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Léman Manhattan’s Lower School is a vibrant, creative and joyful place. Our Lower School curriculum is focused on educating the “whole child” and developing strong critical thinking skills. We offer a rich, diverse curriculum that encourages students to reach their academic, social and emotional potential in a challenging yet supportive and nurturing environment that embraces family, community and citizenship. Through our many offerings, children find their passions and develop their interests and strengths. As a result, our students become independent thinkers and competent decision makers who are excited to learn. While we emphasize proficiency in language, art and math is paramount, our Lower School program also emphasizes world language, the humanities, science and physical education. The arts are a particularly strong feature of the school. Theater, music and the visual arts help to encourage creativity, open-ended thinking and cooperation. We also believe that no two children are completely alike. Through our Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs), our teachers support the different learning styles and abilities of each individual child in their classes. We have a very small student teacher ratio and that means our teachers really get to know the children well. It also means they get to know the parents well. Parents are invited to be in touch with our teachers just to check in. They don’t have to wait for a formal parent-teacher meeting or a problem to arise for there to be communication between home and school. We have high expectations for our children’s work and behavior and strongly believe in providing clear feedback to students and families on both. We also know children learn best when they are given authentic “hands-on” activities. And that active learning can take many forms. It might be 1st Graders indirectly learning about supply and demand when preparing to sell recycled items they’ve made for Earth Day. It could be Pre-K students turning their classroom into an art gallery and writing invitations to parents and friends. In 2nd-4th grades, our students participate in our Meritas Touchpoints programs. In this curriculum, students at Léman Manhattan are paired with students at one of our sister schools to help solve an important global issue. For instance, our 3rd graders are studying deforestation while our 4th grade is working on problems of obesity. Over the course of the year, students research the issue, consult with experts and share information via Wikis and Skype. The program concludes in the spring with a Lincoln-Douglas style debate. In addition to Touchpoints, we constantly look for opportunities to bring a global perspective into classroom. One of the great assets of this school is that we have families from all over the world and many of our children are bi-lingual. That brings a lot to our community and curriculum. We encourage them to use their French or Spanish, for instance, in the classroom. Children at Léman Manhattan are very accustomed to hearing different voices and different languages and this is a powerful feature of our program.
Finally, our teachers give thoughtful attention to each child’s social and emotional health and development. The faculty is very deliberate in building classroom communities in which children feel secure and safe to take risks, and in which all voices are heard and respected. |
Lower School — начальная школа
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