Educating students for K through Life
From our youngest to our oldest, students in the lower school are ready and eager for the challenges and adventures teachers present them. Our experienced faculty empower students to be independent in their thinking and learning‚ differentiating whenever possible‚ and encourage them to open their minds, make connections, and tap into their curiosity.
Students learn how to become compassionate global citizens. Beginning in kindergarten, they gain awareness of themselves and, as they continue throughout lower school and become exposed to different cultures and backgrounds, the world. Our global read aloud program supports this effort. Compassionate global citizenship is strengthened by our robust social emotional learning program, opportunities for leadership, social enrichment, and community building.
Each week, students in grades K through 5 gather for Monday morning assembly to live out the school’s core values of integrity, grit, and kindness, and celebrate accomplishments, birthdays, and upcoming events.
Lower school is where students gain confidence and comfort in their abilities to try something new in a safe and supportive environment. Our teachers challenge them to wonder and give them resources to explore their thoughts and ideas. Students’ learning is rooted in direct experience and it’s through this approach that they gain ownership over their learning and discover individual passions, some of which they will carry well into middle school.
In addition to the lower school’s immersive learning method, the robust music, art, and world language programs, as well as enrichment programs in science and reading, make the MVS lower school the finest option in the Dayton area.
Kindergarten
Curriculum
Students come to kindergarten from the Early Childhood School eager and excited. Our kindergarten curriculum is thematically driven and enhanced with special enrichment programs in world languages, reading, science, and math.
Because we know routine is important for our young learners, we spend the first part of the school year building a safe environment, introducing classroom management, becoming familiar with one another and setting expectations for the year.
Kindergarten instruction is guided by the KWL approach: What do you Know? What Would you like to know? And what did you Learn? This methodology gives students ownership over their learning‚ they’re more invested and excited when they have the opportunity to guide instruction with their curiosity. Perhaps the students are curious about space, nutrition, France…collectively and in a collaborative way, our young learners pick the topic of study and our trained kindergarten teachers create lessons that dive deep‚ and wide‚ in that topic and incorporate all subject matters. Students may learn about space through singing songs, making rockets and cooking astronaut food.
Experiential learning is woven into the kindergarten curriculum in many ways but heavily through “Center Time.” Center Time is an afternoon block where students have the opportunity to directly apply what they’re learning at that time. They become more exposed to a concept or topic and learn it from all subject matters. Center Time can be individual or group led; more structured or unstructured and it’s always fun!
Differentiated instruction begins in Kindergarten and students learn about letters, explore sounds and punctuation, and talk about interesting vocabulary words. They read books and practice reading comprehension and learn how to have collaborative and constructive conversations about stories.
Structured nightly homework begins in kindergarten with 10 minutes of reading a night, often referred to as “Book in a Bag.” With guidance from the literacy leader, students choose a different book to take home each night‚Äîone that is targeted to their current reading level and that they can read independently and with ease. This builds their confidence and gives them an opportunity to fall in love with reading. As their book sense and vocabulary grows during the year, so does the reading level of the books they take home.
“Book in a Bag” continues through second grade, as does differentiated instruction from the devoted literacy leader.Our kindergarten teachers continue the Handwriting Without Tears program from the Early Childhood School. This structured handwriting program teaches our students how to write the letters of the alphabet in capital and lower case letters and exercise their fine motor skills through pincher grips.
Reflection is huge in kindergarten! At the end of every day, every lesson, and every month, students reflect on what they’ve learned over a short period of time and longer periods of time. Reflection occurs in group discussions and through individual journaling. Students take their writer’s notebook on field trips to record and reflect, ask questions, and make observations.
As the year progresses students learn how to write one sentence with one thought, two sentences with two thoughts, and so on until they’re writing paragraphs with multiple thoughts by the end of the year! They learn how to write facts, recipes and incorporate punctuation.
Students actively apply math skills and concepts during Center Time, giving them a deep understanding of numbers and an innate number sense. They compare size, numbers, weight and volume; they become familiar with time and other methods of expressing mathematical information, like graphs and charts; they count change and learn coin identification, measure size and length, and classify numbers. During the Kindergarten Restaurant Immersion, students review measurement and fractions while cooking and baking, and focus on counting money and making change.
We believe three musical traits are crucial to a student’s development during grades K through third. Based on Dr. John Feierabend’s research, we want students to become beatful (clap appropriately on beat), artful (move to music and appreciate a performance), and tuneful (be able to match pitch and sing familiar songs). In order to accomplish this, our lower school music program uses the Orff approach in the music classroom. The Orff approach uses speech as the basis of rhythm and uses movement and activities to engage students in the learning process. Students sing using solfege syllables (i.e. do, re, mi) to learn and reinforce pitch relationships. Pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments are used to build independent musicianship and ensemble skills. Beginning songs are created by students through short phrases of music through improvisation. By utilizing this approach in the music classroom, students are actively engaged while using creativity, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, confidence, courage, and building relationships within their learning community.
