Our pre-kindergarten program provides a heart-centered exploration of the world for the youngest members of the Odyssey School community. At Odyssey School the pre-k learner’s work is play, socialization, widening and deepening the emotional vocabulary, exploring nature, hearing stories, creating plays and pageants and acting them out, dancing, drawing, imagining, dreaming, creating, whole brain and body-mind activities. The class environment is full of mystery and engaging possibilities. The flames of curiosity and the love of learning are kindled and nourished here!

Kindergarten and First Grade at Odyssey School support children in bridging the magical playfulness of the preschool years with the increasingly cognitive experience of the elementary school years in a joyful, respectful, and comprehensive way. Our Integral classroom honors each child’s inherent wholeness, and teaches through all six strands. Each day starts with centering and is followed by time spent on theme-based projects and listening to mythological stories. Our kindergarten teachers create thematic units for Integral Learning: many of our writing, reading, math, play frames, studio, and the arts all incorporate the culture, mythology, and natural science. This holistic model gives students the opportunity learn through play as they build monuments, dance the celestial bodies, write their own newspapers, or track the Hero’s Journey of a sea turtle.

First and second grade students learn about art, culture, and the natural world in their explorations of continents and cultures, offering a window to the world! In our combined first and second grade classroom, students learn through holistic, thematic units balancing science and social studies with in-depth learning about our yearly topics. Our curriculum includes multi-sensory learning experiences, collaborative projects, scientific inquiry, library research, field trips, and guest lessons. As an independent school, we are able to be responsive to our students’ particular interests, experience learning in the real world through a school-without-walls approach, and stay committed to creating lessons with a lens of equity and current, research-based practices.

Over the course of the school year, students explore seasonal themes and 3rd-4th grade curriculum through the overarching theme of Community & Kindness. In our language arts studies, we create authentic readers and writers by reading both fiction and nonfiction, and participating in writing and reading workshops while honing grammar and spelling skills. In math, students get to know numbers through engaging and relevant math activities as well as systematic introduction and practice of grade-specific math concepts. Students who are ready for fifth-grade math integrate into our intermediate school classroom and students who need more support get what they need.

Odyssey School honors the complex journey of individuation, self-discovery, and finding one’s voice for justice in the world. Students build community through lessons in citizenship, while practicing meditation and reflection to discover a strong sense of self.