Junior Level
Junior Level lessons are designed to awaken the imagination, stimulate curiosity, and arouse admiration for the innovative capacity of the human spirit.
Students develop an awareness that everything in the universe is connected, interdependent, and forms a harmonious whole, and see that they themselves are part of and contribute to that whole.
Cosmic Curriculum
In lieu of studying separate disciplines, our students begin each year by learning how our universe was formed and the earth’s history unfolded thereafter. Biology, zoology, geography, and the physical sciences are studied within this context. This unusual approach provides a frame of reference that allows students to gain a sense of who they are in relation to the universe and its story.
Practical Life
Children are responsible for the upkeep of their classroom, their belongings, and themselves. They develop executive function skills as they learn to manage their time, workload, and the constant allure of social distractions. They learn to make tea, toast and have weekly sewing instruction.
Math
Students do all initial work with concrete materials leading to conceptual understanding and a foundation for later work in abstract terms. The progression from concrete to abstract continues throughout the study of the decimal system, quantities, patterns, and concepts, computation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), problem-solving (static and dynamic), estimating and graphing; fractions, and measurement (money, time, temperature, linear, volume and capacity, weight). Junior Level students also begin to study geometry.
Language
The Junior Level years are spent acquiring the skills needed to read for information and communicate in writing both expressively and creatively. Phonics instruction continues at a more advanced level and children read and write daily in all areas of the curriculum. Children have introductory experiences in research writing in addition to the study of grammar, word analysis, spelling, and punctuation.
Anti-bias
Children begin to explore prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination, inequality and further refine their understanding of different societal and cultural groups to which they belong. Students begin to think critically with an anti-bias perspective about written text and visual materials.
Junior Level at a Glance…
For students ages 6–9.
EACMSI pedagogy is child-centered, hands-on, individualized, and serves the development of the whole child—physical, social, emotional, cognitive
Junior Level children are in a sensitive period developmentally for examining concepts such as justice and fairness.