate and inappropriate contact; practice in setting boundaries.

Introducing the tools, techniques, materials and practices of the art studio; learning the basic concepts associated with the making of art through a variety of imagination-based projects, including a sequential journey of a simple dot as it becomes a line, and travels through two-dimensional space.

Locomotor patterns, functional movement exercises, individual sport skill practice; study of Isadora Duncan and a collaboration with Science on dances inspired by nature.

Phonics, fluency and reading multisyllabic words; story structure and nonfiction reading strategies; listening and reading comprehension including inferential and analytical skills; writing sentences and simple paragraphs; spelling patterns in longer words; grammar and punctuation; handwriting.

Place value with numbers to 1,000; multi-digit addition and subtraction; standard measurement; multiplication and division; adding and subtracting quantities of money; introduction to fractions; time to the nearest minute; picture and bar graphs; shapes and solids.

Study of rocks and geological change; the biology and ecology of the earthworm; properties of magnets; mineral identification; exploration of plants; chemical and physical properties of common household powder; students design their own experiments. 

Activities to promote empathy, reduce stereotyped thinking, and learn about the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviors; practice in being assertive and kind.

Reinforcement of digital citizenship and iPad proficiencies; introduction to Google Classroom; computer graphics and animation; coding using Kodable and code .org; robotics and programming using Ozobots; computational thinking and offline programming concepts. 

Mastery of the pentatonic scale through playing, singing and moving. Rhythmic reading increases in difficulty. Introduction to singing in canons and partner songs. 

Descriptive, expository, procedural and narrative forms of writing. Students develop their writing through studying exemplary texts in each of these areas. The study of sentence structure, idea development and rereading; editing and revision skills; parts of speech; joined italics.

The effect of geography on one’s life and one’s role as a member of various civic, cultural and personal communities; examining primary sources; the Lenape of Manahatta, an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands; the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.

Study of simple Chinese characters and pinyin, the phonetic system for Mandarin. Students learn to form simple sentences through the study of animals, parts of the human body, clothing, food and hobbies. 

Further building of skills and exploration of reading for pleasure; understanding story elements; Indigenous authors; collaborative research about innovators using print and electronic sources. 

Exploration of visual complexity through the depiction of overlapping shapes and symmetry; emphasis on imagination; learning about the world of art; studio citizenship.

Functional movement exercises and fitness, basic gymnastics routines, sport skill practice with partners and in dynamic games; in Dance, an introduction to ballet with lessons on Misty Copeland, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, and in the second semester, a study of modern and jazz dance.

Multisyllabic words and fluency; story structure and nonfiction reading strategies; listening and reading comprehension including inferential and analytical skills; writing of simple and expanded paragraphs; advanced spelling patterns; grammar and punctuation. 

Place value with numbers to 10,000; rounding; multi-digit addition and subtraction, multi-digit multiplication and division; scaled picture and bar graphs; fraction concepts and equivalency; standard measurement; angles and shapes; area and perimeter; elapsed time; adding and subtracting money. 

Designing and constructing bridges using newspaper; sustainable architectural design; water filtration and chemical testing; study of the human body; behavior and anatomical structure of crayfish. 

Learning to recognize positive changes in themselves and others, to reduce stereotyped thinking, to identify important qualities in friendships, and to practice handling social conflicts. 

Creating projects inspired by different artistic traditions involving preliminary study of materials, planning and revisions, and spontaneous creative choices.

One period of vocal music and one period of ensemble study per cycle in either a stringed musical instrument or soprano recorder and Orff instruments. 

Developing spatial and mechanical skills through the use of basic tools and practices of a wood shop; building a small functional object. 

Parts of speech; sentence types, complete sentences, and sentence expansion strategies; quick outlines; paragraph writing (expository, narrative, argumentative and persuasive).

Identity and community; United States geography; the United States government; the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. 

Continued practice in character recognition and writing of simple characters; sentence composition; continued exploration of Chinese culture through the celebration of various holidays. 

Introduction to the library online catalog and Dewey Decimal System; reading aloud of stories or chapter books; pleasure reading; research skills and learning about periodicals. 

Reinforcing Google Classroom proficiency; introduction to Chromebooks and touch typing; creating digital citizenship posters; simple machine robotics using Lego Spike kits; coding and computational thinking using code.org and Scratch. 

Functional movement exercises and fitness; introduction to basic sport concepts and rules; modified game play. In Dance, social dances from around the world; seeing a performance of a modern dance company; visual arts-inspired projects based on Kandinsky and Bearden.

Consolidation and synthesis of skills in receptive and expressive language; emphasis on reading with fluency and prosody, identifying relevant themes, making inferences, sequencing and supporting main events and ideas using textual evidence; a study of Greek and Latin roots deepens and expands vocabulary and reinforces previously learned spelling patterns.

Place value with numbers to 1,000,000; rounding and estimation; multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; multiples and factors; fractions and fraction operations; line graphs and line plots; standard measurement with fractions; area and perimeter; decimals and decimal operations; angles, lines, shapes and solids. 

Investigation of acids, bases and pH; examination of sustainable energy; exploration of the structure, growth, uses and prevention of mold, including student-designed experiments; behavior and anatomical structure of snakes; independent, student-led experiments culminating in a Lower School Science Fair. 

Further study of the Dewey Decimal System; collaborative research on reptiles with the Science Department; using appeal terms such as “engrossing,” “fast,” or “realistic” to identify qualities of a book; developing a deeper understanding of personal reading interests. 

Learning about the physical changes of puberty and its attendant social and emotional changes. 

Continued vocal and instrumental study of strings or the alto recorder and Orff; English handbells for performance at Winter and Last Day Assemblies. 

Functional movement exercises and fitness; application of skill, strategy and sportsmanship in game play; student- developed dance performance.

Expository writing, grammar, parts of speech, sentence structure and expanded paragraphs; strategies for planning, writing and editing.

Yearlong study of immigration and migration in the United States. Students consider the pushes and pulls of migration, the enrichment of culture through the contributions of migrant communities and issues of social justice. Comparison of Ellis Island and Angel Island and experiences of the detained immigrants. Study of current events through nonfiction news articles. 

Continued speaking, writing and listening with a focus on consolidation of previously learned material. Students perform a short play in Mandarin.

Changing friendships; navigating social conflict in positive ways; leadership; growth mindset. 

Reinforcement of touch typing skills; continued instruction of digital citizenship, privacy and passwords; introduction to Google productivity tools (Drive and Docs); coding and computational thinking with Snap; robotics project with Microbits.

Students rotate through the following three courses, each of which takes place over ten weeks: 

MEASURE/CUT/CODE: drawing designs with compass and straightedge, then writing simple computer programs that transform the designs into three-dimensional prints. Designs are inspired by the history of practical geometry, with examples drawn from ancient Egypt and Greece and from Islamic pattern-making. 

PHOTOSHOP: creating, editing and manipulating images to produce digital artworks using graphics editing software. 

PRINTMAKING: introduction to printmaking techniques, including polychrome relief printing with collagraph.