Middle Form Dean and faculty member Eric Gordon engages with students in a History & Social Sciences class.
Middle Form: Grade 3–5 Girls & Boys
The Age of Reason
In these middle years, children grow in independence and ownership, with a greater awareness of the separation between self and others, as well as the need for empathy and perspective-taking. Understanding that there is a world around them and seeing the world from someone else’s perspective are key capacities that develop at this stage. As such, the curriculum taps into their questions, their independence and their ability to think and write critically about not just what they are learning but how they are learning. Cognitive and meta-cognitive development combine to produce independent and engaged learners.
Third grade girls make connections between concepts in math class.
Students independently transition between classes in the Siboni Art & Science Center and The Herbert Center gym.
Middle Form students build off previous literacy instruction to increase their independence and fluency as readers and writers.
Developing greater proficiency in a second language enhances critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The individual classroom model concludes in third grade, and fourth grade introduces learning in different classrooms for humanities, science and mathematics. Students in fifth grade reach the capstone of emergent independence as they start to follow a schedule where they move throughout the Broadway campus to attend classes led by area departmental teachers in English and composition, mathematics, laboratory science, modern & classical language (now including Latin), religion, theology & spirituality, performing (instrumental, vocal, drama, dance) and visual arts, and physical education.
Teaching across all of these disciplines in single-sex environments, we ensure that girls and boys are seen and challenged as emerging authors, mathematicians, scientists, artists and linguists.
This simple team-building activity encourages teamwork while incorporating movement and coordination.
Students are challenged as emerging mathematicians.
Music education exposes students to new challenges and multi-sensory experiences.
Understanding that there is a world around them and seeing the world from someone else’s perspective are key capacities that develop at this stage.
The school’s pedagogical approach is to meet and engage girls and boys equally, pushing the capacity of each student to live fully into their gifts and to engage challenges with resilience and enthusiasm. Fifth graders are anchored and supported with a daily Homeroom period with a teacher who works closely with the Middle Form Dean to follow the progress and development of each student.
