GSB Lower School

Our Mission Statement Gill St. Bernard’s School provides a diverse, balanced environment where individual potential is nurtured, mutual respect is understood, excellence is pursued and students are prepared academically, socially and ethically to thrive and lead with honor and responsibility in an interdependent and changing world.

WELCOME Welcome to Gill St. Bernard’s Lower School. Here in the Lower School, we love what we do and we do what we love. The teachers and I witness the magic of children growing and acquiring skills, forming personalities, facing challenges and developing their confidence and character.

Parents marvel as their children bound out of bed each morning excited to come to school. When we greet them as they arrive, we delight in their excitement, optimism and eagerness for what their day will reveal about the world around them.

Our emphasis on sound educational theory, inspired teaching, care and compassion creates a healthy climate and positive educational experience to form a foundation for lifelong learning. We build on a child’s natural sense of wonder about all that surrounds him or her and develop the joy every child brings to the pursuit of learning.

Included here are highlights of some of our signature programs, those that set GSB apart. Along with the traditional range of subject areas taught in the Lower School, the following offers a description of key programs. This brochure is intended to supplement the larger GSB Viewbook and, along with the curriculum information posted on our website, will provide you an overview of the extraordinary experiences your child will benefit from each day.

Peggy Campbell-Rush Lower School Director

I have such peace of mind sending my children to Gill St. Bernard’s.

The level of trust I have in the teachers, staff and administration is fabulous. I do not need to worry that my children are being well prepared for the world they will live and work in. Everything at GSB is geared toward maximum success for each individual child.

About Peggy Campbell-Rush

I have two children at GSB. My husband and I are both in the field of education so we were very critical as we looked for a school for our children to attend. After three years at GSB, we could not be happier. The teachers want to be there, they enjoy teaching and challenging the children and they treat them as individuals. We could not be happier!

Considered an academic visionary by her peers, Peggy Campbell-Rush has been in education for over 30 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from The College of New Jersey and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Colorado. In addition, Mrs. Campbell-Rush has advanced credits in literacy, special education and educational administration from UCLA and Rutgers University.

Mrs. Campbell-Rush is the author of seven books, all focused on teacher education and training. She has appeared on ABC’s 20/20 and the NJN, written numerous articles for magazines and is a contributing author to five books focusing on educational issues. Mrs. Campbell-Rush was the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year in 2002 and 2006 and was the New Jersey Teacher of the Year finalist in 1996 and 2002. She has been an educational consultant conducting teacher workshops for the last 22 years both nationally and internationally. Mrs. Campbell-Rush started the Gill St. Bernard’s Teacher Training Institute five years ago offering educational workshops to teachers across the tristate area.

Mrs. Campbell-Rush has worked in, lived in, taught in and travelled to over 36 countries in the world. Most recently she travelled to Singapore where she was a guest of the Ministry of Education to further study Singapore math, which is the GSB K-6 math curriculum.

She also visited Indonesia where she trained teachers at the worldrenowned Green School in Bali.

Mrs. Campbell-Rush is a Fulbright Fellow and USA Today All-American Teacher Award winner.

THE ARTS

Fine Art The fine art program offers students an extraordinary opportunity to explore a diverse studio experience in a fully equipped art studio. Students work with multiple media including pastels, colored pencils, print, 3D projects, fiber and paint to name a few.

Students begin the journey by developing an understanding of the elements and principles of art. They are exposed to several artists and styles of art that are intertwined in their studio lessons. The curriculum adheres to a spiraling approach.

Many connections are made to what students are exploring in academic classes such as math and science as well as humanities classes. Displays throughout the Lower School are a testament to the breadth and creativity of our art program.

Performing Art Since 2007, the Upper School theater troupe, the GSB Players, has earned more than 40 statewide Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award nominations, as well as 16 awards, for its success in the performing arts.

The success of our Upper School program can be attributed to our belief that early discovery of the performing arts is essential to the development of confidence for success in both academics and life. Whether singing and acting in our annual early childhood production of The Nutcracker, sharing a poem at an assembly or taking part in after-school drama activities, the performing arts programs at GSB encourage all to express themselves and discover their hidden theatrical talents.

WORLD LANGUAGES The Lower School world language program is a comprehensive exploratory program for all students in primary through grade 4. The main objectives are to help each student attain an acceptable degree of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading and writing both French and Spanish and to introduce children to the Francophone and Hispanic/Latino cultures of the world. The program focuses on the children’s immediate surroundings and stimulates their interest through physical activities, visual aids and listening materials. Through this non-threatening, stimulating environment, students build confidence and a willingness to use the French and Spanish languages. The children’s first exposure to another language results in a positive attitude toward learning languages and experiencing cultures, and instills in them an appreciation for the many different non-English speaking countries around the world.

Technology, an integral part of the GSB Lower School classroom, is used to enhance everyday learning, engage students and make connections with resources outside the classroom. The school motto is “The world is our classroom,” and technology connects us to the larger world.

Technology resources include classroom computers, SMART Boards, document cameras, digital cameras, FLIP/video cameras, iPads and Skype video conferencing. These 21st-century tools provide students with the ability to learn, create, connect and share in new and exciting ways.

