Specials

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Our founder Caroline Pratt knew long ago that children learn by doing. When children’s work is rooted in practical and engaging situations—as it is at City and Country School—it is only natural that Specials are embedded in their activities. 

Specials Teachers support C&C’s Social Studies program in different ways at different ages. They work in cooperation with Group Teachers to support the core program, introducing concepts and skills within the context of students’ Social Studies. A Music Teacher is introduced to our 2s and Rhythms is started in the 3s. By the end of the 3s, Woodworking is introduced. Starting in the 6s, children head out of their Classrooms for Art and Shop. Science, Technology, and Library are added in the VIIs. Recorder begins in the 8s and continues in the 9s. Orchestra and Spanish begin in the 10s. A Math Specialist pushes into the classroom for the 5s–9s, and a Math Teacher works in conjunction with the Group Teacher in the 10s-up to offer standalone classes. In the 11s, Electives begin and continue through the 13s. Also in the 9s, Academic Performance Lab (APL) begins, our in­-house study and test-taking skills Special. 

The Middle School and Upper School Groups’ Jobs, Shares, and Plays all incorporate Specials. In the case of Plays—the culmination of a Study—students work collaboratively to draw upon the knowledge, skills, and resources acquired in multiple disciplines: they build props, paint scenes, and make artifacts (Shop, Art, Science, Technology, Math); craft an engaging storyline (Language Arts); and express themselves and their understanding of the study creatively and physically (Music and Rhythms). 

Art’s never really just art at City and Country School—unless it’s the one hour Friday period where you’re free sketching. Art usually involves at least one aspect of our curriculum.”

A C&C 13

“At a certain point in Math, we were looking into mathematicians in ancient Egypt, and it was helpful to use math there to help us learn—and also, the pyramids, how tall they’d be, how wide, how level the ground would be.”

A C&C 10