Learners, Leaders & Collaborators
Challenging Academics in a Nurturing Environment
Academics
Overview
At The Children’s School, we believe that learning should be a joyful exploration, not a chore. Our nationally recognized, innovative approach to education prioritizes hands-on experiences through play– and project-based learning, fostering a deep love of learning and a natural curiosity about the world.
Instead of rote memorization, TCS creates engaging, tailored learning journeys that ignite your child’s passion for knowledge. This progressive, child-centered approach equips our students with the critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and lifelong curiosity necessary to excel in high school and beyond.
Age 3-5
REQUEST INFOA lifelong love of learning begins in The Children’s School’s Early Learning program. Our play-based curriculum empowers our 3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s students to explore, learn and grow in a nurturing environment.
With small class sizes and expert teachers, your child will develop essential skills in language, math, social-emotional learning, and creative problem-solving. TCS preschool students especially love the relationships they build with their big buddies – older students with whom they regularly play and learn, and who mentor and model good behavior and citizenship.
Curriculum
Math
In our Early Learning program (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s) and kindergarten, students use the Mathodology program Developing Roots. Developing Roots is a research-driven, hands-on mathematics curriculum that encompasses number, measurement, and spatial reasoning concepts. Students engage with sorting, communication, visualization, and problem solving while looking for patterns. Instructional activities are playful and address foundational content to optimize the learning process. Through play-based learning, children are able to build experiences where communication, collaboration, curiosity, and perseverance are woven into the culture of the classroom. This program is designed to build an on-ramp to the Singapore approach as students transition into Mathodology’s Think! Mathematics program in first grade. Think! Mathematics builds on and extends the concepts of Developing Roots through meaningful exploration of number and application of critical thinking when problem solving.
Grades 2-5 students use Singapore Math: Math in Focus. This is an authentic Singapore Math curriculum, based on national standards used in Singapore, and it meets or exceeds all Curriculum Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Grades 6 – 8 use Math in Focus and grade 8 incorporates the first book of the HMH AGA program which allows students to go deeper into Algebraic concepts.
“Math in Focus” focuses on problem solving to facilitate math learning. Concepts are taught with a concrete-pictorial-abstract (CPA) learning progression through real-world, hands-on experiences using manipulatives and physical modeling. The Singapore Math program solidly builds the foundational concepts that will best prepare students for higher math. This style of learning stimulates clarity of thought, communication skill in the language of mathematics, and adaptability to problem solving.
Broad topic categories for grade levels include: numeration, operations and relations, data collection and analysis, geometry, measures and reference frames, money and patterns, and rules and functions. The program has built-in extensions and flexibility that allow it to be tailored to the needs of students of every ability. The progression ends in eighth grade with most students completing Algebra I, and some completing an Accelerated Algebra course.
Language Arts
The language arts program includes reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In the Lower School (age 3 – grade 3), teachers implement a balanced approach to teaching reading that incorporates language experience, guided-reading strategies, phonics, and multi-sensory approaches to language. These increase student involvement and motivate further exploration and growth. In the Upper School (grades 4 – 8), children are exposed to a reading workshop approach that includes a variety of nonfiction and reference materials, as well as works of fiction. Skills, strategies, and literary techniques are taught within the context of the reading program across all grade levels.
Writing occurs daily in the classrooms through labeling, dictation, journal writing, research reports, and learning logs.The Writing Workshop approach is used in kindergarten – grade 8. Students work through all the phases of writing, from brainstorming to producing a final draft. Grammar and vocabulary instruction take place within the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Kindergarten – third grades use an Orton-Gillingham-based approach, including the “Recipe for Reading” and “Explode the Code” series, as well as other materials to build children’s decoding and spelling success which includes inventive and phonetic spelling as a natural phase of developing formal spelling and literacy skills. The spelling program is based on phonemic awareness and a structured, multi-sensory approach to learning phonics. Students learn and practice rules for spelling the sounds that make up the English language. For students in grades 4 – 8, spelling instruction is embedded into writing and word study.
Science
Science is most often integrated with other subjects within the project-based learning units. Teachers introduce science through exploration of the natural and physical world. Older and younger students are encouraged to solve problems using process skills that include observation, classification, record-keeping, making hypotheses, experimentation, consideration of variables, and drawing conclusions. Science classes use a hands-on, investigative approach that is correlated to the developmental needs of students and is designed to help students gain concept and topic knowledge and science skills as they progress. At each grade level, students study a variety of topics from life, earth and space, and/or physical sciences that align to the Next Generation Science Standards.
TCS Project-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL allows students to contribute to a world where people are able to collaborate, problem-solve, and create solutions to the issues around them; where they believe in their own ability to do so and see themselves as drivers of their own learning.
| PBL Science Understandings | 3’s/4’s | 4’s/5’s | Kindergarten | First Grade | Second Grade | Third Grade | Fourth Grade | Fifth Grade | Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade | Eighth Grade |
| Science Focus | How can we explore our environment?
What are living things? |
What makes up the spaces and places around me?
How do things move? How do we care for living things? |
How can we care for living creatures?
How do we take care of our planet? |
How are traits passed down?
What are the basic needs of animals and plants? How does this planet exist in the universe? |
How does land contribute to living things?
How do plants help or change the environment? What makes up a living thing? (matter) |
What is Earth?
How do humans impact Earth? How does weather impact Earth? What is work? |
How can energy be transferred?
How do ecosystems work together? |
What environmental and cultural characteristics influence places or regions? | How has Earth changed over time?
How does the past help us predict the future? Why do magnets point north? How are magnetism and electricity related? What does it mean to be native to a place? |
What is life?
What is chemistry? How do elements present in our bodies and in our environment? How do we define work? |
How do materials from Earth become useful products that impact our lives?
How can understanding force and motion help us solve real-world problems? How can we engineer solutions to protect ecosystems and biodiversity? How can we design devices to control energy transfer effectively? |
Legacy Project Year-Long Question How can we live out our legacy as leaders and change agents? |
| Science Essential Questions | How can we explore our environment?
What are living things? |
What makes up the spaces and places around me?
How do things move? How do we care for living things? |
How can we care for living creatures?
How do we take care of our planet? |
How are traits passed down?
What are the basic needs of animals and plants? How does this planet exist in the universe? |
How does land contribute to living things?
How do plants help or change the environment? What makes up a living thing? (matter) |
What is Earth?
How do humans impact Earth? How does weather impact Earth? What is work? |
How can energy be transferred?
How do ecosystems work together? |
What environmental and cultural characteristics influence places or regions? | How has Earth changed over time?
