Lower School

List of 15 items.

• Junior Kindergarten

  Junior Kindergarten students are encouraged to try different experiences as they build confidence and new skills every day.  Our children enjoy exploring the world around them as they practice creative expression, motor development, and independence.  We value our community and the bonds we form with each family. We believe in getting to know every student and family to create an extraordinary, joyful, safe, educational experience each day.
  
  

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• Kindergarten

  Our Kindergarten program offers a strong academic curriculum in an enjoyable and nurturing environment. The Benchmark Workshop Reading Program (Grades K-3) provides whole group mini-lessons and small group lessons to facilitate optimum development of each child’s emergent reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Our program focuses on foundational skills to build comprehension, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Benchmark Phonics and Word Study provides explicit instruction and differentiated practice through authentic reading and writing experiences through multisensory activities. The Singapore Math in Focus program’s spiraling curriculum and hands-on activities offer an opportunity for every child to progress to his or her potential. A low student-teacher ratio allows teachers to provide individual attention to ensure maximum development of the whole child academically, physically, spiritually, and socially. The Kindergarten year includes music, art, Spanish, technology, physical education, and literary special areas.

• First Grade

  First Grade is an exciting, fast-paced, and engaging instructional process that builds on skills and knowledge learned in Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten. We provide a strong base and foundation for successful reading, focusing on systematic phonics instruction, fluency, and comprehension. First grade is also a year of exploration and discovery of the numbers around us. In addition, we provide a balanced curriculum by offering daily devotions and special area classes in science, art, music, Spanish, technology, library, and physical education, as well as various after school programs and summer camps. We include and encourage hands-on activities, critical thinking, and the use of creativity to ensure the development of the whole child.

• Second Grade

  In Second Grade, students learn to work more independently and are responsible for daily assignments. They are introduced to more sophisticated elements of reading including the study of character and setting, making predictions, and making connections between text and to self. The study of non-fiction is also introduced to expand factual knowledge and implement facts into the writing process. Daily math computations, word problems, telling time, and counting money are refined, as bar models are expanded to meet second grade standards. Team building and collaboration are used daily in all subject areas as students learn to respect and value each other.

• Third Grade

  Third Grade curriculum encourages critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving in all academic areas. Differentiated instruction allows for every kind of learner to develop his or her academic progress using varied strategies specifically designed for individual learning needs. Special area classes such as music, art, science, Spanish, technology, and library are incorporated into the core curriculum to allow students to explore and discover new gifts and talents. Cursive writing is taught and used throughout the third grade.

• Fourth Grade

  Students in Fourth Grade work through an accelerated Math in Focus curriculum. This program helps students build a solid foundation through a focus on problem-solving. Clear and engaging visuals that present concepts and model solutions allow all students to gain a strong conceptual understanding. Fourth graders read a variety of literature: novels, short stories, poetry, articles, and non-fiction in order to help them become discerning readers. Writing assignments utilize and hone grammar skills, vocabulary, and spelling across the curriculum.

• Fifth Grade

  Fifth Grade curriculum includes focused preparation for Middle School. Students are challenged to think critically while working in groups and independently. An advanced math curriculum allows students to excel, while work in social studies takes them from our nation’s founding through World War II. In language arts, students are taught to identify intermediate strategies in reading and writing. Students are also immersed in science, music, technology, library, Spanish, physical education, and art.

• Lower School STEAM Science

  In first through fifth grades, science classes provide a springboard for our STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) program. This program enhances the existing inquiry-based curriculum by offering more connections to the real world by elevating critical thinking and problem solving and increasing students’ awareness of career opportunities and connections. The STEAM Lab is equipped with state-of-the-art learning materials, including Pitsco Missions (engaging hands-on STEAM activities), textbooks, iPads, MacBooks, and LEGO Education simple machines and robotics. Robotics education begins in Kindergarten with Dash and Dot robots and moves through the grades.  Students work with the LEGO Education WEDO series, and fifth graders are challenged with LEGO Education’s MINDSTORM Activity Packs.

