Lower School

As you enter the doorway of Marianne Hall, a world of wonder and excitement greet you! The Lower School students, grades K – 5, grace the halls with their bright smiles and eagerness to join classmates in their day of learning.

At Saint Francis School, teachers embrace the uniqueness of each child and diversity of learning approaches. Students express a tangible sense of joy and pride in their learning that is thoughtfully guided by the personalized approaches of our faculty to engage each child’s natural curiosities.

“Learning by doing” is a theme that you will see threaded throughout the Lower School program. Motivated by the power of their own interests, students take initiative to explore, create, collaborate, care, and think critically about their expanding world, others, and themselves. Leadership and meaningful work are the results.

Integrated Curriculum

In an integrated curriculum, content from various disciplines, such as language arts, math, science, or social studies, is integrated through themes, projects, plays, and other learning experiences. By integrating curriculum, students develop an understanding of concepts and make connections across disciplines. A topic of study serves as a guideline, or umbrella, under which different developmental and content areas are integrated.

Students approach the various subject areas through inquiry. Religion, literacy, math, science and social studies all work together to link back to the students’ inquisitive nature. As we help them build the essential base for a life-long learner, we focus heavily on literacy and math skills. The skills of communicating through the written and spoken word as well as the skill to question and work methodically through problems empower our students to advance in all subject areas.

World Languages

Saint Francis students are “global citizens who value the multi-cultural differences of our world“ and the study of a foreign language enhances this truth. Chinese, Japanese and Spanish are offered from kindergarten to graduation. Once at the high school level, students may opt to study another language including American Sign Language or continue in Chinese, Japanese or Spanish.