As young children begin their educational journey we believe in fostering the love of learning at an early age through inquiry and play through a child-centered curriculum. Rooted in our school philosophy of experiential learning, children explore their environment, in and out of the classroom, and we support children’s active participation by incorporating their ideas into instructional activities. By implementing a consistent yet flexible schedule that meets their needs, children are empowered to self-select and engage with a variety of classroom centers, learning materials, and companions, encouraging purposeful play.

Social and Emotional Development

Social and emotional growth are key at this age. Students move from the parallel play stage to interactions with peers. Our emphasis on expressive and receptive language development through conversation, reading books, singing, etc. provides children with the opportunities to talk and share their ideas and feelings. By extending their thinking and communication skills through intentional interactions, young children develop critical vocabulary, oral language, and problem-solving skills.

Cognitive Growth

Cognitive growth is facilitated by play-based learning and inquiry. The flow of the day/daily schedule includes time for child-initiated and teacher-facilitated activities. Our curriculum is based on age-appropriate units of study to support children’s learning across all subject areas, which include literacy, math, social studies, art, science, music and movement. Activities throughout our studies can involve block building, Lego creations, book making, art projects, neighborhood walks, planting in community gardens, cooking, and much more. Teachers are responsive to children’s skills, interests and developmental needs while working with students individually, in small groups, or as a whole group.

Physical Growth

Physical growth at this young age requires outdoor yard-park time and/or indoor gym-movement classes. Young children need to move their bodies and expend their amazing energy in an open space. Throughout the year we work on developmental milestones for this age group by walking, going up and down steps, playing ball, hopping/skipping/jumping, building with blocks and manipulatives, drawing, using a variety of art supplies, etc. We are also mindful of the foods we eat to help us grow as we cook and experience new foods. Each part of the day supports safe and healthy habits.

Community

We believe in establishing partnerships with families in ongoing, two-way communication about the strengths, needs, interests, goals and progress of their children. Through weekly newsletters and Bloomz app school communications, families can support their children’s learning in the classroom, as well as be informed about school events. We connect families to appropriate educational resources in support of their needs and goals for their children.

Interdisciplinary

Our interdisciplinary approach supports children’s learning across all areas of development, providing students with opportunities to develop socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively. We are committed to building a foundation with families for all children to become curious and enthusiastic lifelong learners.

Overview of Curriculum and Expectations

Our goal in the prekindergarten classroom is to create a classroom environment that is physically and emotionally safe and supports and extends the joy of early childhood across all the learning domains. The possibilities seem endless for making new discoveries, inventing, creating and learning. Our standards convey the importance of developing the whole child in all domains of learning—social, emotional, creative expression/aesthetic, physical and cognitive development. We facilitate learning experiences that are engaging, interactive and challenging while promoting a safe, nurturing learning environment for all children.

Social and Emotional Development:

The development of social and emotional competencies promotes a child’s sense of well being, facilitating interactions with others and receptivity to learning. Rooted in relationships, social and emotional development are crucial to the success of the four year-old during the preschool year. Creating a social and emotional environment for prekindergarten children requires child-centered, age-appropriate curriculum focused on active learning experiences; safe, secure, functional learning environments; and facilitation of family participation to promote the growth and development of children.

Physical Development:

Physical development incorporates gross motor, fine motor and spatial orientation ability. It involves the child’s growth and skills that develop from expanded interaction with the environment.

Creative Expression/Aesthetic Development:

An environment that is both open-ended and multi-sensory encourages children to develop an appreciation for the arts. Creative expression/aesthetic development is focused on children’s creative processes—the use and integration of music, movement, dramatic play and art.

Language and Listening Development:

A prekindergarten learning environment validates children’s play and provides daily opportunities for oral language development. To match children’s varying interests and abilities, a broad range of activities and open-ended materials are structurally interwoven throughout the work-play small group time. Highlighted within this environment of complex interactions are opportunities for talking, verbal exchanges, listening and small/whole group discussions.

