Hello Lower School Parents!

I am thrilled to share some exciting and relevant learning from our Lower School students, in advance of our upcoming presidential election. As we all know, this election season is particularly complex and layered, but that is not stopping our young learners from understanding important facets of democracy, voting, leadership and election processes.

Each grade level in Lower School has articulated and outlined important learning objectives for this election study. Before any new learning occurs, each grade spends time outlining what they already know, or think they know, using a version of a RAN Chart. A RAN (Reading and Analyzing Non-fiction) Chart is a graphic organizer that students can use to organize their thoughts and learning as they work through an inquiry. To start, students record their prior knowledge and wonderings they have about the topic. As more learning occurs, the students are able to verify information, dispel myths and capture newly learned information. See below for the first step in this process.

1st grade:

2nd grade:

3rd grade:

 4th grade:

Grade Level Learning Objectives

In first grade, students are spending time understanding the roles and responsibilities of a President. In order to be the leader of something (a school, a company or a country), a person must embody certain leadership qualities. Through read-alouds and discussions, students will study picture book characters that personify these qualities. Students will also learn important election vocabulary words, like vote, candidate, ballot and election.

In second grade, students will grow new learning by exploring a set of picture books. They will practice forming and supporting opinions, agreeing and respectfully disagreeing with peers, persuading others to share their viewpoint, and ultimately casting votes and counting ballots.

Third graders will identify what makes a good citizen. They will tie the tenets of an election into the themes of community and service-learning by voting on ways to help communities. Using Time for kids as a real-time resource, they will learn about the campaign and voting process, with empathy and respect at the core. 

And fourth-grade students will infuse a research element into their learning, as they learn to cite sources and gather relevant data to help inform their opinions. They will integrate persuasive writing skills, allow space for open and respectful debates and compare and contrast American and Israeli election processes.

We hope that even with the complex landscape in our country now, students can experience important learning about the principles of our democratic society and the important skills and characteristics of effective leadership. Please check our Friday updates to learn more as the students continue through this learning process!

Warmly, 

Karen Leavitt
Head of Lower School