Birthdays

Open House

The day before school starts students and their families are invited to an Open House at the Lower School from 10-noon to meet and greet their teachers, see the classrooms and tour the school.

Back to School Night

In September parents are invited to come to school for an evening to learn about their children's curriculum. Parents will visit classroom spaces, meet teachers and hear teacher presentation about what to expect from your child's upcoming school year.

Community Meetings

On Fridays from 2:20 to 3:00 p.m. all children and faculty attend the Community Meeting in the library. Singing, storytelling, skits/plays, curricular presentations, etc. are shared with the entire Lower School community at this time.

Students celebrate the changing of the season.

Harvest Festival

Held in late October or early November, Harvest Festival is an opportunity to recognize the value in coming together as a community in a joyful way. There will be a bonfire and music, wonderful drums, tinkling chimes and children’s voices rising in poetry and song. It is a celebration of autumn, the changing of the seasons, the harvest and sharing the bounty with others. The Lower School has a food drive and delivers it to the Oregon Food Bank.

Revels

This is a performance presented by the entire Lower School in which each child dances, sings and plays an instrument. The performance is scheduled close to winter vacation. All parents and immediate family members are invited to this event in the Cabell Center.

Experiential Days

A student learns the joys of Fly Fishing during Experiential Days.

Held the week before Spring Break, Experiential Days lasts for four days. This is a wonderful opportunity for children to work in mixed age groups and spend time with other adults in our community to focus four full days on a particular area of learning such as different international cultures, drama, medieval times, detective work, rock climbing, and much more.

Spring Festival

Students, families and faculty are invited to the Spring Festival on a Sunday afternoon in April. Children perform songs and dances, eat special foods and play games.

Portfolio Nights

Portfolio Nights are held at each grade level towards the end of the school year. Students show their parents samples of their work/learning from throughout the school year as part of their evaluation process.

Campus Day

Campus Day is held in April, on or near Earth Day. Work crews under faculty direction make various improvements around the campus such as picking up litter, spreading bark chips in the fir grove, washing buses, or planting flowers and trees.

Pet Day and Field Day

A student helps spread bark dust around campus during Campus Day.

Students share their pets (dogs, cats, and other pets) and participate in athletic events during the last week of school.

First Grade Buddies

Seniors are partnered with first graders in the fall and enjoy a trip to the pumpkin patch, attend the assembly prior to winter vacation together and make a trip to the zoo in the spring. This is a well anticipated and savored relationship across divisions.

Lunch Bunches

The Lower School counselor meets with groups of children for lunch. All are invited. Topics include Lego building (and discussions about power), dealing with changes (such as divorce), a student-initiated club such as “The Environmental Friends.”

Service Learning

3rd graders help at the Food Bank for their service learning project.

Each class is involved in a Service Learning project over the course of the school year. Projects include adopting grandparents in a retirement home, food drives, gleaning orchards to collect fruit for the Oregon Food Bank, cleaning parks, etc.

Yearbook

Parent volunteers work with teachers and students to put together a Lower School Yearbook each spring, featuring class photos, student poetry and artwork.