Curriculum   At the hub of each BNS class is its interdisciplinary core curriculum. Developmentally appropriate social studies and or science topics chosen by the teacher and their grade level colleagues give a focus to the learning experience. The classroom becomes a community of learners. We believe that less is more, that when children study fewer topics in greater depth, they learn how to focus and they develop the work habits they will need throughout their lives.   Students work alone and in groups, they collect data, do authentic research from a variety of sources and record information in many different formats.

This is quite different from textbook learning in which many topics are covered in little depth and children are expected to memorize many unrelated facts. Children and adults join in the investigation of a topic that incorporates social studies (geography, anthropology and history) and science (earth science, life science and physical science). Some of our units are science dominant and others focus more on social studies. At times teachers choose to do two distinct units simultaneously, one in social studies and one in science. They do this when there is no natural way to relate the topics. Our youngest students learn about here and now and about the world closest to them. As children get older the topics become more complex, abstract and remote. They develop a sense of long ago and far away, of history and geography. We teach history in a social context that explains how people lived and how their lives were affected by specific events and gradual changes.    Read More

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