Lower School (Grades 1-4)
Children who know how to learn, know how to succeed.
The four years between first and fourth grade shape how a child sees themselves as a learner. At Old Trail, students spend this time building far more than academic skills—they develop the self-reliance, curiosity and confidence that carry them through everything that follows. Teachers design each day so that concepts come alive, whether that means singing math facts, sketching at an easel, or presenting an original poem to a room full of parents.
Lower School students identify native plants in Outdoor Education.
Frontier Day at Hale Farm is a culmination of Grade 3's year-long social studies curriculum.
Grade 4 students test weather vanes they created as part of their study of weather in science.
The year-long social entrepreneurship project ends with a marketplace, where students sell handmade items to benefit an NGO.
Grade 4 students end their year of poetry study with a live reading of original work.
First graders learn about native wildlife in educational games created by their Middle School buddies.
As part of their water safety unit in P.E., Grade 2 students learn what to do if someone falls overboard.
Our curriculum appeals to the special characteristics of this age group.
Mutually rewarding, respectful and trusting relationships with family members, teachers and, increasingly, with peers are extremely important. Children at this age begin to enjoy planning and more complex games and are more product and goal oriented. They gradually develop the ability to apply learned concepts to new tasks.
We give students much-needed opportunities to share thoughts, perspectives and reactions. While initial thinking is concrete, they begin to think logically and symbolically, and their best work is usually done in small pieces. Our teachers offer the support children need at this age to complete long-term projects and study for tests.
