Springwater will develop students’ intellectual abilities in the areas of academics (literacy, receptive and expressive language, conceptual understanding of mathematics and arithmetical competence); knowledge (science; cultural awareness, literature, music, and art); and tools for thinking (ability to observe, recognize relationships, analyze and synthesize, interpret, draw inferences, use inductive and deductive logic, think critically, and evaluate). Springwater will develop students’ character in the areas of self (self-awareness, self-confidence, responsibility for one’s actions, and integrity); others (interpersonal skills of communication, negotiation, and cooperation, and respect for others); and community (capacity to function within a group and a sense of social responsibility). Finally, Springwater will develop students’ creativity in the areas of attitude (curiosity and openness to new ideas and experiences); design (ability to frame a problem, envision a variety of strategies and solutions, and formulate a plan and judge its probable effectiveness); and expression (through a variety of media and with the ability to sustain effort as necessary to master skills and complete projects and plans).

Standards-Based Backwards Planning:

The following documents set forth the core curriculum for the Oak Leaves (kinder), Dragonflies (1st grade), Salmon (2nd-3rd grade), and Blue Herons (4th-5th grade). Curriculum at Springwater is carefully and intentionally designed by staff, starting with the state standards and using the backwards planning model to ensure that students emerge having gained all of the requisite knowledge set forth in the state standards, while embedding and integrating Springwater's focus on environmental sciences and sustainability.

Oak Leaves Core Document	Salmon Core Document
Dragonfly Core Document	Blue Heron Core Documen

The Integrated Sciences Curriculum:

Springwater will promote learning as an integrated, interdisciplinary process rather than as a series of isolated subjects. Basic skills will be learned in a meaningful context and become a means for understanding the world, not just ends in themselves. We believe that a focus on environmental sciences is an ideal means by which to accomplish this goal, as it will provide children with an opportunity to learn through active engagement. Students will develop a depth of knowledge, not just breadth, and by delving more deeply into subjects with a cross-curricular approach and using environmental sciences as a unifying theme for exploration, hypothesis, and testing for “real-world” results, Springwater will help students acquire the tools of inquiry and expression, so that each may construct a personally meaningful understanding of the world and become an imaginative, independent thinker. Further, the focus on environmental sciences and the world around us, coupled with the strong presence of parents and members of the community, will create an environment where students develop a capacity for positive social action, cooperation, empathy, and responsibility.

Springwater will encourage the use of different and innovative learning methods, and increase choices of learning activities for students. The core component of Springwater’s curriculum will be the integration of the sciences into all core subject areas. Teaching students through science also helps them understand how they are part of a larger community, and how individuals and groups interact within and impact that community.

Student learning will be enhanced with project-based teaching methods, which allow for instruction to be tailored to unique learning styles and needs. Springwater will focus on developing proficiency, as opposed to simply moving through a lesson plan; creating an integrated school community, as opposed to isolated classes; striving toward a depth of knowledge, as supported by project-based methods, instead of simple rote memorization.

• Experiential, hands-on learning is more likely to be retained because the child is actively involved and sees some relevance of the information and skills to his/her life experience.
• Integrated curriculum and project-based learning, where science is taught along with skills in reading, writing, math, social studies, and art. The student is more likely to develop a rich and complex understanding of the concepts because they are taught in a variety of ways. Math skills such as measuring, adding/subtracting, and graphing are developed more quickly because there is a concrete and useful function to the skill. Language arts skills, such as explanation, demonstration, and written communication are likewise more effectively taught when students have interesting “subject matter” to communicate.
• Multi-sensory teaching is more effective because students, especially those having difficulty in understanding, are more likely to succeed in learning if there are a variety of ways the concept is explained, demonstrated, pictured.
• Cooperative and student-led learning experiences in small groups encourage students’ initiative and curiosity and teach them the social skills to work productively in a group – useful skills for all of life.
• Community-based learning: The Springwater site and the Oregon City area is a rich environment where students can learn by doing, and can learn the feeling of satisfaction from having improved their world in a meaningful way.
• Mixed-age grouping and a close-knit community of students ranging from grades K-8 will be an important feature of Springwater, reflecting our belief that combining ages creates broader opportunities for learning, and learning from each other.

Friday Field Studies:

Springwater will run on a four-day week, with two Fridays a month reserved for on-site and off-site field study. These field studies will be designed and implemented by Springwater teachers to ensure alignment with the curriculum, and will be assisted by a core group of trained parent and community volunteers. Activities will range from working in the school garden and caring for the school animals, to streambed restoration, the measurement and charting of pollutants in nearby streams and fields, a “rocket” club, astronomy projects, etc. These Friday field study activities will last for less than a full school day and will allow the children to attend in clothes that can get dirty, without having to worry about cleaning up for seat time. The field studies will then tie into cross-curricular lesson plans; for instance, work in the school garden (including researching what types of plants to plant and how to follow planting directions, to care for the plants and charting their growth throughout the season, to determining the best way to harvest the plants) will lead to a group determination of what to do with the harvest (researching different recipes and using the school kitchen to cook, marketing the produce at the Oregon City Farmers Market and exploring what prices to set, how to build a vendors’ stand, etc.)

Fridays will also allow integration of extended physical activities and planned learning. For example, a class may snowshoe in the Mt. Hood National Forest and study how plants and animals adapt to winter. Hiking portions of the old Oregon Trail (which ran through the Springwater area) can be combined with studies of the pioneer era and Oregon City’s long-term role in the settlement of the west.

Involving the Arts:

The integration of community arts in the classroom is a key component of Springwater Environmental Sciences School. Realization of this vision will include an artist-in-residence program, parent-child art classes, and the integration of the arts in the class curriculum. Students will be exposed to a wide variety of visual, musical, and performing arts. Allowing all children to try out different media and providing them with opportunities to explore encourages children to experiment and broaden their horizons.

A space in the school will be reserved for use as an art studio and all students will participate in a series of hands-on art lessons taught by community artists in a wide variety of media: Music, pottery, drawing, sculpture, paint, weaving, metal arts, drama, etc. Each class will complete an annual group art project, to which every student will contribute and have a role; for instance if one of the classes decides that its annual project will be a drama production, then every student in that class will have a role in stage design, direction and production, and performance. Allowing all children to try out different media and providing them with access to artistic experiences that they might not otherwise have an opportunity to explore encourages children to broaden their horizons and experiment outside their comfort zones.