Play-based learning stimulates the imagination while honoring childhood.
The Pond: K-2
Welcome to our classrooms in the Pond. Our primary hope for each younger child is that they will enjoy playing with peers, enjoy learning, and enjoy school. Our play-based environment, with its carefully-planned daily routine and wide variety of learning experiences, allows younger children the space and time to work on social-emotional developmental tasks. Academic learning takes place in a non-pressured way within the context of this caring, nurturing community of learners.
A 5, 6 or 7-year-old child is still developmentally in early childhood—curious, energetic, and eager to experience the world. The major developmental tasks of children are social-emotional as they learn how to fit themselves and their needs into the larger school environment.
Children in grades K-2 are just beginning to see outside themselves and consider the needs or feelings of others. They are working on self-regulation and being aware of their body in space as they transition through the school day. They are developing the ability to use words to express wants, needs, and feelings with both adults and peers, and to listen to the words of others. They are also learning to engage in group discussions, to wait for their turn, and to follow basic directions.
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We meet the children's academic and intellectual developmental needs within the context of a nurturing community of learners. Our literacy and numeracy instruction is hands-on, highly engaging, and authentic to the child's own interests and purposes.
"Peace Town" -- An Example of Project Work in the Pond
The class begins with the question “What is a community?” The theme starts with an examination of themselves, their families, and their homes through self-portraiture, art, and stories. The discussion flows and many questions emerge, “Can worms be a community? Can trees be a community? Must a community include buildings?” Open-ended questions allow the project to flow in the direction of the children’s interest.
Even though the Kindergarten class may study communities every year, the project never unfolds in exactly the same way twice. One class may study a worm "community" in its natural element, another may focus on the TCS community and develop a school-wide postal system, and yet another might focus on how things move—trains, cars, buses, airplanes--in a community.
From all of this wonderful discussion and investigation, one class decided to create their own community: Peace Town. Guided by their teacher, the children first determined what type of community they wanted to build; rural, urban, a combination? Would it be grounded in reality, or make-believe? What types of businesses or institutions would be included?
Using large boxes, duct tape, paint, and markers, the children created everything within their community: buildings, animals for the farm, supplies for the hospital, goods for the businesses to sell, and currency. In their roles as different community members, children practiced academic skills such as writing, reading, counting, and measuring as well as strengthening their own classroom community by working collaboratively to make their vision of Peace Town a reality.
Click to read and download our:
Kindergarten Curricular Goals (pdf)
First Grade Curricular Goals (pdf)
Second Grade Curricular Goals (pdf)
Social Justice Curricular Goals (pdf).
Visit one of our Early
Childhood classrooms
A TYpical Day in a pond Classroom
Each day, our teachers write the class schedule on the board, making time for play, project-work, and instruction in academic subjects. Our teachers are also mindful of each individual student's personal and academic goals in addition to the group's goals. These are layered into a framework that meets all state academic standards, and includes weekly courses in art, music, library, and physical wellness.
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Here's what your child might experience in a typical day in a K-2 classroom:
8:45 Morning Work
As they enter the school, put away their things, and settle in for the day, children are greeted by teachers and peers and join in a “warm-up” math or literacy activity.
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9:00 Group Gathering
Students join the entire school for morning announcements led by a student.
9:15 Morning Meeting
Students meet on the rug to eat a snack if they wish, look at the day’s schedule, and participate in calendar and other classroom routines.
9:45 Movement Break
The class enjoys an activity or free play with physical movement either indoors or outdoors.
10:15 Workshop or Explore Time
Students move around the classroom engaging in a variety of reading, writing, math, and other academic tasks and activities. Teachers will at times direct students towards certain options, but there is also room for the student to pursue their own choices and interests.
11:00 Project Work
Students carry forward their own purposes in interdisciplinary, long-term projects.
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11:30 Recess
Students play in our Outdoor Space, walk to a nearby playground, or play in the gym in the case of inclement weather.
12:00 Lunch
Students eat in classrooms. Two days each week, during all-school lunch, they may go to any classroom in the school for lunch. On other days, they eat in their own classrooms. A full half-hour assures that students are not rushed and can enjoy conversation and “breaking bread” together with friends and teachers.
12:30 Shared Reading
Students read or look at a book with a friend or on their own, or are read to by an adult.
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1:00 Writing
Students dictate, write, and illustrate their own original stories, which are “published” and become part of the classroom’s book collection.
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2:00 Choice
Free play. Students choose from games, puzzles, art activities, block play, and more. This is a prime time for rich, meaningful imaginative play with peers.
2:45 Suitcase
Students offer items for inclusion in the class’ Suitcase — what we will carry with us when we go home today. This becomes an important source of information for parents wanting to know, “What did you do at school today?”
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3:00 Chapter Book
Students listen to teachers read aloud from a chapter book, often chosen by the teacher for its relevant social justice theme.
3:15 Dismissal and Pick-Up by Parents/Guardians
(Optional: TCS offers before and after-school programs. Learn more.)
"I love what TCS is about and that my grandchild can develop in an environment that nurtures learning. Some things cannot be measured. "
TCS Grandparent