How does the past help us predict the future? Why do magnets point north? How are magnetism and electricity related? What does it mean to be native to a place? |
What is life?
What is chemistry? How do elements present in our bodies and in our environment? How do we define work? |
How do materials from Earth become useful products that impact our lives?
How can understanding force and motion help us solve real-world problems? How can we engineer solutions to protect ecosystems and biodiversity? How can we design devices to control energy transfer effectively? |
|
| Students will understand that… | Our planet is beautiful and we are able to explore all of the life that exists around us. | Exploration of the world around us allows us to identify and care for living things. | It’s our job to support and foster the environment for all living creatures, including ourselves. | Studying the structures and behaviors of the physical and natural world allow for us to care for life on this planet. This helps us build understanding toward how life exists and develops. | Maintaining and sustaining life is critical to our existence as a species. We must ask questions, test, and theorize on the inner workings of what exists around us to better live in harmony with our planet. | To understand our unique place on this planet, we must dive into all aspects of the scientific world: life sciences, physical sciences, and earth and space sciences to better balance our contributions to both the human-made world and the natural world. | Our survival as a species is dependent on the survival of other species. We must understand and determine ways to support life outside of our own. | Tracking and monitoring how life continues to evolve and develop is also critical to developing our own needs for survival. | Studying the evolution of life on Earth provides a fundamental framework for comprehending the diversity of life, how organisms adapt to their environments, and the interconnectedness of all living things. | Tackling our planet’s biggest obstacles, like generating sufficient energy, preventing and treating diseases, maintaining supplies of clean water and food, and solving the problems of global environmental change will ensure a sustainable future for all. | It’s our responsibility to create sustainable systems to preserve, honor, and sustain all living creatures to address those major challenges that society faces today. As change agents of the next generation, our knowledge and contributions are key. |
Social Studies
The overall social studies program goals are to equip students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values for responsible and effective participation in all aspects of a global society; to improve students’ abilities to make intelligent and socially responsible decisions; and to assist in developing informed attitudes toward controversial issues.
Throughout their time at TCS, students explore cultural studies, history, civics, geography, economics, science, technology, and society all tied to standards found in the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies. Social studies experiences provide for children’s active involvement in their learning process and encourage taking learning beyond the classroom. Social studies is most often integrated with other subjects within the project-based learning units.
TCS Project-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL allows students to contribute to a world where people are able to collaborate, problem-solve, and create solutions to the issues around them; where they believe in their own ability to do so and see themselves as drivers of their own learning.
| PBL Social Studies Understandings | 3’s/4’s | 4’s/5’s | Kindergarten | First Grade | Second Grade | Third Grade | Fourth Grade | Fifth Grade | Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade | Eighth Grade |
| Social Studies Focus | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Deeper Dive into Community | Indigenous Land Studies of GA | Early History Through 1600s: Indigenous Cultures & Land Studies Across Nation and in GA | 1700s & 1800s: Exploration of Development & Impact of Government Systems | 1900s through Today: Exploration of Rights and Resources | Exploration of Human Rights through Global Studies and World Cultures | Exploration of Conflict through Global Studies | Activism & Government | Legacy Project Year-Long Question How can we live out our legacy as leaders and change agents? |
| Social Studies Essential Questions | Who am I?
How can we learn and grow together? |
Who am I?
How are we the same and different? What is home? How can I help my community? |
What is a community?
How can we communicate with others? How can we help our community? |
What is my community?
Where do we fit in the world? What are our rights? What is the difference between wants and needs? |
What can I create to teach others about me?
How do wants and needs affect consumers and the economy? |
How do my actions help or hurt those around me?
Who are the first communities in GA? Who influenced growth in GA? |
How can we work together to solve a challenge?
How do different communities experience the same event? How does money impact a community? |
Do people always have the right to freedom of speech?
How do systems impact identities? How do people fight for equality? |
How have cultures across the world and across time defined human rights through:
Documents?Activism?Literature and poetry?Art?Inequalities?Systems? |
What is life?
What nourishes us? What does it take to achieve peace in the modern world? How are citizens affected by decisions of the government? Is conflict necessary? |
What is indigeneity?What are examples of indigenous peoples and cultures?
How do indigenous groups maintain resilience, resources, social cohesion, and identities over time? What can the Gullah-Geechee people teach us about history, identity, and resistance? How can citizens and students work within and outside of government structures to advocate change? |
|
| Students will understand that… | We are unique and bring all of ourselves to all of our spaces. Each of us contributes to our spaces together. | We have a special place in our home and school communities. We can learn from everyone around us. | By using our voices and by listening, we can care for ourselves and one another to build a space that works for everyone – even those not close by! | Communities grow bigger and bigger and are made up of so many different places and people. We all play an important role in these spaces and understand how to help our communities grow and be strong. | Learning deeply about others helps us grow as well. When we understand one another, we can build empathy and perspectives. This helps us make decisions that benefit and impact both ourselves and others. We also know that many factors can impact our communities and it’s our job to understand what those are. | Self awareness leads to strong collaboration and cooperation when we are in spaces with others. This is reflected in the world too! Many different people have lived on this land we live on today. Understanding and honoring those who came before us is critical to building a world where everyone is seen and valued. | While we strive to get along, conflict is a natural part of the human experience. By studying conflict in history, we learn it’s important to learn all sides and perspectives. This provides us a broader picture of an event and helps us learn how to navigate conflict together and build resolutions through compromise. | All humans have rights. When voices are silenced by systems, it’s important to understand how resistance and advocacy have impacted and shifted those systems. We can learn from those who came before us to continue the change we wish to see both in our personal communities and in the world. | Human rights have existed across time. Exploring how they’ve developed, changed, and evolved through arts and literature gives us insights into patterns throughout the human experience. We can compare that to what we see in the world today to help us understand how societies rise together to support one another. | We have learned that conflict is natural and sometimes necessary to beget change. We also know that throughout history, it can be devastating when resolutions cannot be reached. It is vital for us to study all sides of conflict to understand how to achieve resolutions that bring the change necessary for a just world. | History is the lens that provides us space to consider human interaction, connection, perspectives, advocacy, and social change. By deeply understanding the connections between cultures, communities, and government over time, we can go into the world with the knowledge necessary to build a future of which we’re proud to be part. |
Outdoor Education
Our Outdoor Education program is unique among Atlanta area elementary schools. Students in grades 3 – 8 become immersed in Georgia’s great outdoors on fall and spring multi-night, overnight camping trips. Teachers integrate each trip into grade-level curricula through classroom study and on-site activities. The trips are planned and sequenced so that over a six-year period students can develop skills and competencies in camping, hiking, canoeing, and kayaking as well as familiarity with the ecology of mountains, barrier islands, cypress swamps, and rivers. Students in grades 4 – 8 participate in increasingly demanding outdoor experiences.
