Program
Academics
How We Teach
With a child-centered approach to teaching and learning, Norwood teachers take the time to understand what each individual child needs to grow, to be challenged, and to feel successful and respected. The result is a joyful and exciting classroom environment where children of varying talents, interests, and backgrounds are actively involved in their own educational experience. Students are guided in this process by exceptionally talented teachers who truly know them.
Norwood’s classrooms are filled with examples of students learning by doing. Students gain deeper knowledge and valuable skills by exploring and responding to real-world questions, problems, and challenges. It is rare to see students sitting quietly at desks, in rows, facing a teacher lecturing in the front of the room. Students are active learners working together on a complex project, while the teacher moves around the classroom, guiding, questioning, encouraging, challenging, and inspiring new ways of thinking.
Norwood’s classrooms are filled with examples of students learning by doing. Students gain deeper knowledge and valuable skills by exploring and responding to real-world questions, problems, and challenges. It is rare to see students sitting quietly at desks, in rows, facing a teacher lecturing in the front of the room. Students are active learners working together on a complex project, while the teacher moves around the classroom, guiding, questioning, encouraging, challenging, and inspiring new ways of thinking.
Another hallmark of teaching at Norwood is differentiated instruction. Fundamentally, this means giving every child what they need. It means finding the "just-right spot" of our curriculum delivery where a child is both challenged and supported, stretched but not stressed. It’s pushing students to achieve what they thought they couldn’t. Of course, this just-right spot is different for every single child, therefore this kind of teaching is complex. It takes flexible thinking and possessing multiple strategies to unleash growth for different students. It means knowing the heart of the child.
This child-centered approach leads to great success in high school and beyond. Norwood graduates love to learn, they know how they learn, and what they need to move forward. They are prepared for the challenges and opportunities they will face both in and outside the classroom.
Examples of Project-Based Learning
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Welcome to The Book Bistro - 1st Grade Reading
There’s a new restaurant in town, and it’s taking the dining (and reading) scene by storm! Called The Book Bistro, it offers an incredible selection of exciting options never before seen on a typical restaurant menu—because this is no typical restaurant.Read More -
Native American Museum - 3rd Grade Reading/Language Arts & Social Studies
Reading/language arts and social studies blend beautifully to provide a comprehensive learning experience involving non-fiction books, research methods, writing, geography, presentation skills, and the opening of a Native American Museum.Read More -
Trading Day Explorations - 6th Grade Social Studies
The Age of Exploration (also called the Age of Discovery) began in the 1400s and continued through the 1600s. It was a period of time when the European nations began exploring the world in search of new trading routes, wealth, and knowledge.Read More -
Contaminated Water Study and Town Meeting - 7th Grade Science
The fictitious town of Silver Oaks has a not-so-fictitious problem: the possibility of a mercury-contaminated water supply. But don’t worry, Norwood’s seventh-grade science students are on the case.Read More
“Norwood has made me the person I am today and has helped me to develop tons of crucial skills to becoming a better student and a better person. Norwood has a great balance between letting students have fun with friends and also learning.”
- Ben ’24
What We Teach
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The Norwood Experience
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Norwood provides children with the room they need to grow, explore, discover, and flourish.
It is developmentally appropriate for students in K-8 to learn how to take responsibility for their learning and how to advocate for themselves in order to gain the confidence they need to problem solve without being given step-by-step instructions. -
Norwood students have multiple opportunities to deepen their understanding of concepts through application and practice.
We set high standards of achievement and provide different routes, environments, and pacing for each child to get there. Teachers see students as individual learners and customize instruction to each student’s needs and interests. -
Norwood students learn how to work effectively and respectfully with others.
Some might say that our founder, Frances Marsh, was ahead of her time. During the early 1950s, Mrs. Marsh founded Norwood on the very idea that a school should stand for and teach a core set of values. She felt strongly that a school has a responsibility to help students “gain an intelligent awareness of the world around them; a sense of their own worth; and a recognition of the obligation to share that worth with society and the community in which they live.” Today, more than six decades later, this founding principle is a hallmark of a Norwood education. -
Norwood students play an active role in their learning; they learn how to learn effectively.
We believe that it is best to prepare students to create knowledge rather than to just absorb it. In the process, students learn to collaborate, create, and evaluate rather than only memorize and regurgitate. -
Norwood teachers embrace the interests, talents, curiosity, and creativity of each child and set them on their own unique path to success.
Our teachers recognize that each child is multi- faceted and will shine in a unique way. That’s one reason why art, music, and physical education are valued as highly as core academic subjects. -
Norwood teachers work hard to mask the rigor of the curriculum.
Norwood is “a happy place of learning” because children are challenged and supported and celebrated for individual accomplishments.
Located in Bethesda, MD, Norwood School develops students in grades PK-8 into confident lifelong learners who have the academic, character, and leadership skills to succeed in high school and beyond. Recognizing that children are multi-faceted, Norwood provides many opportunities for safe risk-taking, exploration, discovery, and growth in a nurturing, supportive, and inclusive school community.
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