At Spring Hill, there is continuity from 1st through 6th. With our approach to curriculum development, there is a smooth transition from one year to the next with teachers commuting about how each student finished the previous school year. In addition to the core areas of Language Arts, Social Studies, History and Mathematics, all 1st-6th graders have Design Lab & Science, Art, Performance, and Spanish & Cultural Studies.
Each trimester, classes do a deep dive into a selected subject. This involves spending every afternoon for the entire trimester with one of the following rotating specialties: Spanish & Cultural Studies, Design Lab & Science, and Art & Performance.
During the Deep Dives, afternoon teachers work closely with their group’s core classroom teacher to integrate and reflect in the afternoon curriculum what is being done in the core subject areas. This collaboration provides a multitude of opportunities for integrated projects, creates a continuity in the learning of foundational concepts across multiple disciplines and helps to deepen understanding.
Design Thinking was introduced to Spring Hill in 2013 and has grown into an integral part of our school philosophy, our approach to teaching, and the establishment of our Design Lab. Spring Hill held its first Invention Convention in 1990 and has a deep tradition of combining the creative and engineering processes in order to develop the mindset and skills students will need to make positive and meaningful contributions to the world around us.
Students learn the mechanics of building prototypes in addition to the process of coming up with ideas and figuring out how people can benefit from their creations. They are empowered by their lab skills and their ability to implement their own ideas.
The Design Lab is a central piece of how Spring Hill continues to develop empathy throughout the early years of school and how we model for students an appreciation of process and what it means to consider others as part of the design process.