Lower School

(PreK - 3rd Grade)

Happy K-1 students in their MV classrooms

Explore, Collaborate, and Discover

Children are born with an innate drive to learn. In the Lower School, we set out to provide an environment that promotes this philosophy through play and a Forest School-inspired program that values process over product and provides adults with whom they develop trusting and caring relationships.

Our school is unique in that we have full use of a 75-acre campus–woods, creeks, fields, and trails–for faculty to use in implementing the curriculum. We engage, nurture, and support children in their pursuit of knowledge and meaning through inquiry, social-emotional development, child-centered curriculum, and creative expression. This is where our students begin their journey toward becoming competent, compassionate, collaborative, and creative global citizens.

The school places children based on their development, which allows for classroom groupings that best meet each child’s needs. Our team of expert educators focuses on “whole child development,” ensuring that each student’s cognitive, social-emotional, and physical needs are being met while paying careful attention to the many unique communication and learning styles of young children.

Our Mission

The Lower School’s mission is to provide an environment that encourages independence while valuing the time and development of individual children. Children construct their own knowledge through flexible instruction, child-initiated play, and the process of learning how to learn. We are a diverse community that fosters mutual respect and social responsibility, enhanced by a strong partnership between home and school.

Maumee Valley students in the Forest School

What is a Forest School?

Forest Schools inspire a deep and meaningful connection to the world and an understanding of how a young learner fits within it. It is a long-term program that supports play, exploration, and supported risk-taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner-inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.

At Maumee Valley, we incorporate the traditional Scandinavian philosophy with developmentally appropriate curriculum and social-emotional programming.

Giving all students time to explore nature, however they choose, is a high priority. They gain a sense of pride and grow through self-led and deeply engaged play. You can find our faculty conducting their morning meetings outside, our students planting in our garden beds, and our parents talking to their children about their learning experiences via their child’s digital portfolios.

We encourage awareness in students by engaging their senses with the environment around them. We often ask questions such as “What has changed since our last visit?”, “How does the water feel today?”, “Can you smell an acorn?”, and “Do you think that is one bird calling or many?” These questions foster a connection with nature and encourage students to think about what is happening around them while they are playing.

Our students can be found outside strengthening fine and gross motor muscles and social-emotional skills through climbing, building, digging, working together, and problem-solving in the forest. Needless to say, we are not afraid to get dirty while learning.

Our Approach to Learning

Younger students are eager to learn from peers in higher-grade levels; older students develop empathy, leadership skills, and responsibility by working with younger students. With two grade levels working together, each group is benefiting from the other and learning essential skills for success. Flexible groupings allow teachers to meet students at their level and to provide just the right level of challenge.

Classrooms are open for learning. Open classrooms without walls allow for flexibility of learning spaces. Students extend their learning into our Blakey Resource Center with access to computer pods, maker materials, and a fully equipped resource center. Throughout our school, you will find students working collaboratively in small groups with teachers and other students.

Our students and faculty gather as a community each month in the Millhon Auditorium for a Lower School Assembly. Assemblies are times to connect and hear school announcements and view student presentations. They allow students to present in front of a supportive audience of friends and teachers.

Our students will grow to become caring global citizens equipped with high levels of empathy and understanding. Growth mindset and inclusivity are core philosophies that drive the Lower School’s character-development program. Attention to character education results in caring and accepting students, which in turn, makes for a learning environment where students feel safe being themselves and feel supported taking academic risks.

Lower School teachers are curriculum designers. As experts in education, teachers take an innovative approach to developing curricula by studying international and national standards to create a dynamic and experiential program in each subject. Learning is individualized and student-centered. Our faculty craft customized units of study for English language arts, math, science, social studies, and human growth and development. Starting in 2nd grade, Spanish and technology instruction are taught every other day. Students attend classes for music, art, physical education, and library.

Inquiry-based learning is an approach to learning that emphasizes the student’s role in the learning process. Rather than the teacher telling students what they need to know, students are encouraged to explore the material, ask questions, and share ideas.

Relationships are the foundation of the Lower School. We celebrate our students’ identity. We focus on the individual child as part of a family, a school, a community, and the larger society. We spend a large amount of time focusing on the children’s individual identity and their classroom community. Strong relationships increase student motivation, reduce behavioral issues, and improve student achievement.

Classroom environments are co-created with students in regard to their interests, developmental levels, and cultural and geographic backgrounds of the children in the classroom.

young students together reading book

Prekindergarten and Junior Kindergarten

It All Starts With Nature

Maumee Valley’s PreKindergarten and Junior Kindergarten students spend a portion of their day outside exploring our campus. All PreKindergarten and Junior Kindergarten teachers are certified outdoor educators. As a result, they are skilled at taking curriculum outdoors through all four seasons and encouraging, engaging, and inspiring children through positive outdoor experiences. Outdoor education allows students the time and space to develop their interests, skills, and understandings through practical hands-on experiences.

prek & junior kindergarten

Kindergarten & 1st Grade

Learning Through Playful Inquiry

We believe learning through playful inquiry is the foundation for intellectual, physical, social, and emotional growth. Play-based learning allows children to engage their minds, organize their thoughts, and store information using all of their senses.

Teachers capitalize on the curiosity and enthusiasm of our young learners. Our program encourages students to learn best by doing. Students receive the skills, tools, materials, and attention they need to experience, explore, and experiment with their surroundings. Teachers assist them in planning, organizing, and discussing observations of the world around them. Kindergarten and 1st grade students learn how to think deeply, ask questions, and listen to ideas.

Kindergarten & 1st Grade

kindergarten students on bridge

students on bridge

2nd & 3rd Grades

Nurturing Learners, Building Foundations

When your child is in these early grades, you know your child is loved by our teachers. Classrooms are intentionally designed to nurture young learners through cozy reading spots, flexible seating options, and a focus on exploration. Students learn how to learn, engage confidently with teachers and peers, and build a strong foundation in literacy, mathematics, social-emotional skills, and critical thinking.

2nd & 3rd grades