True learning can only take place when children trust in their community and feel free to take social and intellectual risks—sharing a poem with the class, asking for help from a friend, standing up for someone, choosing a difficult essay question. The social curriculum is built into all activities and promotes social skill development, multicultural understanding, and community-building.
Learning in the field provides vital experiences for students to apply lessons in context and to build community. Lowell’s eight-acre campus adjacent to Rock Creek Park is an ideal classroom for art activities, stream studies, gardening experiments, weather observation, bird-watching, and more. Students venture further afield to explore the DC metro area’s historical roots and cultural offerings.
Theme-based projects at every grade level draw on skills and knowledge from multiple disciplines. They require higher-order thinking skills: students analyze, synthesize, debate, critique, and create. Choices within the projects give students the opportunity to stretch themselves based on their interests and abilities. Read more about the 3rd grade’s Civil Rights unit.
Lowell School is a private PK-8th grade school located in NW Washington, DC. At Lowell students gain the knowledge, skills, and social-emotional literacy to be the bold leaders and creative problem solvers our world needs.