The physical education program focuses on three developmental areas: gross motor skills, personal responsibility and demonstration of sportsmanship, and gamesmanship toward classmates. Team sports offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, and kickball. Students are instructed in the rules and technical skills of each sport so that the participants may understand how to play.
In addition to the kindergarten curriculum and Center Time, we have a dedicated faculty member who teaches science for grades K through second. One to two times a week, our science instructor meets with kindergarten students to expand on classroom learning. Students start by learning the five senses and incorporate them later into their life science, earth science, and physical science studies. The science enrichment program mixes indoor and outdoor classes so students understand how nature plays a role. With the Outdoor Exploration Center, students have an array of resources: the bird blind, discovery pond, walking trails, the five senses garden and the outdoor pavilion, which serves as a classroom.
The art studio is a place to explore, experiment, and create. Painting, drawing, sculpture, and ceramics are at the core of the artwork, where the process is as important as the final piece. The students work individually and collaboratively in a studio-like atmosphere. They are introduced to a variety of materials, different ways to conceptualize ideas, and other artists and their work. Projects arise from student interest, classroom curricula, and current events. New techniques are introduced and revisited throughout the lower school studio art experience. The studio is a place to invent, imagine and problem solve. It is a place where students envision endless possibilities.
In kindergarten, students build on the Spanish and Mandarin languages they have learned in Early Childhood School. Up until third grade, students study both Mandarin and Spanish one to two times a week and are exposed to the cultures and languages through interactive learning. The program aims to arouse students’ interest in world language study, expose them to good pronunciation skills through listening and speaking, and introduce basic vocabulary and phrases through songs, games, role-playing, hands-on activities and projects. In addition to the language skills, another goal of the program is to develop the students’ awareness of and respect for other cultures with their similarities and differences. This is done through reading non-fiction as well as fiction literature, watching movies, cooking and eating native foods, learning authentic dances, engaging in art activities and celebrating special holidays. Through a well-rounded program of language and culture in both Spanish and Mandarin, students begin to develop a new perspective of the world and their roles as compassionate global citizens.
First Grade
Curriculum
In first grade, students build on the knowledge and skills they’ve acquired in kindergarten. Their learning deepens and becomes more applicable across all subject matters. Through concrete modeling and collaborative learning experiences, the basic foundation of reading, writing, and mathematics are integrated into daily life in first grade.
At MVS, we believe creating a safe and healthy environment allows students to fully engage, take risks and get the most out of their learning and relationships. For the first six weeks, students are re-acquainted with the responsive classroom model that was used in the Early Childhood School and in kindergarten. Through this model, they build relationships, develop a caring classroom community, collectively set classroom expectations, and set the tone for a healthy social emotional learning environment.
On day one, our students are asked what they want to learn in first grade, because having ownership over their learning is crucial to academic investment. Literacy is expanded upon in first grade and much of what our teachers engage in with the students is making literacy connections: verbal, written, reading and problem solving. Deepening their literacy skill set is how our first graders become more in-depth thinkers and close readers, able to better articulate their thoughts and digest information.
First grade culminates in an individual authorship project, an experience that prepares them for the more refined and integrated learning projects that come in second grade.
First graders write every day. Direct instruction supports the students as they move from invented, phonetic-based spelling to traditional spelling. Using word study, students look at patterns in words including vowel patterns, digraphs and blends. Word study is differentiated based on the skill needs of the student.
We want our young learners to understand that reading and writing are lifelong skills for enjoyment, for gathering information, and for helping us think. Through read-alouds, we look at story elements: plot, character, setting, conflict and resolution. We expose them to different genres and focus on fantasy stories, which resonate strongly with first graders. Children read, listen to and study pourquoi tales, fables, trickster tales, and fairy tales in preparation for the authorship of their original fantasy book. Students and families embrace the end result with the students reading their books aloud to an audience of supportive family members and classmates.
The writing process (pre-writing, drafting, editing, revising, publishing), used throughout the year, is put into practice when students begin their fantasy book. This project is the result of daily work, where students use their acquired skills, imagination, confidence and stamina to create a fully illustrated, unique and complete story.
Reading is an essential and major component of the first grade curriculum and is pervasive through a first grader’s day, with daily opportunities to read independently, in a small group, and as a class. The first grade program comprises a balanced literacy program that students writing frequently over a variety of genres from letters to stories and lists and letters.
Every night, students take a book home—one that they can read comfortably and independently—and are expected to read for at least 20 minutes.
It’s important for our students to have a strong understanding of numbers, so first graders have lots of opportunities for hands-on explorartion of numbers. Fact families, number bonds, measurement, capacity, graphing, complex adding and subtracting, and quantity are all math concepts students practice in first grade. Moving from concrete math to pictorial math to abstract, using algebraic equations‚Äîthe students learn critical thinking and problem solving.
By the time students leave first grade, they know how to tell time to the quarter and half hour, are familiar with two dimensional shapes and geometry and are introduced to multiplication and division concepts. Students are taught how to think in groups of ten, which helps their mental math abilities and builds a solid foundation for place value.
