Lower Elementary
A BALANCED APPROACH
Grades K-2
Gillispie’s Lower Elementary Program is designed to offer a unique blend of play-based exploration, academic rigor, and social-emotional development. Our social-constructivist approach creates a supportive environment where children actively learn and collaborate through engaging hands-on experiences, and feel safe, confident, and excited to learn.
Recognizing that each child’s learning style and journey are unique, our teachers create differentiated learning experiences to foster growth and challenge at the pace best for the student. Through ongoing assessment, we tailor instruction to meet each student’s individual needs.
Kindergarten
Where Curiosity Leads to Confidence
Starting Kindergarten can feel like a big step, but our program provides a smooth transition from early childhood experiences. We believe play is essential for young children’s learning and blend play-based learning with core academics. Our curriculum builds a strong foundation in reading, writing, and math while helping students develop important social and emotional skills. Additionally, our robust specialty programs are equal partners in the curriculum, offering opportunities for in-depth exploration across various subjects.
Kindergarten Program
Literacy in Kindergarten emphasizes daily reading practice to build fluency and accuracy. Grounded in the Science of Reading principles and the UFLI Foundations Phonics Program, teachers focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Through small group lessons, interactive activities, and engaging read-alouds, students develop strong foundational reading skills. They build a robust sight word vocabulary, allowing for fluent reading. By the end of the year, students will confidently decode words, recognize sight words, use an expanded vocabulary, gain comprehension strategies such as predicting, questioning, visualizing, and making connections, all while developing a love of reading.
Math in Kindergarten focuses on number sense, analytical and conceptual thinking, and problem-solving skills. Guided by the Singapore Math approach and other complementary programs, teachers use hands-on activities and mental math exercises to bring concepts like counting, place value, addition, subtraction, shapes, measurement, data analysis, and patterns to life. The curriculum builds a solid foundation for future math success, preparing students to apply their skills confidently.
Social Studies in Kindergarten focuses on building a strong foundation in understanding the world around them. Students explore their community, family, and environment, and develop a sense of belonging and citizenship while learning about different cultures and traditions.
Science in Kindergarten is guided by curiosity and exploration. Progressing from the tinker spaces in early childhood, our Kindergarten makers space allows students to investigate through inquiry-based learning and hands-on experimentation. Students build critical thinking and problem-solving skills by questioning, investigating, observing, and organizing gathered information about the physical world, properties of matter, weather patterns, and the water cycle. They also learn about life science through observing living and non-living things, plant growth, and the importance of sustainability. By the end of the year, Kindergarten students have a strong foundation for scientific inquiry and design thinking.
Our specialty classes are an integral part of our curriculum. By partnering with homeroom teachers, our specialty teachers enrich core subjects and foster real-world connections through cross-disciplinary learning. Students engage in a variety of specialty subjects daily through our rotating weekly schedule, nurturing curious and capable learners with a growth mindset.
Specialty classes include:
- P.E.: 3 times per cycle
- Visual Art: 2 times per cycle
- Music: 2 times per cycle
- Library: once per cycle
- Spanish: 2 times per cycle
- Digital Citizenship: once per cycle
At school, children learn valuable life skills that go beyond academics. Through interactions with peers and teachers, they develop a sense of community and learn to care for themselves, others, and the environment.
Our Gillispie Values – Integrity, Compassion, Attitude, Respect, and Effort (ICARE) – guide both students and faculty. These values form the foundation of our important work and shape our school culture. We work together as a community to create a joyful learning environment and a vibrant community that embodies kindness, honesty, empathy, hard work, and respect. We strive to exhibit these five ICARE values in all aspects of school life.
Additionally, our Responsive Classroom approach fosters collaboration among students. They learn to solve problems together, build confidence as a team, and create a nurturing environment where everyone feels safe and supported.
Beyond the school day, we offer a wide range of fee-based, enrichment opportunities. From creative arts like painting and ceramics, to theater, sports, movement, and STEM-focused programs like coding and space camp, there’s something for every interest. Our after-school programs and summer camps provide more ways your child can engage in learning opportunities throughout the year. Additionally, students can join our early morning running club!
Age Range
5-6
Schedule
Full-day, 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Extended Care (optional)
7:30-8:00 a.m. and 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Class Sizes
8:1 or lower
Educational Philosophy
Social-constructivist inspired
Grade 1
Developing Independent and Confident Learners
First grade is a year of exciting exploration and growth. Building on their Kindergarten foundation, students become more independent and engaged in their academic subjects as they dive deeper into reading, writing, and math. Through hands-on activities and engaging group projects, students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. A strong emphasis on literacy helps students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, while math focuses on operations and measurement. Social Studies will introduce them to the world beyond their classroom, and our robust specialty program will tie everything together, offering opportunities for in-depth exploration across various subjects.
Grade 1 Program
Literacy in Grade 1 takes center stage in the curriculum. Students become confident readers as they refine their phonemic awareness and phonics skills, work one-on-one with teachers, and do small group work. They develop reading comprehension strategies, expanding their vocabulary and fluency, and writing becomes more purposeful as students craft narratives, informative pieces, and opinion writing. Effective communication skills are key as students work together and are developed through listening, speaking, and collaborative discussions. By the end of Grade 1, students will have transitioned from learning to read to reading to learn.
Math in Grade 1 focuses on furthering concepts of number sense, operations, and measurement. Guided by the Singapore Math method, students explore counting patterns and learn to add and subtract, while developing an understanding of time, money, and geometry. Data analysis skills are also introduced as students collect, represent, and interpret information from graphs.
