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Learning to Think
Each year, Park's Kindergartners monitor the eggs, the hatching, and the growth of resident goslings — honing their observational skills and laying the foundation for scientific thinking.
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Reading Partners
Partnerships across grade levels — including Fourth Grade/Kindergarten Reading Partners — create bonds among students that can last throughout their time at Park and beyond.
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Kindergarten
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Habits of Mind
Students at Park employ habits of mind central to scientific and mathematical thinking. They work through progressions of problems designed to prompt development of these habits and are fueled by their discoveries.
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Supportive Faculty
Park teachers stand apart because of their great passion for teaching and learning. They truly connect with students, provide insight and guidance, and encourage them to think critically for themselves as they learn by doing.
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A Literary World
The reading experience begins when young children find themselves immersed in a literary world. In the Lower School, we teach our students to use multiple reading strategies so that they become strong, joyful, independent readers.
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K-12 Partnerships
Upper School student tutors staff and run the Michael Cardin ’85 Writing Center, working with Lower, Middle, and Upper School writers in a variety of settings. Here, a student tutor works with a fourth grader on developing her writing.
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Multiple Approaches
The fifth grade theme curriculum focuses on the acquisition of social and cultural understanding of the medieval world through authentic research and the application of multiple disciplines, including engineering.
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A 100-acre Classroom.
Our 100-acre campus — featuring a pond, stream, meadows, and woodlands — is an ecological, botanical, entomological, microbial, astronomical, and physical laboratory accessible to all.
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Challenge
Appalachian Challenge is Park’s nationally-recognized outdoor education program, originally constructed, maintained, and led by students. Middle Schoolers take Challenge as a P.E. requirement, and many become Challenge Leaders.
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Mind and Body
Park's motto, A Sound Mind in a Sound Body, manifests itself throughout the Middle School curriculum. The eighth grade physical education program is elective-based — allowing students to explore their varied interests, including canoeing on Park's pond.
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Collaboration
Through varsity, JV, and freshman/sophomore teams in the Upper School, Park emphasizes a balanced approach valuing teamwork, sportsmanship, competitive spirit — and passion. (Photo: Girls' Soccer caps undefeated season with conference championship!)
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Creativity Matters
At Park, the arts are an essential part of our daily lives. They frame our experience of the world, serve as vehicles for personal expression, and enhance our exploration of all of the academic disciplines.
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All is Number...
Upper School students can choose from an array of mathematics electives such as Calculus, Advanced Calculus, Advanced Discrete Mathematics, Abstract Algebra, Linear Algebra, and Topology and Knot Theory, and more.
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Thinking on Your Feet
Park's Mock Trial team has won four State Championships. Excelling in this head-to-head competition requires understanding of the law; excellent listening, speaking, reading, and reasoning skills; communication and cooperation; and focused determination.