Weekly computer lab classes provide students with a strong foundation of computer and technology skills. Areas of study include keyboarding and mouse skills, file and network navigation, online safety and research, device usage and digital citizenship, blogging, document and publication design and formatting, and video, audio and slide show presentations.

Effective learning and instruction engages all cognitive functions in a child’s developing brain. The Lower School’s program enhances student learning by integrating the foundations of each discipline into its school-wide curriculum.

Classroom teachers work in concert with related arts and science teachers to help students make real-world connections within and across curriculums.

TECHNOLOGY

SCIENCE The Lower School science program starts with the wondrous process of exploration and discovery about the world around us and how it works. Everyday occurrences generate innumerable questions and are integrated into our science studies.

• How long does it take to plant a seed and harvest a vegetable?

• How long does it take to get to the moon?

• What foods contain protein, and what does it do for our body?

• What kinds of things live under and in a rotting log?

• What do you mix to engineer your own bouncy ball?

• What causes an earthquake?

• Why do I get the sniffles when I get a cold?

After four months in public school, our once engaged and curious first grader was starting to tune out of academics due to boredom. We transferred her to GSB this January and it has been a noticeable transformation in just two weeks. She enthusiastically shares what she learns with us on a daily basis and looks forward to returning to school every morning. The teachers, students, and parents made this mid-year transfer so easy for all of us by being so welcoming and inclusive. GSB is a wonderful environment and I would encourage any parent to visit the school, meet the staff, and most importantly, speak to the students and their parents!

Place-based learning is critical to a Lower School education at GSB. Traditional classroom study is enhanced and reinforced by various experiences in our outdoor “science lab.” Our Lower School proudly boasts one of the most beautiful and expansive campuses in the area—79 acres to explore—complete with a two-acre farm, garden greenhouse, stream, birds, trees and plants, trails, birdhouses and the occasional snowfall. Hands-on exploration and experimentation is the focus, whether class is held in the indoor science lab or the great outdoors.

Science tools including graduated cylinders, thermometers, test tubes, beakers, timers and digital microscopes are regularly used. STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities are the core of the curriculum in which learners investigate topics in the four science domains: • Life Science • Earth and Space Science • Physical Science • Engineering and Technology Collaborative group activities throughout the year promote the development of valuable skills including communication, cooperation and leadership, while emphasizing the scientific process and problem-solving skills necessary for lifelong learning.

SINGAPORE MATH Gill St. Bernard’s Lower School students discover that math is an exciting challenge. While numbers and their calculations aren’t any different, the manner in which math is taught is. GSB is a leader in successfully adopting Singapore math, based on the national math system of Singapore. Research suggests that students who are taught Singapore math score higher on standardized math tests. Teachers say it helps young learners develop a deep understanding and confidence in their math abilities.

Along with promoting a deeper understanding of numbers and math concepts, Singapore math addresses one of the difficulties in teaching math: All children learn differently. In contrast to common math programs in the United States, Singapore math devotes more in-depth time to core topics to ensure that children master material before moving onto new concepts.

Singapore math takes students through a three-step learning process: concrete, pictorial, abstract. American math programs typically skip the middle step and lose students when making the jump from the concrete to the abstract. This Singapore approach, in contrast, has proven to be more effective at forming a strong foundation and promoting a broader understanding of mathematical concepts.

Students begin exploration of mathematical concepts using manipulative objects including bead bracelets, multilink cubes and place value discs. Students are taught to use strategies such as number bonds, branching and model drawing. They also explore and play with numbers and math concepts through a variety of puzzles and games. By third grade, model drawing is taught as a tool to help students visualize more complex problems. Model drawing continues in fourth grade as a problem-solving strategy for higher level addition, subtraction, multiplication and the concepts of division, fractions and decimals.

By taking the learning process to a deeper level of exploration and understanding in the earliest years, students gain a solid math foundation to support increasingly complex problem solving.

CHARACTER EDUCATION Grounding the academic and related arts program in Lower School is an emphasis on character development. In alignment with Gill St. Bernard’s mission statement, we actively promote what we consider core values.

• Commitment to excellence • Compassion • Courage • Respect

• Honor and integrity • Responsibility to self and others • Balanced approach to learning and life

Character education is an essential component to the whole school’s climate and culture, and we begin this program in the Lower School. Our motto is “I do the right thing even when no one is looking.” We expect our students to treat each other the way they want to be treated. To foster this goal, we promote a character trait every month in the Lower School including those listed above and adding trustworthiness, citizenship and respect for self and others.

When teachers or staff members observe a student demonstrating any one of these traits, the student earns a character flag. The director of the Lower School visits the student’s class to explain to his/her classmates why he/she was chosen for a flag. This generates a great deal of pride and excitement and models these values for all students. The student gets his/her photo taken, and the flag is proudly displayed on our Castle of Character wall for the community to celebrate.

Gill St. Bernard’s School P.O. Box 604 St. Bernard’s Road Gladstone, NJ 07934 908-234-1611 Office of Admission, ext. 245 www.gsbschool.org