Our Lower School
The Lower School comprises two multi-age classrooms: 1-2 (known as Kochavim, “stars”) and 3-4 (Ilanot, “trees”). In these grades, our child-centered educational philosophy respects diversity, individuality, developmental readiness, and creativity.
Multiple approaches, such as cooperative learning, experiential education, project-based learning, and a purposeful social-emotional curriculum, help our students become capable, adaptable learners.
We love nature
Lower school students spend a great deal of time outside, at play and exploring nature. They discover how the seasons change, drawing pictures of what they see and writing in journals about their experiences. From the fall foliage to the frozen streams, from the first spring buds to the many spring bugs, we observe, document, touch and enjoy it all—while building the skills of literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking that are the foundation for upper-school subject areas.
In the lower school, students are based in their home rooms but leave for Judaics, art, and music.
We believe that children should be children. Our lower school emphasizes play, movement, and joy—not testing or homework. At Ezra, children grow to be autonomous learners and thinkers, in an environment of happiness and freedom.
“Ezra helped me become a person who embraces learning as a way of being.”
- Michal Raucher, class of 1996
