The Tumtum and Mazama (preschool) classes are immersed in a musical world of exploration and discovery. In music class they create and share music together by playing music games involving various songs, instruments, and movements. Music games often involve a structure of playing and/or singing a pattern together, with interludes for individual characters or scenarios to perform, and then they repeat the process. Students are introduced to several different percussion instruments and practice taking turns expressing their musical instincts as well as singing and keeping rhythm together as a class. Exploring movement through music offers opportunities to channel energy, develop physical coordination, stimulate imagination, and promote creativity.

Kalama, Pahto, and Loowit classes add to their understanding of beat, melody, and rhythm. They learn to read and write simple music. They continue learning solfege syllables (do, re, mi...) and begin to create their own accompaniment parts on the instruments. Additionally, students are introduced to various inspiring classical masterpieces from around the world. Kalama, Pahto, and Loowit are learning and exploring the various aspects of music: through investigating the science of sound, where music comes from around the world, how to play instruments and use our voices and bodies to make music together, and how to read and share that music, students are developing their appreciation for music. Students are practicing playing instruments in time with one another, and learning how to count and come in at musical cues.

Wy’East and Klickitat students obtain musical abilities based on their own individual interests. Students are encouraged to explore different instruments as well as improvisation and original composition. Music theory, culture, and history are threaded throughout students’ education at Gardner. Multiple performances and projects are produced every year as a culmination of the students’ hard work. At Gardner we strive to instill a passion and curiosity for music that students will take with them wherever they go.

In art there is never a “right” answer or only one way to do things. This dovetails with the multiple intelligences because students use many different approaches and parts of the brain to make art. Even better, projects are personal and individualized so art at Gardner facilitates student expression and allows each student to demonstrate what makes them unique.

Students are encouraged to develop a personal aesthetic while being challenged to use the elements and principles of design to strengthen their work; they also learn information about artists throughout history to broaden the context of their work. This approach to learning helps students create projects that are recognizably their own but also demonstrate growth and artistic maturity over time. As students tap into their spatial intelligence, they will develop the regions of the brain that control creativity and intuition.

We explore many art mediums and styles over the course of the year. We encourage students to approach all projects with a growth mindset and not have fixed opinions. Students learn to think of the artistic process as just that, a process. Often our “mistakes” are really “happy accidents” that can make an artwork better or inform us what would work better the next time. This helps students develop both problem-solving and grit. We will get messy often, and explore paint, oil pastels, clay, printmaking, water-color, sculpture, sewing, and collage.

Research continues to show that physical education helps build healthy bodies, develops the cognitive mind, and supports social growth. Understanding the value of kinesthetic learning is important to being physically active. At Gardner, an emphasis is placed on teaching the kinds of kinesthetic lifestyle skills that pave the way for children to lead active, healthy lives.

The physical education program is configured to immerse students in play through various structured and unstructured activities so that learning vital physical, social, and psychological skills comes more naturally. This program places strong emphasis on being outdoors so that students become more comfortable in the most natural settings possible while having added physical and cognitive benefits. Overarching goals for all grades include:

• Learning to be comfortable trying new things

• Striving for success while learning how to deal with failure

• Positive sportsmanship and respect

• Physically more capable in all areas of movement and various techniques while striving for advancement in specific areas

• Embracing challenge

• Learning to collaborate with others

• Mental toughness and resilience to components out of their control

During Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten, PE is a magical and exciting time of growth. The program is structured with large amounts of free play to allow students to create the most organic environment possible. Using their incredible imaginations, students are able to create worlds and activities that adults couldn’t possibly replicate. In this time students learn to create social connections, problem solve, explore, and collaborate with others.

In Loowit through Klickitat (Grades 1-6), students continue to learn and refine locomotor skills as well as incorporate more advanced movements and techniques that typically correlate with organized sports such as speed and agility, throwing, catching, kicking, sprinting, endurance running, and striking. Students are introduced to different organized sports which include soccer, basketball, whiffle ball, handball, ultimate Frisbee, and flag football. These classes will also have portions of their time dedicated to structured and unstructured games that are not associated with organized sports. Students continue to work on social skills, including sportsmanship and conflict management skills in cooperative activities. In these classes, students learn more about the psychological components of competing against oneself or an opponent as well as how to communicate and organize in a team. Students learn about proper nutrition, mental health, including stress reduction techniques, and specific dynamic and static stretching techniques.

There is a Chinese proverb that states “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.” This basic idea embodies the philosophy of the science program at Gardner. Students are best taught science by doing science, and it is incorporated throughout thematic studies at every grade level.

Students from Tumtum to Klickitat are constantly being asked to wonder and question about the world around them. Over time at Gardner, the science program builds upon itself by circling back to core ideas and concepts. This spiraling approach allows students to develop deeper understandings of scientific ideas and concepts. We focus on four different areas during a student’s time in Science: the Scientific Method, Engineering Design Process, Technology, and the Hard Sciences.

Our students go outside on our 5-acre campus to design, monitor, and complete Science studies. Our Gardner Garden provides an outdoor lab space to dive into environmental education and biology studies, and our teachers prioritize a hands-on, nature focused approach to inspire our young scientists.

The primary purpose of the Spanish program at Gardner is to introduce students to the language in rich and meaningful ways. Students are provided opportunities to listen to and speak Spanish in an encouraging environment. This approach to language learning also helps our students expand and develop their speaking, listening, and comprehension skills. Children with varying levels of skills, knowledge, and learning modalities are taught using a variety of methods that include many of the multiple intelligences. By sharing music, food art, stories, and dance from Spanish speaking cultures, our final goal is to increase students’ breadth and depth of understanding, inspiring a desire to pursue continued learning of a foreign language after Gardner.

The curriculum is designed to meet the developmental needs of each student. All grade levels use myriad teaching strategies to engage the intelligences in order to enhance language acquisition. In addition to formal Spanish language structure, all students play games, learn songs, learn about Spanish culture, cook Spanish foods, among a range of activities to broaden their experience with the language and cultures.

EARLY CHILDHOOD: Our preschoolers meet with our Spanish teacher to learn new sounds and new words through fun activities, games, and songs.

KALAMA, LOOWIT, AND PAHTO: In this early stage of learning the language, pronunciation is a key component of the course. Students are able to recognize sounds of the alphabet and some common verbs, and work to identify the vowel sounds in Spanish. In addition, students recognize and name colors, numbers, and shapes, as well as other concepts in Spanish.

WY’EAST AND KLICKITAT: In our upper grades, students build on their previous knowledge and then launch into a more conversational approach to language acquisition, to build confidence and facility in the Spanish language.