Social Studies:

Children naturally work toward knowing and understanding themselves and their world. Through social studies, children learn about the cultural experiences of their own family as well as their community. They apply the skills of communicating, sharing and cooperating with others who have similar and different perspectives. They begin to understand time, change and continuity, and to relate past events to their present and future activities.

Literacy Development:

A literacy-rich environment provides opportunities for phonological awareness,experiences with the concepts of print, letter knowledge, story comprehension and writing experimentation. Activities such as read-alouds, storytelling, drawing, painting and writing are structurally interwoven throughout the work-play small group and whole group time. To facilitate children’s later ability to learn to read and write, the instructional program promotes alphabetic knowledge; phonological awareness; book and print concepts; vocabulary knowledge; and discourse skills—meaningful conversations with their peers and with adults.

Mathematical Thinking:

Preschoolers make observations, learn about relationships and begin to draw conclusions in order to construct knowledge about mathematics. Appropriate mathematical experiences challenge children to use manipulatives to explore ideas and make connections. Mathematical thinking includes the representation of numbers and operations; patterns, quantitative and qualitative properties; shapes and spatial relations; measurement; and information gathering and probability.

Scientific Thinking:

Inquiry and investigation are the central processes of scientific thinking. Scientific thinking involves identifying problems; obtaining and using evidence to construct explanations; evaluating the outcomes of investigations; discussing different points of view; proposing solutions; and communicating information. The prekindergarten environment with its array of materials, activities and interactions is a stimulating place for the four-year-old scientist.

Kindergarten 

The core curriculum for Kindergarten involves a study of our self and our community (the classroom, the school and the immediate neighborhood). For the first part of the school year we take a closer look at ourselves and our families. We conduct interviews, take surveys, record data in a variety of easy applications, missing words, read and create literature about ourselves and our families. By the end of our study, it is expected that the children will begin to develop a strong sense of self and will start to make connections between themselves and their classmates. For the remainder of the school year we study our community. We take field trips in school and around the neighborhood, conduct interviews, record data in a variety of ways, read and create literature about communities and community workers. The expectation is that by the end of our study, through trips, interviews, class projects, block building experiences and group discussions, the children will begin to develop a strong sense of community and start to make connections between themselves and their community. They will begin to be able to explain, using vocabulary from our study, what a community is and will start to see that they are members of a society that only works if each person cooperates and makes a contribution.

1st and 2nd Grade

Our core curriculum alternates each year between two focuses, New York City and Water. Within our curriculum focus of Water we look at the various forms of water, weather, the water cycle, major bodies of water in and around New York, and the aquatic life that thrives in them. To help lay the framework for this, we begin with the basics of water – What is it? Students explore water through hands-on activities and experiments to help draw conclusions about the substance and it’s various forms. We also extend these understandings into an exploration of how it is important to the survival of people, plants, and animals. The students will work with Pat in the Science room as well, conducting experiments and drawing conclusions as scientists. We will center our field trips on searching for water sources around New York City, and visiting places like gardens, and the Coney Island Aquarium to observe water as a habitat and a part of the city. We will also spend time talking about transportation, bridges, tunnels, and the island of Manhattan. These trips are a wonderful hands-on way for children to truly experience this great city. During our New York City curriculum we launch our study of the city by discussing some landmarks we have seen as well as some that we would like to visit. Our study is neighborhood based and we will focus on various neighborhoods through the city to study. To help lay the framework for this, we begin with a neighborhood walk of the East Village, a neighborhood familiar to all our students. We take neighborhood walks of the surrounding area and document our noticings with maps. To help the students develop their map skills, we begin by creating maps of our classroom and our school. The Lower East Side is home to many parks, gardens and markets that each of the classes visits and shares information about. Some of the other neighborhoods our classes study and visit are China Town, Little India, Little Italy and Harlem. Field trips and visits to these locations are a vital component to support our curriculum. In addition, we further our study by taking a closer look at New York City’s Transportation System, the Markets of New York City and also the bridges and tunnels that connect all of the boroughs to surrounding land. These trips are a wonderful hands-on way for children to truly experience this great city.

3rd Grade

In the fall, we work on community-building for the first few weeks of social studies.