We believe three musical traits are crucial to a student’s development during grades K through third. Based on Dr. John Feierabend’s research, we want students to become beatful (clap appropriately on beat), artful (move to music and appreciate a performance), and tuneful (be able to match pitch and sing familiar songs). In order to accomplish this, our lower school music program uses the Orff approach in the music classroom. The Orff approach uses speech as the basis of rhythm and uses movement and activities to engage students in the learning process. Students sing using solfege syllables (i.e. do, re, mi) to learn and reinforce pitch relationships. Pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments are used to build independent musicianship and ensemble skills. Beginning songs are created by students through short phrases of music through improvisation. By utilizing this approach in the music classroom, students are actively engaged while using creativity, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, confidence, courage, and building relationships within their learning community.
After completing Kindergarten, first grade students have been exposed to many singing games and activities and are comfortable with their singing voice. Just as students learn spoken language first, in the same way, students create sounds and experience music before reading notated music. They focus on creating patterns to the beat, reading rhythms (quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes), singing in tune while using solfege syllables and body signs, circle dances, folk dances, creative movement and learning songs using both non-pitched percussion (rhythm sticks, hand drums, etc.) and barred instruments (xylophones, glockenspiels and metallophones). First grade performs in a Winter Concert that takes place in December.
The physical education program focuses on three developmental areas: gross motor skills, personal responsibility and demonstration of sportsmanship, and gamesmanship toward classmates. Team sports offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, and kickball. Students are instructed in the rules and technical skills of each sport so that the participants may understand how to play.
Earth science, life science and physical science are the focuses of science in first grade. At MVS, in grades K-2, we have a dedicated science leader that supports science learning in grade classrooms. She collaborates with teachers to integrate classroom learning into science activities, lessons and research projects.
Through the outdoor science program and Immersion Method learning, first graders gain an increased awareness of their physical environment and grow into good stewards of their natural resources. Students gain a deeper understanding of environmental concepts through engaging, hands-on experiences in the Outdoor Exploration Center, which includes a bird blind, trails, tooth garden, and pavilion.
Students explore the science of ecosystems and the relationships between people and their environment and are encouraged to think about their values and behaviors and how they can impact the world around them.
First grade social science continues to follow up on the explorations of “my place in the world”. Teachers start by helping students develop a stronger sense of self. From there, children explore the roles in their immediate family and extended family. They develop community norms for their classroom and discuss what makes a community. They consider the many roles of people in the community, particularly helpers such as police, fire , and physicians and vets, but also librarians, store owners, and other businesses.
Field trips support students’ social studies curriculum in first grade and are an avenue for our young learners to gain awareness of their environment and their larger world so that they can become compassionate, global citizens. Students have opportunities to meet and question many of these community helpers, both through field trips and classroom visits. Students conclude this study with a community helper celebratory luncheon.
Close to Thanksgiving, students interview family to find out more about heritage and ancestry, looking at the lands of origin as they discuss many different cultures and the role of the immigrant.
Students spend time in the Zlab greenhouse learning about and exploring the natural world. They learn about different kinds of food by helping plant, harvest and prepare what is grown.
Students read Scholastic News each week as a starting point for current event discussions.
The art studio is a place to invent, imagine, and problem solve.
Students explore different materials and techniques working individually and collaboratively, they work with a variety of materials, and they learn different ways to conceptualize their ideas. Students learn how to properly and safely use new tools, and effectively express their ideas from memory, observation and imagination. Inspired by art history, books and classroom discussion, students create works that are rooted in meaning and story.
Projects arise from student interest, classroom curricula and current events. New techniques are introduced and revisited throughout the lower school studio art experience.
The study of world language begins in early childhood school with Spanish and Mandarin and grows even more in kindergarten. Once students are in first grade, they’re familiar with learning different languages and are eager to continue their studies one to two days a week (depending on the color schedule) with a semester study of both languages.
MVS’ world language program focuses on the cultural appreciation and the development of listening and speaking skills. In first grade, students expand their vocabulary through a variety of methods, including singing, hands-on activities, games and TPR (Total Physical Response) teaching strategies. By studying the customs, geography, art, music, and holidays of the native countries, students develop an understanding of and appreciation for culture and a new perspective of the world.
Second Grade
Curriculum
Students enter second grade with a solid academic foundation. They’ve been honing their skill set since early childhood and are ready to apply them in even more diverse ways. Second graders show more stamina for learning and begin to think even more critically about everything they do and learn.
The emphasis on building a strong community continues in second grade and is formed through morning meetings and social emotional learning. Students begin their day by connecting with their peers through morning greeting, short sharing activities and a morning message‚ all components of the responsive classroom approach they’ve experienced since early childhood school.
Second grade at MVS places an emphasis on geography and the study of countries and cultures from around the world. In keeping with this focus, the culminating project is the Heritage Day celebration. Students present their detailed country reports, perform multicultural songs, and share their heritage with parents and friends.