Field Trips
As part of their project-based learning units, each class goes on multiple field trips to local venues and locations each year. These include performances, museums, parks, and education centers throughout the Atlanta area. Teachers are encouraged to take advantage of the myriad cultural, environmental, and historical opportunities that abound. The purpose of the field experiences is to connect learning and school to the broader community in which we live.
STEAM and Digital Literacy
At The Children’s School, technology use and instruction are embedded within the curriculum and are also taught in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) classes. Technology use supports the School’s progressive learning mission by creating opportunities for students to collaborate, create, share, and explore. Students at all levels use mobile devices and technology tools in one-to-one and classroom learning centers to facilitate group and individual projects. In kindergarten, students begin their formal instruction in their STEAM class to enhance the skills they’ll need in technology-infused classrooms and to strengthen their individual technology literacy. At all grade levels, students work with age-appropriate programming software. In the K – 8 STEAM curriculum, students face increasingly difficult hands-on challenges that increase their ability to creatively solve a wide variety of engineering and coding challenges. Middle Grades students (grades 6–8) expand their skills through Specialist Electives such as Digital Storytelling, Coding & Robotics, and Digital Design and Fabrication, which allow them to explore advanced applications of technology, design, and problem-solving.
By the time they graduate, students have been exposed to and engaged in all of the differing aspects of what it means to be truly digitally literate, including basic coding, computational thinking, digital content creation, and navigating the increasingly complex world of online media and relationships.
TCS students begin working with iPads in kindergarten, which continues through grade 3. Students in grades 4 – 5 are issued Chromebooks early in the academic year and Middle Grades students are issued laptops to support their learning.
The practice of good digital citizenship – students using technology safely and responsibly – falls within the context of our larger community citizenship expectations.
World Language
The Children’s School offers Mandarin Chinese to all Early Learning – grade 3 students and Spanish to all students in grades 4 – 8. Students meet with the world language specialist at least 2 – 3 times during the six-day schedule cycle. The program’s goal is proficiency with a focus on speaking and listening. We switch from Mandarin Chinese to Spanish to allow students to have deep experience in two very different language systems.
The Mandarin Chinese program uses a play-based, highly kinesthetic approach with a focus on oral proficiency appropriate to younger learners with clear learning outcomes defined for each stage of the program. Ultimately, students will achieve a level of Chinese language proficiency that will allow them to communicate and give them a meaningful foundation in the language should they choose to return to Chinese language study in high school or college.
The Spanish program is equally engaging and proficiency-based with clear and measurable outcomes to develop robust listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills given the age and English-language proficiency of the older students.
In all world language classrooms, teachers are experienced language teachers and the target language is used the majority of class time.
Library
Early Learning (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s) – grade 5 students visit the library once during the six-day schedule cycle. The program focuses on literature appreciation and information literacy skills. The librarian works closely with classroom teachers to incorporate classroom studies into the program. Students may check out books of their choice from the library.
Visual Arts
At all levels, the visual arts program strives to give children meaningful, enjoyable experiences with art. Students progress from exploratory experiences toward growing expertise with a variety of media. All students meet with the art specialist at least once during the six-day schedule cycle, working on projects that range from imaginative free exploration to structured activities. In the Middle Grades (grades 6–8), students can also choose specialized art electives such as 2D Art, 3D Art, and Mixed Media Art, allowing them to dive deeper into techniques, materials, and creative expression that match their personal interests.
Music
The Children’s School’s music program lets students sing, dance, play instruments, listen, and express themselves musically. TCS students in grades K–5 meet with the music specialist at least once during the six-day schedule cycle. Students in the Early Learning (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s) program combine music and movement with their music teacher both in and out of the classroom. Kindergarten–grade 5 students learn basic instruments, rhythm, and singing, and as they progress through the years, begin to explore guitar, keyboards, and basic music theory. Middle Grades students (grades 6–8) can choose specialized music electives such as funk band, karaoke, and film scoring as part of their broader elective program. Students in grades 1–3 have the opportunity to participate in TCS Jr. Voices, and grades 4–8 can participate in TCS Voices. In the 2025–26 academic year, Jr. Voices and Voices will be offered during the second semester.
Physical Education
Students in 4’s/5’s – grade 8 meet with a physical education specialist twice during the six-day schedule cycle. Within the physical education program, students develop habits of fitness and wellness, experiment with creative movement, and develop leisure and sports skills.
Grades K-5
REQUEST INFOFrom developing math skills through real-world projects to building and programming their own robots, our play- and project-based approach to learning gives our elementary students opportunities to explore real-world challenges, learn essential skills like communication and collaboration, and make their voices heard.
We take learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. Through partnerships with our Midtown neighbors or by simply crossing the street to Piedmont Park, our elementary students learn not just to observe, but also to become truly engaged citizens of the world.
Finally, our low student-to-teacher ratios in our elementary grades allow TCS teachers to develop close relationships with their students so they feel known, understood, believed in, and challenged to be their best.
Curriculum
Math
In our Early Learning program (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s), students are encouraged to explore their spatial world, play with blocks, build things, and explore patterns and properties of objects, all of which builds the foundation for numeracy. Then, through play, they’re introduced to pre-number concepts such as counting with one-to-one correspondence, sorting, and patterns.
Kindergarten – grade 5 students use “Singapore Math: Math in Focus.” This is an authentic Singapore Math curriculum, based on national standards used in Singapore, and it meets or exceeds all Curriculum Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Grades 6 – 8th use a combination of Math in Focus and CRM, which allows students to go deeper in advanced topics.
“Math in Focus” focuses on problem solving to facilitate math learning. Concepts are taught with a concrete-pictorial-abstract learning progression through real-world, hands-on experiences using manipulatives and physical modeling. The Singapore program solidly builds the foundational concepts that will best prepare students for higher math. This style of learning stimulates clarity of thought, communication skill in the language of mathematics, and adaptability to problem solving.
Broad topic categories for grade levels include: numeration; operations and relations; data collection and analysis; geometry; measures and reference frames; money; and patterns, rules and functions. The program has built-in extensions and flexibility that allow it to be tailored to the needs of students of every ability. The progression ends in eighth grade with most students completing Algebra I, and some completing Geometry.
Language Arts
The language arts program includes reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In the Lower School (age 3 – grade 3), teachers implement a balanced approach to teaching reading that incorporates language experience, guided-reading strategies, phonics, and multi-sensory approaches to language. These increase student involvement and motivate further exploration and growth. In the Upper School (grades 4 – 8), children are exposed to a reading workshop approach that includes a variety of nonfiction and reference materials, as well as works of fiction. Skills, strategies, and literary techniques are taught within the context of the reading program across all grade levels.
