Grades K-8
Odyssey’s progressive, theme-based approach to learning focuses on practical, tangible education that goes beyond books and worksheets, empowering your child to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to their everyday lives.
Our teachers are given the freedom to create fresh curricula and are encouraged to keep their activities student-centered to support learning that will help your child make connections across the curriculum.
Course work for students in grades K-8 includes integrated studies in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. In addition, schedules include Spanish, Music, Art, Technology, Special Interest Workshops, Physical Education and in the upper grades, Health and Life Skills. Community Service is encouraged in all the elementary grades.
Our Pre-K/Kindergarten program, which includes both full-day and half-day students, employs a hands-on approach that promotes social and emotional growth while strengthening each student’s academic abilities.
This year transitions our younger students from the preschool program and introduces the elementary course of studies. Their daily schedule still includes familiar items like daily Meeting Time when the whole class gathers to discuss the calendar, weather, current events, as well as Learning Centers, where pre-kindergarten and kindergarten age children have opportunities to work in small groups to complete tasks to strengthen social skills and build friendships.
Our early elementary grades further our commitment to developmentally appropriate practices with a theme-based, integrated curriculum that allows for diversity in individual learning styles. In Language Arts and Math, we are able to flexibly group children into more advanced groups if they need a bigger challenge or into groups that provide more support.
Language Arts is a major area of focus in all elementary grades. The students utilize a whole-language, literature-based approach to reading and writing that is supplemented with phonics and grammar activities. This programming allows our teachers to differentiate for the needs of the individual students. At the Pre-K/Kindergarten level, we will expose the children who are not already reading to all the tools they need to learn to read. We do not expect all students to read by the end of kindergarten, as not all children are developmentally ready to do so.
Students who are already reading will be placed in a group based on their ability to decode and comprehend what they are reading and their ability to participate in a group with older students.
By the time your child enters 4th grade, they will have completed the transition from “learn to read” to “read to learn.” For them, material is presented using a multi-modal approach designed to immerse students fully in their own learning.
The basis of the mathematics curriculum is a hands-on, cooperative learning approach that emphasizes problem-solving, communication, reasoning, and making connections to everyday life. Traditional computational activities are covered as well.
All elementary students also receive instruction by specialists in Spanish, Music, Art, and Physical Education. Technology is used to enhance all curriculum areas. Teacher-directed internet research is introduced to extend the Science and Social Studies curricula. Keyboarding is introduced in 3rd and 4th grade, along with learning traditional cursive writing. Students in 1st – 4th grade also participate in Special Interest Workshops.
Once your child has entered the upper elementary grades, they will also be expected to act as role models in the school. They are given additional opportunities to develop leadership skills, by planning and implementing events or even, in some cases, contributing to the development of school rules.