The third and fourth graders in Silverwood’s Intermediate Classroom build on the foundation created in the Primary Classroom, welcome new students who have a desire and aptitude to learn with them, and prepare for their years in the Senior Classroom.

As the Intermediate students become increasingly confident learners, simultaneously challenged and nurtured by a superb teaching team, they build independence and a strong sense of self and of contributing well to a healthy group dynamic. The student use planners to organize their time and work. They take on leadership roles in the classroom and in the larger school community.

Building small group communication skills means working on team projects that are academic and yet hands-on and often outdoors. Students embark on field trips such as venturing to Islandwood on Bainbridge Island to study science for four days and three nights. They return home with increased confidence, strong friendships, and renewed enthusiasm for inquiry.

Intermediate Classroom teachers empower students to achieve and to explore beyond the surface of classroom topics, so they have opportunities to go in-depth in a subject that interests them, and to explore creative and scientific processes. During Writers Workshop, students have the time and direction to work on their “writerly” lives. In their Singapore math class, they work with an internationally-renowned curriculum that provides both a strong base in math facts as well as opportunities for enriching activities. They work on projects such as the Wax Museum where they depict a person from history and present what they have learned to an audience of their peers and parents.

The Treehouse, nestled among cedars, houses our third and fourth grade classrooms where students grow by leaps and bounds.