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Our approach

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

Earth School Values

Whole-Child Approach to Education

At the Earth School, our goal is to help children become good learners and good people. We work to build student skills in academic development, emotional development, social development, physical development, and independence. When figuring out how to support each child, we think about their cognitive, physical, behavioral, social, and emotional strengths and needs.

Learning via Community and Collaboration

We believe that people learn best in community, and children at the Earth School are expected to learn with and from each other. Students collaborate with their peers and with teachers when it comes to learning and problem-solving. Teachers also learn and grow through collaboration.

Inquiry-Based, Active, and Joyful Learning

The curricula we use require students to construct ideas rather than passively absorb information. We strive to engage students’ curiosity and build excitement about learning.

Social Justice and Environmental Stewardship

Our goal is to cultivate responsible, active citizens. In developmentally appropriate ways, students are asked to show empathy for others, help their community, protect the environment, and stand up for their rights and the rights of others.

School-wide Curriculum

EL Education Literacy

The EL (Expeditionary Learning) Education curriculum is based on the Science of Reading which empowers all students to read complex grade-level texts and master literacy standards, providing all students with an equitable outcome. The curriculum builds deep knowledge by using content-rich, authentic texts on real-world topics in social studies, STEM, and literature. Students leverage their learning for social justice and environmental stewardship while building habits of character that help them contribute to a better world.

Illustrative Mathematics

Illustrative Mathematics’ collaborative model invites K–5 students to talk and write about math, listen to each other’s ideas, justify their thinking, and critique the reasoning of others to further develop their mathematical understanding.

Responsive Classroom

Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is comprised of a set of research- and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classroom and school communities for both students and teachers. It focuses on (1) creating optimal learning conditions for students to develop the academic, social, and emotional skills needed for success in and out of school, and (2) building positive school and classroom communities where students learn, behave, hope, and set and achieve goals.

Amplify Science

Amplify Science is a K–5 science curriculum that blends hands-on investigations, literacy-rich activities, and interactive digital tools to empower students to think, read, write, and argue like real scientists.

Art with Pheobe

Students at the Earth School will be working towards developing their own artistic practice in the Art Studio through materials exploration, skill building, and engaging in the studio habits of mind (eight habits artists use to develop artwork). Through the studio habits of mind we will learn to analyze artwork, give and receive feedback, brainstorm ideas, build resilience working with “mistakes”, and experiment with materials. We will work with a wide variety of materials including drawing utensils, paper, 3D construction, clay, and fiber arts. Students will have the opportunity to work collaboratively and on their own. We will spend time looking at and talking about a wider variety of other artists’ work, including our own artwork, contemporary work and works from art history. Students will explore why we make art or how art adds meaning, joy, and pleasure to our lives.

Movement with Spinny Vinny

The physical education program at the Earth School is a physical literacy approach to movement that emphasizes the intrinsic connection between self expression and creativity. Starting as early as pre-k we encourage our community of learners and movers to explore their bodies in space especially in relation to rhythm, music, problem solving and skillful movement. In addition to learning motor and cognitive skills essential to a life-long engagement of active living, we also develop social skills, such as empathy, teamwork, leadership, conflict resolution, and sharing, all of which are essential to fostering a community that plays together in a safe and joyous way.

Special Education at the Earth School

Like all New York City Public Schools, The Earth School offers a wide range of support and options for supporting students with special needs in and out of the classroom. Many of our classes are designated as Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) classes. An ICT class is a classroom that has two teachers: a special education teacher and a general education teacher. Within the ICT class, 40% of the children have been identified as having learning needs that special education teachers are trained to address.

All teachers at The Earth School differentiate the curriculum to meet individual students’ needs. With two teachers working together as a team, much more differentiation is possible. Whether a student needs extra help or an extra challenge, having two teachers means one will be available to meet that need.

The Earth School offers Speech, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Counseling and SETSS to students with Individualized Education Program or IEPs. We have a School Based Support Team to manage IEPs and make sure children receive their mandated services.

Some more highlights that make the Earth School unique:

Community Open Work (COW)

One long-standing Earth School tradition is COW. COW stands for Community Open Work. Open Work is a regular opportunity for children to engage in self-initiated work with a range of materials. Community Open Work (COW) is when the whole school has open work at the same time, which allows for inter-classroom visitation as well as inter-class "clubs" (activities led by teachers, parents, or even older students).

Field Trips

The Earth School strongly values hands-on, experiential education. Because of this, all of our classrooms frequently take trips (including starting in Pre-K!). On average, classes take at least one field trip every month, taking advantage of all the museums, historical sites, outdoor spaces, and educational organizations available to us in New York City.

Camping Trips

As part of our commitment to environmental education, third, fourth, and fifth grade classes go on overnight trips to forested areas each year. Third graders go on a one-night overnight, and fourth and fifth graders go on a two-night overnight trip. Classes visit outdoor education sites where they get to go on hikes, learn about forest ecology, explore ponds and streams, build shelters, among other activities. These trips are a huge bonding experience for every class that attends!

Programming Partners

Through long standing partnerships with City Lore and Third Street Music School, students enjoy weekly dance and music classes on a rotating schedule.

The Rooftop Garden

Our school building has housed a rooftop garden for over ten years. The garden is a collaboration between the three schools in the building. Earth School classes visit the rooftop garden regularly in the spring and fall, working with garden educators from community-based organizations to learn about planting, tending garden plots, and harvesting.

Read about our garden in the New York Times!

Bears!

Every Earthling receives a Bear in their first year at the Earth School; Bears accompany their Earthling through fifth grade. Bears are a part of a social emotional curriculum our school implements from Bankstreet. "ERP" (emotionally responsive practice) is a trauma-informed curriculum that uses a transitional object to help children form attachment and bond with new surroundings, such as school. The Bears live at school during the school year (and at home during summer break). Children may use their bears at arrival, morning meeting, story time, rest time, and open work. All the kids were excited to meet their bears!

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