Beginning in kindergarten, students take part in many of the special traditions of our elementary school, from morning assemblies and the annual Olympics, to acting as community service representatives and members of multi-age "families". Children enjoy a 10:1 student-teacher ratio in kindergarten, and a 15:1 ratio in grades 1-3; our two lead teachers in every classroom conduct a combination of whole-class, small-group, and individual instruction to meet the needs of our diverse learners. The social-emotional makeup of each student is considered; ever-mindful of the developmental spectrum along which our students grow, our teachers observe, assess, and communicate the needs of the whole child to parents and to one another.
Teachers give students choice in what they read alongside carefully structured teaching of decoding and comprehension strategies. Children learn to creatively express themselves in writing while practicing conventions of grammar and spelling. Math classes are characterized by real-world applicability and focus on problem-solving. In social studies, our students broaden and deepen their definition of community, from their families and our school to our city and the global village. Students encounter CEE’s four core values - caring, responsibility, honesty and inclusion - and have opportunities to live out the core values in service learning projects.
Students attend specialists in art, science, music, technology, library, and PE throughout the week.