Specialty Programs

• Art
• Physical Education
• Technology
• Science
• Music
• Spanish

Art
In Explorer's weekly art classes, children exercise creativity and acquire a wide repertoire of skills free from the limitations created by the use of models or dictated experiences. The children are free to discover their own creativity through all types of media. Past projects have involved painting, drawing, sculpture, etching, collage, sewing, and more.

Physical Education
In Explorer's physical education classes, children are encouraged to respect and develop their personal physical strengths and abilities in games that emphasize teamsmanship and cooperative behaviors. Our physical education program does not focus on competition. Rather, emphasis is placed upon building a sense of confidence in and respect for one's body, developing the joy of movement and physical expression, and a desire to become physically fit.

Using the Physical Education Framework for California Public Schools as a guide, Coach Michal-Lynn O'Kelley incorporates positive communication, conflict resolution skills and inclusion to build skills and a knowledge base. By experiencing a cooperative, collaborative and a success-based learning atmosphere, students are encouraged to develop and maintain healthy, active lifestyles. Additionally, the physical education program is designed to balance and contribute to children’s academic learning.

Basic skills at many games and playground activities are introduced and taught progressively across the grades. Past activities have included schoolyard skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, skipping, jumping rope and hula hooping, and skill-building for games such as volleyball, baseball, basketball, soccer and lacrosse.

PE Announcement

Top

Technology
Explorer has a mobile computer lab, library computers, as well as classroom computers. In addition, many teachers use digital photography in their curricula. Throughout the school, children have an opportunity to use computers as an invaluable lifelong tool. The goal is to develop responsible, discriminating, proficient computer users who access technology to support their studies and develop their creative skills.

The objective of Explorer's technology program is to use computers as a tool to enhance critical thinking, problem solving and communication. Internet-linked computers are used in the classrooms and the library by our students and faculty for this purpose.

Students are taught to use the computer effectively for research, as a medium for their creativity, and as an important tool for the development and communication of their ideas. Students are encouraged to become proficient computer users who understand the appropriate uses and limitations of technology. The specific format this learning takes varies by grade level and teacher. However, it is always thoughtful and deliberate in design and application, and supports the overall objective of developing critical thinkers, problem solvers and effective communicators.

 

Top

 

Science
In Explorer's science lab, students whet their curiosity and experience the joy of scientific discovery. Each week, science teacher, Julie Hutchins, guides students through structured lessons which give them the opportunity to develop the skills that make scientific discovery possible – the skills of questioning, hypothesizing, testing ideas, observing phenomena, and recording information. Students learn that unanswered questions are the driving force behind scientific inquiry. They learn to view the world through the eyes of a scientist, the eyes of wonder and amazement.

Each grade level has the opportunity to experience different fields of science in complex ways, from geology to physics, biology to chemistry. Students have learned to wire circuits and understand gears, pulleys, wheels and other simple machines. They have learned the difference between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock, and how the actions of humans have impacted the earth. In 2005-2006, students learned about magnification: how to use magnifiers—how even a simple water drop forms a convex lens. And the upper grades examined the body structures of meal worms, earthworms, grasshoppers and sea stars.

 

Top