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Our bright fourth floor Solarium is the central nerve of our grade school. Throughout the day, you’ll find students engaged in movement, musical practice, and play rehearsals.  Designed in the 1930s for airflow and sunshine, the solarium is a center of fresh energy.  In the Springtime, you’ll even find the early childhood students traveling up the stairs, tending to their newly planted seedlings in the warmth of the sun.

This busy crown of our school hosts over a dozen flourishing bee  colonies and a bee population of over 200,000 and growing. Tended lovingly by our  beloved beekeepers, the apiary is a primary source to our teaching of botany, ecosystems and the work of a thriving community. Our grade-schoolers visit the bees routinely and can be found sitting amongst the variety of buzzing herbs and flowers, with a sketchbook  in hand.

We have five terraces on the school’s uppermost levels. These provide  seamless and continuous connection to the outdoors throughout the school day. Two  classrooms share a terrace by design, resulting in valuable relationship-building  between children of different ages. Students can be found here enjoying snack, reading,  or doing seasonal projects like 1st and 8th Grades’ traditional Fall pumpkin carving.

Our Lower School classrooms are alive with color and discovery. Each  classroom boasts a wall of ceiling-high windows, in view of an adjoining terrace, the city,  and the sky. Plants and natural projects line the windowsills of this clear and open  learning environment. Students spend most of their academic day in this imaginative,  light-filled space, whether in Main Lesson, Mandarin, or Castellano.

Mandarin, Castellano, and Social-Emotional Learning subject classes round out our rich core curriculum.  You will find students grade 1-8 here on our bright 4th floor, enthusiastically immersed in their dynamic language study, or sitting in an SEL sharing circle with their class to sustain group and personal balance.

Here you’ll find an astounding chalk drawing of a historical figure, a  geographic region, or an astrological landscape. Students are hard at work, composing  detailed handcrafted main lesson books that reflect their current learning block.  Botany, chemistry, poetry, Mandarin, Castellano, mythology and astrology are just a few  of the subjects you may hear discussed as you pass by these lively Middle School  classrooms.

 Long before you reach an Early Childhood classroom, the first thing  you’ll experience is the rich, full aroma of food being prepared. Children gather around  a low family style table to chop ingredients, roll bread, and share their mealtimes. Our  EC classrooms are thoughtful, warm spaces that encourage ritual, imagination, and  ignite the first embers of the joy of responsibility. Intentionally uninstructive, the rooms are rich with textures and toys that allow child-led play and discovery.

Our expansive gymnasium boasts  extraordinarily high ceilings, a performance stage and a fully operational basketball  court. Students gather here for Games and Movement, an important piece of their  curriculum that unites the body and mind. This is where many class plays and assemblies take place, and you’ll find this space bursting with students and families  alike during our raucous basketball season.

Our only classroom on the ground level, this welcoming room is a  gentle entry-point to our community. Warm, neutral colors and quiet tones create a  peaceful nest for families and very young children to gather. Bread is baking and a  puppet show is underway.

We believe play is a young child’s only true occupation. They do it with  enthusiasm, intention, and relentless spirit. By this standard, our “side-yard” is a joyful  and productive place of work. Our youngest students push wheelbarrows, dig, build, gather under the grape arbor, and tend their garden. Rain, snow, or sun.

Our grade-schoolers enjoy the recently renewed “backyard”, outfitted with  climbing structures and a basketball hoop. This space is visited daily by our Lower and  Middle school students for exercise, play and an always welcome “out-breath”. 

Found on the lower level, this creative hearth of our school is  dripping with freshly dyed yarns and wools. Students travel here twice weekly to work  quietly at their ongoing projects, whether knitting or sewing, preparing natural fibers or  felting. Where head, hands, and heart unite, many students will tell you this is their  most treasured time of day.

In the morning, on the lower level, you may hear a train whistle blowing or strings being tuned by our Music and Orchestra teachers.  This space is where all students grade 1-8 gather for Chorus and practice their levels of flute, and where students grade 3-8 rehearse with their orchestral instruments.

The always active footprint of our building is foundational to both the  pedagogy and community culture of our school. Home to our handwork, woodwork, music classes and our kitchen, much of the life of the school builds up from this diverse space. Students rehearse plays, orchestra and song here, and families gather for  planning and social events. 

Situated in the Lower Level, the woodworking classroom is visited  routinely by students beginning in 4th grade. The smell of sawdust lingers in the air and  the walls are lined with creations in process such as spoons, bowls, and dollhouses. Like  handwork, woodwork brings the whole being into focus and unites the student with the  deep satisfaction of creating a practical artform.