Our first graders celebrate receiving their first siddur with a performance and a special recitation of morning prayers with their parents and teachers. Our second graders celebrate receiving their first Chumash with a performance and each child being called up to the Torah with his or her family to say a blessing.
Our fourth graders buddy with second graders monthly to engage in shared activities that promote their leadership skills. Buddy activities include: sharing published writing pieces, partner-reading short stories, and providing feedback on work in progress.
Curriculum-related field trips at each grade level include: neighborhood walks for first graders to observe local community workers, tours of the Upper East Side Historic District for second graders, a visit to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum for third graders, and trips to the Museum of the American Indian and the Museum of Jewish Heritage for fourth graders.
The entire school participates in regular picture book studies to explore monthly themes, such as Women’s History Month, Black History, and Jewish American Heritage month.
Showing what we know.
Each grade in the Lower School marks an important curricular milestone with a celebration:
First graders have a Publishing Party, in which the students share their original non-fiction, research-based Community Workers books.
Second graders have a MiddotMark Celebration, in which the students combine their knowledge of the landmark status acquisition process with their convictions about meaningful middot. Each small group works with Arch for Kids to construct a building that embodies their selected middah and compose a persuasive piece of writing to convince a landmark preservation committee of their building deserving landmark status.
Third graders have a Country Study Celebration, in which the students work in groups to research and present their findings on the culture and geography of a selected country.
Fourth graders, the seniors of the Lower School, perform at their Zimriyah, a theme-related graduation ceremony of singing and dancing. They present their learning at a Voices of the American Revolution Celebration, in which students personify composite characters of the American Revolutionary period engaging in a Continental Congress-style meeting to share their sentiments on the tumultuous events leading to the outbreak of war with Great Britain.
