The Lower School Experience
Experience joy and wonder.
Our community is one where childhood has integrity, where joy and wonder are prized, where students have the space and the support to grow into their most authentic selves.
“I feel like I just belong in the perfect school, which is Foote!”
“I liked doing the All About Me project because you learn how something is special to someone else and kids can learn about other kids and themselves.”
“I think our teachers want us to help take care of the chickens so that we learn responsibility. Taking care of animals is really important.”
Grades K–5
Our priority is establishing a lifelong love of learning as early as possible.
We encourage our students to ask questions and tap into their natural curiosity through imaginative exploration, play, and creation. Collaboration is paramount, and our students quickly realize that positive learning experiences are built on caring relationships between their teachers and each other. The result? A strong academic foundation and limitless intellectual growth.
Just the right size.
In small homerooms, students have a chance to form tight-knit bonds with each other and their teachers. Our intimate class sizes also provide introverted students access to quiet time and calm spaces to play and learn.
At the same time, there are many opportunities for students to expand their friend group during shared moments between other homerooms and other grades. It’s incredibly heart-warming to see our students find and make new friends during recess, school assemblies, and even as they pass each other throughout campus.
Kindergarten teacher Alexandra Wittner put it best:
“We provide a great opportunity for our students to really recognize all of the wonderful people and traditions that exist within our community.”
Welcome to Foote!
What makes us so special?
We asked our kindergartners what they love about their school. Here's what they had to say!
From the Head of Lower School Cara Hames:
“I love the way our students use the natural elements and spaces around campus. There is a certain magic in these unstructured moments when students can let their imagination and curiosity drive learning.”
Program highlights
What we love about Lower School!
Learning from Our Place
Community Connections
Our Humanities/Social Studies curriculum spans all grades, beginning in kindergarten with the All About Me project. Their first experience with public speaking, the kindergartners celebrate qualities that are unique to them while making connections to other students, ultimately forging deep connections with the greater school community.
Exploring the Environment
Research and Discovery
The focus of fifth grade science is ecology and ecosystems. Field work takes place on and off campus, as students apply research methods to better understand the relationships between organisms, humans, and the environment.