Lower School

In the lower school years, children search, question and respond to the world around them, while working hard to acquire essential skills for future academic success.

In a school day balancing independent exploration with intentional and coordinated instruction in all subjects, there is sequential skill building and time allowed for depth in practice and genuine understanding. Homeroom teachers, teaching language arts, math and social studies, and specialists in Spanish, science, computer, music, library, art and physical education, meet students where they are and challenge them to move forward.

The curriculum builds across grades in each subject, and time is afforded for children to delve deeply into concepts, rather than skim the surface. Likewise, learning is connected. Practicing research skills learned in language arts, students complete reports on diseases in science; having learned to employ wiki’s in computer, students create a Renaissance-wiki in social studies; utilizing Spanish vocabulary, children author English-Spanish informational texts in group guidance to share with local Latino immigrant children.

Children progress from learning to read, to reading to learn; from telling stories with pictures, to creating images through their writing; from counting and comparing numbers, to articulating multiple ways to solve complex mathematical problems and explaining why we know and do what we know and do in math; from recognizing and respecting alternative perspectives within their own class, to discovering that they are members of a global community whose voices count.

Kindergarten

The Kindergarten math program stresses real-life mathematical experiences and the classroom is always full of problem solving. Through directed lessons, games and spontaneous exploration, students count, graph, discover spatial relationships and patterns, reason, measure, balance and classify.

Children who are introduced to a second language at an early age are more likely to develop proficiency. Kindergarteners are learning distinct Spanish phonemes just as their English phonemic awareness is becoming solid.

Kindergarteners learn what it means to be scientists, recording observations as they touch, smell, taste, listen to, count, measure and identify differences and similarities between objects and changes over time. Using inquiry, they satisfy their curiosity and build a knowledge base about the physical world.

In Kindergarten, Social Studies is as much about the classroom community as it is about society at large. Students are encouraged to recognize alternative perspectives and engage in social problem solving.

Children listen to and sing a wide range of vocal pieces and create instrumental music using rhythmic, melodic and chordal instruments.

First Grade

Students are encouraged to develop their own individual aesthetic sensibilities as they experiment with elements and principals of design and work in an array of different media in the art studio.

First graders investigate mathematics using a variety of concrete materials and abstract approaches. Manipulatives help them to construct and test approaches to problem solving and develop solutions to a wide range of mathematical experiences.

In Science, students discover and uncover the smallness of nature such as worms, pill bugs and sprouting acorns, and learn about the larger ecosystem of streams, ponds, trees, and grasses in nearby Glen Providence Park.

First grade is an important time to strengthen strategies for working with partners and to realize the rewards of collaboration. Students learn their roles as individuals in a community, and balance their personal needs with the needs of the group.

In Writing Workshop students are poets, researchers, and teachers of each other. The process balances creativity and child-centered topics with attention to mechanics and developing detail.

Second Grade

The second grade math program combines math manipulatives, games, and traditional instruction to aid understanding of important mathematical principles. Students review and expand upon knowledge, explaining reasoning and sharing problem-solving strategies with each other to develop personal "logic tool kits."

Visiting artists and educators enhance curriculum and give students a view into lives often quite different from their own.

For second graders, service involves light travel as students connect learning with needs in Delaware and Chester Counties. Often, projects stem from collaboration between Guidance and specialist teachers.

Second graders have a "can do" attitude which helps them to see themselves as active participants in the learning process.

Whether instructing students in history, Spanish, math, science, art or English, teachers head outdoors for “field studies” that engage different learning styles. An “Adjective Walk” might take students into town on a hunt for new descriptors while a “Garden Lab” has them identifying what lives under the composting leaf mold.

Third Grade

All MPFS students have recess time each day, even when there's snow on the ground. Unstructured play time allows children to make up new games, play with different age groups or partner classes, or master their environment through trying new ways of running, climbing, hiding and stretching.

Third graders proudly perform for family and friends each winter and spring. Songs match social studies and Spanish curriculum, reflect the cultural and religious diversity of our student body, and relate to Quaker philosophy (peace, equality, simplicity).

Physical Education classes stress movement and object control skills, social development skills, game and sport skills and physical fitness. Good sportsmanship, personal improvement and having FUN are encouraged.

Nearby Glen Providence Park provides year round opportunities to find and examine organisms in their native habitat.

Language Arts work spans the entire third grade day, as reading and writing relate to all subjects. Students spend time reading a variety of genres, both individually and in groups.

Fourth Grade

Group Guidance lessons teach students perspicacity, confidence, self-advocacy, tolerance, optimism and kindness, as well as interpersonal, problem solving and conflict resolution skills.

Fourth graders receive formal instruction in recorder and hand chimes. Playing and creating their own music opens their minds to new possibilities.

MPFS is just a two-block walk from Media, the first town in the US to fully embrace Fair Trade. The town’s focus on “Thinking globally and acting locally” echoes values central to MPFS’ program which encourage children to consider the impact of their choices upon others in their community and around the world.

An annual overnight trip to Silver Lake Nature Preserve enhances fourth grade wetland and watershed studies, builds community and challenges students in ways not possible inside a traditional classroom setting.

A small learning community enables students to know each other better across grades and within their own. Being truly known, children feel confident to explore, question and take the kinds of risks with learning that lead to growth.

Fifth Grade

In addition to the Spanish language, students learn about the diverse histories of Spanish and Latin American peoples, explore the geography of Central and South America, try Hispanic foods and celebrate Hispanic traditions, like Carnival, Las Posadas and the Day of the Dead.

Culminating their elementary experience, fifth graders spend four days along the Chesapeake exploring beach, bay, swamp, meadow and forest ecosystems, as well as participating in trust and community-building exercises.

Fifth graders delve more deeply into research writing, practicing note-taking skills, summarizing data from informative texts, and beginning to write essay responses during Journaling time. Students use rubrics to self-evaluate their writing and also serve as peer editors for each other.

Children flourish and develop lasting friendships within a community of kind, creative and intelligent young people.

Upper elementary math solidifies basic skills, offers many opportunities for problem-solving, and encourages thinking cooperatively, thus preparing students for middle school math.