Ages 5 – 7
We climb trees.
We sing loudly.
We eat kale.
We forage in our creek.
We love studying outdoors.
The goal of our wholesome Owls Classroom is to prepare children for their upper Elementary experience by tapping their natural curiosity, providing engaging learning opportunities and recognizing every child’s unique character and abilities. Our Class is set up as multi-age classroom with students working on Kindergarten and Grade 1 levels, empowered by our lovely Lead Teacher Libby, and creative Community Mentors, such as our Fine Arts Teacher, Dance or Soccer Instructors, Culinary + Nutrition Education Chefs, and Music Teacher.
Organic Culinary, Holistic Gardening, Bee Keeping Education, Yoga Therapy + Mindful Meditation, Music, Language exposure and Fine Arts + Theatre programs are included in your child’s learning, as are our NEW FALL ’19 lessons: YOGA + BEE KEEPING WORKSHOPS. Children have the opportunity to explore and learn in our creative outdoor spaces and by our natural creek bed (UT Austin’s Department of Curricula Design and ECE is our Partner in working with your children to create meaningful Science lessons by our Creek, and in our Educational Gardens).
Young children’s early school experiences have a great impact on their future learning and so our Reggio Emilia inspired environment is designed to help our children explore and integrate a variety of experiences. Reggio educators believe that young children are capable of rigorous curriculum within a developmental framework that allows them to explore, test and question their world. Students are asked to hypothesize, test out and defend their ideas. They document learning using many different systems of artistic expression to both explain and investigate concepts. The student is encouraged to see him or herself as an important member of classroom and school community, making choices that will enhance the experience of all students.
Our rooms and outside spaces are created to mimic holistic and inspiring outdoor environments and cozy home spaces, and children learn to discover and respect their environments, and care for them. Outdoor and indoor spaces are rich in visual images and objects to provide provocations for inquiry and research. Children are encouraged to question, probe and engage their innate curiosity.
Documentation of student learning and making learning visible are important benchmarks of a Reggio-inspired program. Similar to the portfolio approach, documentation of children’s work in progress is viewed as an important tool in the learning process for children, teachers and parents. Pictures of children engaged in learning experiences, documentation of their words as they discuss what they are doing, feeling and thinking, and the children’s interpretation of experience through the visual media are displayed as a graphic presentation of the dynamics of learning. Our Team uses Assessments for student goal and objective tracking, and works closely with our families to communicate our students milestones. Weekly newsletters and creative portfolios are some of our communications tools, as are formal assessment tools.
Building a strong home-school connection is integral in our Reggio-inspired Owls classroom. Opportunities for children to extend their inquiry-based explorations to the home are provided. Parents have numerous opportunities throughout the school year to experience their children engaged in Reggio-inspired activities.
At WG, each child accepts personal responsibility for learning. Learning that sticks occurs through acts of concentrated effort, filled with imaginative flights, flexible thought, and critical summation. Creative, activist, and innovative responses are cultivated through the rich integration of the arts and core academic content at WG. In response to learning, children create artifacts and produce musical, dramatic and movement representations. Children also curate displays and spaces, enhancing their aesthetic sensibilities, while developing independence and collaborative habits.