Lower School

Serving 18 Months to Grade 2

Every child is different, bringing a trove of special gifts to our school. Our Lower School program strives to partner with families to cultivate each child’s uniqueness. To meet the different needs of families and students, we offer three distinct pre-school programs.

Early Childhood House

The House, as we call it, provides a literal house in which students 18 months – 3 years can grow and develop. Our teachers stimulate skill improvement through myriad approaches and strive to document progress through detailed records and digital photographs.

Montessori

Our classic Montessori program provides students age 3 – 6 years with the opportunity to learn in an experiential environment. Harkening to the honored philosophies of Maria Montessori, our program allows students the opportunity to cultivate a love of learning through collaborative work, exploration, and multi-sensory approaches to pre-reading and group play.

Traditional Pre-K

A more traditional alternative to Montessori, our Pre-K programs provide students age 3 – 6 the chance to hone skills and explore their interests. From language processing to numerical understanding, our students use their newly burgeoning social skills to investigate topics in preparation for Kindergarten.

Kindergarten-Grade 2

Skill-building, from literacy to cooperative learning, forms the core of our Lower School program. Our teachers work in concert to develop inquisitive learners, focusing on the foundation of important academic building blocks while immersing the students in the richness our world has to offer. To gauge our success in the former, we assess our students using the DIBELS model, tracking progress and celebrating achievement. Toward the latter, we promote in our students a personal connection to learning. Our children on any given day may be enaged in:

• using Tablet PCs and a visit to our campus historical landmark, the Broadwell House, to reconstruct models of colonial life
• working with sixth graders to understand botany and to plant flowers
• choosing verbal, visual, or musical approaches to demonstrating knowledge of pond life
• role playing as police officers to set class rules policy
• investigating character virtues through Tolstoy’s Three Questions

Key Philosophies

At Cincinnati Country Day School, we believe in the power of the responsive classroom method—a fundamental faith in the importance of concurrent social-emotional and academic development. The approach includes classroom components such as morning meetings, collaborative rule setting, choice in academic activities, and positive teacher language.

In addition to our core curriculum, students in our Pre-K and Montessori programs enjoy weekly specials, from foreign language instruction and music to library skills and physical education.

All of our Lower School faculty strive to help students feel connected both to their home lives and to the community around them. To the former, electronic portfolios, shared with family and future teachers, are maintained throughout the year. To the latter, students frequently tour the entire campus, work together with Middle and Upper School students, and engage in special all-school days.