Science in Lower School

The Shipley Lower School science program incorporates a spiral curriculum exploring topics in the physical, life and earth sciences. Particular attention is paid to the study of nature and issues of sustainability anchored in the natural environs in and around the Lower School Campus. Hands on activities, experiments and observations of the natural world are at the core of the curriculum, harnessing children’s inherent curiosity and inquisitiveness as they explore natural phenomena, discover scientific principles, and develop an appreciation of nature. Children concurrently explore what it means to be a scientist, internalizing the basic science process skills of observation, classification, measurement, prediction, testing, forming a hypothesis, theory building, and recording and sharing information.

The Pre-K through second grade curriculum covers various topics including: air, water, and soil; seasons and weather; astronomy and the solar system; food chains, plant anatomy and animals; and magnets, sound, color and light. In first grade, the focus on the environment and sustainability underlie a study of native trees on Shipley’s campus as well as an extensive unit on honeybees and other pollinators, with leaf and tree walks and a field trip to the beehives at Jenkins Arboretum. In second grade, children conduct investigations in water chemistry, and study rocks and minerals, as they learn to collect, record and analyze data.

In third through fifth grade, an engineering strand is added to the curriculum as children deepen their exploration of themes developed in earlier grades. Third graders design and build a working sail, windmill, and tinfoil boat that can be loaded with pennies. Fourth graders compete to design the slowest parachute and create an electrical invention using Little Bits sets. Fifth graders design and construct simple machines, use an Xpult catapult to test four different variables, and create their own inventions. Ecology and sustainability are the focus of overnight field trips in fourth grade and fifth grade. In fourth grade, children visit the Horsham Outdoor School, which prepares them to take on responsibility for the rain garden outside the fourth grade classrooms. In fifth grade, children visit the Echo Hill Outdoor School, which intersects with a yearlong study of the nearby stream in Ashbridge Park in partnership with the Lower Merion Conservancy. Both overnight trips include team and community building activities. More specific information about the second through fifth grade science curriculum can be found on the blog GatorScience www.gatorscience.wordpress.com