Social-Emotional
Children have an innate capacity for caring, kindness, and friendship. We expand and integrate this natural ability throughout our whole school. Respect and cooperation is integral to our social and emotional curriculum. By providing children the experience of a multi-age program, they are encouraged to develop independence and personal responsibility in a nurturing social and academic environment. Positive social and emotional roles are developed when older children develop leadership skills as they work with and help younger children. Individual differences are valued because children are given choices in activities. Competition is reduced while children work on many self-selected independent activities and progress at their own rate. The children grow socially with many opportunities to develop caring, close relationships with other children as well as their teachers.

Language Arts

Just as one must build a foundation before a wall is built, we take into consideration the natural learning processes by which children learn, and build upon them. The more useful and relevant written and spoken language is to the child's life, the more rapidly children learn to read and enjoy what they read. The four basic components to our language arts curriculum are: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These components are integrated throughout our school curriculum.

Students explore high quality literature both within groups and independently. At this age, abstract thinking is more developed and students are able to begin analyzing what they read. Of course, basic comprehension is important and students develop new vocabulary through reading and discussions, as well as learning to use reference sources to expand their understanding of the literature. Students write stories, and poetry, as well as writing about the science, history, current events and other topics under study. By examining student writing, teachers are able to determine which areas need to be addressed via more discrete skill lessons. These include spelling, handwriting, grammar, composition, and use of language. In addition to reading literature, students read non-fiction material as they study topics in science, social studies, math and art. Students become aware of the different conventions for wriitng under varying circumstances. Students also do research and write about topics related to our studies or on a tppic  that are of special interest to them.

Mathematics
In our math classes, the primary focus is on the comprehension and application in every day life of the concepts being taught.  Throughout the year, students are guided through the mathematical process of understanding the problem, determining the best way to resolve it, and applying their method of solution then assessing the result. Emphasis is placed on the multiplicity of approaches to mathematical problems which can be developed by students. Students are encouraged to think through problems, to attempt solutions, to explain their approached to others and to listen to the ideas of their classmates.  . Students progress throughout the math curriculum at their own pace, working in pairs, small groups, or independently. Larger, real-world problems are addressed as a whole class. For example, we might undertake to study the production of maple syrup by our sugar maple trees. Within this project, students ask questions, such as “does the size of the tree affect how much sap it produces?” and “What do we mean by the size of the tree?” (height, girth, diameter, crown spread?) In such a project, connections are made to the rest of the curriculum, in this case we might examine the different types of trees, learn about what makes sap flow, study the ways people in the past have used trees, or investigate the maple syrup industry in New York. Math classes are a blend of skills based learning, skill reinforcment and application of mathematics.

Science
The goals of the science classes are to instill in the students an understanding of scientific processes and the application of the topics to their lives. The science topics are thematically based. Through discussion and hands-on experiments, the students were introduced to a variety of applications of the topics. In order to reinforce the individual qualities of each topic, students were also exposed to lectures, research, discovering the topic in the world, building devices, using computers, and doing experiments. Topics such as the environment, the human body, space and the solar system, plants and animals, machines, properties of air and water, electrical and chemical systems, sources of energy, basic geology, ecology, and new scientific discoveries are explored in depth in science groups.

Social Studies
Social studies is an umbrella term which incorporates history, geography, current events, archeology, and, possibly, social sciences.  Within the area of history, students learn to think as historians,. Where possible, students have direct encounters with historical materials such as source documents, important places, oral histories, Since hands-on history is most easily encountered when studying the local area, we begin by a study of local history hten extend outward into the larger world. Our location within the Hudson Valley offers the opportunity to study both US and Global history and geography, because as one of the first areas of European settlement and as an area that has historically been the home of many and diverse immigrant groups, we are connected to the world at large in many ways. Students develop a sense of place when they clearly understand the history and environment of the area in which they live. Encounters with artifacts, documents and visitors encourage students to ask questions about causation, continuity and change, and how the environment interacts with human history. Understanding the past helps us to understand the present, make sense of the possibilities for the future and feel connected to a larger world.

Art
Our program in art seeks to expose children to a wide variety of concepts, media, and forms through a multi-sensory approach of hands-on work. We also believe that art is a very important way for children to express themselves and gain confidence and pride in their accomplishments. Throughout the year, we  expose the children to the history of art, the work of specific artists, and the many varied techniques or styles they have used. We may visit galleries or work with a visiting artist. Art classes are just one way of exploring creative visual expression and teachers work very closely with the students to guide them on their explorations.