Program
At Learning by Design, we do not believe in a one size fits all type of education and thus we use a multitude of curriculum support options to help our students learn. The foundation of our program rests on three main concepts, the cornerstones of the LbD program.
We believe that every student is capable of success and we use personalization as a way to build a plan for each of our students to help them achieve that success. Project-based and experiential learning are also cornerstones of our program; our students learn by doing, experiencing, making and creating. Lastly, we believe that students must feel safe, nurtured and supported to learn. Creating a sense of belonging is critical to the development of compassionate, empathetic students.
At LbD we place an emphasis on social-emotional learning to promote the growth of students as healthy, competent, moral people. Our students are individuals, and we believe they should be treated as such in their academic and social-emotional development. That said, it is a given that our lessons are standards aligned and geared toward helping our students master both discrete concepts as well as long-lasting skills.
Our Model
Learning By Design
Academic Program
Personalized Learning
Project Based Learning
Social Emotional Learning
Mathematics
Developing mastery of the basics of arithmetic is necessary for success in mathematics. At LbD, we understand that fostering a deeper level understanding of math can lead to a stronger connections and extended achievement in STEAM fields and other careers of the future. Therefore, to fully challenge and develop the cognitive abilities of our students, we utilize the CGI Math process as the foundation of our math curriculum. To support our math curriculum, we also use Dreambox as well as other teacher-generated tools to support student mastery in math.
Science
Investigating and developing a basic understanding of the natural and physical world is critical to the development of informed citizens. Science helps our student foster an appreciation of the natural and physical world as well as form a model for asking questions, creating a format to investigate those questions and develop tools to measure and analyze the outcome to their investigations. At LbD our science curriculum is tightly paired with Project-Based learning.
English Language Arts
Elementary school is a crucial time in the academic development of a child; we know that children learn to read until 3rd grade and after that, they read to learn. At LbD we take learning the basics of reading and writing seriously. We meet each student where they are while using more authentic and engaging methods such as Readers and Writers Workshop. We support our reading curriculum with additional literacy tools such as Lexia, Raz Kids and other teacher generated tools to help our students practice and master these skills.
Making, Innovation, & Technology
The making, creating, problem-solving, pro-typing and construction of products both physical and digital is a great way to engage students in deeper levels of learning. Innovation time is a space for our students to solve problems, develop products and be creative while developing critical thinking skills, building collaboration skills, and practicing presentation skills. We use design, coding, and engineering as vehicles for teaching these skills and use tools such as Little Bits, Tynker.com, and Code.org.
Social Studies
Studying community and society and how these work helps students gain an understanding of the world around them and help them to develop empathy and understanding for others. We know that our students cannot grow into people who can affect change in their community and the world if they don't understand how the world works. Social Studies is a way to help our students engage with these question and develop critical thinking skills. We use tools like Social Studies Alive! and Newsela to support our students in the classroom. But, overall, our Social Studies curriculum is project-based which means it is connected to real-world, community-based events and activities. This encourages the students to take ownership and become more deeply involved in their learning.
Wellness
Physical activity, mindfulness, and nutrition are all parts of a healthy lifestyle. We engage our students in these practices at an early age to help them develop the life long habits which have been connected to a happy and healthy life. Our Physical Education program emphasizes team work, flexibility, and agility. In addition, our students take part in the cultivation of plants as they maintain our school's susttainable garden. Students also partake in mindfulness activities throughout the school year.