Elementary School

Mastery academics. Daily creative practice.

Kindergarten through fifth grade, taught in small multi-year cohorts that move through the curriculum together.

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A short film: a Page elementary classroom moving through a research-into-performance unit, kindergarten through fifth.
Inside Elementary
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A first grader at Page learns about plant life by building a class terrarium and writing a botanical guide. A fifth grader studies California history by becoming a historical figure on stage. Same method, scaled to the child.
Page Elementary Kindergarten through 5th
At a Glance

The numbers behind elementary.

8:1

Student-teacher ratio.

Across the entire school. Teachers know every draft, every growth area, and every student by name.

5

Core academic subjects.

Reading and language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and Spanish, all taught directly and rigorously.

4

Creators Program domains.

Performing arts, visual arts, design and production, writing. Every elementary student rotates through all four every year.

The Curriculum

What students are studying.

A snapshot of the core subjects elementary students take at Page, taught directly and reinforced through artistic application.

Mathematics

Mastery-based math.

Number sense, geometry, scale, ratio, and measurement. Mastery instruction with real-time differentiation in the classroom, applied through builds, models, and design as students move up.

Language Arts

Reading and writing.

Phonics-based literacy in lower elementary, transitioning to long-form composition in upper. Students draft monologues, short fiction, exhibition copy, and research briefs alongside the conventional writing program.

Science

Hands-on science.

Life, earth, and physical science taught through direct instruction and reinforced with hands-on building and modeling. A unit on plant life becomes a class-built terrarium, a unit on weather becomes student-built instruments.

Social Studies

History through primary sources.

California history, world geography, civics, and ancient cultures, taught through primary sources and translated into student-written, student-performed work.

Spanish

Spanish from kindergarten.

Daily exposure, grade-appropriate vocabulary, conversational practice, and reading material that scales with grade level.

Creators Program

Performing, making, designing, writing.

Performing arts, visual arts, design and production, writing. Scheduled into the day. Every elementary student rotates through all four every year.

Inside a Classroom

A fifth-grade California history unit.

A short walk through how a single arts-integrated unit unfolds in upper elementary. Five weeks, four stages, a finished piece of work in front of a real audience at the close.

01

Research the figure.

Students choose a figure from California history, work from primary and secondary sources, evaluate citations, and produce a written research brief.

02

Write the monologue.

Students draft an original monologue in the voice of the historical figure, working through multiple revisions with teacher and peer feedback.

03

Refine and rehearse.

The monologue gets workshopped, blocked, memorized, and refined through cycles of practice and critique with the performing arts faculty.

04

Perform on stage.

Students present the monologue to a real audience of families and peers. The history is graded, the writing is graded, and the work is finished.

A fifth grader at Page does not write a five-paragraph essay on California history and turn it in. The fifth grader becomes the figure, on stage, in front of an audience, and the academics are what make the performance possible.
Lower Elementary Kindergarten through 3rd Grade

The Creators Program foundation.

Broad exposure across every Creators Program domain, paired with mastery-based academics and daily creative practice.

Lower elementary at Page builds the foundation. Mastery academics in small groups, broad exposure across all four Creators Program domains, and the habit of producing public, finished work. There is no specialization yet; the work is to give students wide creative range.

A unit on community helpers becomes a series of student-written, student-performed monologues. A unit on plant life becomes a class-built terrarium. Performance and exhibition happen as part of every project, not just at year-end.

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Portrait: a kindergarten or first-grade student presenting work to peers.
Creators Program

Domain rotation.

Every Page student rotates through all four Creators Program domains every year: performing arts, visual arts, design and production, writing. No specialization yet; the work is broad creative range.

Creators Program

The audience habit.

Class plays, recitations from memory, gallery walks, classroom exhibitions. Lower elementary is when students first learn that the work they make has a public audience.

Creators Program

Foundational craft.

Drawing, painting, sculpture, blocking, ensemble singing, basic prototyping, original short writing. The physical and creative skills every domain later builds on.

Upper Elementary 4th through 5th Grade

Where depth begins.

The years where students start choosing what kind of work they want to do, while keeping their hands on every domain.

Upper elementary is where depth begins. Students continue rotating through all four Creators Program domains but start selecting emphasis areas: a child drawn to performance takes more demanding stage roles, a child drawn to visual work produces finished pieces for exhibition, a child drawn to production starts running lights and sound during real performances.

Academically, project work gets longer-form. A research arc that took two weeks in second grade now takes five, with multiple drafts, peer critique, a formal presentation, and a published or performed final product. This is also the first stage at which students sit in on relevant Industry Speaker Series sessions.

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Portrait: an upper elementary student in concentration on a longer-form project.
Creators Program

Real production roles.

Running cables, programming light cues, operating sound, building sets, designing costumes. Upper elementary is when students start working alongside the performers in actual production jobs.

Creators Program

Emphasis areas begin.

Students continue rotating through every domain but begin going deeper in the one that pulls them most. A child drawn to performance takes more demanding stage roles; a child drawn to visual work produces finished pieces for exhibition.

Creators Program

Industry Speaker Series.

Upper elementary is the first stage at which students sit in on monthly sessions with working professionals in their emphasis area.

Schedule a Visit

See an elementary classroom.

Tour the campus, sit in on a lower or upper elementary classroom, and watch a unit move through research, drafting, and performance.

Request a tour
Newport Mesa Hancock Park