The Children’s School’s elementary program offers students a broad, deep, and engaging experience with an evolving, integrated curriculum. Blending best practices with emergent elements makes for a vibrant learning community, driven by exceptional teachers and engaged students.
We offer a rich, project-based, interdisciplinary curriculum because children learn best when they are actively involved in their own learning. Concepts and skills are introduced and reinforced using hands-on strategies that encourage collaboration and build understanding of connections between subjects and students. We’re excited to continue to lead in offering abundant opportunities for themed projects in each grade rooted in collaboration and critical thinking. It makes learning more fun, meaningful, and relevant.
At The Children’s School, we develop compassionate and confident learners. Class sizes are small by design. Teachers focus and support growth by setting individualized goals and differentiating learning. Assessments are deep and informative with feedback focused on reflection. By developing internal motivation and fostering a love of learning, our unique elementary program helps students work towards mastery, self-driven exploration and a pursuit of their developing interests.
Successful people are well-rounded, curious, and eager to engage the world around them. A trusted and tested framework for social and emotional learning helps students begin to resolve conflicts, empathize and work with people and groups, and thoughtfully learn from and navigate identities, perspectives, and beliefs different than their own. Service learning is integrated into even our youngest scholars’ experience, whether cleaning up the local beach or participating in food drives.
We also know some of the most powerful moments of personal growth can’t be planned for. Whether an informal conversation in the hall, something brought up by current events or a topic in class or the student-driven conversations that emerge in advisory morning meeting, every student has the chance to be known, heard, and to grow as social citizens in a safe, loving environment.
A school is a living community. We create opportunities for students to gather in groups large and small and to work across grade levels. Advisories give students a chance to connect with one another and weekly all-school meetings showcase and celebrate what students are learning. As students grow with us, they take on greater school-wide roles and responsibilities. Older elementary students relish these mentoring younger students through our Learning Buddies programs and taking on more ownership over their learning as they move through elementary school.
Our experiential approach means our campus is just the start of our school. Ask a student and you’ll hear about our Great Artists program, trips to missions and Astrocamp, and the much loved suburban/urban/rural environmental tour. Nearby La Jolla beach acts not just as a service opportunity but an extended art studio and science lab where students sketch the shores and study the tide pools. The world is our classroom, and there’s no limit to where our students’ interests take our learning.