Through activities such as creating self-portraits, interviewing each other, and creating rules as a class, we develop a learning community that will support each of us in our work through the year. We then move on to a study of mapping, learning about map reading and map-making with a focus on physical maps that can help us learn about the land we live in, and how it has changed since it was inhabited only by the Lenape Native Americans before 1609. We take trips to sites like Inwood Hill Park to help us better understand what Manhattan was like then.

In the spring, we begin with a study of Native Americans nowadays. We study different tribes and how their members’ lives have changed over the years. We also discuss and analyze stereotypes in order to learn how to identify and resist them, with regard both to Native Americans and to other groups. We then move on to a study of the Lenapes before European contact. Through integrated work in reading, writing, and social studies, students read, analyze, and write folktales, learning how a culture’s literature can teach us about its history and belief systems. We also do numerous hands-on projects that help the students understand the Lenapes’ material culture and what it is like to make everything that you use on a day-to-day basis. Students weave wampumlike belts, make clay pots according to the traditional coil method, make cornhusk dolls, and sew moccasins. Following our study of the Lenapes, students do research on the traditional cultures of tribes from other environments, such as the Navajos of the

Southwest. Our social studies work in the spring is enhanced by trips to sites like the American Museum of Natural History and the Mohonk Preserve in the Catskills.

4th Grade 

We do an in-depth study of the history of immigration to New York City, beginning with Dutch colonization in the 1600s. We begin our work by studying our own families’ immigration history. We discuss, map, and graph data collected by each student, giving a picture of our class’s origins all over the globe. We move on to learn about the Age of Exploration and how it led to the founding of New Amsterdam.

Through field trips, role-plays, art, and writing assignments, students learn about the experiences of typical Dutch immigrants, as well as minority groups such as Jews, Quakers, and enslaved Africans. We then learn about the British colony of New York, with a special emphasis on slavery in New York. Trips to sites like the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum and the Morris-Jumel Mansion are central to this work.

In the spring, we continue our exploration of the history of immigration to the United States, and New York in particular. We learn about the Irish Potato Famine and how it led to great numbers of Irish immigrating to the U.S. We also study our own neighborhood in the 1800s, when it was known as Kleindeutschland, due to the large numbers of Germans who settled down here. We learn about their daily lives in New York, and investigate what the neighborhood was like then, compared to what it’s like now. We then move on to study the Ellis Island era of immigration through a variety of experiences. We go on to study how immigration laws have changed over time in the United States, and why. Finally, we learn about present-day immigration through interviews with immigrants. Students study the transcripts of these interviews and make illustrated books depicting the immigrants’ experiences. Trips to sites like Ellis Island, the Tenement Museum, the Museum at Eldridge Street, the Museum of Chinese in America, and El Museo del Barrio are central to the spring semester’s work.

5th Grade 

We start our year by focusing on our community as a fifth grade class, discussing the importance of citizenship and being a strong and supportive classmate.

We then launch into an extensive investigation of Slavery and the Civil Rights Movement in this country. The students explore significant events during this time period including The Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Little Rock Nine integration, and The Greensboro Sit-Ins. The class uses this knowledge to write their MLK Honoring the Dream play for our school wide celebration. The students also participate in a project that has the students walk in the shoes of people during this time in history. This in turn helps the students to create a Civil Rights Movement Museum in our classroom that the students used to educate the other classes in the school.

Next we explore the three branches of our country’s government. We discover the responsibilities and powers that each branch posses. Throughout this unit we also look at each branch’s role in passing laws through a historical law our government has passed. During this time the students also conduct independent online and book-based research to garner information for their persuasive letters. All of this work allows for the students to understand how the persuasive letters they created could make significant change in our country.

We further our exploration of government with a yearly 5th grade trip to Washington D.C. We have an amazing time, extending their learning on a variety of historical information in our nation’s capital. The students investigate D.C. history, various monuments and memorials. They also explore wonderful museums and government buildings. We also meet with a sitting Congressperson which provides a memorable experience that the fifth graders will be able to have for the rest of their lives. This amazing trip not only helps students further their understanding of our government and the history of our country but it also brings to life the information they have learned.

