The Episcopal School of Knoxville is committed to both the academic excellence and the personal growth of our students. Small classes combined with the talents of some of the finest teachers in this region nurture our students’ natural curiosity and enthusiasm. We strive to instill a love of learning at an early age and to establish a strong academic foundation for the future success of our students.
Teachers from both our lower and middle schools work together to present a balanced and lively curriculum. Our course of study includes a literary based language arts program, the University of Chicago’s Everyday Math through fifth grade, experiential laboratory science, and social studies. World language instruction begins in Kindergarten. Using our extensive library collections and two computer labs, Episcopal students learn to access information and develop critical research and communication strategies.
In a school day filled with exploration and creativity, children master skills that will serve them throughout life. Whether in the classroom, on the playground, or at the lunch table, every activity is an opportunity for learning life skills. The Lower School gives students the space, time, and encouragement to discover the joys of learning in an active environment that offers more than just the basics in literature, math. science, and social studies.
Evidence of this hands-on learning approach can be seen throughout the classrooms in the Brewington Family Lower School. For example, First Grade students are currently working on a creating a 3D version of the Great Barrier Reef for display in their classrooms. Students create all the plant and animal life that lives in the reef along with studying reef preservation and many of the dangers to the reef. Students will become “scientists” and present their findings on how to protect reefs from further destruction and decline to classmates at their annual Conference on Oceans.
Meanwhile, in Second Grade, students are deep into their unit on the Five Senses. This unit begins with a study of the brain followed by a closer look at each of the five senses: sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell. To close out each of the different senses, the students participate in a lab that allows them to experiment with each sense in hands on way. For example, students explore whether or not your skin can tell temperature. In reality, your skin only knows if the temperature has changed. If you have one hand in cold water, one hand in hot water, and then place both hands in lukewarm water, the cold hand will tell you the water is warm while the hot hand will tell you the water is cool. Students also examine fingerprints and experiment to determine if texture and shape can be matched using only the sense of touch.