Intermediate School (Grades 3-5)

The Intermediate Student Advisory Committee (ISAC) serves as a vehicle for a collective student voice on selected issues in the Intermediate School. Student representatives from Grades 3–5 meet weekly to address common issues. Through this forum, students practice communal decision making and problem solving. Serving on the committee is an opportunity to develop individual leadership skills and responsibility. ISAC comprises 18 students, two children from each Grade 3, 4 and 5 classroom.

Examples of ISAC initiatives during the past few years include:

• The annual Halloween Candy Collection, which donates about 200 pounds to St. Mary’s Church to fill many holiday stockings
• The annual Intermediate School Craft and Bake Sale, which raised more than $4,800 in 2019
• Obtaining a $1,000 Parents’ Association grant to purchase playground soccer goals and playground equipment
• Developing rules and guidelines for free seating in the dining room on the last day of each week

Intermediate School classrooms are equipped with projectors and document cameras. Each student has a Chromebook as part of our 1:1 program. iPads are also available to students for specific projects, like going on Virtual Reality tours. These technologies enhance, enrich and facilitate the learning process. Students use their devices to practice and develop their skills for their academic courses, learn keyboarding skills, and share and archive their work, among other things. 

Through our digital citizenship curriculum, students learn how to be responsible and respectful digital citizens. Students have access to our makerspace, which houses 3D printers, 3D design software, LEGO® sets and robots. Intermediate School students also have access to a Media Production Room with iMacs, PCs and an iPad for video recording and editing.

At the beginning of our Intermediate School, our third graders begin to apply academic skills to their experiences, such as:

• Bringing history to life with costumes, dance, food, music and presentations during Frontier Day at Hale Farm and Village—an Old Trail tradition
• Investigating and communicating mathematical concepts in algebra, geometry and data analysis with individual and collaborative study
• Developing personal narratives, biographies, research projects and speeches to gain both creative and expository writing skills
• Exploring rock formations and minerals at Cuyahoga Valley National Park

As students continue to identify and further their interests, they are introduced to a broad variety of experiences in Grade 4.

Highlights of the curriculum include:

• Researching and presenting projects focused on regions of the United States
• Starting, marketing and analyzing a small business venture by participating in the Intermediate School Craft Fair and Bake Sale
• Presenting an original poem in a unique Poetry Coffee House event for parents and friends
• Mentoring Grade 1 students in a Pals Program that includes social interaction, leadership and service-learning activities

Before students transition to the Middle School, our fifth graders develop the independence and self-reliance to embrace greater challenges.

Highlights of our Grade 5 curriculum include:

• Experiencing hands-on learning during a three-day overnight class trip to the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center
• Mentoring kindergarten students in our Buddies program that includes social interaction, leadership and service-learning opportunities
• Finding inspiration in world cultures and history to create unique art projects
• Engaging in cooking lessons to apply math skills and social studies concepts related to foods of different cultures
• Participating in book club meetings as part of the reading program