Lower School at Poly Prep

POLY LOWER SCHOOL

THE POLY EXPERIENCE: VITALITY, ENGAGEMENT, AND PURPOSE School should always be a warm and welcoming place for children, and nowhere is this more critical than in their earliest years. Walking into Poly Prep’s Lower School, you hear happy voices and laughter moving through the building. This playful, yet engaged, energy is the result of an open, supportive, and creative learning environment that is nurtured by our teachers and absorbed by our students.

Nursery In the sunny Nursery classrooms, as well as in the play yard, children explore and develop a wide array of creative, intellectual, social, and movement-based skills in a welcoming and open environment.

Foundational skills are introduced first through creative means, and extend beyond the classroom to the great outdoors.

NURSERY HIGHLIGHTS • Butterfly Life Cycle • Lunar New Year Celebration • Painting picture books • Family Share • Tree and Bird study • Excursions to Prospect Park • Trips: Carousel

• Hands-on learning: playdough painting sewing • Specials: Music Dance Library

SAMPLE EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHEDULE (Nursery and Pre-K) MONDAY

TUESDAY

8:30

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Arrival/greeting

9:00

Choice

Dance

Music

Library

Choice

9:30

Meeting

Meeting

Meeting

Meeting

Spanish

10:00

Snack

10:10

Child & teacher directed activities in the homeroom.

Curriculum areas covered include literacy, math, art, and science.

Social/emotional development is a focus of each lesson and throughout the day.

11:00

Recess

11:50

Lunch

12:30

Dismissal for Half Day

1:00

Rest • Snack at 1:50

2:00

Recess • Activity Time/Free Choice at 2:30

3:00

Closing Circle

3:05

Dismissal

Pre-K In Pre-K, developing friendships and learning positive social skills are an important part of the year. As children grow more comfortable and confident in their bodies and their social abilities, they also begin to engage with academic learning. We work to foster a love of school and of learning in the children, so they develop a deep confidence in Poly as a safe space in which to ask questions and express creativity.

PRE-K HIGHLIGHTS • • • • •

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Justice and Fairness study Show and Share Habitat study Solar System study Community Service Postcard project for the Fresh Air Fund Ten Black Dots Math project

• Trips: American Museum of Natural History Brooklyn Botanic Garden Carousel • Paper Bag Players • Butterfly study

Kindergarten Kindergarten marks a step up into learning in a more structured way, while still maintaining a playfulness and creativity in the lessons.

During this year, the children’s eager, natural storytelling helps drive the literacy curriculum, while their curiosity with objects lays the groundwork for math concepts. As their proficiency with English literacy increases, they also begin classes in Spanish, which broadens their understanding of language and sets them on the path toward mastery of a world language.

KINDERGARTEN HIGHLIGHTS • • • • • •

Apple study PS 39 Penpals Family study Social Justice unit Flat Stanley project Trips: Brooklyn Children’s Museum American Museum of Natural History Apple picking

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Theater performances at Brooklyn College Begin Spanish, science, and formal art instruction Lunch served in the Dining Room May Day

Grade 1 In Grade 1, children are busy bees. They are reading, writing, and deepening their mathematical logic. Coming in with a strong foundation, they are able to quickly develop their skill sets, often far beyond concepts that are traditionally taught at this age level. Not only do they take on addition, subtraction, and fractional modeling, but they are also introduced to poetry, stop-motion animation, and cross-cultural studies.

GRADE 1 HIGHLIGHTS •

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Park Slope Community study Prospect Park Cleanup Day Trips: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Taro’s Origami Grand Army Plaza Bartel-Prichard Greenmarket

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Ezra Jack Keats author study William Steig author study Japan study Guided neighborhood walks

SAMPLE KINDERGARTEN–GRADE 4 SCHEDULE MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

8:30

Morning Meeting

8:50

Literacy

9:40

Snack/Recess

10:10

Math

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

10:50

PE

Dance

Art/Literacy

Art/Literacy

Community time

11:30

Literacy

Music

Art/Literacy

Art/Literacy

PE

12:10

Lunch/Recess

1:10

Chorus

Literacy

PE

Social Studies

Spanish

1:50

Literacy

Social Studies

Library

Science

Science

2:30

Social Studies

Literacy

SEL

Spanish

Choice

3:10

Pack up

3:20

Dismissal

Grade 2 Grade 2 is the setting for an explosion of growth. Students grapple with computation, begin a daily journaling practice, and learn about different stages in the writing process. Spanish, creative dance, and their artistic skills continue to expand. P.E. offers a space for improved endurance as students begin to engage with strategy and gameplay through rotating positions. Grade 2 sets the stage for a Poly experience that is as focused as it is dynamic, as creative as it is analytic.

GRADE 2 HIGHLIGHTS • • •

Immigration study Subway study Trips: Transit Museum Queens Museum of Art Ellis Island Tenement Museum

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Walk across Brooklyn Bridge Collaboration with Brooklyn Historical Society Multicultural Cinderella stories Publishing parties

Grade 3 Grade 3’s curriculum gives particular attention to ensuring students approach every subject and topic with the critical skills to think for themselves, question information, and see things from multiple angles.

The curriculum dives intensively into culture and how geography informs the development of culture. In Mathematics, they are learning multiplication, division, and fractions, and are also introduced to formal technology. The drama curriculum provides an outlet for self-expression and creative movement.