Research projects are a large component of second grade. Throughout the year, students do one group research project and three individual research projects. They familiarize themselves with nonfiction texts and are challenged to use their higher level reading skills while incorporating summarization, critical thinking and inferences. Through research projects, they learn to highlight, take notes and ask questions.
Our young learners write constantly, making connections and using their research skills by retelling information in their own works and teaching others what they learn through their research.
Frequent and formal assessment is used to help differentiate instruction and support everyone’s learning according to their individual skill level.
Students learn and develop the six traits of writing: conventions, sentence fluency, word choice, ideas, organization and voice.
Towards the end of second grade, teachers also introduce cursive in second grade, which our students develop more fully in third.
By second grade, our students are familiar with the literacy program. Students continue to be accountable for daily reading and reading assignments, and—at this point—transition from learning to read to reading to learn.
They are more skilled and literate and are capable of more rigorous homework. Each night, our second graders take home a book accompanied by a literacy log. They are expected to read for 20 minutes and answer questions in their literacy log, recording things like main character and a summary of the story. Since students are reading chapter books at this point, they may take home the same book for a week or more so it’s important that they log daily. As with kindergarten and first grade, students are encouraged to take home a book that they can read comfortably and with ease.
During class time, students are taught what a good literacy log entails: complete sentences, observations, predictions‚Äîall factors that increase a student’s engagement with the literature. Every day, second-grade teachers comment and carry out a written dialog through the previous night’s log.
In second grade, Math in Focus is the program of choice. While we review and practice everything from basic computational skills to fractions and geometry, our main focus is on problem- solving skills. Using a hands-on approach, second graders develop a variety of ways to solve problems, collaborate with peers, and demonstrate their thinking process.
We believe three musical traits are crucial to a student’s development during grades K through third. Based on Dr. John Feierabend’s research, we want students to become beatful (clap appropriately on beat), artful (move to music and appreciate a performance), and tuneful (be able to match pitch and sing familiar songs). In order to accomplish this, our lower school music program uses the Orff approach in the music classroom. The Orff approach uses speech as the basis of rhythm and uses movement and activities to engage students in the learning process. Students sing using solfege syllables (i.e. do, re, mi) to learn and reinforce pitch relationships. Pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments are used to build independent musicianship and ensemble skills. Beginning songs are created by students through short phrases of music through improvisation. By utilizing this approach in the music classroom, students are actively engaged while using creativity, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, confidence, courage, and building relationships within their learning community.
In second grade, students begin learning traditional, more sophisticated pieces and learn how to improvise. They focus on creating patterns to the beat, reading rhythms (quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes), singing in tune while using solfege syllables and body signs, circle dances, folk dances, creative movement and learning songs using both non-pitched percussion (rhythm sticks, hand drums, etc.) and barred instruments (xylophones, glockenspiels & metallophones). Second graders host a Winter Concert each December.
The physical education program focuses on three developmental areas: gross motor skills, personal responsibility and demonstration of sportsmanship, and gamesmanship toward classmates. Team sports offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, and kickball. Students are instructed in the rules and technical skills of each sport so that the participants may understand how to play.
By second grade, students begin learning about life cycles and animal classification. They use the Outdoor Exploration center to observe various animals in their natural habitat and record their observations, draw pictures and answer questions in individual science notebooks.
Students also get a taste of animal dissection for the first time. They dissect starfish and squid using proper scientific tools and, again, record all of their observations in their science notebook—just like a real scientist!
World geography drives much of our language arts program. Developing an awareness of cultures from around the globe is another focus of social studies in second grade, and teachers emphasize global connections. Students compare and contrast different cultures and are challenged to think critically about the larger world. This focus, as well as incorporating current events encourages students to continue developing their identity as a compassionate global citizens.
Students continue to explore different techniques working individually and collaboratively, and work with a variety of materials. MVS’ visual arts program follows a spiral curriculum, where lower school students continue to learn the same concepts, mediums and techniques but in a more in-depth and interrelated way.
Once students are in second grade, they’re familiar with learning different languages and are eager to continue their studies one to two days a week (depending on the color schedule) with both languages, each one lasting a semester.
MVS’ world language program focuses on the cultural appreciation and the development of listening and speaking skills. In second grade, students expand their vocabulary through a variety of methods, including singing, hands-on activities, games and TPR (Total Physical Response) teaching strategies.
Students gain cultural awareness through the introduction to different native speaking countries and by comparing and contrasting them to the United States.
Third Grade
Curriculum
In third grade, students dive deep into topics of interest with faculty guidance along the way. They have acquired a strong reading and writing foundation and are ready to take it to the next level! Third grade at MVS focuses on research projects with a culmination with an Independent Research Project (IRP) at the end of the year. During this process, their thinking deepens and their knowledge of subject matters widens. These research projects tie together the learning happening in the science classroom and the main classroom.
