Version 2 Grade-Level Themes & Investigations

At Grace, big ideas invite deep investigation. Children pursue questions, make connections across disciplines, and build understanding through sustained inquiry and exploration of overarching concepts. From Preschool through Grade 5, we engage children's curiosity about(through?) increasingly complex ideas as they observe, experiment, research, create, collaborate, and reflect.

Sustained investigations emerge from children's curiosity. Teachers closely observe and listen to each child's engagement with materials, each other, and their environments. As children explore and continually make sense of their worlds, teachers collaborate to understand their hundred languages, then create opportunities to further deepen, challenge, and extend their thinking.

little girl standing at a table with hands on paper

PRESCHOOL

What can paper become?

Exploring an everyday material transforms into imaginary worlds and stories.

Preschoolers began by exploring a simple, everyday material: paper. Led by their curiosity, they folded, twisted, crumpled, and tore it. From these experiences, more questions emerged: What can hands do? What sounds can paper make?

As the paper transformed, so did the children's ideas. They imagined miniature worlds, folding paper to create staircases, bridges, families, and homes. Dialogue, action, characters, and stories emerged within these imaginary worlds.

Through exploration, curiosity led to experimentation and testing ideas. Children engaged in scientific thinking—exploring cause and effect—while their creation of characters, dialogue, and stories supported oral storytelling, a foundational element of literacy.

two young children sit at a table manipulating pieces of clay

PREKINDERGARTEN

What does it mean to belong?

Exploring connection, community, and care through clay, Campfire, and living things.

In Prekindergarten, children explored what it means to belong. Using the school's weekly Campfire gathering as a springboard, they used clay to express ideas of connection, community, and collective experience. Through clay, children investigated how people relate to places, materials, and one another. Campfire became both an object and a metaphor—a gathering place, a shared story, and a symbol of warmth and togetherness.

Later in the year, children deepened their understanding of community care as they looked after chicken eggs during their incubation period. When the baby chicks emerged, the children nurtured them with patience, curiosity, and a growing sense of responsibility.

In Elementary grades, overarching themes become lenses for inquiry and understanding. Children explore increasingly complex concepts across disciplines, making connections as they wonder and engage in deeper learning.

four children standing outside in a garden looking at a large plant

KINDERGARTEN

Change

Children explore change in themselves and the world around them—from friendships and seasons to gardens, insects, food, and living things.

Kindergarten is a year filled with growth and change, and children explore this idea through their project work throughout the year. They consider how ideas transform as they travel from person to person, how friendships and seasons change, and how living things grow and develop.

In the garden, children observe insects and design insect homes. They explore how food brings people together as they plant, harvest, and cook. They witness transformations in the natural world, such as a moth emerging from its cocoon, while also reflecting on how their own identities grow and change over time.

three children in a classroom sitting around a poster board on a table and working together

GRADE 1

Community

Children explore what makes a community—and how identity, diversity, shared gifts, and care help communities grow and thrive.

First graders begin by thinking about what it means to create and care for a classroom community. As they explore their own identities, they discover the diversity of experiences, perspectives, and gifts each person brings—and consider both what makes us different and what we share.

Their investigation expands outward as children consider how they can help make their school a welcoming community. Later, they extend their thinking to the natural world, exploring landforms, erosion, and climate change and considering how changes in the environment affect communities.

three children standing at a glass window looking into a museum habitat

GRADE 2

Interdependence

Children investigate how living systems and human systems depend on one another, from ecosystems and pollinators to branches of government.

First graders begin by thinking about what it means to create and care for a classroom community. As they explore their own identities, they discover the diversity of experiences, perspectives, and gifts each person brings—and consider both what makes us different and what we share.

Their investigation expands outward as children consider how they can help make their school a welcoming community. Later, they extend their thinking to the natural world, exploring landforms, erosion, and climate change and considering how changes in the environment affect communities.

A group of student stand and sit in two rows on a beach with two teachers as they all smile at the camera

GRADE 3

Culture

Children investigate how culture shapes the ways people live, connect, and understand their world—across communities, places, and time.

Third graders explore culture through the lens of anthropology, investigating how people and communities develop distinct ways of living and understanding the world.

They examine Indigenous American cultures through artifacts, maps, geography, climate, food, homes, and natural resources, considering how place and environment influence ways of life. Their investigation then expands to cultures and traditions across the United States, culminating in a State Fair where children share what they have learned.

A visit to Historic St. Mary’s City gives students another opportunity to consider culture through the lives, experiences, and environments of people who lived in the past.

sheets of paper hang side by side with sticky notes attached to them containing students' writing

GRADE 4

Perspective

Children explore what shapes a person’s perspective—and how understanding different points of view can deepen their understanding of ideas, events, and one another.

Fourth graders explore perspective by considering both how they express their own points of view and how they understand the perspectives of others.

They begin with the idea of line of sight and expand their thinking to ask: What informs our perspectives? How do we express them? These questions become a lens for learning across literature, art, and other academic work.

Their study of the American Revolution provides a particularly rich context for this investigation as children examine the tensions of the period and consider how people experiencing the same events could understand them differently.

a 3-dimensional paper sculpture contains a basketball, soccer ball, two houses and a tennis racquet

GRADE 5

Voice

Children explore the power of voice—how it can tell stories, express ideas, inform others, and inspire awareness and action.

Fifth graders explore voice by considering how people use words, stories, and creative expression to communicate ideas and experiences.

Their investigation begins with picture books and the ways authors and illustrators develop a distinctive voice. Students then become authors themselves, collaboratively writing and illustrating Let’s Bounce!?, a book that later inspires their spring musical.

Their study of The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis extends the investigation into a different context. As students learn about Afghanistan and Southern Asia, they create a newscast focused on life under the Taliban, particularly the experiences of women and children. Through this work, students consider how voice can inform others, build knowledge and awareness, and contribute to collective action.

Version 2 Grade-Level Themes & Investigations

Early Childhood (2025-2026)

PRESCHOOL

PREKINDERGARTEN

Elementary (2025-2026)

KINDERGARTEN

GRADE 1

GRADE 2

GRADE 3

GRADE 4

GRADE 5

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Version 2 Grade-Level Themes & Investigations

Early Childhood (2025-2026)

PRESCHOOL

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PREKINDERGARTEN

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Elementary (2025-2026)

KINDERGARTEN

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GRADE 1

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GRADE 2

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GRADE 3

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GRADE 4

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GRADE 5

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