At Woodstock Day School, each child’s unique journey is celebrated, and a supportive community nurtures growth and learning. We prioritize your child’s growth and development, providing a nurturing environment that sets the stage for a lifetime of learning.
In our Lower School, we embrace a dynamic and inclusive learning experience tailored to each child’s pace. Our focus is on cultivating intrinsic motivation, building social and emotional literacy, and fostering collaborative problem-solving.
Our dynamic and interactive curriculum is hands-on, rooted in inquiry, and incorporates student interests. We believe in individualized learning, and our assessments help us tailor support to each student’s needs.
At WDS we believe it is not enough to ensure that our students become strong writers, know how to reason, and understand complex math problems. They also need to build social and emotional literacy to forge strong friendships, understand how to be part of a community, and have the ability to fully express themselves in any setting.
Our expansive, wooded campus with a mountain view is a living classroom, where children can play, learn, and connect with nature. Our expansive campus offers dedicated spaces for library, art, science, and physical education. We value play, ensuring our students have ample time to be outdoors, forming strong friendships, and enjoying their learning environment.
Our focus is on strong relationships among students and teachers, creating an environment where independent thinking is nurtured, emotional resilience is built, and a caring community thrives. Activities like morning circles, Friday Gatherings, classroom events, and the Buddies Program ensure meaningful interactions across all grade levels.
We integrate ecological understanding throughout our Lower School program, promoting environmental literacy and civic engagement. Our curriculum and student activities emphasize living simply, reducing waste, and understanding our impact on the environment.
Students transition from reading basics to using language for learning, explore poetry and strengthen expository reading and writing skills. Topics of exploration include: Schools and Community, Literary Classics, the American Revolution, Biodiversity in the Rainforest, and Social Inequity.
From Grades 2 through 5, students progress from multi-digit addition and subtraction to multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals. They develop problem-solving skills and how to apply mathematical concepts.
Using our campus as a living laboratory, students explore relationships between plants and animals, survival needs in different environments, energy and waves, and undertake science explorations with a focus on experiments, field studies, and collaborative projects.
Students study communities around the world, New York State history, American History, and the Western Hemisphere. Topics of exploration include: citizenship, cultures, civilizations, and human rights.
In our dedicated art classroom, students explore various art techniques and fundamentals. Themes and projects complement academic studies while allowing students to create original works of art.
Beginning in Grade 4, students learn basic clay techniques, including pinch pots, coil pots, and how to throw on the potter’s wheel.
Under the guidance of our talented music faculty, students learn musical notation, beats, and instruments. Introduction to ukulele and small group lessons on chosen instruments begin in Grade 4.
Building off beginning skills learned in our Early Childhood program, students increase their Spanish vocabulary, expressing likes and dislikes, and engaging in real-world dialogues.
Both indoors and outdoors, students foster movement skills, balance, locomotion, manipulative skills, health, and social-emotional development.