In conjunction with the research projects, third graders learn all about community: their Dayton community to biomes and then wild animal communities. They develop strong personal relationships with the community they live in and are exposed to different cultures, backgrounds, and mindsets.
By the time our students enter fourth grade, they have established a strong sense of what it means to be an independent learner and are ready to continue a rigorous academic program with increased ownership over their learning.
Students in third grade develop a stronger vocabulary and language usage. Their comprehension level increases dramatically and they are able to more fully dig into research projects, which they were introduced to in second grade.
In language arts, our students learn how to make inferences, become familiar with different genres, and begin to have literature-based discussions with their peers. They also learn cursive and by the end of the year are writing everything in cursive. In addition to cursive, we also feel it’s an appropriate time to introduce word processing and digital navigation. They begin with finger placement and move through organizing and sharing documents. Once a week, our students practice their typing with formal instruction and practice throughout the school year with their research projects, incorporating electronic collaboration through Google Docs.
In third grade, students are still continue with the concept of “reading to learn,” and teachers begin instruction on non-fiction and place an emphasis on reading comprehension, both of which flow nicely with the literature used in their three research projects.
Our grade teachers continue meeting with students in groups and they’re now beginning to use their high level thinking to make and support a claim based on their reading. During group time, students have a discussion around a book they’ve all read together‚Äîover a two or three week time period. Because students are reading longer books, they’re learning the importance of time management with their nightly readings.
Rich book discussion and with peers and regular reading projects give our students the opportunity to own their ideas in a space where every voice is heard and valued.
Connecting literature to the grade curriculum becomes even more important in third grade, as there are more opportunities to provide learning connections.
Singapore Math, our manipulative-based math, continues in third grade, where students are working towards more abstract concepts, fractions and measurement conversion.
Teachers focus their mathematics instruction on higher-level addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. . The goal is for them to be proficient in multiplication up to their 12 times tables so they can enter fourth grade having confidence in their multiplication skills.
Third grade is also when we introduce the “Problem of the Week,” which we use as an opportunity for our students to practice their higher level problem solving skills. They have two weeks to work on the assignment and the class then discusses the different types of problem solving strategies.
Third graders work together as an Orff ensemble group to produce melodies and harmonies through singing, playing instruments and movement occurring at the same time. Students focus on understanding of meter (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/9), reading rhythms (16 notes, dotted half notes, dotted quarter notes), singing in canons, melodic notation on the staff, moveable Do solfeggi and folk dances with more advanced steps. They also continue ensemble experiences with more advanced technique for both non-pitched percussion (rhythm sticks, hand drums, etc.) and barred instruments (xylophones, glockenspiels & metallophones), improvisation. At the end of the year, students demonstrate what they have learned in a performance.
The physical education program focuses on three developmental areas: gross motor skills, personal responsibility, and demonstration of sportsmanship, and gamesmanship toward classmates. Team sports offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, and kickball. Students are instructed in the rules and technical skills of each sport so that the participants may understand how to play.
Life long skills are taught such as time management, leadership, problem solving, nutrition, personal health and wellness, empathy, compassion, collegiality, diversity, grit, kindness, integrity and celebration.
In third grade, science class increases to three out of every six color days, becoming less of a co-curricular class and more of an additional core class. There are two components of science in third grade: indoor and outdoor science. The scientific skill of observation and classification serve as the focal point for the third grade year. Students explore the life cycle of plants and insects as they observe plant and insect growth in the science lab. They are immersed in astronomy and learn all aspects of our sky, solar system, and galaxy. This Immersive Method portion culminates with the annual Astronomy Overnight on the MVS campus. Third graders become rocket creators, moon rock researchers, luminescence scientists, and artists of constellations. After they roast hot dogs and marshmallows, they locate constellations through a telescope and then sleep with their friends in tents. This is often a first time experience for many.
Environmental science becomes more important in the third-grade science and students are taught what a global citizen looks like and how their decisions make an impact in their community and world.
Our MVS third grade science class is also associated with Cornell University’s ornithology program and our young students use the Bird Blind in the Outdoor Exploration Center to count different bird species and gender, information that Cornell University incorporates in their welfare of birds program.
Since community is a big part of our studies in third grade, we begin the year discussing what a community looks like and launch into our unit on the Dayton community. We discuss the Wright Brothers and others who have made Dayton history so rich. Students go on numerous field trips and become familiar with landmarks, buildings and important Dayton companies, to name a few. This unit culminates in an immersive learning project where all students choose a building or landmark, write a short report, including questions and facts and then use all of this to create their own Monopoly game. Through the game, students teach each other even more about the Dayton research each individual has gathered.
Finally, the end of the year culminates in an individual research project on wild animals. The social science curriculum during this time is divided into six topics: animal characteristics, habitats, food, enemies and self-protection, babies, and conservation. Students spend the better part of six weeks researching a wild animal of their choice and write a nine page research paper.
Third grade students have the opportunity to combine materials and techniques to build an art vocabulary.
Many longer-term art projects start with drawing, followed by a demonstration of a particular media. Students immerse themselves in the process by adding detail and reflecting on the previous day’s work.