Social Studies in Grade 1 opens the world up to the students. They develop a sense of community and citizenship, while learning about different cultures, national symbols, traditions, and time periods. Geographic concepts are also introduced as students begin to locate continents and oceans. The world becomes even more exciting with analysis of the past and present and a look at comparative cultures.
Our specialty classes are an integral part of our curriculum. By partnering with homeroom teachers, our specialty teachers enrich core subjects and foster real-world connections through cross-disciplinary learning. Students engage in a variety of specialty subjects daily through our rotating weekly schedule, nurturing curious and capable learners with a growth mindset. They also start to learn basic research skills and how to complete a research report.
Specialty classes include:
- Science & Design: 3 times per cycle
- P.E.: 3 times per cycle
- Visual Art: 2 times per cycle
- Music: 2 times per cycle
- Library: once per cycle
- Spanish: 2 times per cycle
- Digital Citizenship: once per cycle
At school, children learn valuable life skills that go beyond academics. Through interactions with peers and teachers, they develop a sense of community and learn to care for themselves, others, and the environment.
Our Gillispie Values – Integrity, Compassion, Attitude, Respect, and Effort (ICARE) – guide both students and faculty. These values form the foundation of our important work and shape our school culture. We work together as a community to create a joyful learning environment and a vibrant community that embodies kindness, honesty, empathy, hard work, and respect. We strive to exhibit these five ICARE values in all aspects of school life.
Additionally, our Responsive Classroom approach fosters collaboration among students. They learn to solve problems together, build confidence as a team, and create a nurturing environment where everyone feels safe and supported.
Beyond the school day, we offer a wide range of fee-based, enrichment opportunities. From creative arts like painting and ceramics, to theater, sports, movement, and STEM-focused programs like coding and space camp, there’s something for every interest. Our after-school programs and summer camps provide more ways your child can engage in learning opportunities throughout the year. Additionally, students can join our early morning running club!
Age Range
6-7
Schedule
Full-day, 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Extended Care (optional)
7:30-8:00 a.m. and 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Class Sizes
8:1 or lower
Educational Philosophy
Social-constructivist inspired
Grade 2
Nurturing Self-Motivation
Second grade marks a significant shift in a child’s educational journey. Students in this grade level show increased independence and a growing curiosity about the world around them. The curriculum builds on the foundational skills gained in first grade, placing greater emphasis on global citizenship, design-model thinking, community service, research projects, and self-motivated learning.
Grade 2 Program
Literacy skills in Grade 2 become more complex. Reading comprehension focuses on analyzing texts in greater depth, making inferences, and comparing and contrasting information.
Grade 2-6 writing focuses on the writing process and emphasizes narrative, opinion, and information as they prepare for multi-paragraph writing.
Students are guided by the Hochman Method, an evidence-based approach that advances thinking through writing by resting on explicit, carefully sequenced instruction, building from sentences to composition.
Students also work in small groups to deepen word study and spelling patterns by using programs like Words Their Way and Chunk Spelling. By the end of Grade 2, students have become more confident in using language effectively to communicate their thoughts and ideas, both verbally and in writing.
Math in Grade 2 focuses on building problem-solving skills and strategies, as well as a deeper level of numeracy. Place value and problem-solving become central to the math curriculum, and students perform more advanced addition and subtraction while laying the groundwork for multiplication and division. Guided by the Math in Focus: Singapore Math approach, Grade 2 math focuses on problem-solving and real-world applications, empowering students to become confident and practical mathematicians.
Social Studies in Grade 2 cultivates global awareness and civic responsibility. Through in-depth research projects, students explore diverse cultures, regions, government structures, economic principles, and historical figures. This hands-on learning not only deepens their understanding of the world but also develops independent study, and essential research and presentation skills.
Our specialty classes are an integral part of our curriculum. By partnering with homeroom teachers, our specialty teachers enrich core subjects and foster real-world connections through cross-disciplinary learning. Students engage in a variety of specialty subjects daily through our rotating weekly schedule, nurturing curious and capable learners with a growth mindset. They begin to apply the design-thinking model where students learn to observe, ask, guess, predict, test, and conclude.
Specialty classes include:
- Science & Design: 3 times per cycle
- P.E.: 3 times per cycle
- Visual Art: 2 times per cycle
- Music: 2 times per cycle
- Library: 2 times per cycle
- Spanish: 2 times per cycle
- Digital Citizenship: once per cycle
At school, children learn valuable life skills that go beyond academics. Through interactions with peers and teachers, they develop a sense of community and learn to care for themselves, others, and the environment.
Our Gillispie Values – Integrity, Compassion, Attitude, Respect, and Effort (ICARE) – guide both students and faculty. These values form the foundation of our important work and shape our school culture. We work together as a community to create a joyful learning environment and a vibrant community that embodies kindness, honesty, empathy, hard work, and respect. We strive to exhibit these five ICARE values in all aspects of school life.
Additionally, our Responsive Classroom approach fosters collaboration among students. They learn to solve problems together, build confidence as a team, and create a nurturing environment where everyone feels safe and supported.
Responsive Classroom is an evidence-based approach to teaching and discipline that focuses on engaging academics, positive community, effective management, and developmental awareness.
CASEL (The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) has awarded Responsive Classroom their highest designation as a CASEL SELect Program.
Beyond the school day, we offer a wide range of fee-based, enrichment opportunities. From creative arts like painting and ceramics, to theater, sports, movement, and STEM-focused programs like coding and space camp, there’s something for every interest. Our after-school programs and summer camps provide more ways your child can engage in learning opportunities throughout the year. Additionally, students can join our early morning running club!
Age Range
7-8
Schedule
Full-day, 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Extended Care (optional)
7:30-8:00 a.m. and 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Class Sizes
8:1 or lower
Educational Philosophy
Social-constructivist inspired