Primary School

In small classes and intimate homeroom settings, students build skills in reading, writing, science, mathematics, and social studies. Students also meet with specialists each week for classes in art, music, library, and physical education.

In Kindergarten, teachers use an inquiry-based approach that incorporates the design process: Find, Define, Ideate, Make, and Evaluate. Student learning in language arts and mathematics is structured around a topic of interest that the children wish to pursue in depth. Inquiries in past years have included woodworking, pets, and musical instruments. These themes provide a foundation for student research, exploration, and hands-on projects.

In first and second grade, the structured program helps students build and solidify foundational reading, writing, and math skills as they prepare for the transition to third grade and Lower School.

The Primary School science curriculum is inquiry-based and project-based. Its practices have been adopted from the National Research Council’s A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Students who demonstrate success in primary school science courses will be able to:

A major focus of the Primary School program is building community. Students begin to learn about life at Fay, and they participate in traditions–such as our daily family-style lunches and weekly community meetings–that help them understand more about their roles as individuals, friends, and community members.