Academics
Where Spanish immersion meets joyful learning
Every day at YPW, children learn through Spanish. Our balanced program blends strong core instruction with hands-on exploration so students build knowledge, creativity, and confidence—en español.
What families can expect
True immersion
True immersion Native/near-native educators model real-life Spanish all day.
Balanced curriculum
Balanced curriculum - Literacy
- Math
- STEAM
- Music & Movement
- Social-Emotional.
Small groups & centers
Small groups & centers Lots of talk time, feedback, and choice.
Whole-child growth
Whole-child growth Curiosity, critical thinking, collaboration, and kindness.
Social-Emotional
YPW teachers creates lessons around the core values, based on five benchmarks: respect, responsibility, cooperation, communication, and self-management. These terms form a common language used throughout the School, which helps clarify communication with parents about their child’s growth and development.
Throughout their time at YPW, students get opportunities to develop confidence, responsibility, and respect. From maintaining the garden and watering the plants, to the daily jobs around the classroom that all students do, the YPW community will encourage pride in a job well done and respect for others’ work.
Students are exposed to social emotional concepts and values daily, using picture books, journaling, role-playing, group discussion, and/or cooperative activities. Students are taught to celebrate each other’s unique qualities and to respect each other’s differences. Teachers establish classroom norms to promote equity and inclusion and to teach students how to disagree respectfully. Students learn to become respectful listeners, problem-solvers, and independent thinkers through play, stories, cooperative activities, and hands-on lessons.
Reading
Children in our school develop a love of reading in many ways. Our intentional and individualized approach to literacy builds a strong foundation of skills.
Because children don’t all learn on the same day the same way, we work with students where they are, set developmentally appropriate goals, and equip students to meet those goals and push to the next one. Formal assessments and student observation are used to assess “just-right” reading levels and to ensure that students are meeting benchmarks and stretching themselves with book choices.
We blend the explicit instruction of skills with a language-rich environment for children to engage authentically with a variety of texts. Students learn reading through read-alouds and modeling of skills one-on-one instruction, small group work, and whole group lessons.
Starting in Kindergarten, classes visit the Children’s Library each week to engage with stories, learn about various genres, and practice comprehension skills. Students love to peruse the rich supply of tittles and choose their next literary adventure.
Beginning Years
Print carries meaning
Playing with sounds
Symbol recognition
Retelling stories to make meaning
Exposure to books
Early Years
Matching sounds + symbols
Sounding out words
Identifying sight words
Retelling stories to build comprehension
Developing phonemic awareness skills
Middle Years
Decoding
Reading to learn
Expanding sight words
Developing literal comprehension skills
Reading stamina
Moving away from text with illustrations
Later Years
Refining fluency
Building inferential comprehension skills
Supporting thinking with evidence
Determining theme
Expanding vocabulary
Writing
Becoming a writer starts with storytelling.
From our two-year olds through our 5th graders, students learn to discover their voice. They learn that their words have meaning and putting them to paper gives them power. Whether they are dictating their thoughts to a teacher, engaging in a dramatic play with their friends, or typing their notes from an interview, students of all ages are developing their skills to become competent and compelling writers.
Because writing is a process and an exercise in communication, we provide the students with authentic opportunities to engage with an audience and receive feedback from peers and teachers during activities such as “The Share Bag” or an “Author’s Circle”. At every level, we work on the mechanics of writing.
Students also learn to revise and edit through the writing workshop model across multiple genres. This process allows students to discover and trust their voice.
And finally, inspiration often comes from seeing examples that capture the imagination. To this end, teacher use literature as mentor texts as examples of quality writing.
Beginning Years
mark making
letter strings
retelling of personal experiences
dramatic play
Early Years
matching sounds + symbols
writing letters and numbers
expressing thoughts with words and pictures
using appropriate beginning and ending sounds of words
early sentence writing
introduction to punctuation
Middle Years
structure of a story
exploring craft, dialogue, and interesting language
beginning paragraph writing
writing for a wider audience
capitalization rules
spelling patterns
Later Years
sentence complexity
beginning essay structure and development
organization
writing to inform others
Practice with writing mechanics
Dictionary skills
Prefixes, suffixes, root words
Expanding vocabulary
Math
The mathematic program at YPW focuses on developing a deep understanding of mathematical concepts, proficiency with key skills, and the ability to solve complex and novel problems.
With our youngest children, we start their mathematical journey by guiding and helping to make connections using activities such as cooking, counting, designing and building, and playing games. This work continues on during their time in the Elementary School where we blend:
- direct instruction
- structured investigation
- open exploration
Students are engaged in math throughout the day. They play math games and participate in math-focused daily activities where they discover and explore math principles either guided by teachers, cooperatively with peers, or independently. Students also work through classroom challenges that teachers create to reinforce concepts and expand student’s mathematical facility. And because the real world isn’t siloed, we incorporate geometry, measurement, fractions and problem solving into our specialist’s classes in authentic and meaningful ways.
Whether we are identifying patterns, measuring ingredients, or creating maps, math is all around us.
