Lower School (K-4)
Spend a little time with our Lower School students, and we're sure you'll quickly see that there is something pretty fantastic happening at The Pine School!
We provide an academically rigorous setting but wow, do we have a lot of fun! Our students learn in exciting and dynamic ways. Students are engaged daily in the communication and collaborative skills needed to thrive in a 21st-century environment without sacrificing their love for learning. We go way beyond just teaching to a test, from the 3rd Grade's State Fair, where students work as partners to create games about the United States, to 2nd Grade's Dinosaur Museum, with students collaborate to challenge museum visitors with student-created trivia questions about the lives of Dinosaurs, add to this our Poetry Slams, S.T.E.M. projects, and our yearly All-Lower School musical production.
"Our faculty works diligently as a team to encourage each student to discover and cultivate their unique learning path and potential," shared Lower School Director Suzanne Carlino. "Through collaborative projects, students discover how to work with one another - listening, debating, iterating, designing, and sharing ideas. In addition, character education is infused throughout the day as children interact with one another, displaying empathy and how to get along."
Simply put, we provide our students with the skills to solve problems creatively by engaging them in real-world, hands-on experiences that build resilience and growth.
In addition to our daily classroom experiences, our students participate in Q.U.E.S.T. enrichment classes such as art, music, physical education, library, science, and S.T.E.M. lab, all supporting our school mission to encourage the development of the whole child. Our Lower School curriculum includes academically solid expectations and experiences that work together to build our student's love for learning, confidence, and intellectual abilities.
Kindergarten
The Pine School houses an impressive Kindergarten program. We have mindfully designed our Kindergarten curriculum to promote joy and provide students with a solid foundational experience. During this developmental year, children thrive in our nurturing atmosphere as we work together towards the growth of the whole child. Teacher teams engage our children in a theme-based curriculum that is fun and challenging utilizing our indoor and outdoor classroom environments.
Pine School Kindergartners attend art, music, physical education, science, and technology classes. In addition, we provide many opportunities for our youngest Knights to perform for their peers, parents, and grandparents during the school year as they develop confidence in public speaking and presentation. We invite your kindergartner to join us on a journey that begins at age five and leads to a life-long love of learning!
Grades 1-4
We encourage our students to reach their highest potential by providing each student with a fun, creative, and challenging environment for learning.
The formative and impressionable years between Grades 1 and 4 provide the academic foundation to develop each student's unique potential. Skills introduced in kindergarten, grade one, and grade two are then applied in grades three and four. Independent and group projects, field trips, community outreach, inviting classrooms, and a broad range of teaching techniques support our classes' curriculum. Fourth Grade benefits from departmentalized instruction for the four core subjects of Science, Math, English, and Social Studies.
Throughout the school year, various grade-level and comprehensive school programs provide our Lower School students with the opportunity to exercise their leadership abilities and practice presentation skills. We are working to building self-confidence and strengthening our self-image. Our experienced and dedicated teachers strive daily to promote academic excellence within a challenging, supportive, and moral environment that fosters the development of mind, body, and spirit.
Each year brings continued thought-provoking experiences to stimulate and satisfy natural curiosity as we prepare students for Middle and Upper School.