GRADE 3 HIGHLIGHTS • • • •

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Student Government 50 States study Native American study Grades 3 & 4 Music & Dance Concert Ecology Action Team Coding

• Girl Up • 3D printing of community buildings • Lunchtime instrumental lessons

Grade 4 Grade 4 continues to broaden the students’ minds, skill sets, and perspectives, and paves the way for a smooth and confident transition to Middle School. Students write structured essays, dive deeply into problem-solving, study U.S. history from multiple angles, develop their physical abilities in P.E., and practice filling leadership roles in the Grades 3 & 4 Music & Dance Concert. By the time Poly students complete Grade 4, they are equipped not only academically, but also emotionally, physically, artistically, and socially.

GRADE 4 HIGHLIGHTS •

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Collaboration with New-York Historical Society iMovie projects Book Club Fun Run Jamestown Study Plays for drama

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The Festival of Lights Enslavement & the American Revolution Art Stool Project Clapping Out Moving Up

E ARLY B IRD & AFTE R SCHOO L PROG R AM S EARLY BIRD 8:00–8:30 a.m.

Early Bird provides a warm welcome to students before the school day starts. It is a drop-in program without additional cost.

AFTER SCHOOL 3:05–6:00 p.m.

A full program of activities is available for an additional daily fee for students who stay after school hours. Students have time to play indoors and outdoors, complete their homework, and enjoy a healthy snack. Nursery and Pre-K students are grouped together in an early childhood classroom.

Kindergarten–Grade 4 students are grouped together.

AFTER SCHOOL ENRICHMENT 3:30–4:30 p.m.

Enrichment classes are age appropriate and designed to provide exciting opportunities to explore a wide array of interests. Each class meets once a week per trimester. Every year, we offer three sessions: fall, winter, and spring. After School classes are offered at additional cost.

SAMPLE CLASSES NURSERY–PRE-K

KINDERGARTEN–GRADE 4

Spanish Adventures Learn a second language using the “Adventure Learning” method, which combines stories, music, movement, acting, and games. Students will first understand words, then sentences and questions, and eventually engage in simple conversation.

Chess This class provides an introduction to the game that can be rigorous mental exercise for people of all ages, but which, like language, is especially effective at brain stimulation and development when learned at a young age.

As the cherry on top, the class is taught by a nationally ranked chess expert.

Creative Chefs Join us as we cook up everything from soup to cookies. Enjoy your tasty treat in class or take it home to share with your family. Students learn a new recipe every week.

NURSERY–GRADE 4 Ballet Learn the basics of this form of artistic expression, which promotes flexibility, concentration, good posture, grace, and poise.

KINDERGARTEN–GRADE 1 JV Sports Sports and games will be chosen based on the interests of the group and include kickball, basketball, soccer, tennis, running, wiffle ball, scooter races, and more.

GRADES 2–4 Full STEAM Ahead Come discover how Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math combine to make a fun, educational, and unforgettable experience.

Employing gears, circuitry, marbles, dominoes, pulleys, and more, we will be investigating engineering principles, such as chain reactions, propulsion, and centrifugal force, architecture, maker culture, simple machines, and the intersection of art and math. This class is an engaging, fun way for children to explore a wide range of ideas and mediums through hands-on learning and play.

Varsity Sports Sports and games will be chosen based on the interests of the group and include kickball, basketball, soccer, wiffle ball, scooter races, and more.

KE Y CL A S S ROOM FAC TS NURSERY & PRE-K

By September 1, child must be three years old • •

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Two homerooms for each grade Each homeroom has a head teacher and an associate teacher Art, literacy skills, mathematics, science, and social studies are incorporated into the homeroom curriculum Dance and library once per week Music once per week in Nursery and twice per week in Pre-K Outdoor play in our playground every day, twice per day Parents provide lunch or sign up for school-provided lunch

Nursery attendance options • Five mornings: 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.; Children eat lunch together before dismissal • Five full days: 8:30 a.m.–3:05 p.m.

Pre-K attendance schedule is five full days: 8:30 a.m.–3:05 p.m.

KINDERGARTEN

By September 1, child must be five years old • •

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Two Kindergarten homerooms Each homeroom has a head teacher and an associate teacher literacy, mathematics, and social studies are incorporated into the homeroom curriculum Dance and library once per week Art once per week in half groups Music, science, and Spanish twice per week Physical Education three times per week Outdoor play in our playground every day Freshly prepared, healthy lunch served in our dining room

GRADES 1–4

By September 1, child must be six years old for Grade 1; seven years old for Grade 2, eight years old for Grade 3, and nine years old for Grade 4 • •

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Two homerooms per grade Each homeroom has a head teacher and an associate teacher Three learning specialists and one math specialist Literacy, mathematics and social studies are taught in homerooms Dance and library once per week Art twice per week in half groups Music, science, and Spanish twice per week Physical education three times per week Technology once per week in half groups for Grades 3 and 4 Drama once per week for Grades 3 and 4 Outdoor play in our playground every day Freshly prepared, healthy lunch served in our dining room Private and group musical instrument lessons are available during lunch and after school

Lower School 50 Prospect Park West Brooklyn, NY 11215 718-768-1103

Middle & Upper Schools 9216 Seventh Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11228 718-836-9800