Writing occurs daily in the classrooms through labeling, dictation, journal writing, research reports, and learning logs. Lucy Calkins’ Writer’s Workshop approach is used in kindergarten – grade 8. Students work through all the phases of writing, from brainstorming to producing a final draft. Grammar instruction takes place within the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Kindergarten and first grades use the “Sounds and Letters for Readers and Spellers” series, as well as other materials to build children’s spelling success, which includes inventive and phonetic spelling as a natural phase of developing formal spelling and literacy skills. The spelling program is based on phonemic awareness. Students learn and practice rules for spelling the sounds that make up the English language. In grades 2 – 3, teachers draw from “Words Their Way,” a research-based instructional model, as well as other materials with which teachers can target instruction based on students’ needs and development. For students in grades 4 – 7, spelling instruction is embedded into Writer’s Workshop.
Science
Science is most often integrated with other subjects within the project-based learning units. Teachers introduce science through exploration of the natural and physical world. Older and younger students are encouraged to solve problems using process skills that include observation, classification, record-keeping, making hypotheses, experimentation, consideration of variables, and drawing conclusions. The program uses a hands-on, investigative approach that is correlated to the developmental needs of students and is designed to help students gain concept and topic knowledge and science skills as they progress. At each grade level, students study topics from life, earth and space, and physical sciences.
TCS Project-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL allows students to contribute to a world where people are able to collaborate, problem-solve, and create solutions to the issues around them; where they believe in their own ability to do so and see themselves as drivers of their own learning.
| PBL Science Understandings | 3’s/4’s | 4’s/5’s | Kindergarten | First Grade | Second Grade | Third Grade | Fourth Grade | Fifth Grade | Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade | Eighth Grade |
| Science Focus | How can we explore our environment?
What are living things? |
What makes up the spaces and places around me?
How do things move? How do we care for living things? |
How can we care for living creatures?
How do we take care of our planet? |
How are traits passed down?
What are the basic needs of animals and plants? How does this planet exist in the universe? |
How does land contribute to living things?
How do plants help or change the environment? What makes up a living thing? (matter) |
What is Earth?
How do humans impact Earth? How does weather impact Earth? What is work? |
How can energy be transferred?
How do ecosystems work together? |
What environmental and cultural characteristics influence places or regions? | How has Earth changed over time?
How does the past help us predict the future? Why do magnets point north? How are magnetism and electricity related? What does it mean to be native to a place? |
What is life?
What is chemistry? How do elements present in our bodies and in our environment? How do we define work? |
How do materials from Earth become useful products that impact our lives?
How can understanding force and motion help us solve real-world problems? How can we engineer solutions to protect ecosystems and biodiversity? How can we design devices to control energy transfer effectively? |
Legacy Project Year-Long Question How can we live out our legacy as leaders and change agents? |
| Science Essential Questions | How can we explore our environment?
What are living things? |
What makes up the spaces and places around me?
How do things move? How do we care for living things? |
How can we care for living creatures?
How do we take care of our planet? |
How are traits passed down?
What are the basic needs of animals and plants? How does this planet exist in the universe? |
How does land contribute to living things?
How do plants help or change the environment? What makes up a living thing? (matter) |
What is Earth?
How do humans impact Earth? How does weather impact Earth? What is work? |
How can energy be transferred?
How do ecosystems work together? |
What environmental and cultural characteristics influence places or regions? | How has Earth changed over time?
How does the past help us predict the future? Why do magnets point north? How are magnetism and electricity related? What does it mean to be native to a place? |
What is life?
What is chemistry? How do elements present in our bodies and in our environment? How do we define work? |
How do materials from Earth become useful products that impact our lives?
How can understanding force and motion help us solve real-world problems? How can we engineer solutions to protect ecosystems and biodiversity? How can we design devices to control energy transfer effectively? |
|
| Students will understand that… | Our planet is beautiful and we are able to explore all of the life that exists around us. | Exploration of the world around us allows us to identify and care for living things. | It’s our job to support and foster the environment for all living creatures, including ourselves. | Studying the structures and behaviors of the physical and natural world allow for us to care for life on this planet. This helps us build understanding toward how life exists and develops. | Maintaining and sustaining life is critical to our existence as a species. We must ask questions, test, and theorize on the inner workings of what exists around us to better live in harmony with our planet. | To understand our unique place on this planet, we must dive into all aspects of the scientific world: life sciences, physical sciences, and earth and space sciences to better balance our contributions to both the human-made world and the natural world. | Our survival as a species is dependent on the survival of other species. We must understand and determine ways to support life outside of our own. | Tracking and monitoring how life continues to evolve and develop is also critical to developing our own needs for survival. | Studying the evolution of life on Earth provides a fundamental framework for comprehending the diversity of life, how organisms adapt to their environments, and the interconnectedness of all living things. | Tackling our planet’s biggest obstacles, like generating sufficient energy, preventing and treating diseases, maintaining supplies of clean water and food, and solving the problems of global environmental change will ensure a sustainable future for all. | It’s our responsibility to create sustainable systems to preserve, honor, and sustain all living creatures to address those major challenges that society faces today. As change agents of the next generation, our knowledge and contributions are key. |
Social Studies
The overall social studies program goals are to equip students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values for responsible and effective participation in all aspects of a global society; to improve students’ abilities to make intelligent and socially responsible decisions; and to assist in developing informed attitudes toward controversial issues.
Six themes are stressed: cultural studies, history, civics, geography, economics and science, and technology and society. In each of these areas, there is an expanding progression of topics, moving from self, family, and home to world issues and cultures. The instructional program provides for children’s active involvement in their learning process. Social studies is interactive with other areas of the curriculum and encourages taking learning beyond the classroom, including community service projects. Social studies is most often integrated with other subjects within the project-based learning units.
TCS Project-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL allows students to contribute to a world where people are able to collaborate, problem-solve, and create solutions to the issues around them; where they believe in their own ability to do so and see themselves as drivers of their own learning.
| PBL Social Studies Understandings | 3’s/4’s | 4’s/5’s | Kindergarten | First Grade | Second Grade | Third Grade | Fourth Grade | Fifth Grade | Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade | Eighth Grade |
| Social Studies Focus | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Deeper Dive into Community | Indigenous Land Studies of GA | Early History Through 1600s: Indigenous Cultures & Land Studies Across Nation and in GA | 1700s & 1800s: Exploration of Development & Impact of Government Systems | 1900s through Today: Exploration of Rights and Resources | Exploration of Human Rights through Global Studies and World Cultures | Exploration of Conflict through Global Studies | Activism & Government | Legacy Project Year-Long Question How can we live out our legacy as leaders and change agents? |
| Social Studies Essential Questions | Who am I?
