Open Inquiry Track
Open inquiry track
(Preschool–3rd grade)
Rooted in progressive educational philosophy, Calhoun’s Open Inquiry track draws on a range of methods to engage and challenge your child as an individual learner and member of a larger community. Our emergent curriculum means lessons often arise from students’ questions and interests, which expert teachers hone to build subject-matter mastery as well as crucial social and emotional skills. All this means your child begins to take charge of their learning, even at this early age.
Preschool
In preschool, children begin to engage with numbers and words through a wide range of tactile activities that are woven into the fabric of every school day. They build, create, communicate, and collaborate. Most of all, they start to discover who they are—developing self-confidence, curiosity, and compassion for the world around them.
Kindergarten
In kindergarten, your child delves into social studies, language arts, and math, focusing on concrete, interactive experiences that engage our senses and amplify our understanding. In the second half of the year, each kindergarten class embarks on a multi-disciplinary project that emerges from a shared topic of interest, allowing us to expand our skills as a community of thinkers. We expand on our classroom work with explorations in STEAM, Spanish, world music and physical education.
1st–3rd Grade
In these grades, students continue to build self-awareness, confidence, and insight as individual learners and people. We emphasize hands-on experiences that account for each student’s interests and learning styles, as expert teachers adapt lessons to engage and challenge every child.
Projects frequently make connections between disciplines and with the world beyond the school, whether it’s creating detailed urban utopias from recycled materials, or simulating a classroom economy for a math project. As we give them more opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways, children grow more invested in their education. At the same time, as they explore, learn, work, and play together, students increasingly become contributing members of their communities.
Related Story:
![4's Students Search for Shapes In & Out of the Classroom]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1705003993/calhoun/bvb6hevbp5kbkqg2albl/IMG_4515.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1705003993/calhoun/bvb6hevbp5kbkqg2albl/IMG_4515.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1705003993/calhoun/bvb6hevbp5kbkqg2albl/IMG_4515.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1705003993/calhoun/bvb6hevbp5kbkqg2albl/IMG_4515.jpg","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_5/v1705003993/calhoun/bvb6hevbp5kbkqg2albl/IMG_4515.jpg","width":1600},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_6/v1705003993/calhoun/bvb6hevbp5kbkqg2albl/IMG_4515.jpg","width":2200}])
As part of their work with shapes, our 4's students have been observing how shapes are everywhere – around the classroom, throughout the school and in the neighborhood. Students began by exploring other classrooms in the building, before taking their search outside to see what shapes they could find on 85th Street.
Explore More
Learn about how the two Lower School tracks come together in 4th grade, or connect with us to see Calhoun learning in action.