Lower School at St. Timothy’s encourages children to lay a foundation for lifelong learning from the earliest age. Our educators use personal attention and differentiated instruction to build confident and caring learners who easily grasp new concepts through a love of learning. Our students develop the skills to build on their previous years of knowledge as they grow throughout Middle School and beyond.
Lower School students at St. Timothy’s School engage with curiosity and discovery through co-curricular classes and spiritual education. We work to teach five cumulative lessons that they can carry through life, including independence, creativity, problem-solving abilities, perseverance, and confidence.
Independence
Independence is a crucial value for young learners to develop. In Lower School, first graders begin to explore their world through cooperative projects and multi-sensory learning activities. Second graders continue to collaborate and learn how things work, and third grade focuses on gaining competence and mastery of academic and life skills. Fourth graders learn to be independent learners focusing on organization, study, and time management.
Creativity
In pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, we instill creativity through daily classroom activities and special events, such as field trips, community service, and other programs. Weekly co-curricular classes taught by specialist teachers include Art, Music, Library/Media, Imagination Lab, Spanish, Science Lab, and Physical Education. These courses help students explore new skills and discover new talents.
Problem-Solving Abilities
Independence, creativity and resilience are vital factors in lower school students’ problem-solving lessons. Whether they are directing robots in the Imagination Lab, learning about honesty in a lesson with the school counselor, or solving multi-step math problems, students are encouraged to take risks, ask questions, and persevere when solving problems.
Perseverance
We teach students to never give up on their studies. Our teachers work closely with individuals to find their best learning style and ensure that each student understands the lesson. St. Timothy’s School strives to reach students with smaller class sizes and differentiated instruction. We instill the idea that it’s okay for students to need multiple attempts to understand a lesson—because their effort is the most important factor. Our students develop close relationships with their teachers and with each other, giving them the tools they need to ask for help and never give up.
Confidence
Confidence is one of the most important lessons for our young learners. We promote the importance of developing confidence in our Lower School to encourage students to advocate for themselves. A confident student isn’t afraid to speak up, ask questions, help others, and push forward to discover new information. They practice these strong values while applying academic skills and using their gifts for the good of others. Students reflect compassion and intellectual curiosity through positive reinforcement from our excellent role models.
St. Timothy’s School creates a nurturing, encouraging environment that empowers students to be their strongest selves as they navigate the world around them. We teach the values of faith, hope, and love while offering an academically-challenging program that sets students up for success. Visit our site today to learn more about our Lower School Program at St. Timothy’s.
