Lower School

Students wear a GA uniform that can be purchased from multiple designated vendors and the Parents’ Committee Second GeAr consignment shop. The uniform options include: 

• Tops: a short- or long-sleeved navy or white polo shirt; red or navy sweater or ¼ zip GA pullover 
• Bottoms: navy or khaki pants or shorts; or a GA plaid kilt with navy bike shorts or leggings 
• PreK-2nd Grades have the option to wear a GA plaid jumper with a polo shirt 
• 1st-5th Grade Concert Uniform: regular uniform with a navy-blue blazer with GA emblem 
• Shoes: solid black sneakers or other solid black sturdy shoe 

The Parents' Committee opens the Second GeAr Shop several times throughout the year where gently-used uniform items can be purchased. 

We offer SPARK, an after-school program from 3-5:30pm, run in two sessions, for Lower School families who want a safe, structured place for students to play and engage with peers in fun activities at the end of the school day. Led by GA faculty and staff, students participate in a variety of enriching age-appropriate activities including free play, playground games, arts and crafts, sports, performing arts, and other creative endeavors. Upper Elementary students have structured time to work on assigned homework. In addition to SPARK, we offer weekly topic-centered enrichment activities called ASAPs. ASAPs run in seasonal modules once a week for 6-8 weeks. Examples include Suzuki Violin, Slime Science, Acrobatics, Cooking, Sports, Stock Market, Chess, and more. On faculty in-service professional days, we offer full-day SPARK for registered families. 

GA faculty communicate student progress in a variety of ways including parent-teacher conferences, written progress reports, and phone calls or email updates.  

PreK and Kindergarten have five scheduled parent-teacher conferences throughout the year (three in-person, two virtual). Progress reports are written twice a year, in January and June, and include reports from the homeroom and specialist teachers. First-5th Grades have three scheduled parent-teacher conferences throughout the year. Core curriculum (literacy, math, social studies) progress reports are written three times per year, in fall, winter, and spring. Specialist area reports are written twice a year. We welcome parents to reach out to teachers at any time throughout the year to discuss their child’s progress. 

PreK and Kindergarten students are not assigned homework, with the exception of being read to or reading books sent home at their “just-right” level. First-5th Grade students may be assigned homework Mondays-Thursdays that may include core subject area assignments such as reading, word study, and math. Homework is typically an extension of, or practice with, a previously learned concept or skill, and should not be an introduction to something new. The average time a student will need to spend on their homework can be determined by multiplying the student's grade level by 10 minutes (1st Grade = 10; 5th Grade = 50). This is in addition to required, self-selected, independent reading for 15-20 minutes per night. Homework is not assigned over the weekend to be due on Monday, with the exception of a student making up work due to unexcused absences.  

Students in Kindergarten-5th Grade are provided iPads, which remain in school, for thoughtfully designed in-class assignments. Students may only use technology as assigned by the teacher; recreational use of technology is not permitted at school.  Students and parents sign a Responsible Use of Technology agreement that provides guidance at school; we provide instruction for responsible use that aligns with our policy. In addition, we provide guidance on recommendations for families at home. Cell phones and internet accessible personal devices, including internet connected watches and fitness trackers from home, may not be brought to the Lower School, unless there is a medical accommodation for which technology is required (e.g. diabetes). 

The Parents’ Committee offers many ways to get involved at events and activities throughout the school year, including monthly Parents’ Committee meetings. Each grade level has several parent co-chairs who support community building with families at their grade level and encourage volunteers. There is a volunteer form where you will be able to express your interest. 

Parents are invited to volunteer at community events such as the Thanksgiving Food Drive, Preserve Day, Lower School Fall Fest, Book Fair, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Parent Trivia Night, Lower School Dance, Lower School Family Fun Night, and Grandfriends’ Day, to name a few. Learn more about our community.

Arrival: Morning Play Club, part of our early morning care program, is available at no additional cost on the Lower School playgrounds from 7:30 to 8:00am and is required for students arriving prior to 8:00am. Classes begin at 8:15am. Lower School students arriving by car are dropped off at the Connor Quad. Lower School staff and security will be at the Quad and in the bus lane at 7:30am to assist students with arrival. 