Beginning Years
beginning number sense
1-on-1 correspondence
symbol knowledge
comparisons
matching
Early Years
subitizing
concepts of addition and subtraction
number relationships
using mathematical tools
basic geometry skills
Middle Years
building fluency with addition and subtraction
introduction to multiplication and division
expanding knowledge and place value
fractional pieces of numbers
understanding of rectangular arrays and area
Later Years
introduction to proportional reasoning
developing procedural fluency with all four operations
analyzing and classifying geometric figures
understanding volume
finding equivalent fractions
Social Studies
Social Studies at YPW develops global, cultural, environmental, and societal awareness. Students build geographic literacy, explore historical events, and learn about diverse cultures through an integrated, inquiry-based curriculum that is closely connected to language arts.
Learning moves beyond memorization as students engage in discussion, projects, and real-world connections that encourage critical thinking and deeper understanding. School trips and hands-on experiences further enrich the curriculum.
Instruction is guided by six essential questions that help students make sense of their world:
Who am I, and how do my experiences shape my understanding of the world?
How do people and societies change over time?
How does geography influence how people live and interact?
How are communities and governments formed and organized?
How does the past help us understand the present and shape the future?
What responsibilities do we have as members of local and global communities?
Through this approach, students develop curiosity, empathy, and the skills needed to think critically and engage thoughtfully with the world around them.
Science
On a-day-to-day basis, our young students immerse themselves in scientific inquiry. Building the foundations of scientific and reasoning is an essential part of YPW education. Play-based exploration and learning nurtures a lifelong love for inquiry and discovery encouraging creativity, critical thinking and a sense of wonder about the world.
Beginning Years
sensory exploration
nature-based exploration
exploration of the physical world (rocks, bugs, plants, bones, etc.)
discovery with the everyday (cooking, seeds + plants, fish tanks)
Early Years
multisensory experiences
introduction of scientific tools
practical skills and observations
exploration of the natural world: nurturing a lifelong love for inquiry and discovery
Middle Years
enhanced observation
data collection
formation of hypothesis
conducting simple experiments
Later Years
critical thinking
real world challenges
experimental design
deep understanding of scientific principles
STEM + Design Thinking
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classes emphasize creative use of technology tools to develop collaboration and innovation through design thinking, electronics, coding, engineering and digital citizenship. Our goal is to provide a foundation of skills and awareness that will inspire students and allow them to be creators, not just consumers of technology.
In the beginning years, students work with peers and teachers on the concepts of design and engineering. Technology, such as projectors, levers + pulleys, and microscopes are used to extend student’s thinking and test their theories about the world around them.
Beginning Years
design thinking: building with blocks and natural materials
storytelling: dramatic play
collaboration
trial + error
adhesion + cohesion
Early Years
design thinking: simple machines and inventions
storytelling: introduction to coding
balance between technology use and active play
Middle Years
design thinking: creative programming with robots
storytelling: begin video production and introduction to coding
digital citizenship: awareness about participating with kindness in online communities
Later Years
design thinking: 3D printing
storytelling: intermediate video production and begin website design
digital citizenship: awareness of online privacy and participating in online communities with kindness
creative leadership through news program
Visual Arts
The art studio is a place for children to explore and discover through materials and play. Through self directed exploration and guided instruction, they learn to think like artists, developing problem-solving skills, resilience, and a deeper understanding of themselves and their world.
Our visual arts curriculum is design to support each student’s unique artistic journey, encouraging them to experiment, take risks, and reflect on their artistic process and outcomes.
Students become storytellers, as well as researchers. The child’s process is valued over any final product and the environment encourages experimentation, spontaneous creativity, and expression. Our intentional art curriculum helps to cultivate self-awareness, creativity, curiosity, confidence and wonder.
We teach for artistic behavior, which can be summed up with a powerful three-sentenced focus:
What do artists do?
The child is the artist
The classroom is child’s studio
Beginning Years
space
fine motor skill development
storytelling
descriptive language
Early Years
line, shape, color, pattern and form
develop craft
collaborate and connect
stretch and explore
Middle Years
style, theme and customization
balance + movement
envisioning + executing a concept
document and reflect
Later Years
composition, value, perspective and illusion
express creative ideas
understand art worlds
engage and persist
Music & Movement and PE
We prepare our students to be physically and mentally active, fit, and healthy for life. Our goals are to have fun while participating in sport and skill activities. We stress the importance of fully participating, positive encouragement, and continued improvement in all of the sports and games that we play.
Beginning Years
balance
bilateral movements
jumping + climbing
alternating feet
Early Years
hand-eye coordination
eye-foot coordination
cooperative games + intro to team sports
spatial awareness
Middle Years
sportsmanship + fair play
refinement of locomotor skills and speed
complex team sports
game strategy
Later Years
team building
rules + procedures
tournament play
refine body control skills
How we teach
Model → Guide → Independence (gradual release)
Workshop & learning centers with targeted small groups
Assessment for learning (quick checks, conferences, rubrics)
Differentiation for beginners to advanced speakers
Partnering with families
Weekly highlights & simple at-home prompts (en español)
Family showcases of student work