How can we learn and grow together? |
Who am I?
How are we the same and different? What is home? How can I help my community? |
What is a community?
How can we communicate with others? How can we help our community? |
What is my community?
Where do we fit in the world? What are our rights? What is the difference between wants and needs? |
What can I create to teach others about me?
How do wants and needs affect consumers and the economy? |
How do my actions help or hurt those around me?
Who are the first communities in GA? Who influenced growth in GA? |
How can we work together to solve a challenge?
How do different communities experience the same event? How does money impact a community? |
Do people always have the right to freedom of speech?
How do systems impact identities? How do people fight for equality? |
How have cultures across the world and across time defined human rights through:
Documents?Activism?Literature and poetry?Art?Inequalities?Systems? |
What is life?
What nourishes us? What does it take to achieve peace in the modern world? How are citizens affected by decisions of the government? Is conflict necessary? |
What is indigeneity?What are examples of indigenous peoples and cultures?
How do indigenous groups maintain resilience, resources, social cohesion, and identities over time? What can the Gullah-Geechee people teach us about history, identity, and resistance? How can citizens and students work within and outside of government structures to advocate change? |
|
| Students will understand that… | We are unique and bring all of ourselves to all of our spaces. Each of us contributes to our spaces together. | We have a special place in our home and school communities. We can learn from everyone around us. | By using our voices and by listening, we can care for ourselves and one another to build a space that works for everyone – even those not close by! | Communities grow bigger and bigger and are made up of so many different places and people. We all play an important role in these spaces and understand how to help our communities grow and be strong. | Learning deeply about others helps us grow as well. When we understand one another, we can build empathy and perspectives. This helps us make decisions that benefit and impact both ourselves and others. We also know that many factors can impact our communities and it’s our job to understand what those are. | Self awareness leads to strong collaboration and cooperation when we are in spaces with others. This is reflected in the world too! Many different people have lived on this land we live on today. Understanding and honoring those who came before us is critical to building a world where everyone is seen and valued. | While we strive to get along, conflict is a natural part of the human experience. By studying conflict in history, we learn it’s important to learn all sides and perspectives. This provides us a broader picture of an event and helps us learn how to navigate conflict together and build resolutions through compromise. | All humans have rights. When voices are silenced by systems, it’s important to understand how resistance and advocacy have impacted and shifted those systems. We can learn from those who came before us to continue the change we wish to see both in our personal communities and in the world. | Human rights have existed across time. Exploring how they’ve developed, changed, and evolved through arts and literature gives us insights into patterns throughout the human experience. We can compare that to what we see in the world today to help us understand how societies rise together to support one another. | We have learned that conflict is natural and sometimes necessary to beget change. We also know that throughout history, it can be devastating when resolutions cannot be reached. It is vital for us to study all sides of conflict to understand how to achieve resolutions that bring the change necessary for a just world. | History is the lens that provides us space to consider human interaction, connection, perspectives, advocacy, and social change. By deeply understanding the connections between cultures, communities, and government over time, we can go into the world with the knowledge necessary to build a future of which we’re proud to be part. |
Outdoor Education
Our Outdoor Education program is unique among Atlanta area elementary schools. Students in grades 3 – 8 become immersed in Georgia’s great outdoors on fall and spring multi-night, overnight camping trips. Teachers integrate each trip into grade-level curricula through classroom study and on-site activities. The trips are planned and sequenced so that over a six-year period students can develop skills and competencies in camping, hiking, canoeing, and kayaking as well as familiarity with the ecology of mountains, barrier islands, cypress swamps, and rivers. Students in grades 4 – 8 participate in increasingly demanding outdoor experiences.
Field Experiences
As part of their project-based learning units, each class goes on multiple field trips to local venues and locations each year. These include performances, museums, parks, and education centers throughout the Atlanta area. Teachers are encouraged to take advantage of the myriad cultural, environmental, and historical opportunities that abound. The purpose of the field experiences is to connect learning and school to the broader community in which we live.
STEAM and Digital Literacy
At The Children’s School, technology use and instruction are embedded within the curriculum and also also taught in STEAM classes. Technology use supports the school’s progressive learning mission by creating opportunities for students to collaborate, create, share, and explore. Students at all levels use mobile devices and technology tools in one-to-one and classroom learning centers to facilitate group and individual projects. In kindergarten, students begin their formal instruction in their STEAM class to enhance the skills they’ll need in technology-infused classrooms and to strengthen their individual technology literacy. At all grade levels, students work with age-appropriate programming software. In the K-8 STEAM curriculum, students face increasingly difficult hands-on challenges that increase their ability to creatively solve a wide variety of engineering and coding challenges. By the time they graduate, students have been exposed to and engaged in all of the differing aspects of what it means to be truly digitally literate, including basic coding, computational thinking, digital content creation, and navigating the increasingly complex world of online media and relationships.
TCS students begin working with iPads in Early Learning 4’s/5’s. Students in grades 4 – 5 are issued Chromebooks early in the school year and Middle Grades students are issued laptops to support their learning.
The practice of good digital citizenship – students using technology safely and responsibly – falls within the context of our larger community citizenship expectations.
World Language
The Children’s School offers Chinese to all students age 3 – grade 3 and Spanish to all students in grades 4 – 8. Classes meet two – three times per week and have proficiency as their goal, with a focus on speaking and listening. We make the switch from Chinese to Spanish to allow students to have deep experience in two very different language systems.
The Chinese program uses a play-based, highly kinesthetic approach with a focus on oral proficiency appropriate to younger learners with clear learning outcomes defined for each stage of the program. Ultimately, students will achieve a level of Chinese language proficiency that will allow them to communicate and give them a meaningful foundation in the language should they choose to return to Chinese language study in high school or college.
The Spanish program is equally engaging and proficiency-based, with clear and measurable outcomes to develop robust listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills given the age and English-language proficiency of the older students.
In all language classrooms, teachers are experienced language teachers and the target language is used the majority of class time.
Library
Early Learning (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s) – grade 5 students visit the library weekly. The program focuses on literature appreciation and information literacy skills. The librarians work closely with classroom teachers to incorporate classroom studies into the program. Beginning with Early Learning, students may check out books of their choice from the library.
Visual Arts
At all levels, the Visual Arts program strives to give children meaningful, enjoyable experiences with art. Children progress from exploratory experiences toward growing expertise with a variety of media. Children meet with the art specialist weekly. Projects range from free use of imagination to structured activities.