Dismissal: Students are dismissed from their classrooms at 3pm. Car line pickup areas are designated alphabetically by last name. Parents or caregivers should arrive between 3-3:10pm for car dismissal. Students who attend SPARK or ASAPs are dismissed directly to those programs at 3pm.  

Our Lower School literacy program uses a systematic and sequential balanced literacy approach to help students become proficient, engaged, and lifelong readers. 

The PreK literacy program utilizes the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Program to build phonemic awareness skills as students learn to hear, identify, and play with the smallest individual sounds. The Kindergarten-2nd Grade programs build on this foundation, using Wilson Fundations to support development of phonics, word study, handwriting, and spelling skills.

The 3rd-5th Grade word study program uses Spellwell Spelling as a core for spelling and phonics instruction. Using the Reading Workshop program, students are introduced to authentic, leveled texts at their instructional reading level through a guided reading approach and practice those skills with leveled texts at their independent reading level. Small reading groups and 1:1 conferencing with teachers help students build skills and strategies as readers. 

Fountas and Pinnell (F&P) reading assessments begin mid-year in Kindergarten and continue through Lower School. The F&P framework and assessment system is a one-on-one assessment using specialized fiction and nonfiction texts to determine a student’s independent and instructional reading levels. It informs instructional approaches and resource selection. In addition to the F&P, in 3rd-5th Grades we use the Complete Comprehension system to evaluate and build students’ reading skills using full-length books to track how a reader is using skills and strategies in a whole text rather than short excerpts. Complete Comprehension assesses deeper critical thinking across longer texts and identifies student instructional goals around reading strategies, vocabulary, inferencing, and understanding main ideas. 

When weather permits, students have the opportunity to begin their day at our Morning Play Club on our state-of-the-art playgrounds between 7:30 and 8:00am. At 8:15am, PreK-3rd Grade classes begin with a Morning Meeting designed to build community, review the day’s schedule, and set a positive tone for the day. 4th and 5th Grade students may begin their day with a specialist area class like PE, Art, or Science, followed by their Morning Meeting. 

Students engage in core instructional blocks in math and literacy (reading, writing, word study) where instruction is differentiated, and learning often takes place in small groups. Interdisciplinary studies time includes inquiry-based curriculum in Social Studies, Coding, and Design Thinking. Students attend 2-3 specialist classes each day with offerings in Science, Visual Arts, Music and Performing Arts, Physical Education, Health and Wellness, Social-Emotional Learning, World Languages (Mandarin Chinese and Spanish), Tinker Lab, and Library. In addition to the outdoor morning play opportunity before school, PreK-2nd Grade students engage in 2 outdoor play times over the course of the day, and 3rd-5th Grade students have one 30-minute period of outdoor play. Students enjoy outdoor time as well as during curricular experiences across GA’s expansive and varied 126-acre campus, which includes the Wissahickon Creek. Creek walks in Science are a favorite activity each fall and spring! 

When weather permits, all students have the opportunity between 7:30 and 8:00am to begin their day at Morning Play Club on our state-of-the-art playgrounds. In addition, PreK –2nd Grade students have two outdoor play times each day. PreK and Kindergarten enjoy 30 minutes of morning outdoor play and 40 minutes of afternoon outdoor play. 1st and 2nd Grades have two 30-minute periods of outdoor play, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Upper Elementary students in Grades 3-5 have one 30-minute period of outdoor play each day.  

Students experience a rich and varied specialist program over the course of a 7-day rotation. These classes include Science, Visual Arts, Music and Performing Arts, Physical Education, Health and Wellness, Social-Emotional Learning, World Languages (Mandarin Chinese and Spanish), Tinker Lab, and Library. Students typically have 2 specialist classes each day, ranging from 30-60 minutes, depending on the grade level and number of times taught in the rotation. 

Social-emotional learning skills are woven throughout a student’s day in Lower School. All teachers seek to build relational, social, and emotional learning as they teach across content areas. Examples include teaching skills for self-regulation, self-awareness, problem solving, collaborative learning, listening, turn-taking, expressing opinions and perspectives, and building relationships with peers. Teachers use principles from the Responsive Classroom framework to integrate social-emotional skill building with students.   

In addition, the full-time Lower School Psychologist teaches social-emotional learning awareness, skills, and strategies as a special area class in each PreK-5th Grade classroom. Students participate in guided lessons and hands-on activities that align with the five core competencies developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.