Core Studies

Our studies at all levels have social studies at its core.  Units of study can take one month, three months or last throughout the year. Learning here in a Trinity classroom is as much a social process as it is a solitary one.  The teacher is a facilitator of learning and the students collaborate with each other, share individual responses about artifacts, a story, a historical document or shared experience.

Students work in small groups and are tasked to create skits, posters, recreate characters or models to present to the rest of the class a particular content idea of the subject they are studying.  For example, a group of Middle School students may be asked to create a mural depicting the water cycle rather than responding in workbook pages.  By recreating their learning, the information becomes a part of the student thus creating a better understanding of the subject matter. By sharing their creation with others, the student becomes the vehicle from which other students can learn content in a more meaningful way.

In our Early Childhood Program, a group of pre schoolers may open a bakery and sell goods to the rest of the school.  The lesson is to better understand economics in its simplest form.  The children often respond to their own reading and writing by meeting in small groups and talking about their work.  Teachers, as facilitators with expectations, act as guides throughout the studies and plan for rich experiences. This process allows students to construct meaning with increased depth and complexity.

Through our curriculum delivery, the integrity of each child in his/her role as learner, teacher, classmate is valued and reinforced.