ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM

Core Curriculum

The core classes offered at Serendipity School include Language Arts (Reading, Comprehension, Writing, Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, and Public  Speaking), Mathematics, Science and Engineering, and Social Studies. Our teachers utilize best-in-class curriculum, programs, and educational resources as they work to create classroom environments where students are actively engaged in the learning process. Our challenging and enriched curricular programs are carefully selected for their pedagogical strengths and ability to support our teachers in delivering exciting hands-on experiences, deep and meaningful learning, content and subject mastery, and differentiated instruction that maximizes each student’s potential.

Instructional Strategies

Our talented and creative teachers undergo significant professional development to remain well versed in current pedagogical practices. Our school’s hands-on approach engages every student in the learning process and encourages each individual to strive for his or her personal best. Serendipity School’s teachers are committed to getting to know each child through the careful and attentive processes of observing, assessing, and guiding students in different forums of learning. Our teachers engage and educate students in whole classroom units, individually, and through flexible grouping that is typically based on the lesson and the specific learning intentions.The teachers at Serendipity School utilize a variety of instructional strategies to engage each child throughout his or her educational journey including discovery/inquiry-based learning, questioning and critical thinking, cooperative and collaborative learning, discussion and debate, hands-on and project-based learning, and creative learning through modeling, music/dance/song, art, and role play/simulations/drama, and adaptive processes for differing learning styles/multiple intelligences.

Differentiated Instruction

As a progressive model of early childhood and elementary education, Serendipity School believes that it must focus on education that addresses the individual needs of each student. All students come to our school with vastly different personalities, interests, backgrounds, strengths, and challenges. Learning styles and abilities are dynamic and vary significantly from child to child. An optimal approach to teaching our students rests in our talent to see and appreciate students for who they are and to find the means to address and meet these unique characteristics. We, therefore, endeavor to access and implement a differentiated curriculum, for which our teachers have undergone significant training.

Differentiated instruction maximizes academic growth and individual success by accessing and educating the whole child.

Growth Mindset

Serendipity School students say, “I CAN!” Students begin, early on, to study the way their brains work, to understand that their minds are growing things (not fixed), and to work toward developing healthy mindsets that allows for the following:

• Commitment to ongoing personal growth and self-improvement
• Positive self-image and self-talk
• Productive goal-setting
• Perseverance in the face of challenges and setbacks
• Perceiving mistakes as opportunities to learn and improve
• Acceptance and implementation of constructive feedback

The study of growth mindset creates classrooms of students who are happier, more supportive of themselves and one another, unafraid to take risks and accept challenges, and ultimately more successful.

Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLRS)

The goals and expectations for Serendipity School students are evidenced in the school’s Expected Schoolwide Learning Results, referenced by the acronym CLEAR.

Serendipity Students are CLEAR Thinkers

Serendipity Students are Creative and Perceptive Thinkers who:

• Think as individuals
• Formulate creative and innovative solutions to problems
• Think critically by formulating personal ideas and implementing effective
  solutions

Serendipity Students are Lifelong Learners who:

• Are enthusiastic and engaged learners
• Have an interest in the world around them
• Are able to utilize individual gifts, talents, and skills to consistently learn about new things, show deep understanding, and challenge assumptions

Serendipity Students are Effective Communicators who:

• Confidently express their voices in speaking, writing, and listening
• Have the ability to write informatively and creatively
• Develop and employ appropriate communication techniques

Serendipity Students are Academically Enriched Individuals who:

• Endeavor to produce quality work in all areas
• Demonstrate intellectual, creative, and artistic skills
• Have an understanding of what it means to be the best they can be and
  embrace the learning process

Serendipity Students are Respectful Community Members who:

• Interact within their school and community as productive and responsible
  citizens
• Act with honesty, integrity, compassion, and kindness
• Show respect for and embrace cultural and individual diversity