After completing our work in our government exploration, we move into an extensive study of Geography. Using a variety of methods which include working with a teacher made clay model depicting various geographical features, map work and discussions of terms, students develop a deep understanding of geography. We then narrow our focus giving the students the opportunity to understand the various regions of The United States of America and Canada. During this unit students are also given a state within our country to research independently, creating a poster depicting their work. Upon completion of the project each student then presents the information they discovered to their classmates.

Next we transition into our study of American Westward Expansion. We investigate this significant part of American history through a variety of avenues. We explore significant events during this time period including The Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark’s expedition, The Transcontinental railroad, The Oregon Trail, The Homestead Act and The Trail of Tears. We also learn about American Tall Tales and why they are based during this time period in American’s history. The students use their knowledge of the time period to assist in their historical fiction writing. Our study of Westward Expansion helped to solidify students understanding of our country’s history, and how that history influences our lives today.

The students finish their year as fifth graders with an intense study of the Ancient

Mayan civilization. The students truly enjoy exploring this remarkable group of people.

Our exploration is extensive and includes understanding their daily life, art and architecture, government, and religion amongst other topics. The students participate in class discussion and read-alouds about the Ancient Mayans. We enhance our learning by making Ancient Mayan food and drinks, creating Mayan King Macaw headdresses, and making hieroglyph medallion necklaces. The information the students garner about the Mayan people is used for inspiration when creating their poetry anthology.

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Heggerty: is a game based program that helps children hear and work with sounds in words. We use fun, quick activities like rhyming and breaking apart words by their sounds to build these important skills every day.

Phonics and Decoding

FUNdations: makes learning exciting by teaching children how to connect letters with sounds and put them together to read words. It helps them become better readers by focusing on key skills like sounding out words, reading fluently, and learning to spell.

Explode the Code: A fun way for kids to sound out words, improving both their reading and spelling. Children practice connecting sounds with letters and words.

Comprehensive Reading and Language Arts

EL: helps children become strong readers and writers. It encourages kids to ask questions, think deeply, and learn about the world through reading, while also improving vocabulary and writing skills.

Word Study and Vocabulary Development

Words Their Way: helps children understand how words work by focusing on spelling and vocabulary. Kids engage in hands-on activities that let them group words by patterns and meanings, making learning more fun and interactive.

Bridges

A comprehensive math program for grades K-5 that incorporates games and hands-on activities.

Inquiry-Based Learning: Encourages students to explore mathematical ideas through hands-on activities and discussions, fostering critical thinking and reasoning skills. 

Hands-on Tools and Game Based Learning: Math games are a fun way for students to practice their math skills through hands-on activities and math manipulatives. The games help students to visualize challenging mathematical concepts, while collaborating and engaging with peers.

Differentiated Instruction: Offers various entry points and challenges to meet the diverse needs of learners. 

Amplify Science

A hands-on, engaging science program for our K–5 students. It helps children explore real-world scientific concepts through activities like experiments, role-playing as scientists or engineers, and interactive tools. Amplify encourages critical thinking and problem-solving, making science both fun and educational for kids.

Harmony

A social and emotional learning program used for K-5 students. It focuses on building healthy relationships, enhancing communication skills, and promoting inclusivity in the classroom. 

All classes visit the library at least once a week during a regularly scheduled time period and they love it! During their visits, children may choose to read, enjoy the ‘listening center,’ browse through the magazine collection, join their classmates for a video and/or just share a wonderful book with a friend. While gathered together in ‘Dorothy’s Corner,’ children experience the power of words through read aloud and lively discussions. All children are encouraged to borrow a book each time they visit the library, keeping their selection for a one week period. Children are encouraged to share their personal selections with friends and family. As the children get older, the library offers more opportunities to independently discover the world of literacy available to them through magazines, computers, research, and documentaries. Lively discussions often follow the discovery of something new, interesting or just plain fabulous! In the fifth grade, helping in the Library is an option for community service by shelving, reading to a community member, alphabetizing and/or guiding a schoolmate on how to find what they are searching for.