Students often revisit materials and media of their choice throughout the year, and many of the art projects reflect our students’ individual passions and group interests.
Third grade marks a turning point in the lower school world language program because students choose either Mandarin or Spanish to study throughout the whole year. Third graders attend two or three classes each week depending on the schedule. The program focuses on both language acquisition skills and culture study.
The language skills program builds on the phrases and vocabulary learned in the three previous years to progress on to simple conversations. Through songs, games, role-playing, hands-on activities, projects and performances, the program continues to expose them to good pronunciation skills through listening and speaking and progresses on to introduce a writing and reading component.
In addition to the language skills, students continue to develop an awareness of and respect for other cultures with their similarities and differences. Students learn about other cultures through reading non-fiction as well as fiction literature, watching movies, cooking and eating native foods, learning authentic dances or martial arts movements, engaging in art activities and celebrating special holidays.
Through a well-rounded program of language and culture in both Spanish and Mandarin, students continue to develop a new perspective of the world and their roles as compassionate global citizens.
Fourth Grade
Curriculum
When students get to fourth grade they are prepared for the relevant and rigorous curriculum that awaits their remaining lower school years.
In fourth grade, students participate in more independent work and directly apply all subject matter concepts on their own with faculty guidance. The heavily integrated curriculum gives students the opportunity to think deeper and wider, to problem solve, interpret, and understand concepts.
With three research projects, our students are continuing to develop the “reading to learn” concept and continue more in-depth biography reports. They develop their research and creative writing, and hone their poetry skills.
Reading, writing, grammar, and spelling are all components of the fourth-grade language arts program.
In fourth grade, our students have great exposure to nonfiction and novels. They dissect their readings and dig deeper than recall; they make inferences, look at imagery and themes, and discuss character analysis.
Reading becomes a large part of the research report process, as students are continuing to read for information and put to use their comprehension skills. In addition to research report writing, our young learners also develop creative writing and poetry writing and are able to put these into practice during their journal reflection time.
By fourth grade, students are writing paragraphs with greater ease and are learning how to properly organize their work using topic sentences, supporting details, and conclusions. They learn compound and complex sentences and practice grammar while fine-tuning their understanding of punctuation.
At the fourth grade level, the math program focuses heavily on Number, Operations, and Algebraic Thinking. Measurement, Data, and Geometry are also important applications of number and algebra concepts. The first term concentrates on key Number and Operations concepts so learners build a strong foundation in the beginning of the year.
During the second term, learners build solid conceptual understanding through a focus on problem solving, following the Singapore Mathematics Problem Solving Framework. Children learn through instruction, hands on activities, and problem solving.
Throughout the year, the program consistently employs a concrete, pictorial, abstract progression. Clear and engaging visuals that present concepts and model solutions allow all learners to gain a strong conceptual understanding.
Once students reach fourth and fifth grades, they begin to work together in one of three performing ensembles: band, choir or strings. Ensemble participation at this early age allows our students to learn the joy of making music together and lays the foundation for deep and skillful self-expression throughout their MVS career, and beyond. Fourth graders attend music classes every other day, and all are able to showcase their collaborative work through regular performances.
Fourth and fifth graders are also exposed to performing arts and enjoy the annual fourth and fifth grade musical, a culminating arts experience for lower school students. It is a grand-scale production with strong student and family involvement. Housed on our main stage theatre, expert directors guide the student cast and crew through the exciting process of a full-scale theatre performance.
The physical education program focuses on three developmental areas: gross motor skills, personal responsibility and demonstration of sportsmanship, and gamesmanship toward classmates. Team sports offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, and kickball. Students are instructed in the rules and technical skills of each sport so that the participants may understand how to play.
Life long skills are taught such as time management, leadership, problem-solving, nutrition, personal health and wellness, empathy, compassion, collegiality, diversity, grit, kindness, integrity and celebration.
Fourth grade is heavily focused on earth science. Students draw inferences from simple and more complex outdoor and indoor experiments while studying weather and geology. They explore the properties of fossils, rocks, and minerals, how they form, and natural phenomena. Our students look at fast and slow changes of the Earth and investigate the effects of erosion, weathering, volcanoes and earthquakes.
Fourth grade science is accompanied by overnight field trips to Glen Helen, and day trips to Cox Arboretum, the Ohio Caverns and more.
In addition to earth science, our fourth graders learn about electricity, circuits and morse code, which will continue to be a part of their fifth grade science learning.
Ohio history and US geography take up a good portion of the social studies curriculum. For the better part of the year, our fourth graders learn about Ohio, from prehistoric times through modern times—all topics that eventually give them direction and clarity with their culminating US based research project in the spring.
The US based research project is a good opportunity for students to practice and get to know what a detailed, longer research report looks like, so by the time they’re in middle school they can write research papers with relative ease. The eight-week project is also good time management practice, a skill our young learners will continue to use during the duration of their education.