Music
TCS’s music program lets students sing, dance, play instruments, listen and express themselves musically. Students in the Early Learning (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s) program combine music and movement with their music teacher both in and out of their classroom. Kindergarten – grade 8 students learn basic instruments, rhythm, singing, and, as they progress through the years, begin to learn guitar, keyboards, and basic theory. Students in grades 1 – 3 have the opportunity to participate in TCS Jr. Voices and grades 4 – 8 have the opportunity to participate in TCS Voices.
Physical Education
All students meet with a physical education specialist twice a week. Within the physical education program, students develop habits of fitness and wellness, experiment with creative movement, and develop leisure and sports skills.
Grades 6-8
REQUEST INFOThe middle school years are a time of transition and vulnerability. The journey to adulthood is not yet complete, so TCS honors the emerging adult and the child who remains by building on the joy, wonder and curiosity of this age while also developing the skills and knowledge needed for teens to succeed in high school and beyond.
Our Middle Grades students grapple with big ideas, forge community connections, and explore the question of who they are in this world – distinct from friends, family and teachers. The curriculum is grounded in well-respected national standards that articulate expectations for content mastery, critical thinking, and applied learning.
Students develop deep understandings in social studies, science, math and writing, and apply that knowledge to hands-on, community-based problem solving, which allows them to:
- Develop strong academic skills from faculty who are experts in their subjects
- Understand how academics answer important questions about their world
- Establish the advocacy and communication skills to add their unique voice, perspective and contributions to the local and national dialogue about issues like social justice, equity and sustainability.
Curriculum
Math
In our Early Learning program (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s), students are encouraged to explore their spatial world, play with blocks, build things, and explore patterns and properties of objects, all of which builds the foundation for numeracy. Then, through play, they’re introduced to pre-number concepts such as counting with one-to-one correspondence, sorting, and patterns.
Kindergarten – grade 5 students use “Singapore Math: Math in Focus.” This is an authentic Singapore Math curriculum, based on national standards used in Singapore, and it meets or exceeds all Curriculum Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Grades 6 – 8th use a combination of Math in Focus and CRM, which allows students to go deeper in advanced topics.
“Math in Focus” focuses on problem solving to facilitate math learning. Concepts are taught with a concrete-pictorial-abstract learning progression through real-world, hands-on experiences using manipulatives and physical modeling. The Singapore program solidly builds the foundational concepts that will best prepare students for higher math. This style of learning stimulates clarity of thought, communication skill in the language of mathematics, and adaptability to problem solving.
Broad topic categories for grade levels include: numeration; operations and relations; data collection and analysis; geometry; measures and reference frames; money; and patterns, rules and functions. The program has built-in extensions and flexibility that allow it to be tailored to the needs of students of every ability. The progression ends in eighth grade with most students completing Algebra I, and some completing Geometry.
Language Arts
The language arts program includes reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In the Lower School (age 3 – grade 3), teachers implement a balanced approach to teaching reading that incorporates language experience, guided-reading strategies, phonics, and multi-sensory approaches to language. These increase student involvement and motivate further exploration and growth. In the Upper School (grades 4 – 8), children are exposed to a reading workshop approach that includes a variety of nonfiction and reference materials, as well as works of fiction. Skills, strategies, and literary techniques are taught within the context of the reading program across all grade levels.
Writing occurs daily in the classrooms through labeling, dictation, journal writing, research reports, and learning logs. Lucy Calkins’ Writer’s Workshop approach is used in kindergarten – grade 8. Students work through all the phases of writing, from brainstorming to producing a final draft. Grammar instruction takes place within the context of reading, writing, and speaking.
Kindergarten and first grades use the “Sounds and Letters for Readers and Spellers” series, as well as other materials to build children’s spelling success, which includes inventive and phonetic spelling as a natural phase of developing formal spelling and literacy skills. The spelling program is based on phonemic awareness. Students learn and practice rules for spelling the sounds that make up the English language. In grades 2 – 3, teachers draw from “Words Their Way,” a research-based instructional model, as well as other materials with which teachers can target instruction based on students’ needs and development. For students in grades 4 – 7, spelling instruction is embedded into Writer’s Workshop.
Science
Science is most often integrated with other subjects within the project-based learning units. Teachers introduce science through exploration of the natural and physical world. Older and younger students are encouraged to solve problems using process skills that include observation, classification, record-keeping, making hypotheses, experimentation, consideration of variables, and drawing conclusions. The program uses a hands-on, investigative approach that is correlated to the developmental needs of students and is designed to help students gain concept and topic knowledge and science skills as they progress. At each grade level, students study topics from life, earth and space, and physical sciences.
TCS Project-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL allows students to contribute to a world where people are able to collaborate, problem-solve, and create solutions to the issues around them; where they believe in their own ability to do so and see themselves as drivers of their own learning.
| PBL Science Understandings | 3’s/4’s | 4’s/5’s | Kindergarten | First Grade | Second Grade | Third Grade | Fourth Grade | Fifth Grade | Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade | Eighth Grade |
| Science Focus | How can we explore our environment?
What are living things? |
What makes up the spaces and places around me?
How do things move? How do we care for living things? |
How can we care for living creatures?
How do we take care of our planet? |
How are traits passed down?
What are the basic needs of animals and plants? How does this planet exist in the universe? |
How does land contribute to living things?
How do plants help or change the environment? What makes up a living thing? (matter) |
What is Earth?
How do humans impact Earth? How does weather impact Earth? What is work? |
How can energy be transferred?
How do ecosystems work together? |
What environmental and cultural characteristics influence places or regions? | How has Earth changed over time?
How does the past help us predict the future? Why do magnets point north? How are magnetism and electricity related? What does it mean to be native to a place? |
What is life?
What is chemistry? How do elements present in our bodies and in our environment? How do we define work? |
How do materials from Earth become useful products that impact our lives?
How can understanding force and motion help us solve real-world problems? How can we engineer solutions to protect ecosystems and biodiversity? How can we design devices to control energy transfer effectively? |
Legacy Project Year-Long Question How can we live out our legacy as leaders and change agents? |
| Science Essential Questions | How can we explore our environment?
What are living things? |
What makes up the spaces and places around me?
How do things move? How do we care for living things? |
How can we care for living creatures?
How do we take care of our planet? |
How are traits passed down?
What are the basic needs of animals and plants? How does this planet exist in the universe? |
How does land contribute to living things?
How do plants help or change the environment? What makes up a living thing? (matter) |
What is Earth?
How do humans impact Earth? How does weather impact Earth? What is work? |
How can energy be transferred?
