Lower School - Grades 1-4
The classroom can be a place where life-transforming work unfolds as teachers and students come together around big ideas.
It can be a place where an understanding and knowledgeable adult helps guide students through the complex maze of growing up. It can be a community of learners where one’s imagination is fired, skills developed and dreams become reality. In our Lower School, one can observe teachers who connect with children in ways that provoke genuine learning and inspire active engagement with questions at the center of the subjects they teach.
From first through fourth grade, our children are actively engaged in their own learning in a nurturing and supportive environment. As a faculty, we work to enhance what is within each child to help them to find their own voice and place in our school community. At Tower Hill, we emphasize the importance of individual accomplishment and the power of collaborative effort. In doing so, it is our goal to develop inquisitive and creative minds, a firm foundation of academic skills and a passion for learning in each child.
We are reminded through our work with children that learning emerges and builds on a variety of experiences; that learning is actively constructed; and that learning develops within a community.
Amy Bickhart
Head of Lower School
Handbook
The Lower School Handbook outlines the student experience and expectations for families—and it is also helpful for prospective parents in understanding life in the Lower School!
Lower School Highlights
44
faculty members
65%
advanced degrees
500+
hours of professional development
Special area instruction in art, woodshop, music, Spanish, literacy, physical education, technology and mindfulness
School psychologist, teaching & learning, math and reading specialists
After School and holiday care
2
school psychologists
Curriculum
With an early focus on emotional, cognitive and physical development, children are equipped with a strong foundation for academic and social growth.
Tower Hill’s Lower School curriculum introduces students to language arts, social studies, science, mathematics, art, technology, music, Spanish, woodshop, physical education, theater and more for a well-rounded liberal arts education.
At Tower Hill, we prioritize individualized instruction and close student-faculty relationships; enthusiastic teachers create a supportive and engaging learning environment for our students, preparing them to take on more challenging coursework in the third and fourth grades. Hands-on classroom activities inspire students to make interdisciplinary connections and to collaborate with their peers, and numerous service learning opportunities connect Lower Schoolers to the Tower Hill community and beyond. By the end of Lower School, our students are thoroughly prepared for future success in Middle School, having become critical thinkers, responsible community members and active classroom leaders.