Grades 4 and 5 create art in block scheduling, immersing themselves in technique or delving into new processes. Students can experiment, find their own style, and learn to wisely use time to resolve and refine their work. Individually and collaboratively, students use an array of materials to create two- and three-dimensional artwork. Projects arise from student interest, art history, and exploration of materials. Students begin to critique their own work and reflect on the work of others. Drawing, painting, and sculpture are the core media each year and, depending on the class, printmaking, photography, and installation art may emerge. Student work and exhibitions may be completely different from year to year.
A few of the highlights in fourth-grade art include: designing and printing t-shirts that are worn on the fourth-grade class field trip to Glen Helen and creating a papier mâché sculpture as a large group. Students are also exposed to a variety of famous artists and, in conjunction with an artist research project, they create a painting in the style of their chosen artist.
Fourth grade marks the second year that a lower school student studies either Mandarin or Spanish throughout the whole year. Fourth graders attend two or three classes each week depending on the schedule. The program focuses on both language acquisition skills and culture study. The language skills program builds on the phrases and vocabulary learned in the four previous years to progress on to sentences and simple conversations.
Through songs, games, role-playing, hands-on activities, projects and performances, the program continues to expose them to good pronunciation skills through listening and speaking and progresses on to develop a writing and reading component.
In addition to the language skills, students develop an awareness of and respect for other cultures by studying the customs, geography, art, history, mythology and music of the native countries or provinces.
Students continue to learn through reading non-fiction as well as fiction literature, researching culture-related topics, watching movies, cooking and eating native foods, learning authentic dances or martial arts movements, engaging in art activities and celebrating special holidays. Through a well-rounded program of language and culture in both Spanish and Mandarin, students continue to develop a new perspective of the world and their roles as compassionate global citizens.
Fifth Grade
Curriculum
By fifth grade, MVS students are well on their way to becoming self-sustaining learners and are refining leadership qualities. Our fifth-grade students are given the opportunity to mentor kindergarteners through our fifth grade/kindergarten buddies program.
One of the four core values on MVS is kindness. As our MVS vision states, learning to practice kindness requires empathetic, compassionate engagement with others in our school, our community, and around the world. By forming healthy relationships with younger students, fifth graders can practice their kindness toward a younger group of MVS learners. They teach them, guide them, and celebrate with them regularly throughout the school year‚ all actions that reflect the strong lower school community we have.
By the time our students graduate from the lower school, they have a strong foundation upon which to build their sense of self and healthy approach to life, and they are prepared for the rigorous academic experiences that lie ahead in middle school.
Our fifth-grade language arts program gives students practical skills in written and oral communication and incorporates a strong analytical emphasis on reading comprehension. In fifth grade, students build on the foundations of writing they learned in previous grades—spelling, grammar, and organization—and take them to a new level.
Reading is incorporated into fifth-grade language arts, and students are expected to always be reading a book on their own. In addition to individual comprehension development, our teachers incorporate frequent read-aloud reading sessions. This creates a common experience and stimulates group discussions. Additionally, we hold literature circles throughout the year where our fifth graders can break out into smaller reading groups and engage in enriching discussion.
Because we believe that good readers are also good writers, fifth grade teachers use mentor texts to develop students’ awareness of author’s craft. Each long-term writing project begins with a study of carefully selected books in the genre, and students use the techniques they see in these texts to hone their own writing of memoirs, informational books, and other creative projects.
The fifth grade math program has a strong emphasis on problem solving. Throughout the year, students work with complex multiplication and division problems, fractions, decimals, ratio, percents, and more. Each math unit involves extensive work with real-world problems that require students to apply the concepts and skills mastered during the unit.
We support learning with technology, incorporating Chromebooks for individual reinforcement. Our teachers supplement the Singapore math program with specific enrichment materials and programs to meet the students where they are, differentiating continually.
Once students reach fourth and fifth grades, they begin to work together in one of three performing ensembles: band, choir or strings. Ensemble participation at this early age allows our students to learn the joy of making music together and lays the foundation for deep and skillful self-expression throughout their MVS career, and beyond. Fifth graders attend music classes every other day, and all are able to showcase their collaborative work through regular performances.
Fourth and fifth graders are also exposed to performing arts and enjoy the annual fourth and fifth grade musical, a culminating arts experience for lower school students. It is a grand-scale production with strong student and family involvement. Housed on our main stage theatre, expert directors guide the student cast and crew through the exciting process of a full-scale theatre performance.
The physical education program focuses on three developmental areas: gross motor skills, personal responsibility and demonstration of sportsmanship, and gamesmanship toward classmates. Team sports offerings include soccer, basketball, volleyball, and kickball. Students are instructed in the rules and technical skills of each sport so that the participants may understand how to play.
Up until fifth grade, our students have fully immersed themselves in the life of a scientist. In fifth-grade, they continue their pursuit of indoor and outdoor science education and are presented with different theories and concepts that they develop as a group and on their own.