How do ecosystems work together? |
What environmental and cultural characteristics influence places or regions? | How has Earth changed over time?
How does the past help us predict the future? Why do magnets point north? How are magnetism and electricity related? What does it mean to be native to a place? |
What is life?
What is chemistry? How do elements present in our bodies and in our environment? How do we define work? |
How do materials from Earth become useful products that impact our lives?
How can understanding force and motion help us solve real-world problems? How can we engineer solutions to protect ecosystems and biodiversity? How can we design devices to control energy transfer effectively? |
|
| Students will understand that… | Our planet is beautiful and we are able to explore all of the life that exists around us. | Exploration of the world around us allows us to identify and care for living things. | It’s our job to support and foster the environment for all living creatures, including ourselves. | Studying the structures and behaviors of the physical and natural world allow for us to care for life on this planet. This helps us build understanding toward how life exists and develops. | Maintaining and sustaining life is critical to our existence as a species. We must ask questions, test, and theorize on the inner workings of what exists around us to better live in harmony with our planet. | To understand our unique place on this planet, we must dive into all aspects of the scientific world: life sciences, physical sciences, and earth and space sciences to better balance our contributions to both the human-made world and the natural world. | Our survival as a species is dependent on the survival of other species. We must understand and determine ways to support life outside of our own. | Tracking and monitoring how life continues to evolve and develop is also critical to developing our own needs for survival. | Studying the evolution of life on Earth provides a fundamental framework for comprehending the diversity of life, how organisms adapt to their environments, and the interconnectedness of all living things. | Tackling our planet’s biggest obstacles, like generating sufficient energy, preventing and treating diseases, maintaining supplies of clean water and food, and solving the problems of global environmental change will ensure a sustainable future for all. | It’s our responsibility to create sustainable systems to preserve, honor, and sustain all living creatures to address those major challenges that society faces today. As change agents of the next generation, our knowledge and contributions are key. |
Social Studies
Six themes are stressed: cultural studies, history, civics, geography, economics and science, and technology and society. In each of these areas, there is an expanding progression of topics, moving from self, family, and home to world issues and cultures. The instructional program provides for children’s active involvement in their learning process. Social studies is interactive with other areas of the curriculum and encourages taking learning beyond the classroom, including community service projects. Social studies is most often integrated with other subjects within the project-based learning units.
TCS Project-Based Learning (PBL)
PBL allows students to contribute to a world where people are able to collaborate, problem-solve, and create solutions to the issues around them; where they believe in their own ability to do so and see themselves as drivers of their own learning.
| PBL Social Studies Understandings | 3’s/4’s | 4’s/5’s | Kindergarten | First Grade | Second Grade | Third Grade | Fourth Grade | Fifth Grade | Sixth Grade | Seventh Grade | Eighth Grade | Eighth Grade |
| Social Studies Focus | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Exploration of the World Around Us & Community | Deeper Dive into Community | Indigenous Land Studies of GA | Early History Through 1600s: Indigenous Cultures & Land Studies Across Nation and in GA | 1700s & 1800s: Exploration of Development & Impact of Government Systems | 1900s through Today: Exploration of Rights and Resources | Exploration of Human Rights through Global Studies and World Cultures | Exploration of Conflict through Global Studies | Activism & Government | Legacy Project Year-Long Question How can we live out our legacy as leaders and change agents? |
| Social Studies Essential Questions | Who am I?
How can we learn and grow together? |
Who am I?
How are we the same and different? What is home? How can I help my community? |
What is a community?
How can we communicate with others? How can we help our community? |
What is my community?
Where do we fit in the world? What are our rights? What is the difference between wants and needs? |
What can I create to teach others about me?
How do wants and needs affect consumers and the economy? |
How do my actions help or hurt those around me?
Who are the first communities in GA? Who influenced growth in GA? |
How can we work together to solve a challenge?
How do different communities experience the same event? How does money impact a community? |
Do people always have the right to freedom of speech?
How do systems impact identities? How do people fight for equality? |
How have cultures across the world and across time defined human rights through:
Documents?Activism?Literature and poetry?Art?Inequalities?Systems? |
What is life?
What nourishes us? What does it take to achieve peace in the modern world? How are citizens affected by decisions of the government? Is conflict necessary? |
What is indigeneity?What are examples of indigenous peoples and cultures?
How do indigenous groups maintain resilience, resources, social cohesion, and identities over time? What can the Gullah-Geechee people teach us about history, identity, and resistance? How can citizens and students work within and outside of government structures to advocate change? |
|
| Students will understand that… | We are unique and bring all of ourselves to all of our spaces. Each of us contributes to our spaces together. | We have a special place in our home and school communities. We can learn from everyone around us. | By using our voices and by listening, we can care for ourselves and one another to build a space that works for everyone – even those not close by! | Communities grow bigger and bigger and are made up of so many different places and people. We all play an important role in these spaces and understand how to help our communities grow and be strong. | Learning deeply about others helps us grow as well. When we understand one another, we can build empathy and perspectives. This helps us make decisions that benefit and impact both ourselves and others. We also know that many factors can impact our communities and it’s our job to understand what those are. | Self awareness leads to strong collaboration and cooperation when we are in spaces with others. This is reflected in the world too! Many different people have lived on this land we live on today. Understanding and honoring those who came before us is critical to building a world where everyone is seen and valued. | While we strive to get along, conflict is a natural part of the human experience. By studying conflict in history, we learn it’s important to learn all sides and perspectives. This provides us a broader picture of an event and helps us learn how to navigate conflict together and build resolutions through compromise. | All humans have rights. When voices are silenced by systems, it’s important to understand how resistance and advocacy have impacted and shifted those systems. We can learn from those who came before us to continue the change we wish to see both in our personal communities and in the world. | Human rights have existed across time. Exploring how they’ve developed, changed, and evolved through arts and literature gives us insights into patterns throughout the human experience. We can compare that to what we see in the world today to help us understand how societies rise together to support one another. | We have learned that conflict is natural and sometimes necessary to beget change. We also know that throughout history, it can be devastating when resolutions cannot be reached. It is vital for us to study all sides of conflict to understand how to achieve resolutions that bring the change necessary for a just world. | History is the lens that provides us space to consider human interaction, connection, perspectives, advocacy, and social change. By deeply understanding the connections between cultures, communities, and government over time, we can go into the world with the knowledge necessary to build a future of which we’re proud to be part. |
Outdoor Education
Our Outdoor Education program is unique among Atlanta area elementary schools. Students in grades 3 – 8 become immersed in Georgia’s great outdoors on fall and spring multi-night, overnight camping trips. Teachers integrate each trip into grade-level curricula through classroom study and on-site activities. The trips are planned and sequenced so that over a six-year period students can develop skills and competencies in camping, hiking, canoeing, and kayaking as well as familiarity with the ecology of mountains, barrier islands, cypress swamps, and rivers. Students in grades 4 – 8 participate in increasingly demanding outdoor experiences.
