The Lower School program is delivered by highly qualified and dedicated professionals from Rio and around the world. Our learners are challenged and inspired by an internationally recognized curriculum that provides high quality learning pathways for students to pursue their passions and access the best possible university opportunities. We aim to inspire each child to pursue their passions, strive for excellence, and achieve a fulfilling life.
Our preschool program is multi-age and Montessori-inspired. In kindergarten through grade five we use the Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop framework to deliver literacy instruction and Engage NY for math. Portuguese, Art, Music, and Physical Education are delivered by teachers who specialize in these areas.
Our after school program offers high quality programs that develop athletic potential, inspire creative expression, stimulate innovation, and forge leadership abilities.
Students are encouraged to be creative, take risks, think critically, collaborate, communicate, and engage with the global community. We offer a very rigorous academic program in order to make sure that our students are well-prepared for the world outside of school.
Our LS math program is aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) of content and practice in Mathematics. We focus on developing a deep understanding of mathematics that goes beyond rote procedures to memorize and replicate on a test. At EARJ students collaboratively to reason with and apply mathematical concepts, expressing their understanding in multiple ways. We currently use the EngageNY curriculum to deliver the standards.
Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Teaching Reading and Writing is from Columbia University’s Teachers College: These two curricula focus on teaching transferable strategies that extend and become more complex from unit to unit and through grades K-8. In writing, the instruction is designed to offer multiple opportunities for children to use their own writing in narrative and informational text to practice the foundational categories of structure, development, and language development. Reading text that is accessible and at their own reading level allows students to think and talk about aspects of deep comprehension, including predicting, inferring, determining the theme, and analyzing the writer’s perspective. We firmly believe that when children use their own writing and personal interests as inspiration to become better readers and writers, their engagement increases, as does their pleasure in the literacy process. Our instruction and assessment are based on or aligned to the Common Core State Standards in both subject areas.
The need for high-quality science education is more essential now than ever before. We at EARJ recognize this and have worked to completely redesign our lower school science curriculum. Through a cross campus collaborative process, the EARJ Science Curriculum Review Team brought together administrative leadership, lower school teacher leaders, and upper school science specialists, to adopt a lower school science curriculum that is aligned to the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). NGSS describe important scientific ideas and practices that all students should learn by the time they leave the 12th grade. The standards integrate three important dimensions—science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts—effectively building science concepts from kindergarten through 12th grade, while integrating important engineering concepts. To achieve the high levels of learning the NGSS calls for, we have partnered with STEMscopes, an all digital curricular resource designed at Rice University that provides hands-on, inquiry-based investigations that engage students. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have three dimensions that are integrated into instruction at all levels. These three dimensions include:
- Disciplinary Core Ideas – specific content and subject areas
- Science and Engineering practices – students are expected not just to learn content but to understand the methods of scientists and engineers
- Interdisciplinary Approach – key underlying ideas that are common to a number of themes
Social Studies academic standards are aligned with curricular frameworks that consider the essential knowledge and skills for teaching a more contemporary approach to Social Studies focused on the development of large transcendental ideas, critical thinking, relationships and intersections between different disciplines as well as skills and competencies in the social sciences (i.e. graph reading, map skills, verification of information sources, media analysis). Our program does not focus on the memorizing of facts, dates, and important people, but rather requires students to consider how these items help to understand and explain trends and patterns in human behavior and societies.
At EARJ, our students have a variety of different language experiences and needs. We have created two different strands to meet these needs.
- Língua Pátria (LP) is a course designed for native speakers and Brazilian Diploma candidates.
- Portuguese for Foreigner or non-native speakers at the beginning, intermediate, or advanced levels.
The EARJ Visual Arts program creates a learning environment where students are able to create artwork that is influenced by personal and cultural contexts. Students will also develop competencies to become informed and critical observers of visual culture and media. Learning activities are designed to develop skills, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, enhance artistic understanding, and realize student potential as producers of art.
Music classes are organized to enable students to create music that is representative of different genres and contexts. The educational experience with music, through the development of knowledge and skills as music makers, allows students to become more attuned listeners and performers. The learning outcome is for EARJ students to have a breadth of understanding and appreciation for distinct movements, epochs, and compositional aspects of music production.
Our curricular program strives to develop positive attitudes and behaviors in all physical activities by emphasizing effort and improvement rather than ability or winning. The values of teamwork and sportsmanship are necessary to accomplish these objectives. By building emotional control and a sense of self-confidence, students will enhance decision-making for a healthy, physically fit life allowing for good use of leisure time and respect for oneself, others, and the natural environment.
Our Character Counts! values guide our conversations about character development. These values include respect, responsibility, caring, citizenship, fairness, and trustworthiness. As students in Lower School are exposed to more freedom and choices, we use these real situations to talk about meaningful life situations, possible responses, and their implications.