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INTRODUCING THE LOWER SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MUSIC WING

from Reflections Magazine 2023

from Reflections Magazine 2023, page 25

ONE YEAR LATER

Construction begins on the Cordish Science Lab, Dunbar Music Room, and Class of 2023 playground, which will open for students next school year

Lower School science teacher Lori Wlodarczyk is no stranger to thinking on her feet for Calvert School. In recent years, Ms. Wlodarczyk has been repeatedly displaced from her classroom, swapping four walls for a four-wheeled cart that allows her to take her curriculum “on the road” to individual classrooms. In 2020 and 2021, this was a safety precaution that allowed for fewer shared surfaces and increased spacing between students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, Ms. Wlodarczyk’s classes were uprooted for a different reason: to enable construction on a state-of-the-art music and science wing that will enhance Calvert’s curriculum in both subjects and provide Lower School science classes with a permanent new home.

Slated to open during the next school year, the $2.2million music and science wing will add approximately 5,000 square feet of academic space to the Lower School as well as a renovated outdoor learning and play space given by the Class of 2023, which students and teachers will be able to access through the science area. These new facilities will benefit Calvert’s Fifth Age through Tenth Age program and expand offerings related to the arts and sciences.

“This new wing will give our science and music teachers modern classrooms and lab spaces so that they have the resources and technology to prepare our students for critical thinking and learning,” Head Master Andrew Holmgren said.

The Cordish Science Lab, given by Maggie and Reed Cordish, will occupy the bulk of the wing’s first floor and feature a highly interactive and child-friendly classroom environment. The space will include collaborative lab tables suited for hands-on work and experiments as well as a flexible learning area that can be rearranged for presentations, educational videos, group work, or independent study. In the spirit of Virgil Hillyer’s original vision for the Lower School, the lab will be include windows on multiple sides, filling the space with soft, natural light and blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor immersive learning.

“In our family we place great value on the learning process, whether it be in the classroom or on the sports field,” the Cordish family shared. “And we believe that science, and the scientific method, give children a process for discovery that really enhances their curiosity and interest in the natural world. A scientific laboratory will be a wonderful complement to Calvert's academic and learning facilities.”

Outside the science classroom, students will climb a newly installed staircase to reach the Dunbar Music Room, given by Martha and Kevin Dunbar and Jennifer and Robert Dunbar.

Located above the science lab, the Dunbar Music Room is specifically designed to support music programming by improving acoustics, managing noise, and doubling as both a practice room and performance space. In addition to ample space for free movement, singing, and instruction, the Dunbar Music Room will include built-in performance risers, soundproofing panels, and a wall of maneuverable doors that can open or close to convert the space. At its heart, the room will highlight an open floor plan to accommodate movement-filled music classes.

Designed by Hord, Coplan, Macht Architects, the new science and music wing is due to be completed next year, at which time the School looks forward to welcoming students, teachers, and families into this revolutionary new space. Thank you to Calvert’s Board of Trustees, Maggie and Reed Cordish, Martha and Kevin Dunbar, Jennifer and Robert Dunbar, the Class of 2023, and all other generous supporters who have made this facility possible.

WHY MUSIC?

According to a study published in Music Education Research, the elementary and middle school years are vital for building a musical foundation and fostering student interest, which may have a positive effect on students’ self-reported quality of school life.

In that study, researchers observed more than 700 students aged 9 to 12 years and surveyed the children who experienced either control classes or extended music curricular classes, which involved three additional hours of instruction per week. Their findings showed that “extended music education enhances the quality of school life, particularly in areas related to general satisfaction about the school and a sense of achievement and opportunity for students.”

From there, that sense of confidence and comfort can translate into improved academic performance. For these reasons and more, music is an integral part of the Calvert curriculum.

“Our family’s appreciation for the role of music in nurturing creativity, self-expression, and cognitive development propelled us to engage with the new Lower School Music Room. May it become a sanctuary of inspiration, cultivating a vibrant culture where the joy of music is cherished and celebrated for generations to come,” the Dunbar family shared.

From their earliest days in Fifth Age to their final days of Eighth Grade, every student at Calvert receives a thorough musical education that teaches them not only to hit the right notes but to stand confidently in front of a crowd, and this is never more evident than in the Lower School.

Led by their homeroom teachers, Calvert’s youngest students often learn the basics of math and language through song, preparing them to succeed academically in the years ahead. As they get older, the students hone their vocal cords under the guidance of music teacher Holly Florian, who expands their musical acumen through fun songs, games, and activities while preparing them for the Middle School.

From there, the Middle School offers a variety of curricular and co-curricular musical opportunities for Middle School students, including instruction in ukulele and guitar, participation in band and orchestra, and introduction to other musical concepts.

WHY SCIENCE?

Thanks to the generous contributions of donors, Calvert is fortunate to be able to regularly upgrade its facilities to provide the best learning environments for students.

In the Middle School, this is epitomized in the first-floor science lab and adjacent classrooms, where students have the resources and opportunity to study topics such as biology, engineering, environmental science, and robotics. The lab and maker space, which opened in 2016, boasts a spacious layout with ample storage, moveable lab tables that encourage collaboration, and easy access to power outlets. It is a fine example of a space that would also benefit younger students, who are naturally curious about the world around them.

In the May 2020 issue of Young Children, a peer-reviewed journal published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Lisa Hansel, EdD, writes that preschool-aged children naturally engage in scientific thinking. From their earliest steps, children experience processes of curiosity and trial and error, forces such as gravity and balance, and principles of play that directly correlate with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programming.

As she describes it, “They build and knock down block towers, they pull back grass and roll over rocks to see what’s in the ground, they take assorted objects to the water table to see what floats.”

However, there is a large gap between exploring these curiosities and engaging in formal experimentation that employs the scientific method. This, Hansel says, is where robust scientific instruction comes into play and where immersive STEM environments become invaluable.

“When intentional teachers ask questions to expand children’s thinking and help them explore related vocabulary and concepts, children’s learning is enriched and their curiosity grows, fueling yet more inquiries,” Hansel said.

Elaborating, she references a study of students in early education from the same issue of Young Children , which comments that “children [are] active, competent, and engaged learners,” and that “learning occurs in the context of relationships with materials and with a nurturing caregiver who is attuned to the child’s strengths and interests.”

Like its Middle School counterpart, the Cordish Science Lab will be filled with flexible surfaces and arrangements rich with texture, opening the students’ minds to the notion of discovery and innovation.

The new facility will expand upon much of the curriculum already taught in the Lower School, notably studies of nature, fossils, magnets, and outer space. Prepared with these ideas, the students will be exceedingly prepared for more advanced experiments in the Middle School and beyond, where STEM and technology are rapidly integrating with everyday life.