Field Experiences
As part of their project-based learning units, each class goes on multiple field trips to local venues and locations each year. These include performances, museums, parks, and education centers throughout the Atlanta area. Teachers are encouraged to take advantage of the myriad cultural, environmental, and historical opportunities that abound. The purpose of the field experiences is to connect learning and school to the broader community in which we live.
STEAM and Digital Literacy
At The Children’s School, technology use and instruction are embedded within the curriculum and also also taught in STEAM classes. Technology use supports the school’s progressive learning mission by creating opportunities for students to collaborate, create, share, and explore. Students at all levels use mobile devices and technology tools in one-to-one and classroom learning centers to facilitate group and individual projects. In kindergarten, students begin their formal instruction in their STEAM class to enhance the skills they’ll need in technology-infused classrooms and to strengthen their individual technology literacy. At all grade levels, students work with age-appropriate programming software. In the K-8 STEAM curriculum, students face increasingly difficult hands-on challenges that increase their ability to creatively solve a wide variety of engineering and coding challenges. By the time they graduate, students have been exposed to and engaged in all of the differing aspects of what it means to be truly digitally literate, including basic coding, computational thinking, digital content creation, and navigating the increasingly complex world of online media and relationships.
World Language
The Children’s School offers Chinese to all students age 3 – grade 3 and Spanish to all students in grades 4 – 8. Classes meet two – three times per week and have proficiency as their goal, with a focus on speaking and listening. We make the switch from Chinese to Spanish to allow students to have deep experience in two very different language systems.
The Chinese program uses a play-based, highly kinesthetic approach with a focus on oral proficiency appropriate to younger learners with clear learning outcomes defined for each stage of the program. Ultimately, students will achieve a level of Chinese language proficiency that will allow them to communicate and give them a meaningful foundation in the language should they choose to return to Chinese language study in high school or college.
The Spanish program is equally engaging and proficiency-based, with clear and measurable outcomes to develop robust listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills given the age and English-language proficiency of the older students.
In all language classrooms, teachers are experienced language teachers and the target language is used the majority of class time.
Library
Early Learning (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s) – grade 5 students visit the library weekly. The program focuses on literature appreciation and information literacy skills. The librarians work closely with classroom teachers to incorporate classroom studies into the program. Beginning with Early Learning, students may check out books of their choice from the library.
Visual Arts
At all levels, the Visual Arts program strives to give children meaningful, enjoyable experiences with art. Children progress from exploratory experiences toward growing expertise with a variety of media. Children meet with the art specialist weekly. Projects range from free use of imagination to structured activities.
Music
TCS’s music program lets students sing, dance, play instruments, listen and express themselves musically. Students in the Early Learning (3’s/4’s and 4’s/5’s) program combine music and movement with their music teacher both in and out of their classroom. Kindergarten – grade 8 students learn basic instruments, rhythm, singing, and, as they progress through the years, begin to learn guitar, keyboards, and basic theory. Students in grades 1 – 3 have the opportunity to participate in TCS Jr. Voices and grades 4 – 8 have the opportunity to participate in TCS Voices.
Physical Education
All students meet with a physical education specialist twice a week. Within the physical education program, students develop habits of fitness and wellness, experiment with creative movement, and develop leisure and sports skills.
Learning Support
The Children’s School is proud to offer programming for neurodiverse students to maximize their academic success through our Learning Strategies and Academic Support Services (LSASS) program by offering support to families, children and teachers.
The fee-based program offers our students individual and small group support in literacy, speech-language pathology, and executive function coaching. The LSASS team collaborates closely with classroom teachers to identify individual learning needs and differentiate instruction with enrichment approaches, academic strategies, accommodations and interventions.
Program Benefits
- Keeps students integrated into classroom life while supporting their academic and social-emotional development
- Support time is built into our six-day, rotating schedule so students don’t miss specialists, advisory or community time during the day and can participate in extracurricular activities after school
- On-campus literacy specialists, math specialist, occupational therapist, speech-language pathologists and executive functioning coach partner with classroom teachers to support LSASS students in all academic areas
- Beginning of the year planning meetings and more frequent progress updates to families
Program Fees
| Services | Fee |
| Literacy (1x a cycle) (K-Grade 5) | Included in Tuition |
| Literacy (3x a cycle) (K- Grade 5) | $5,355 |
| Literacy (2x a cycle) (Grades 6-8) | $5,355 |
| Executive Functioning | $3,215 |
| Speech-Language Pathology | $2,500 |
FAQs
- Dyslexia/reading challenges
- Dysgraphia/writing challenges
- Inattention/ADHD
- Math Disability
When students demonstrate a need for additional academic support, the LSASS team administers classroom observations and standardized assessments to identify appropriate next steps and determine the need for auxiliary services. It is generally upon the recommendation of the classroom teachers that the learning support team initiates testing; however, parents may reach out and must request and authorize support services.
- Literacy support (K-grade 8)
- Math support (grades 2-4)
- Speech-Language Pathology
- Executive Function Coaching
- Beginning of the year meeting with LSASS specialist and/or LSASS director
- Pull-out, small group literacy classes 2-3 times per cycle
- Push-in literacy support delivered during instructional time inside the classroom
- More frequent written communication of your child’s progress, in addition to regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences and progress reports
- Opportunities for your child’s classroom teacher and LSASS specialist to collaborate
- Other services (OT, speech-language, and executive functioning coaching) are typically offered one time per cycle in small group or individual sessions, based on the discretion of the specialist
In order to give students time to settle into classroom routines for the new school year and to allow time to administer beginning of the year assessments, small group pull-out instruction begins after the second week of school.
There is no LSASS support during the final week of school to allow time for the last week of school events and celebrations.
There is time built into the daily schedule for this work to take place so the students won’t miss any instructional time to participate in the LSASS small group literacy classes. The time built in for each grade level varies. Your child’s daily schedule will indicate when the LSASS instructional time takes place.
Extended Day Program
The Extended Day program provides after-school activities in visual, performing and exploratory arts; sports and environmental studies for elementary and middle grades students from The Children’s School and the broader Atlanta community. It’s divided into the following four program areas: Discovery/EPIC, Enrichment, Day School Electives, and TCS Athletics.
Click here for more information about Extended Day and Summer Learning at TCS.