In fifth grade, students are introduced to lab safety and graphing. They explore concepts in cell biology, general genetics, and forensic science while also becoming acquainted with basic chemistry: the periodic table and chemical reactions. They experiment with forces and motion; investigate famous scientists, and engage in thoughtful discussion about different scientific disciplines.
Fifth grade science is all about collecting data, analyzing it, and communicating it, which leads to greater collaborative discussion and gives them a better understanding of the world around them.
We start the year off in social studies with the Age of Discovery, where our students research early explorers of the New World and learn to consider multiple perspectives of global exploration. Students then study early colonization, learning about the experiences of the colonists in America’s earliest settlements. This sequential study of American history continues with an exploration of colonial times and the years leading up to the American Revolution.
The fifth grade year culminates in a five-day trip to Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. This comprehensive immersion trip allows students to experience the lives of American colonists and gives them real-world insight into their culminating research project on a self-selected topic related to this period in American history.
Grades 4 and 5 create art in block scheduling, immersing themselves in technique or delving into new processes. Students can experiment, find their own style, and learn to wisely use time to resolve and refine their work. Individually and collaboratively, students use an array of materials to create two- and three-dimensional artwork. Projects arise from student interest, art history, and exploration of materials. Students begin to critique their own work and reflect on the work of others. Drawing, painting, and sculpture are the core media each year and, depending on the class, printmaking, photography, and installation art may emerge. Student work and exhibitions may be completely different from year to year.
A few of the highlights in fifth-grade art include: creating a box out of clay (moons, octopi, cats have been clay “box” shapes in years past), and painting what has become known as “The Fifth Grade Table,” an annual school auction item.
After having been exposed to both Mandarin and Spanish from pre-K through second grade, students are in their third year of devoting their language development to one language: either Mandarin or Spanish.
They attended language classes year long two or three days a week (depending on the color week schedule). The program focuses on both language acquisition skills and culture study. The language skills program builds on the phrases and vocabulary learned in the five previous years to progress on to sentences, simple conversations or paragraphs.
Through songs, games, role-playing, hands-on activities, projects and performances, the program continues to expose them to good pronunciation skills through listening and speaking and progresses on to develop a writing and reading component.
In addition to the language skills, students develop an awareness of and respect for other cultures by studying the customs, geography, art, history, mythology and music of the native countries or provinces.
Students continue to learn through reading non-fiction as well as fiction literature, researching culture-related topics, watching movies, cooking and eating native foods, learning authentic dances or martial arts movements, engaging in art activities and celebrating special holidays. Through a well-rounded program of language and culture in both Spanish and Mandarin, students continue to develop a new perspective of the world and their roles as compassionate global citizens.
“I am “All-In” on The Miami Valley School and the value it brings to my daughter’s education, mental growth, and character building. The school has gained my trust that she has entered a family that cares about her, challenges her, and offers her endless opportunities.
John Bommer, MVS Parent
Extended Day
MVS offers Extended Day (also referred to as Kids Club), an after-school enrichment program. The program is intended to keep your child engaged and active after dismissal in a safe, supervised, and fun environment. Our program follows best practices for expanded school day learning. Children will engage in unstructured play, academic skill-building, organized recreational play, crafts, games and puzzles and homework help, if necessary. Extended Day intends to enrich lives and develop strong, positive character traits.
Lower School
Michele Gaudet
Director of Lower School
Carrie Siegel
Lower School Assistant
Janice Krochmal
Kindergarten
Robin McIntyre
Kindergarten
Tayler Fantaci
Kindergarten
Jodi Gonzalez
First Grade
Amy Williams
First Grade
Julie Dube
Second Grade
Erica Evers
Second Grade
Melissa Ertsgaard
Third Grade
Julie Paul
Third Grade
Yvonne Martin
Fourth Grade
Jenny Moran
Fourth Grade
Amanda Hof
Fifth Grade
Kristin Freeman
Fifth Grade Health
Maggie Weeda
Fifth Grade Assistant
Sara Swift
Spanish
Esther Seday
Director of International Student Support
Melissa Walts
Science
Rachel Stanzione
Lower School Art Teacher
Jacob McGlaun
Performing Arts
Deanna Rau
Music
Julia Bonifield
Strings
Gabrielle Ambrosius
Learning Specialist
Zoe Paraskevopoulos
Learning Specialist
Holly Stolz
Library & Media
Patti DeLotell
Director of Zorniger Environmental Lab
Mario Carrillo
Athletic Director
Marvin Hernandez
Physical Education & Assistant Athletic Director
Sean Dwyer
Physical Education
Kara Peterson
Counselor
Experience
The Miami Valley School
The Miami Valley School aims to positively impact the future by inspiring and empowering the community to achieve more through immersive education that creates exceptional human beings.
Virtual Information Session
On Tuesday, March 9, at 6:30 p.m., please join us for our next Virtual Information Session on Zoom! Participants will meet our awesome admissions team, learn about our enrollment and financial aid processes, and meet our division directors in special breakout rooms for Pre-K, Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School. Please register in advance using this link.