Lower School

 

Each day, our lower school classrooms are filled with joyful and engaged learning where children’s natural curiosity and individual interests and talents can shine. Norwood students question and interact with the world around them through active participation in cooperative, hands-on, and project-based learning. We believe that students gain deeper knowledge and valuable skills by exploring and responding to real world questions, problems, and challenges. A typical moment: PK students are creating a model of a human heart as they learn about circulation in science class, kindergartners are designing and building a set for an original fairy tale; first graders are celebrating being real writers by sharing original books at a publishing party; second graders are using recycling materials to create a lush and colorful rainforest on a hallway wall; third graders are creating Native American dioramas to represent the landscape of each Nation studied; and fourth graders are digging for artifacts in the School’s archaeological excavation site.

 

Our teachers do a great job of masking the rigor of the curriculum. They set high standards of achievement, and through differentiated instruction, they provide different routes, environments, resources, and pacing for each child. The goal is for every child to feel successful and to love learning so that when they leave Norwood at the end of the day, they can’t wait to return in the morning.

 

Norwood’s Lower School is a fun and vibrant learning community where every child is celebrated, loved, and encouraged to reach higher and farther than they thought possible. They move on to Middle School after fourth grade with the confidence, skills, maturity, and voice to achieve exciting new goals in the second half of their Norwood journeys.

I hope you will visit Norwood soon and tour the Lower School to see this amazing child-centered program in action! 

Fielding Winters, Ph.D.

Head of Lower School