• Lower School Library

  The Williams-Parker Library provides a space where students are encouraged to cultivate a love for lifelong reading and learning through both browsing and pleasure reading and reference and research instruction. Book talks, a visiting authors program, and the acquisition of curriculum-centered books with student appeal are in place to encourage reading throughout the year. Access to information is offered in a variety of formats to meet educational and recreational needs.

• Lower School Global Studies

  Focused on global exploration, the primary goal of the Global Studies program is for each Lower School student to develop a greater understanding of world cultures through the study of different countries throughout Lower School.

  
  Each grade level studies a particular country or countries each year, providing an in-depth exploration of geography, food, culture, history, and language. The program builds to the study of Spanish-speaking countries in fourth and fifth grades while increasing the scope of study of the Spanish language. This provides a strong foreign language foundation for our students in preparation for Middle School.

• Lower School Music

  All classes in the Brookwood Lower School receive general music instruction two times per week. Instruction through the Orff approach is a method of teaching children about music that engages their mind and body through a mixture of singing, dancing, acting and the use of percussion instruments. The Orff method often uses instruments like xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels. The experience includes a full complement of melody percussion and untuned percussion instruments, experiences in rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and expressive qualities with the goal of giving students the tools needed to perform, create, and listen to music with understanding. The Lower School music program also provides opportunities for students to work cooperatively and actively in a performance setting with each grade level presenting an onstage production.

• Lower School Art

  Brookwood’s Lower School Art program embraces National Visual Arts Standards as the guidelines for encouraging students to achieve visual literacy and develop artistic skills through work in varied media. Using lessons based upon art history and culture, from ancient to modern, as well as the work of specific artists, line, form, shape, value, space, texture, and color are taught, and the principles of design are introduced and developed from Junior Kindergarten through Fifth Grade.

  Students are given the opportunity to showcase their artwork through several local exhibits and contests during the school year. Lower School students are often asked to create unique art projects for in-house special events throughout the year.

• Lower School Physical Education

  The physical education program in the Lower School aligns with the philosophy and the mission of the school, particularly in the development of the whole child, socially and physically. Physical Education at Brookwood seeks to capitalize on each child’s strengths and is success-oriented in order to foster a healthy self-concept. Leadership and responsibility are stressed through problem-solving approaches to learning, cooperation through teamwork, and good sportsmanship. The physical education curriculum promotes optimum physical, mental, emotional, and social development through a program of fundamental skills in movement, sport, recreational activity, rhythm, and dance.

• Lower School Academic Resource Center (ARC)

  The Academic Resource Center offers a student-centered atmosphere that provides academic support while serving as a liaison between teachers, students, and parents. The staff of the Academic  Resource Center is comprised of qualified teachers and specialists devoted to supporting the academic environment and educational mission of Brookwood School while meeting the individual needs of students in the program.

   

  The goal of the Reading Intervention Program is to provide reading support for kindergarten through second grade students who have exhibited indicators of being at-risk readers. Students are identified through DIBELS testing, phonemic and early reading assessments, teacher observation, and class performance. Through early intervention, this program strives to close the achievement gap between students and their peers.

   

  The Academic Resource Center provides individual academic support, remediation, and testing accommodations based on a child's psycho-educational testing for students in grades 2-5. Students receive one-on-one instruction, as well as academic coaching sessions to facilitate and maximize classroom learning.

• After School Programs

  WARRIORS AFTER SCHOOL

  The Brookwood Warriors After School program provides quality on-campus childcare from 2:50 to 6:00 p.m. daily. Warriors After School is for students in Junior Kindergarten through Fifth Grade, who may come Monday through Friday or drop in as needed. Brookwood provides a daily snack and time to complete homework. After school, students may enjoy playground time while outside or center time and movies while indoors.