Learning and Teaching at Silverwood
Instruction at Silverwood is divided into four multi-age classrooms. For the 2022-2023 school year, our K-1 students are in the Barn with Miss Ashley McNeil, 1-2 students are in the Treehouse with Miss Allison, 3-4 students are in Lodge East with Miss Becky, 5-6 students are in Lodge West with Miss Ashley McComas. In addition to their homeroom instructor, each classroom has Teaching Assistants, Specialists in Music, Art and Science, and Physical Education, and parent volunteers. Beyond the indoor spaces, the School’s 17-acre wooded campus serves as part-laboratory, part-playground (but all classroom). Our educational philosophy is rooted in multi-disciplinary, peer-to-peer, teacher-guided instruction across a variety of spaces and media.
Silverwood Learning is:
Interdisciplinary
When practical, we integrate subjects and related activities. So, for example, students studying ancient China may be learning paper cutting in art, mapping the land features of Asia in geography, and reading Chinese folk tales or learning some Chinese characters in literacy.
Teacher-Guided
We believe teachers’ roles include serving as guides and facilitators. Along with the direct instruction our teachers provide, they serve as “guides on the sides,” facilitating students’ independent and small group learning and exploration and following the interests of the student(s) when appropriate and possible.
Authentic
We believe in exploring ways to help students find intrinsic motivation rather than encouraging them to learn only to earn external rewards. Students don’t view what they do at school as work – because learning is fun!
Peer-to-Peer
Students have opportunities to teach and mentor each other. We actively seek opportunities for students to work in mixed-age groups. Students might work on solving a story problem together in math or meet for a reading group discussion in literacy. Older students might visit other classrooms to read to or with younger peers. During Wax Museum, Writers Workshop, and Science Fairs, students present their work and teach others.
A Teacher-Student Partnership
We believe in teachers learning with students. Our teachers are lifelong learners who explore and learn alongside students, and who model their love of learning for students. For example, during Writers Workshop, teachers may write and share their own ideas and drafts.
Outdoor-Focused
Our 17-acre campus is our “Outdoor Classroom”, used by all teachers and all ages for discovery, observation, application, practice, conservation, as well as tag, hide-and-seek and fort-building. Students learn through play
Discovery
We believe in providing students with opportunities for discovery followed by practice. For example, first graders discover how to measure, and then may spend time outdoors measuring the circumference of trees, or each others’ height, or the length of their shoes.
Hands-On
We believe in sensorial learning, learning by doing. In science, students may plant beans for experiments in our greenhouses, or collect water samples from our pond to view under microscopes. Studying Native American cultures and history, students may visit museums, make traditional artifacts and play childrens’ games, and participate in a “Storypath” where they take on the roles of individuals within a Native American community. Students may learn to identify conifers and deciduous trees and then count and categorize the trees on our 18-acre property. This follows Maria Montessori’s philosophy: “Never give more to the eyes and ears than you give to the hands.”
