Elementary School — Page Academy

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.

Research the figure.

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

Write the monologue.

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

Refine and rehearse.

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

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.

Signature Programs

Explore Our World A celebration of global citizenship and cultural diversity

Explore Our World.

A school-wide curriculum that gives every grade level its own year-long theme of geography, history, and culture.

Explore Our World runs across every grade at Page. The themes are studied through the academic curriculum, the Creators Program, and the school's annual events, so a kindergartener studying communities and a fifth grader studying the states are both seeing their themes applied in everything from their writing assignments to their stage performances to the food at the school's cultural celebrations.

Each year ends with a school-wide Explore Our World celebration, where every grade level presents its work alongside the others.

KindergartenCommunities

First GradeSymbols of Our Country

Second GradeCountries of Our Ancestors

Third GradeNational Parks

Fourth GradeCalifornia Missions

Fifth GradeStates of the US

Invention Convention An annual school-wide event

An invention. Built. Presented.

An annual school-wide event where every elementary student designs, builds, and presents an original invention.

Each year, every elementary student goes through the Invention Convention. Students identify a real problem, sketch a solution, build a working prototype, and present the finished invention to families, faculty, and outside judges. The work runs across the year, so students learn that real invention takes time and revision.

Younger grades work in pairs or small groups on grade-level problems. Older grades work individually on more ambitious projects: a tool, a system, a product, a service. The convention itself looks like a real engineering fair, with each invention on display, each inventor at their table, and visitors moving through to ask questions.

Phase 01

Identify a problem.

Students start by identifying a real problem they have noticed in their own lives, the school, or the wider world. The problem statement is written, defended, and approved before any building begins.

Phase 02

Build a prototype.

Sketches, iterations, and a working prototype. Students build with what they have, document each version, and revise based on what does not work the first time.

Phase 03

Present to a real audience.

Convention day brings families, faculty, and outside judges. Each student presents their invention, takes questions, and explains what the next version would do better.

Field Work Out of the classroom, into the world

Out of the classroom. Into the field.

Field trips and outdoor study tied directly to the year's academic and Explore Our World curriculum.

Page elementary students get out of the classroom and into the field as a regular part of the year. Fourth graders walk the California missions they study. Third graders visit a national park to do watershed observation in real terrain. Second graders meet with people from the countries of their ancestors at cultural sites and community organizations. Field work connects what students are studying to where it actually happens.

Field trips at Page are not enrichment days bolted onto the schedule. They are part of the academic and Explore Our World curriculum, structured around specific learning goals, and followed by writing and creative work back in the classroom.

K through 1st

Local field study.

Trips to local landmarks, civic institutions, and community sites tied to the year's themes. The youngest grades start with the immediate world around the school.

2nd and 3rd

Cultural and natural sites.

Trips to cultural centers, museums, and national or regional parks tied to the year's history, science, and Explore Our World themes.

4th and 5th

Historical and civic sites.

Trips to California missions, state government sites, and historical landmarks. Older grades arrive with research already done and leave with field notes ready for writing back in class.

All-School Productions Three times a year

Three full-scale productions. Every year.

Real staging, real lighting, real costumes, and a paying public audience, three times a year, every elementary student on stage in every show.

Page stages three full-scale productions every school year. Each one is a real production with real staging, lighting, costumes, and a paying public audience, and every elementary student takes part in every show. Performance is not a once-a-year assembly at Page. It is the regular rhythm of how the year is built.

Younger grades hold ensemble parts, group choreography, and chorus pieces, and they spend the rehearsal weeks learning what it actually feels like to be on a stage. Upper elementary students step into supporting and speaking roles, memorize larger parts, and start carrying responsibility for their own characters. Fifth graders begin assisting on the production and tech side alongside their performance work.

K through 2nd

Ensemble parts.

Group choreography, chorus pieces, and ensemble scenes. The youngest grades learn how a rehearsal works, how to hit a mark, and what it feels like to be part of a real production.

3rd through 5th

Speaking and lead roles.

Memorized parts, supporting roles, and lead roles for upper elementary students. Older students learn how to take responsibility for a character and carry a scene.

5th Grade

First production roles.

Fifth graders begin assisting on the production and tech side alongside their performance work, the first step toward the real production responsibility middle schoolers carry.

Mastery academics. Daily creative practice.

The numbers behind elementary.

Student-teacher ratio.

Core academic subjects.

Creators Program domains.