ELEMENTARY
Our elementary program offers kindergarten through sixth grade education in multi-age classrooms. Our goal is to create the richest possible learning environment by meeting the individual academic needs of each child, while maximizing the social and academic benefits of collaborative work.
For more information on the general approach taken at Peregrine, please continue reading. For more information on the approach taken in individual grades and classrooms, please click on the buttons above!
Peregrine’s elementary programs emphasize learning through all five senses. As children enter elementary school, the play-based learning they did in preschool is not lost, but gradually transitions into inquiry-based learning, or “project-based learning.” The kindergarten year serves as an important transition between these two approaches.
Project-based learning provides a balance between the open, child-centered inquiries in which preschool children engage, and the need to gain skills and to cover academic subjects in grades 1-6. In project-based learning, students continue to make choices in significant areas of their learning, to participate actively rather than passively, and to experience a hands-on, experiential approach to science, arts, and social studies. Hence, we continue the Reggio-inspired approach of our preschool, in which all eight intelligences (the hundred languages of childhood) are honored. We believe this constitutes good learning at any age.
Over each school week, students experience three types of teaching environments, each of which focuses on students’ needs in different ways. Click on each of these environments for more information:
Teaching occurs in multi-grade settings, which allow students to explore concepts appropriate to their developmental level. Grade level combinations can change from year to year, depending on the population, but the guiding questions provided on the right define inquiry at various levels: