Curriculum

We are...readers.

Across the Lower School, we embark on an exciting journey to unlock the secrets of the printed page through our structured literacy approach. Grounded in evidence-based practices that have been proven to effectively develop foundational reading skills, our curriculum is designed to empower students with the tools they need to become proficient, confident readers. We view reading as fundamental to our students’ abilities to connect with pieces of their identities, with their school community, and with the wider world.

Throughout their time in Lower School, students learn to “break the code” and unravel the complexities of the English language through Wilson Fundations. They delve deeper into phonics, exploring a range of sound and spelling patterns. Through a variety of multisensory techniques, they master letter patterns and high-frequency words. Fluency development is also emphasized, allowing students to read with speed, accuracy, and expression. A focus on building a deep understanding and knowledge of topics through both fiction and nonfiction texts contributes to strengthening comprehension. Since we believe that comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading, as well as the means by which students develop empathy, our students become not only readers, but also critical thinkers. They leave our Lower School equipped with the skills and knowledge needed for a lifetime of successful reading and learning.

We are...writers.

Lower School writing instruction is designed to nurture and empower young learners as they embark on their journey to becoming confident and proficient writers. Grounded in the latest research on child development and writing acquisition, our curriculum is thoughtfully crafted to foster a love for writing, develop foundational skills, and encourage creativity.

Our curriculum aligns with the cognitive and motor development stages of young learners, recognizing that each child progresses at their own pace. Beginning with the development of fine motor skills, letter formation, and early phonemic awareness, our youngest learners in the Lower School are provided with the tools necessary to freely express themselves through drawing, labeling, and inventive spelling. As a student progresses through their time in the Lower School, explicit instruction in phonics, spelling patterns and grammar supports the development of writing fluency. Sentence structure, punctuation, and basic paragraph development are also introduced. 

Throughout this writing progression, activities and tasks are scaffolded to meet students where they are, providing a supportive environment for growth. We emphasize the writing process, including brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. This approach fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students are provided with opportunities to write for real-world audiences, instilling a sense of purpose and pride in their work. Writing instruction is integrated with language development, enabling students to apply newly acquired vocabulary, grammar, and syntax in their compositions. Through Lower School writing instruction, we aim to foster a lifelong love for writing, equip students with essential communication skills, and instill the confidence to express themselves effectively in a variety of contexts. 

We are...mathematicians.

We believe that math instruction isn’t just about “crunching numbers,” which is why we work in the Lower School to teach students the “how” and “why” of math along with developing their number sense and computational skills. In our math work, students learn to identify and evaluate their approach to problems and are encouraged to share their mathematical thinking with their classmates and teachers in a variety of ways. It is our hope that throughout their time in the Lower School, our young mathematicians can see how math is just one more lens through which they can analyze the world around them. 

Across the Lower School, students are provided with hands-on manipulatives and visual tools or models in order to scaffold their learning as they explore mathematical concepts. Students work in differentiated groups, designed to meet their needs and to challenge them to take their thinking further. Explicit teaching of fact fluency, math vocabulary and language, and problem-solving strategies and approaches are all core components of our math work. By providing each of our students with the foundational skills needed to pursue mathematical thinking in the Lower School and beyond, we hope that our students see themselves as mathematicians, ready to rise to the next challenge.

We are...peacemakers.

Conflict is an unavoidable experience in the life of all of us, including children. As teachers, we are grateful to be a part of an educational community that believes “... that peace is not the absence of conflict but the peaceful resolution of conflict” and understands that “the resolution of personal and interpersonal conflict is a lifelong task.” This belief leads us to devote careful attention to teaching conflict resolution and related skills and habits in age-appropriate ways throughout the “ages and stages” of students’ lives at Carolina Friends. 

In the Lower School, fostering a shared responsibility, of both students and teachers, in conflict resolution is a part of the fabric of our daily life. We believe our Lower School students are ready to be active participants and hold a responsibility in conflict resolution. We also believe it is the teachers’ role to scaffold and walk alongside students when engaging in the conflict resolution process. 

In Lower School, we begin teaching conflict resolution skills on the first day of the school year. Students are invited to design classroom rules, consider queries that help them reflect on their actions, and engage in structured conflict resolution practices. 

We are...dancers.

Under the guidance of the dance teacher, students explore their range of motion, imprint in their bodies the concepts of fast and slow, high and low, and create sets of movements that evoke specific feelings or concepts. Moving singularly and in groups, dancers mirror partners, build on each other's shapes, and explore emotions through movement. As they crawl, skip, gallop, turn, and freeze, they are reminded to be aware of their body in space. Class may end with a sharing of dance pieces that students have created, followed by a discussion circle where observers comment on what they noticed in the dance they watched. We create, collaborate, and respect each other's visions, while always finding joy and connection in movement. 

We are...musicians.

“Oh, there ain’t no bugs on me!” No, it’s not a grammatically questionable commentary on mosquitoes, it’s the beginning of music class and the group is belting out an old campfire favorite for which they have created many new verses. Twice a week, students' spontaneous music-making is encouraged through singing, games, movement, and technology. Using instruments around them – djembe drums, xylophones, bells, Boomwhackers, ukuleles – students experience and experiment with sound.

Group singing is a part of every music class, and students build a large repertoire of traditional and modern songs from all over the world in their four years of Lower School. Older students learn enough chords and skills on the ukulele to accompany their singing, creating possibilities for a lifetime of musical enjoyment. Students explore songwriting, melody-making, and chord progressions to build a foundation for future musical studies. Most of all, students find joy and connection through sound!

We are...athletes.

It looks like a parade. It’s the line of students snaking up the path toward the gym, accompanied by the physical education teacher. The group of 16 students chatters happily. Some are teasing the teacher for hints of the day’s planned activity. All are excited as the group gathers in a corner of the gym for instructions.

Today’s activity involves defending a set of bowling pins from thrown balls while trying to knock down the pins of other teams. Teams gather to strategize the best way to set up their pins within the given playing area. Some team members stand in a launch area and throw soft vinyl balls. A team member rolls around the area on a scooter board retrieving balls and returning them to the throwers. It’s loud and enthusiastic.

Teams take a break and the group discusses which placement of pins was easiest to defend. The teacher runs the students through a reminder drill on throwing and aiming skills. Team members change roles and the game begins again. Next week may bring a variation of this game played outside on the field. The parade returns to Lower School, sweaty and glowing, muscles and minds stretched, teamwork enhanced.

We are...scientists.

In the Lower School, we take our role as stewards of this land seriously. Beginning with the oft-repeated phrase, “we are observers, not disturbers of nature,” our science curriculum is intimately connected with our role in learning about and caring for our wonderful outdoors. Whether exploring our woods and creeks, participating in a design and engineering process, or using scientific tools to explore the hidden mysteries of found elements from nature, students pose questions and seek out possible answers. Often using these student questions as a guide, our teachers work to incorporate the approaches and methods of scientific investigation and discovery into literacy and mathematics instruction. 

By actively working to support students in making connections between scientific concepts and processes, our environment, and other parts of their day, we teach students that asking questions and being curious about the world around them is an important part of their development. Instead of taking the world as it is, we hope our students can grow in their ability to question what is, to identify steps they can take to make it what it should be. 

We are...social scientists.

In the woods across the creek, a group of students is conducting a “dig” to explore the world of those who inhabited the school property before us. They have tried their hands at flint knapping, so they know the telltale signs of a piece of worked stone. The proliferation of flakes tells us that early peoples spent time here, perhaps on a rest stop as they traveled the nearby Occaneechi Trail.

The smell of frying potatoes wafts down the hall as a group of parents prepare latkes to serve as they tell Hanukah stories from their own family traditions. All of Lower School joins in a fiesta as we celebrate the culmination of a year of learning about our Mexican neighbors. A map study of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park leads to a writing project as we try to imagine how peaks like Bear Knob and Clingman’s Dome got their names.

In these and other interdisciplinary ways, our students explore a diversity of beliefs, values, and structures that help them understand the world around them.

Hablamos...Español.

“¿Como estas, niños?” sings the teacher. A rousing “Muy bien,” comes back from the class. The song leads into an activity about feelings. Students use their dramatic skills as they act out the Spanish words for sad and happy and excited and scared. Twice weekly, a group of 15 students meets with the Spanish teacher for conversational experience and instruction.

Students experience the language through games, stories, and hands-on activities. They learn concentration as the teacher speaks to them primarily in Spanish. They develop their skills in communication as they infer from the teacher’s gestures and facial expressions what she is saying. Back in their home classrooms, they learn to read the day’s date in Spanish, proudly rattling off the number of the day, the day of the week, the month, and the year.

Younger students learn to introduce themselves and to ask a classmate how they are feeling. An art project hones their knowledge of color names. Sharing about a frog they found outside adds the word rana to their vocabulary. Older students create a short play using words and phrases they have learned. Discussions of holidays, food, art, music, and legends all add to their understanding of the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries around the world.

We are...technologists.

A student searches the online catalogue in the Lower School library to find more books by a favorite author. In a designated small room, a group of students use the green screen wall to put the finishing touches on their movie presentation. Later, a class will Skype with a class at another school. Each group will ask and answer questions as they try to determine where the other school is located. The activities are about connection. They are about humans, not hardware.

Another student loves sea creatures. Using a Chromebook and the online research resources available on the library website, she uncovers facts about dolphins and jellyfish and sharks. The facts and some of her own drawings will go into an e-book to be shared with her classmates. A teacher has introduced a new concept in math class. Some students practice the new skills using iPads and the IXL Learning site. Another group writes their own programming code to animate robots Dash and Dot as they move around the library floor.

Older students log in to their own accounts and continue working on research articles or creative stories. As the session ends, they carefully log off, shut down their tablet or laptop, and return the device to the charging station. In addition to the specific skills of keyboarding, word processing, coding, and presentation software, these students are learning to care for shared equipment and to be responsible digital citizens.

We are...artists.

Students explore a wide variety of media throughout the year in art class. With every project, they learn new techniques and art concepts such as pattern, texture, and composition. They are encouraged to explore these techniques in whatever way they individually choose. Often, the students are given a theme with projects, such as place or community, but students are encouraged to find their own voice within this theme and make art that speaks to them and through them. Art is visual communication, and together in art class, we are learning that language and finding our voices.