Instruction and programming decisions at ECS are data-driven targeted inclusive and student-centered. Students with special (remedial and advanced) needs are placed on an IEP and gifted students are supported with classroom differentiation while being encouraged to think flexibly and with a growth mindset.
Students are given opportunities to showcase their strengths and passions through individualized opportunities. Students in 3rd grade are screened for the gifted program and can be referred via parents and teachers for the program after that.
Students are taught a variety of subjects. According to their website:
Grades K-2
ECS combines the academic rigor of the best public schools with a multi-disciplinary "out the door" learning approach rooted in real world problems that builds active engaged empathetic citizens. An average day at the ECS kindergarten might include a picture walk with a book tearing apart an old toaster to learn what makes it work and learning a song that teaches the days of the week.
I like ECS because we get to spend a lot of time outside. Everything we do like reading and math has to do with the environment around us. Every Wednesday we go to our garden and cook what we find in our kitchen and eat it for lunch. - ECS Second Grade Student
Our team values a solid home-school connection playful engaging learning experiences and collaboration.
In MATHEMATICS we focus on numbers geometry measurement data and graphing addition and subtraction place value time and money so that students emerge with good foundational skills.
Our LITERACY team works to build phonemic awareness phonics fluency and reading comprehension.
ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY is a place to explore the connections between social studies and science and many authentic learning experiences emerge throughout our time together. Topics of inquiry include communities the sun and moon and the connections between humans and animals and their habitats.
My Excellence Time ME TIME is a time each day dedicated to intensely practicing Math and Literacy skills students have been learning. The groups are differentiated based on our Multi-Tiered Support System (MTSS) data.
During DISCOVERY Block students will participate in research-backed play-based activities that promote physical social emotional and cognitive development. Play-based learning is child-centered engaging and imaginative fostering a love of discovery and exploration encouraging curiosity and developing a desire for lifelong learning.
With an ongoing partnership with Grow Pittsburgh the ECS Primary School developed a full edible garden with multiple raised beds and supporting curriculum connections for students called EDIBLE SCHOOLYARD. Edible education shapes students' choices at mealtime and roots them in the relationship between humans and the natural world.
The ECS Intermediate School houses students from third grade through fifth grade grade. Students are often found peering under decomposing logs taking water samples from the creek scoping for birds by the Monongahela River or simply hiking through the park with teachers.
With ongoing partnerships GASP and the Penn State Master Gardener program the outdoor spaces around the school showcase native species of plants and trees and the current air quality index is measured and broadcast each day on the school’s flagpole.
An average day in the ECS fifth grade might include creating stop motion animation movies for the public service announcements we created in Environmental Literacy class a math "huddle" to review the key concepts we’ve learned that day and looking for fossils of microinvertebrates along the creek banks.
Some of the projects students engage in over the loop include constructing field guides creating a grade level culture book earning their KEYS from McKeever Environmental Center writing with purpose to ignite the fire for change and Mission to Mars projects.
Additionally some of the questions we explore together over time together include: "How can we inspire change in our community?" "How do we explore the unknown?" and "How do we make healthy food choices?"
In MATHEMATICS we focus on collaboration perseverance and real world application of problem solving so that students emerge with a strong foundation of math skills and the ability to use them in daily life.
ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY is a place to explore the connections between social studies and science and many authentic learning experiences emerge throughout our time together. Topics of inquiry include astronomy biological and human diversity and alternative energy.
Our LITERACY team also works to foster authentic learning experiences where we explore a variety of genres and apply our skills to real world experiences and ideas. As we collaborate in Literacy we build an understanding of ourselves one another and the world around us through a multitude of lenses. Genres we study include: nonfiction current events science fiction historical fiction memoirs poetry and spoken word.
PRIME (Personalized and Reflective Investment in My Excellence) Time is a time each day dedicated to intensely practicing Math and Literacy skills students have been learning. Groups of students are created based on our Multi-Tiered Support System (MTSS) data. Students split into spaces all across our building and the lessons that are taught are geared to support and/or enrich students’ skill set based upon their individual needs.
ECS Academic Blocks include UNIQUE PROGRAMS like:
Out-the-Door Education (https://myemail.constantcontact.com/One-Foot-Expansion-Update--Science-and-Out-the-Door.html)
P.R.I.M.E. Time
Looping
Team Teaching
Specialized Teaching
Differentiated Instruction
Technology Integration
ATHLETICS & ACTIVITIES:
Orchestra: violin viola cello
Band: clarinet flute trumpet trombone saxophone percussion
Cross country
Tennis
Robotics club
Art club
and SPECIALS:
Thinking Lab
Music (https://myemail.constantcontact.com/One-Foot-Expansion-Update--Music.html)
Physical Education
In collaboration with Science CULTURAL LITERACY will concurrently teach a unit on the Civil Rights movement while reading "To Kill A Mockingbird." The unit will focus on organizing behind an issue and exploring how a powerful social movement can be built today.
A notable project in MATH explored how symmetry impacts human design by having students create their own self-portraits using part of an existing photograph. In Mathematics we focus on developing students’ conceptual understanding and reinforcing this understanding through practicing skills and procedures that help to develop ECS doings and beings (reasoning problem solving communication and collaboration).
By engaging students in integrated authentic experiences we are able to close the achievement gap and inspire passion for future careers. Cultural Literacy is a collaborative classroom where literacy and writing are taught through the vehicle of historical themes. We strive to instill empathy in our students by looking at issues from multiple viewpoints. The Science team focuses on becoming critical consumers of information through the use of science practices in students’ everyday lives.
The purpose of EXPLORATORY is to provide middle school students the opportunity to engage in a variety of subjects outside of their everyday class schedule in a way that sparks curiosity and prepares students to make personal learning choices so that students develop passion for learning early on in life.